NEBRASKA CATTLE ON FEED UP 1 PERCENT
Nebraska feedlots, with capacities of 1,000 or more head,contained 2.49 million cattle on feed on March 1, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. This inventory was up 1 percent from last year. Placements during February totaled 390,000 head, down 9 percent from 2014. Fed cattle marketings for the month of February totaled 385,000 head, up 3 percent from last year. Other disappearance during February totaled 15,000 head, unchanged from last year.
IOWA CATTLE ON FEED UP SLIGHTLY FROM LAST YEAR
Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in Iowa for all feedlots totaled 1,295,000 on March 1, 2015, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service – Cattle on Feed report. The inventory is up 2 percent from February 1, 2015, and up 5,000 head from March 1, 2014. Feedlots with a capacity greater than 1,000 head had 660,000 head on feed, up 2 percent from last month but down 1 percent from last year. Feedlots with a capacity less than 1,000 head had 635,000 head on feed, up 3 percent from last month and up 2 percent from last year.
Placements during February totaled 147,000 head, a decrease of 21 percent from last month but up 12 percent from last year. Feedlots with a capacity greater than 1,000 head placed 85,000 head, down 6 percent from last month and down 1 percent from last year. Feedlots with a capacity less than 1,000 head placed 62,000 head. This is down 35 percent from last month but up 38 percent from last year.
Marketings for February were 114,000 head, down 15 percent from last month but up 7 percent from last year. Feedlots with a capacity greater than 1,000 head marketed 74,000 head, down 5 percent from last month but unchanged from last year. Feedlots with a capacity less than 1,000 head marketed 40,000 head, down 29 percent from last month but up 21 percent from last year. Other disappearance totaled 3,000 head.
United States Cattle on Feed Down 1 Percent
Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 10.7 million head on March 1, 2015. The inventory was 1 percent below March 1, 2014.
Placements in feedlots during February totaled 1.52 million, 8 percent below 2014. Net placements were 1.46 million head. During February, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 330,000, 600-699 pounds were 270,000, 700-799 pounds were 388,000, and 800 pounds and greater were 535,000.
Marketings of fed cattle during February totaled 1.52 million, 2 percent below 2014. February marketings are the lowest since the series began in 1996. Other disappearance totaled 62,000 during February, 13 percent below 2014.
Number of Cattle on Feed on 1,000+ Capacity Feedlots by State
(State - 1000 head - % of March '14)
Colorado .......: 870 95
Iowa .............: 660 99
Kansas ..........: 2,080 101
Nebraska ......: 2,490 101
Texas ............: 2,450 99
Number of Cattle Placed on Feed on 1,000+ Capacity Feedlots by State
(State - 1000 head - % of Feb '14)
Colorado .......: 130 96
Iowa .............: 85 99
Kansas ..........: 355 106
Nebraska ......: 390 91
Texas ............: 285 70
Number of Cattle Marketed on 1,000+ Capacity Feedlots by State
(State - 1000 head - % of Feb '14)
Colorado .......: 145 94
Iowa .............: 74 100
Kansas ..........: 355 113
Nebraska ......: 385 103
Texas ............: 315 88
CVA/FCC Boards Recommend Merger - Members Can Vote Before March 30th
Following months of study and preparations, the Board of Directors of both Central Valley Ag Cooperative (CVA) and Farmers Cooperative Company (FCC) have unanimously approved and entered into a proposed merger study. If approved by the members and stockholders of FCC, it would result in the merger of the two cooperatives.
Farmers Cooperative Company is based out of Hinton, Iowa, with additional locations in Oyens, Le Mars and Akron. FCC strives to fulfill their mission, “to provide high -‐ quality products and services to our customers through a professional and customer focused team effort.”
The future of FCC is extremely important to Darwin Franzen, CEO of Farmers Cooperative Company. “After exhaustive research and analysis with eight different companies, your Board of Directors chose Central Valley Ag (CVA) as a partner for our future. We feel that CVA’s past performance and the strength of their balance sheet provides the necessary capital and means to secure our assets and bring a great future for employees and customers alike.”
Central Valley Ag’s mission also focuses on the importance of its customers: “Dedicated professionals providing innovative solutions that yield profit for our customers.” CVA is a market-‐leading cooperative dedicated to serving the needs of its members and communities in eastern Nebraska and northern Kansas with annual sales of over $1.3 billion.
