Wednesday February 8 Ag News

Busy Schedule in February for the Platte Valley Cattlemen
Dan Egger, President, Platte Valley Cattlemen

The next meeting of the Platte Valley Cattlemen is spouse night on Monday, February 20, 2012, at Wunderlich’s Catering.  Travis Bock of Columbus Sales Pavilion will be sponsoring the social hour, which begins at 6:00 p.m.  The dinner will follow at 7:00 p.m. sponsored by the Nebraska Corn Board and Pfizer Animal Health.

The feature speaker for the evening will be Anne Marie Bosshamer, of the Nebraska Beef Council. She will be doing a presentation of “The Perception of Beef – What the Number One Buyer, the Consumer, is saying about Beef.” Along with the presentation, Anne Marie will also be serving a special treat of several sauces to enhance the traditional steak dinner. So don’t forget to bring along your “someone special” to share the evening.

The 2012 PVC Banquet is Saturday, February 25th, at 5:30 p.m. at the Scotus Memorial Hall.  Tickets are available from all Platte Valley Cattlemen Directors. Sponsors for the Banquet are needed.  Please join us for a great evening.
   


On-Farm Research and Grower Info Feb. 10 at Wilber

This year's Wilber Crop Clinic will cover a range of timely topics for today's crop producer. The event will begin with registration, viewing of sponsor displays, and coffee and rolls at 8:30 a.m. with the program following at 9:00 a.m. at the Sokol Hall, 317 South Wilson St. in Wilber.

Speakers from UNL extension and private industry will cover cutting edge agronomic and management topics, said Randy Pryor, extension educator in Saline County and program host. Speakers will include:

-- Al Dutcher, UNL climatologist, will review the current La Nina weather pattern and explain its affect on agriculture this spring. Paul Hay, UNL extension educator, will update producers on emerging nutrient management issues and research results from the Soybean Management Field Days.

-- Dr. Dave Specht, coordinator of UNL's Family Business Programs and a lecturer in Family Business Management, will present on "Preserving Nebraska's Most Precious Asset -- The Family Farm." Specht writes and speaks on the unique complexities of family owned businesses. His work was recently featured in Farm Journal, Nebraska Farmer Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, Family Business Magazine and The New York Times.

-- Dr. Ray Ward, CEO of Ward Laboratories in Kearney, will be discussing crop nutrient management.

-- UNL Extension Educators Jenny Rees and Randy Pryor will cover on-farm research and weed resistance strategies.

-- Jeff Jensby, Farmers Cooperative, will discuss new R-7 satellite imagery technology that is showing promise for producers who are not receiving yield monitor information.

For more information or for commercial booth space, contact Lou Hajek at the UNL Extension office in Saline County at 402-821-2151. Registration is at the door.



Study Shows Lean Beef Can Help Lower Cholesterol

Consumers and beef producers alike are excited about a recent study showing that daily consumption of lean beef as part of an overall healthy diet can actually lower cholesterol.

Results of the BOLD study (Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet) appeared in the January 2012 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and are shaking up long-held misperceptions by consumers that beef is bad for the heart, says the director of nutrition and consumer information for the South Dakota Beef Industry Council (SDBIC).

Registered dietitian and licensed nutritionist Holly Swee says the study, partially funded with checkoff dollars and conducted by Pennsylvania State University researchers, demonstrated that a diet including lean beef every day is as effective in lowering total and LDL "bad" cholesterol as the gold-standard heart-healthy diet called DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), which often emphasizes other animal or plant proteins and limits beef.

"This is great news," says Swee. "Consumers can eat lean beef every day as part of a heart-healthy diet if they choose and feel confident that science supports beef's healthy benefits, which now include cholesterol-lowering effects."

BOLD was a human clinical trial in which participants following BOLD diets consumed up to 5.4 oz. of lean beef daily. At the end of five weeks, they experienced a 10 percent drop in LDL (or "bad") cholesterol, and a drop in total cholesterol levels. The BOLD results were similar to the DASH diet which was consumed by study participants for comparison.

"With more than 29 lean beef cuts now available, Americans have a variety of healthy options, from steaks and roasts to lean ground beef," explains Swee. In fact, she adds, 17 of the top 25 most popular fresh meat cuts sold at retail are lean, including Top Sirloin, Tenderloin, T-Bone steak and 95% lean ground beef. Many of the BOLD menus during the study incorporated recipes from the checkoff-funded The Healthy Beef Cookbook.

Word of the beef's beneficial role in a heart-healthy diet is reaching consumers across the country. By early January 2012, positive news about the BOLD study appeared in more than 60 state/national media outlets, including Shape and Men's Health magazines, WebMD and Reuters.

