Agriculture News
Poultry producer seeks change to Delaware facility demands
AP | Posted on August 29, 2018poultry producer is asking for a change to the decision that grants it a special use exception for a deboning facility in Delaware. An Allen Harim spokesperson tells WBOC-TV the company found the condition that its spray irrigation system must be upgraded, approved, permitted and operational before the Millsboro facility is operational too restrictive. That condition was one of two set by the Board of Adjustment in its May decision approving the facility, over the objections of those with environmental concerns.The DNREC slapped Allen Harim with nearly $250,000 in penalties and other costs for years of wastewater violations at its chicken processing plant in Harbeson.
Blame Trump’s Tariffs and the Weather. New York’s Farmers Do.
The New York Times | Posted on August 29, 2018A drought, flash floods, the trade war and tightening immigration policy have combined to cause an economic crisis for New York farmers. For the first three weeks of July, Peter Martens prayed for rain. At the end of the month the rain finally arrived, but by then it was too late for some of his crops. For others, it was too much water, too quickly.The lack of rain, Mr. Martens said, will reduce his corn yield by about 20 percent, but the late-summer deluges damaged the quality of his spelt, a type of wheat.New York’s extreme weather this summer, which began with a drought followed by flash flooding, has been enough to make it a difficult season for the state’s farmers.But farmers say President Trump’s trade war and his administration’s crackdown on immigration have made a bad summer far worse.Red numbers are filling farmers’ balance sheets: Mr. Martens’s butternut squash is covered in weeds because he did not have enough workers, at the right time, to hoe the field and now his yield will be far less than he expected. He is also nervous about selling his red kidney beans because higher tariffs abroad threaten to drive down the price as international markets disappear. Farmers across the country are asking the same question, as they endure economic losses because of Mr. Trump’s trade policies. Initial estimates point to a roughly $3 billion loss in value for soybean and corn crops across the country since May, according to a report from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The National Milk Producers Federation estimates that the tariffs will cost American dairy farmers $1.8 billion.
The Evolution of the Local Brand, Policy Initiatives and Role of Direct Markets
Choices magazine | Posted on August 29, 2018Sales of locally branded products have increased over the last 20 years. The USDA 2015 local food marketing survey found that 167,009 U.S. farmers and ranchers sold $8.7 billion of food directly to consumers, retailers, and other businesses and institution. In 2012, 7.8% of U.S. agricultural producers participated in direct or intermediated markets, a notable trend given that the agricultural sector is increasingly defined by its bimodal structure. Since 85% of farms that participated in direct and intermediated markets in 2012 had gross cash farm income under $75,000, federal and local funding for local foods may be indirectly serving as a market and policy initiative to support small farms, but do we know if that support is effective?One trend worth noting for local foods is that growth in some subsectors appears to be maturing, particularly in direct-to-consumer outlets. Despite a 5.5% increase in the number of farms utilizing direct-to-consumer marketing outlets between 2007 and 2012 observed in the Census of Agriculture, there was no change in overall sales as intermediated markets became a more significant channel for those marketing local (Low et al., 2015). Although much of the initial interest in local foods originally revolved around farm-fresh produce, a growing array of local food products that require some level of manufacturing (meats, salsas, baked goods, and fruit-based beverages) is appearing alongside farm products and may represent opportunities for growth since consumers value more convenient or artisanal offerings.
Playing chicken with sustainability: the fast-growing chicken debate
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on August 29, 2018Even with a wealth of technology at their fingertips, some chicken producers may be rolling back production practices to meet the demands of companies hoping to build their brand by differentiating how animals are raised. Whole Foods Market and other retailers have agreed to a set of principles from the Global Animal Partnership that includes replacing current fast-growing chickens with slower-growing chickens by 2024.Proponents of modern poultry production point to scientific research showing that chickens today, in addition to growing faster, are stronger and healthier than ever before. In addition, today’s breed of chicken has a much smaller environmental footprint.In the age of climate change, the impact of a transition to slower growing birds is a critical ethical consideration that is frequently ignored. If only one-third of broiler chicken producers switched to a slower growing breed, nearly 1.5 billion more birds would be needed annually to produce the same amount of meat currently produced – requiring a tremendous increase in water, land and fuel consumption: Additional feed: Enough to fill 670,000 additional tractor trailers on the road per year, using millions more gallons of fuel annually.Additional land: Growing the feed (corn and soybeans) needed would require 7.6 million acres annually, roughly the size of Maryland.Additional manure: Slower growing chickens stay on farms longer, producing 28.5 billion additional pounds of manure annually. Additional water needed: 1 billion additional gallons of water per year for the chickens to drink
Land O’Lakes Spotlights Female Farmers in Its Feminist Reimagining of ‘Old MacDonald Had a Farm’
Dairy Herd Management | Posted on August 29, 2018Old MacDonald may have had a farm with a dog, cows and some chickens, but he also had something far more important to keeping said farm running—a daughter. At least according to Land O’Lakes’ “She-I-O,” a reimagined (albeit slightly hokey) version of the classic children’s nursery rhyme sung by country artist Maggie Rose."'She-I-O' serves as a rallying cry for women breaking stereotypes, not just in dairy farming, but in every industry," Maggie Rose said.Also featured in the video was Candice Dotterer along with her sister Amanda and cousin Lori. Dotterer, who is now the manager of her 900-cow operation in Mill Hall, Penn., gave a behind the scenes look at life as a female dairy farmer.As part of Land O’Lakes new All Together Better Initiative program, which includes a partnership with Feeding America, Land O'Lakes will donate $1 to Feeding America for every share, tag or comment on any of the "She-I-O" music video content on Land O'Lakes social channels, as well as the "She-I-O" music track, available on SoundCloud and iTunes, up to $100,000.Also debuting as part of the All Together Better initiative is a three-part documentary series called In Their Words, produced by The Female Farmer Project, which chronicles the personal stories of some of these Land O'Lakes farmers. With women comprising approximately one-third of all U.S. farmers, In Their Words was created to celebrate these fearless females and create a dialogue around the importance of their role in the food chain, according to Land O’Lakes.