Central Valley Ag’s CEO, Carl Dickinson also realizes the importance of merging with FCC. “As a cooperative, we’ve always liked to operate in areas that have good production and good assets. Farmers Cooperative Co. brings both of those to the table, along with the fact
that its stockholders share the same philosophy as CVA – we believe in the cooperative system. Consolidation in agriculture has been continuing since 1952 and moving forward this is the way to bring value to both companies for generation
BALLOTS ARE OUT
Please take the time to vote. In order for the merger to pass 50% of FCC member-owners must vote, and 2/3 of the votes received must be in favor of the merger. Ballots must be returned by March 30, 2015 at 5:00 PM.
National Drought Summary - Week of March 18th, 2015
National Drought Mitigation Center, Lincoln NE
The week was characterized by drier than normal conditions across much of the Lower-48. However, there was a system that brought significant precipitation to the south and eastern part of the country. A wide swath of 2-5 inch precipitation fell in the lower Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. Across the country, temperatures for the most part were above average, as record high temperatures stretched from California eastward to the north-central U.S. In the northern Plains, departures were 20 degrees above normal. These warm temperatures began the melt season from the Great Lakes eastward into New England. Only the Deep South and extreme Northeast saw cooler than normal temperatures. Light precipitation fell in and around the Northwest, but snowpack levels remain low. Snowpack deficiencies are an even larger concern in the Sierra Nevada and Southwest mountains where the snow water content values are record or near record low levels.
Plains and Upper Midwest
Recent and long term dryness coupled with much above normal temperatures expanded D0 conditions in much of the Upper Plains. D1 conditions also expanded, occupying most of Minnesota. In Minnesota, record temperatures sped up the drying process and precipitation is 2.5 to 3.5 inches short since October 1. In the Dakotas and Minnesota, temperatures were 18-24 degrees above normal this past week. Similar anomalous conditions also led to the expansion of D0 in Nebraska. Precipitation deficits there are below the 75th percentile in most of the area. Soil moisture values in Nebraska are 2-3 inches behind normal. It was also noted that wheat broke dormancy in the McCook, Nebraska area during late February to early March. About 100 miles further east, wheat was just beginning to green up.
See more here.... http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/.
MAKE PASTURE FERTILIZING PAY
Bruce Anderson, UNL Extension Forage Specialist
Spring is approaching and cool-season grass pastures are starting to green-up. We should begin thinking about fertilizing.
Grass growth is stimulated by nitrogen fertilizer just like other crops. Although nitrogen fertilizer can be expensive, favorable cattle prices greatly increase the potential to profit from the increased grass growth produced from nitrogen.
Our Nebraska research shows that you get about one pound of additional calf or yearling gain for every pound of nitrogen fertilizer applied. With grazingland becoming more scarce and the high value of cattle gains, boosting yield with fertilizer should be especially valuable this year.
However, this fertilization rule-of-thumb assumes that the amount applied is within our general recommendations, which are based on the potential amount of extra grass growth expected. This is affected mostly by moisture. More importantly, it also assumes that your grazing management will efficiently harvest this extra growth.
If your animals graze continuously on one pasture throughout the season, much of the extra growth is wasted. They trample, manure and foul, bed down on, and simply refuse to eat much of the stemmy grass. Less than one-third of the extra grass ends up inside your livestock.
To make fertilizer pay, cross-fence pastures to control when and where your animals graze. Give animals access to no more than one-fourth of your pasture at a time. Graze off about one-half of this growth before moving to another subdivision. Maybe even save one subdivision for hay. If your pastures aren’t subdivided, fertilizer dollars might be better spent on cross-fences and watering sites.
Follow these suggestions and more of your pasture growth will be eaten, and more profits will come from fertilizer and pastures.
Beef Checkoff Highlights Opportunities for Retailers, Foodservice
The Beef Checkoff Program was involved in numerous areas of the 2015 Annual Meat Conference in Nashville, Tenn., in late February. Two checkoff-developed educational sessions drew more than 1,000 meat retailers during the event. At “The Changing Face of Supermarket Foodservice and the Keys to Long-Term Success,” the checkoff presented information about the growing opportunity beef has with supermarket prepared foods -- includeing ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat meats at service counters or grab-and-go areas.