It's information like this, says Swee, that shows the impact of the checkoff. "Checkoff-funded nutrition research is invaluable," she explains. "It takes on the kinds of questions that no one else is studying and provides the answers that benefit both consumers and beef producers."

To learn more about the BOLD study, please visit BeefNutrition.org. The Healthy Beef Cookbook can be ordered at beefitswhatsfordinner.com by clicking on the beef and health tab, or go to amazon.com.



Iowa Livestock Auction Receives BQA Award

Spencer Livestock Sales of Spencer, Iowa, has become the first recipient of the national BQA Marketer Award. BQA, or Beef Quality Assurance, is a nationally recognized program that outlines cattle care and handling procedures to produce quality beef for consumers.

The announcement of the award was made in Nashville, Tenn., in early February during the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen Beef Association Trade Show.

Spencer Livestock Sales and its General Manager Morris Larson were selected from a group of livestock markets, cattle buyers and supply-chain programs that were nominated for the award. The selection criteria focused on the incorporation of BQA principles in day-to-day activities of the business, as well as providing opportunities for their customers to become BQA certified.

Larson has strived to improve BQA practices at the auction market, to better educate himself, his employees and area livestock producers about the benefits of implementing BQA practices on the farm, and he provides guidance to others in animal care and welfare. At Spencer Livestock Sales, management includes low-stress handling of livestock.

Iowa cattle producers have used Spencer Livestock Sales as a central meeting location for educational seminars on everything from BQA certification and animal handling to source and age verification. Larson donates the use of the auction market for 4-H and FFA weigh-ins and educational programs. "Morris' dedication to youth and his assistance in increasing knowledge about cattle handling techniques and new technologies have helped area producers add value to their cattle," says Doug Bear, who directs the state BQA program for the Iowa Beef Industry Council.

Both the state and National BQA programs are funded by The Beef Checkoff. Additional financial support for the national awards was provided by Safeway's Rancher's Reserve and Cargill Meat Solutions.



Weekly Ethanol Production for 2/3/2012

According to Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, ethanol production for the week ending 2/3/12 averaged 923,000 barrels per day (b/d) – or 38.77 million gallons daily.  That is down 16,000 b/d from the previous week.  The 4-week average for ethanol production stood at 934,000 b/d for an annualized rate of 14.3 billion gallons. 

Domestic ethanol inventories posted a build of 472,000 barrels (bbl), or 2.3%, to reach a fresh record high of 21.063 million bbl for the week-ended Feb. 3, putting total supply 7.6% higher than the level seen a year ago.  Total U.S. ethanol stocks have now increased for eight straight weeks. They have increased by 4.042 million bbl since Dec. 9, 2011, when the string of builds began.

Gasoline demand for the week averaged 337.6 million gallons daily.  Expressed as a percentage of daily gasoline demand, daily ethanol production was 11.48%.

On the co-products side, ethanol producers were using 13.995 million bushels of corn to produce ethanol and 103,883metric tons of livestock feed, 93,723 metric tons of which were distillers grains.  The rest is comprised of corn gluten feed and corn gluten meal.  Additionally, ethanol producers were providing 4.243 million pounds of corn oil daily.



Sugar Industry Continues Campaign of Confusion

As the refined sugar industry continues efforts to revive litigation claims already dismissed by a federal judge, it argued this week against a second dismissal as it defended the rewritten lawsuit filed in November.  The suit, which the federal judge allowed the group to file following dismissal of the initial claims, targets members of the Corn Refiners Association again and seeks to create confusion by suggesting that cane and beet sugar is healthier than its corn-based counterpart.

"Voices in the food debate ranging from Michael Pollan to Martha Stewart have all agreed on one simple fact about sugar- that it is nutritionally equal whether it comes from corn, cane or beat," said National Corn Growers Association President Garry Niemeyer. "While, like most things, sugar of any nature should be consumed in moderation, corn farmers know that their crop produces a quality, affordable sweetener that offers many benefits.  We support the efforts being made to provide clarity in light of continued attempts to obfuscate the truth."

Indicating that CRA will aggressively defend corn refiners against these allegations, CRA President Audrae Ericson noted that her association welcomes this opportunity to expose the self-serving nature of the refined sugar industry's actions in a decade-long campaign to besmirch the public image of high fructose corn syrup.

"The refined sugar industry's latest attempt to sue CRA members is simply a rehash of the same groundless claims that a federal judge rejected last year," said Erickson. "This case is about the free flow of fact-based information about sugars to Americans. In that regard, it's important to recognize that the court previously dismissed a portion of the case based on a California law designed to prevent just these kinds of baseless lawsuits."

The case is currently pending in a Los Angeles federal court.  A hearing on the motion to dismiss the sugar industry's claims is set for March 19.