A look at the future of dairies
Indiana Gazette | Posted on August 29, 2018A group of agriculture experts from around the world recently published a Journal of Dairy Science article sharing their vision for what dairy production and consumption will look like in 2067.It is expected that the demand for dairy products will grow, for two main reasons. First, per capita income worldwide will be higher and allow the average person to purchase more animal products. Second, dairy products meet human nutritional requirements while requiring less land per unit of edible protein than many other food products. It is projected that climate change will cause a significant shift in the location of U.S. dairy cows. Right now, approximately 42 percent of U.S. milk is produced in states that are expected to have severe water shortages by 2067. Expansion will likely trend towards areas with more adequate water resources — the Upper Midwest, the Great Lakes region and the central provinces of Canada.The authors proposed a model of how dairy enterprises might be organized. Several milk cow facilities with similar design will be located in close proximity to each other, where cows will be milked with robotic systems. All animals not milking (calves, heifers, steers and dry cows) will be managed in separate, specialized, shared facilities. Feed will be stored and mixed at feed centers serving multiple locations.There will continue to be some smaller, independent dairy farms. They will likely have targeted niche markets, such as grass-fed milk, local food or proprietary products.Cows will be managed with precision, thanks to sensors, robots, and other automated technologies.
New course trains veterinary students to protect pollinators
Cornell | Posted on August 29, 2018New federal regulations require veterinarians around the country to examine and treat honeybee colonies, and training for this new job is needed. That’s why Cornell veterinarian Dr. Robin Radcliffe partnered with Cornell faculty members to offer the first honeybee health course at Cornell for veterinary students.Beyond the fact that bees are invertebrates and possess many different physiological systems compared with vertebrates, honeybee care is “more herd health, and has a lot of parallels to population medicine and public health. Our patient is not the single bee, but the whole colony – biologically the complex communication and cooperation among bees known as the ‘superorganism.’”Radcliffe teaches students what normal “brood” looks like – the eggs and developing pupae – so they will recognize signs of the America foulbrood, a bacteria that will kill larvae and easily spread from hive to hive. Students are also schooled in the honeybee’s greatest foe, the varroa mite. These invasive parasites from China arrived in New York in 1995. They feed off adult bees and their brood, causing the entire colony to weaken and, if left untreated, collapse.
USDA Forest Service Announces New Strategy for Improving Forest Conditions
USDA | Posted on August 29, 2018The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service announced today a new strategy for managing catastrophic wildfires and the impacts of invasive species, drought, and insect and disease epidemics. Specifically, a new report titled Toward Shared Stewardship across Landscapes: An Outcome-based investment Strategy outlines the USFS’s plans to work more closely with states to identify landscape-scale priorities for targeted treatments in areas with the highest payoffs. “On my trip to California this week, I saw the devastation that these unprecedented wildfires are having on our neighbors, friends and families,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. “We commit to work more closely with the states to reduce the frequency and severity of wildfires. We commit to strengthening the stewardship of public and private lands. This report outlines our strategy and intent to help one another prevent wildfire from reaching this level.” A key component of the new strategy is to prioritize investment decisions on forest treatments in direct coordination with states using the most advanced science tools. This allows the USFS to increase the scope and scale of critical forest treatments that protect communities and create resilient forests.The Omnibus Bill also includes a long-term “fire funding fix,” starting in FY 2020, that will stop the rise of the 10-year average cost of fighting wildland fire and reduce the likelihood of the disruptive practice of transferring funds from Forest Service non-fire programs to cover firefighting costs. The product of more than a decade of hard work, this bipartisan solution will ultimately stabilize the agency’s operating environment.
Judge rules case against withdrawal of organic animal welfare rule can proceed
Agri-Pulse | Posted on August 25, 2018A District Court judge in California has ruled that a group of organic stakeholders has the legal standing to challenge USDA’s withdrawal of organic animal welfare language earlier this year.
Pfizer stops sales of injectable opioids to veterinary market
Veterinary News | Posted on August 25, 2018Pfizer, a human biopharmaceutical company whose products are frequently used off-label by veterinarians, halted sales of injectable opioids to the veterinary market in the second quarter of 2018, a company spokesman says. It is instead prioritizing the drugs to human hospital and surgical customers. "Pfizer Injectables has been experiencing a production delay in the manufacturing of opioid products. Pfizer has temporarily halted sales and shipments of opioids to animal/veterinarian clinics during this time of shortage," says Steve Danehy, director of corporate affairs and global media relations for Pfizer. "We value all customers and understand the importance of these medications and regret the current need to prioritize shipments to hospital and surgical trading partners."Danehy says the company is making efforts to restock the market in ways that are equitable, efficient and compliant, and though production of their opioid has resumed, it doesn't expect to fully recover and resume selling to the full market until the second quarter of 2019.