Also at the conference, Season Solorio, who leads the checkoff's issues- and reputation-management team, participated in a panel discussion focused on communicating about modern agriculture and sustainability. The panel brought together representatives from the entire agricultural supply chain and covered multi-species, including a pork farmer, a packer and retail and foodservice consultants, to talk about the challenges each segment faces in trying to debunk myths, like "factory farming" and communicating how modern agriculture is more sustainable than it ever was in the past.
The beef checkoff also hosted a beef lunch to give retailers an inside look at the beef market and supply, market intelligence, issues monitoring and culinary opportunities.
“This was a key opportunity for the beef checkoff to reach a select group of retailers that help us market and move product,” said Federation of State Beef Councils Chairman Jennifer Houston, who attended the lunch. Houston is a livestock market operator from Sweetwater, Tenn. “The attendees had a unique opportunity to spend one-on-one time with industry experts to gain intelligence that will help them better sell more beef.”
Representatives of beef councils in 11 states that are active in beef checkoff retail and foodservice efforts participated in the conference: California, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
“It was great to be in a setting that allows us to build relationships with retailers we deal with on a regular basis – as well as those we’d like to,” said Russell Woodward, senior manager of channel marketing for the Texas Beef Council. “The conference allowed the beef industry to share ideas with retailers and foodservice operators that they could take back to help market beef more effectively in their own operations.”
“The Annual Meat Conference is a chance for the broader beef community to get together,” said Rob Noel, director of channel marketing for the Washington State Beef Commission. “It’s also a rallying point for those who want to market beef more successfully.” Keynote speakers at the event, including Randy Blach of CattleFax, who provided a clear and concise forecast in a well-attended session, gave attendees a foundation for checkoff-based efforts at the event.
Following the conference, representatives from 19 state beef councils attended a two-day workshop hosted by the national beef checkoff at the Tennessee Beef Industry Council offices in Murfreesboro to find out more about beef checkoff-funded retail and foodservice programs and discuss what they can do to extend beef partnerships and educational efforts to retailer and foodservice folks in their states.
Designed specifically for state beef council staff, the workshop provided staff with more insights about the retail/foodservice environment, an understanding of the segments' strategic framework, engagement and information about content resources available. The workshop served as a valuable opportunity for state and national checkoff teams to come together, exchange knowledge and share success stories.
In addition to the states who participated in the Annual Meat Conference, beef councils from Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania sent representatives to the workshop.
“It was valuable to learn where we’re headed in terms of promoting beef through retail and foodservice,” said Kaye Strohbehn of the Minnesota Beef Council. “More than that, though, it was great to have an opportunity to engage with our national team members, as well as our counterparts at other state beef councils, to find ways to work together and leverage our resources to help build beef demand throughout the United States.”
Informa Projects 87.5 Million U.S. Soybean Acres for 2015
U.S. farmers will plant a record 87.5 million acres of soybeans in 2015, according to private forecaster Informa Economics.
Farmers intend to plant 88.5 million acres of corn and 56 million acres of wheat, both lower than last year's totals, according to estimates released Friday by Informa.
Though Informa again forecast record soybean acreage, it trimmed its estimate by 547,000 acres from its January forecast. The firm cut soybean-planting estimates for the eastern and western U.S. Corn Belt.
Informa in January projected about 88 million acres in the U.S. would be planted with soybeans, which was down compared to its 88.8 million acre estimate in December. Last year farmers planted a record 83.7 million acres planted with soybeans.
Traders and analysts have been debating by how much U.S. farmers would continue to favor the oilseed versus corn, as expanding stockpiles of both have pressured crop prices and pinched farmers' income over the past two years.
Informa's planting projection for soybeans runs about 4.5% ahead of 2014's acreage, as recorded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Informa analysts now expect U.S. corn acreage to decline by 2.3% this year, from about 90.6 million acres in 2014. Total wheat acreage is expected to decline 1.5% from last year's 56.8 million, according to Informa.
Sorghum, increasingly in demand as a feed grain among Chinese livestock operations, will stage the biggest acreage gain in 2015, jumping 14.5% to 8.2 million acres, Informa projected. Cotton is expected to face the biggest decline, dropping about 12.7% to 9.6 million acres, the firm's analysts wrote.