Biodiesel and Other Renewable Fuels Must Be Part of a Sustainable Society

Experts from the U.S. and Canada today called for increased usage of biodiesel in North America, saying the sustainable transportation fuel protects the continent’s energy security and augments the food supply of the entire world, while providing a positive impact on climate change. The scientists, academics and economic analysts gathered in Orlando for the “Sustainability Symposium on Renewable and Transportation Fuels,” part of the National Biodiesel Conference and Expo and organized by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Central to the discussions at the day-long conference was biodiesel’s ability to alleviate dependence on foreign oil, a dependence that threatens national security and is subject to the uncertainty produced by the world’s most politically unstable regions. According to the Economist Magazine, the U.S. paid approximately $125 billion more for oil imports in 2011 than it did in 2010 because of unrest in the Middle East.

The result, argued Energy Victory author Robert Zubrin, PhD., is that the United States’ foreign policy is largely driven by a thirst for oil in countries that are considered unfriendly to American interests.

“In the early 1970s, we imported less than a third of our oil and the total cost was less than five percent of our defense budget,” Zubrin said. “Today, we are 60 percent dependent on imported oil and spend more on imported oil than we spend on national defense.  It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” he said.

Other panelists noted that a lack of an effective energy policy also weakens the nation’s economic recovery, calling for increased usage of renewable fuels that provide an important alternative to petroleum and support tens of thousands of domestic jobs.

Biodiesel is one of the more promising biofuels and the nation’s only commercially available advanced biofuel. In 2011, biodiesel production jumped by more than 300 percent, topping one billion gallons for the first time in the industry’s history.

"Biofuels – particularly biodiesel – are a shining star within the declining U.S. manufacturing sector and provide significant economic, environmental, and energy security benefits," according John Urbanchuk, a nationally recognized economic analyst.

Central to biodiesel’s appeal is its positive impact on the environment when compared to other fuels. The fuel reduces lifecycle greenhouse gases by as much as 89 percent, lowers particulate matter and reduces smog. Experts are being conservative when they quantify the numerous benefits of biodiesel. The lifecycle analysis used to quantify biodiesel’s emissions relative to petroleum, for instance, is very comprehensive. Nothing is left out, and many indirect emissions are included. Years ago, biofuel critics speculated that they could depict biofuels to be as bad as fossil fuel by adding such indirect emissions to biofuel analysis. Today, science is showing that biodiesel maintains a significant benefit, even when held to a higher standard than conventional fuels.

“Biodiesel is the perfect example of liquid solar energy,” said Kansas State University’s Richard Nelson. “Burning these fuels does not add net carbon to the atmosphere, because we end up burning biomass that is already part of the biosphere’s biogenic carbon cycle.”

Ultimately, biofuels fit well into a comprehensive energy policy, the experts said. They noted that a sustainable and cleaner energy source that boosts American jobs and displaces billions of gallons of petroleum can help guide the nation toward a more sensible energy policy and secure energy future.

"It is urgent that we reduce emissions lest we lose our ability to mitigate climate change as feedbacks amplify climate warming,” said Steven Mulkey, Ph.D. “When managed sustainably, biofuels can be an important part of our transition to a low-emissions economy.”



Risks of domestic animal disease tied to free trade examined at farm convention

At National Farmers annual farm business convention in West Des Moines, Iowa last week, Dr. Max Thornsberry D.V.M., examined how current WTO policies allow countries to export meat and animals to the U.S., even though diseases such as FMD, TB and Brucellosis can be present in animals in other regions of that exporting country.

“We don’t want countries with foot and mouth allowed to conduct trade and transport meat and live animals into the U.S.A., because we can’t afford to have foot and mouth in this country,” said Dr. Max Thornsberry a veterinarian who has traveled extensively throughout the world.

“What we would consider normal is not normal at all in developing countries. They don’t have accredited veterinarians around the country, or the infrastructure to effectively control animal disease,” Thornsberry said.

Illustrating the lack of a control infrastructure in some WTO countries, Thornsberry cited a recent trip to Nicaragua, where he asked a local veterinarian how many of 100 randomly selected cows would have Brucellosis or TB. “The answer: twelve cows would blood test positive for Brucellosis, and six would have TB,” he said.

He pointed out the potential economic devastation that could occur in the U.S., if FMD were to be found. “The last time there was a market scare in Kansas, back in 2002, a veterinarian mistakenly thought some cows who had mouth sores were infected with foot and mouth,” Thornsberry said. “The futures markets went down the limit two days in a row, just imagine the fear and consumer backlash from such an event.” The price fallout is estimated to have cost the industry $50 million.

FMD is a highly contagious degenerative viral disease of hogs, cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals. The virus is highly complex and can mutate rapidly, creating problems for vaccine developers. “The real issue here in the U.S. is wildlife,” Thornsberry emphasized. “What if it (FMD) occurred in white tail deer, or elk…I can’t imagine how we could ever free this country from foot and mouth then.

Max Thornsberry, D.V.M., is R-CALF USA's President of the Board of Directors and Region VI Director.



Tyson Finishes First Quarter Strong

Tyson Foods has reported a rise in first quarter sales of 9.4 percent compared to last year up to $8.3 billion. In the chicken sector operating income was $32 million, or 1.2 percent of sales. The beef sector saw operating income of $31 million, or 0.9 percent of sales and the pork sector had operating income $165 million, or 11.2 percent of sales. Prepared Foods had an operating income $51 million.

"Even with higher feed ingredient costs, our Chicken segment returned to profitability in the fiscal first quarter on improved pricing and execution," said Donnie Smith, Tyson's president and chief executive officer. "Prepared Foods had a strong performance, and the Pork segment continued to produce outstanding results. Our Beef segment is experiencing a rough patch as a result of challenging market fundamentals. Although we are still outperforming industry indexes, if current conditions continue, our Beef results will be pressured in our second quarter.

Smith says the company's first quarter results demonstrate that they are competitive and that its multi-protein, multi-channel, multi-national business puts them in a position to deliver sustainable earnings over time.

In the 2012 financial year, overall domestic protein (chicken, beef, pork and turkey) production is expected to decrease. Because exports are likely to remain strong, we forecast total domestic availability of protein to be down between two and three per cent compared to fiscal 2011, which should continue to support improved pricing.

In the chicken sector, the company expects industry production will fall by approximately four per cent from fiscal 2011, which should further gradually improve market pricing conditions. Current futures prices indicate higher feed costs in fiscal 2012 compared to fiscal 2011.



Syngenta Reports Higher Earnings During Past Year

Syngenta, the world's largest agrochemicals company, has posted a 14 percent rise in full-year net profit to $1.6 billion for 2011.  Sales were also up by the same margin, reaching $13.3 billion last year.

"At the beginning of 2011 Syngenta announced its new strategy, bringing together our Crop Protection and Seeds businesses to develop fully integrated offers on a global crop basis. I am pleased to report that we were able to deliver strong growth in sales and earnings for the year while implementing the strategy at a pace which has surpassed our initial expectations," says Syngenta CEO Mike Mack.

Farmers, especially in the United States and Latin America, have been seeking to boost yields and offset inflation on the back of higher wheat, corn and soybean prices. As a result they have been buying more products from Syngenta and its rivals, such as DuPont and Monsanto.

Syngenta, whose product line includes weed and insect killers as well as genetically modified seeds, is aiming for higher earnings this year as price hikes and cost savings of $190 million are expected to help it offset the impact of the strong Swiss franc and raw material prices.

The company plans to increase prices by between two and three per cent this year after raising them by four per cent last year.

Syngenta said it was sticking to its goals to make savings of $650 million by 2015. The company also reiterated it is aiming for a margin on an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation level of 22 to 24 per cent by 2015.



Agrium 4Q Profit Lifted by Strong Agricultural Demand

Agrium Inc. reported a 43% rise in fourth-quarter net profit on Wednesday, as higher crop prices led to stronger pricing and demand for seeds, fertilizer and other agricultural products.  Net income increased to $193 million or $1.20 a share, from $135 million, or 86 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding an impairment-related charge and other one-time items, the Calgary, Alberta-based company said earnings were $2.34 a share. Analysts on average had forecast $1.99, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Agrium, a major producer of nitrogen-based fertilizers like ammonia and urea, is also the largest North American retailer of agricultural inputs like seeds, nutrients and crop protection chemicals.

Strong grain prices and increased food demand from emerging economies have boosted demand for crop nutrients in recent years, benefiting Agrium and its peers in the sector. The steady stream of strong results prompted Agrium to quadruple its semiannual dividend to 22.5 cents a share.

"We believe that the underlying fundamentals for the agriculture sector remain strong as crop inventory levels for most crops remain well below normal levels and in some cases are critically low," Chief Executive Officer Mike Wilson said in a release.

Quarterly sales rose 32% to $3.18 billion, on the back of higher prices for the company's crop nutrient products and gains in its retail business from the acquisition of the Landmark Australia retail operations.

In its retail segment, Agrium reported increases in sales of fertilizers, seeds, crop protection products and other services, driven by stronger demand across most regions.

Sales from the wholesale fertilizer segment, which produces nitrogen, phosphate and potash-based nutrients, rose 25%, while earnings jumped 64%, on the back of higher realized selling prices and improved margins.