Hog Prices Expected Lower This Year
Consumers can expect to pay less for their bacon this year with pork prices forecast to be down 23 cents per pound, Purdue University agricultural economist Chris Hurt says.
As a result, however, pork producers are expected to see less profit per head.
Hurt noted that hog prices last year reached record highs, with the national live prices reaching $100 per live hundredweight - $4.22 per pound - because consumers feared that great shortages would result from the deadly porcine epidemic virus, or PEDv.
The actual drop in production, however, was only 2 percent.
"The market adage 'buy the rumor and sell the fact' has played out once again," Hurt said. "The inability to refute the rumors of massive death losses a year ago contributed to prices overshooting to the upside."
The amount of pork produced in February was expected to be up by 3 percent, but ended up at 7 percent. Hurt said the U.S. Department of Agriculture's inventory count in its December estimate appears to have undercounted young pig numbers. As of January, pork was at $3.99 per pound. By the end of this year, it is estimated that pork supplies will be up an average of 6 percent to 7 percent.
The increase in pork supply mirrors other meats such as beef and chicken. Hurt said prices might be down in meat industries this quarter because of the weak world economy and the slowdowns in the West Coast ports, which account for nearly half of all pork exports. Exports are expected to stabilize in coming weeks.
Hurt also said the costs of pork production are expected to be down this year, especially in soybeans. Despite that, modest profit losses are anticipated in the first and fourth quarters of the year, resulting in an average year profit of about $8 per head, compared with last year's average profit of $53.
Hurt advises pork producers to wait on expanding their farms until more information can be gathered this year.
ASA, USBCA Urge EU Follow Principles During Review of Regulation of Import of Biotech Products
The American Soybean Association and the U.S. Biotech Crops Alliance (USBCA) urged the European health and food safety commissioner last week to consider several key principles while reviewing the regulatory procedure for approving the import of new biotechnology products.
While the current regulations covering imports of biotechnology products are a science-based and workable framework for imports, the implementation process has slowed to a stop and led to large disruptions in the trans-Atlantic trade of raw materials used by EU food and feed producers, increasing costs for producers and consumers.
The last approval dates back to November 2013 and the review of the approval procedure for the import of biotech events has introduced an additional level of uncertainty.
In a letter to Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, directorate General Health and Food Safety European Commission, ASA, USBCA and several ag industry listed a number of core commitments to consider, including upholding the EU’s single-market for imported biotech crops; no further delay decisions on products that have completed all risk assessment and administrative procedures; and ensuring regulations are consistent with the EU’s obligations under the WTO SPS agreement, and to meet the timeline of 18 months approval.
The groups stated these principles, among others would support several goals of the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations and ensure strong mechanisms for resolving trade issues.
Celebrating USSEC's 10th anniversary!
Laura Foell, US Soybean Export Council Chairman
Please join me in wishing USSEC a very Happy 10th Anniversary!
Many of you played an important part in the creation of this organization. Thank you. I hope you are feeling pride in what you helped to create.
USSEC’S articles of incorporation were signed on March 7, 2005 and the new organization held its inaugural meeting on March 31, 2005 in Chicago. From the get-go, USSEC was known as an organization that would implement a unified and coordinated international marketing program to build demand and brand for U.S. soybeans and soy products. From the beginning, the purpose and strategy of our organization was clear: we create a preference for U.S. Soy by building and maintaining relationships through trade and technical services. And in 2014, USSEC provided these services to more than 70 countries.
Agriculture has grown with leaps and bounds in only ten years. Last year’s harvest was especially bountiful as U.S. ag exports in fiscal 2013/2014 set a new record of $152.5 billion with soy exports (beans, meal and oil) accounting for $30.6 billion of the total (20.1 percent), a 7 percent total increase and 19.7 percent increase in soy. Beans, meal and oil exports were more than 60 percent of the total crop. In the 2014/15 marketing year, the U.S. is forecasted to export 1.72 billion bushels of soybeans, soymeal from 533 million bushels of soybeans, and soy oil from 181 million bushels of soybeans.
We’ve celebrated a few milestones along the way: In 2006, the U.S. Soy industry celebrated 50 years of partnership between U.S. soybean farmers and the Japanese soybean industry. Next year, U.S. Soy trade to China will mark its 20th anniversary; a program to build international markets for U.S. soybeans achieved the first sale of U.S. Soy to China in 1996. Today, China is U.S. Soy’s biggest customer.
Building those relationships is key to USSEC’s mission, and in 2013, we held the inaugural U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange in Davenport, providing the buyers and sellers of U.S. Soy with a unique networking opportunity. Last year’s event built on our initial success and we look forward to welcoming everyone to this year’s gathering in Minneapolis this September.
Forums such as the U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange are just one part of the strategy that helps us to achieve our mission, optimizing the utilization and value of U.S. Soy in international markets by meeting the needs of our stakeholders and global customers. Market access issues have become an increasingly critical part of our complicated world. USSEC treats work in this area with the highest priority, building on the relationships that the U.S. Soy family has forged over many years.
I look forward to continuing to work together with all of you and making USSEC the part of the U.S. Soy family that we strive to be and that all parts of U.S. Soy can count on USSEC to effectively conduct its part for the benefit of all U.S. Soy producers and the U.S. Soy industry.
Once again, thanks for all you do to make our organization relevant and effective. Happy Birthday, USSEC!
FDA Approves Some Genetically Modified Apples and Potatoes
The Food and Drug Administration has signed off on two new genetically modified crops, an apple and a potato, suggesting that the products might need to carry a label to inform consumers about the ways in which they're different from conventional varieties.
The so-called Arctic apple, developed by Okanagan Specialty Fruits in Canada, has been designed to resist browning when cut open or sliced. The Innate potato, developed by the Idaho-based french fry maker J.R. Simplot, is designed to have fewer black spots from bruising and produce lower levels of acrylamide, a potential carcinogen that forms in potatoes when cooked at high temperatures.
The FDA said Friday that it didn't find any reason to think the Arctic apple or the Innate potato posed a risk to human health, concluding "that these foods are as safe and nutritious as their conventional counterparts."
The FDA is still deciding whether the apple or the potato need to carry a label, identifying them as genetically modified or alerting consumers to the traits that separate them from conventional varieties.
"In certain circumstances, characteristics of these varieties of apples and potatoes that differ from their conventional counterparts may require disclosure to the consumer," the agency said. "Both companies are encouraged to consult with the FDA about potential labeling requirements."
House Agriculture Committee advances bill to protect producers from duplicative regulations and permit
On Thursday, the House Committee on Agriculture approved H.R. 897, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2015. This legislation (H.R. 872 in the 112th Congress and H.R. 935 in the 113th) would clarify Congressional intent regarding pesticide regulation in or near waters of the United States.
A 2009 decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit erroneously applied the provisions of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permitting process under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to pesticide applications that were already fully regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). As a result, many farmers, ranchers, water resource boards and public health professionals involved in mosquito control are subject to costly and duplicative burdens providing no quantifiable public health or environmental benefit.
The expansion of jurisdictional waters under the Administration's “waters of the United States” proposed rule would likely, and significantly, increase the regulatory cost and burden associated with this court decision on food production costs and mosquito control programs. The Committee on Agriculture and the full House passed this bill during the two previous Congresses, but the Senate failed to act.
“Costly and duplicative regulations and permitting requirements on farmers weaken the economy in rural America,” said Rep. K. Michael Conaway, Chairman of the Agriculture Committee. “The money and time that farmers have to spend fulfilling redundant, unnecessary requirements is time and money that can be put to better, more productive use. Making pesticides readily accessible for use is crucial to efficiently protect our nation's food supply and natural resources. Correcting the erroneous court decision that created this duplicative process has been a priority for public health, water resources, and agricultural stakeholders."
“It was never the intent of Congress to burden producers with additional permit requirements that would have little to no environmental benefit. This legislation restores Congressional intent and addresses the court’s ruling, alleviating the massive burden of additional permitting requirements. The House has consistently supported this legislation and I hope that the Senate will quickly take action,” Ranking Member Collin Peterson said.
"Unnecessary and duplicative federal regulations like this one have made it much more difficult for our family farms to operate," said Rep. Rodney Davis (IL-13), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research. "By simply exerting some common sense, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act will save our farmers from yet another costly mandate and help grow our economy."
Thune, Nelson Introduce Bipartisan Freight Rail Reform Bill
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who respectively serve as the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Thursday introduced S. 808, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) Reauthorization Act of 2015.
The STB is the federal regulatory body responsible for economic oversight of the nation's freight rail system. Run by a three-member, bipartisan board, the agency has regulatory jurisdiction over railroad rate reasonableness, mergers, line acquisitions, new rail-line construction, line abandonment, and other rail issues. The STB was created by Congress in 1996 as the successor to the Interstate Commerce Commission. Since that time, the STB has not been reauthorized or substantively reformed.
"While the STB has been working diligently to ensure the major rail service issues experienced last year by shippers and businesses in South Dakota and other states across the U.S. don't happen again, last year's crisis highlighted some of the inefficiencies that currently exist at the agency," said Thune. "Oversight efforts have identified causes of wasteful and unnecessary delays in adjudicating cases that harm rail shippers, freight operators, and ultimately consumers who pay higher costs. These reforms will help make the STB a more efficient, effective, and accountable agency for the benefit of shippers and railroads alike."
Thune and Nelson's bill would allow board members to work together in a more streamlined approach. Their bill would expand the STB board membership from three to five members, and allow for board members to discuss pending matters without issuing a public meeting notice, but with later public disclosure. The bill would also allow the board to initiate some investigations, not just respond to complaints, and would require the STB to establish a database of complaints and prepare quarterly reports on them.
Thune and Nelson's bill would also change the case review process by requiring the board to establish timelines for stand-alone rate cases and a report on rate case methodology. The bill would codify an arbitration process for certain rate disputes and carrier complaints.
Beef Fuels New York City
The beef industry reached more than 30,000 athletes, their friends and families attending the 2015 United Airlines NYC Half Marathon Health & Fitness Expo in Manhattan March 12-14, thanks to a first-time sponsorship by the national beef checkoff, in partnership with the New York and South Dakota beef councils.
As part of its Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative, the checkoff set the stage for participation at the half marathon and expo in New York City by partnering with online retail giant Fresh Direct on a ‘healthy eating’ promotion featuring the top sirloin and tenderloin. The promotion included on-pack recipe and nutrition labels, sales on both beef cuts, checkoff recipes on the retailer’s blog and digital ads highlighting the lean beef cuts. Additionally, a $5-off coupon on purchase of fresh beef at Fresh Direct was distributed to race expo attendees.
State and national checkoff staff were joined by Demi Snider of Hardin County, Ohio, a member of the 2015 National Beef Ambassador Team, and Emily Line of Carlisle, Pa., a member of the Penn State Collegiate CattleWomen and a graduate of the checkoff’s “Millennial-2-Millennial” training program.
“In such a health-conscious city, it is very important to promote beef as a protein to runners, especially as an excellent recovery protein with necessary vitamins and nutrients such as zinc, iron and B vitamins,” Snider said after the event. “Educating athletes and having hands-on interactive beef activities at the race expo is important as we continue to reach a vast number of consumers and athletes and promote the essential nutrients beef provides before, during, and after the race.”
Expo-goers interacted with checkoff staff through a spice-bar activity allowing them to make a sample of beef chili seasoning, courtesy of the New York Beef Industry Council. Participants were invited to share a photo of their beef chili creation as part of a post-event “Chill-Out” Instagram contest using #BeefFuelsNYC with their contest post for a chance to win a chili prize pack.
Nearly 20,000 runners completed the 13.1-mile distance, including Team Beef members from Texas, Pennsylvania and New York.
U.S. biodiesel and renewable diesel imports decline 36% in 2014
U.S. Energy Information Administration
After reaching record levels in 2013, United States imports of biomass-based diesel fuel (both biodiesel and renewable diesel) fell 36%, to 333 million gallons in 2014. Uncertainty surrounding future Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) targets and the absence of a late-year influx of volumes from Argentina were two main factors in this decline.
The strongest drivers of the resurgence in U.S. biomass-based diesel demand since 2012 have been increasing RFS targets and the on-again, off-again biodiesel tax credit. Biodiesel and renewable diesel are valuable because they qualify for the two major renewable fuel programs in the United States: the RFS applied at the national level, and California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). Biomass-based diesel fuels have additional advantages over other renewable fuels because of their relatively high energy content and low carbon intensity, which allow them to qualify for higher credit values in both renewable fuel programs.
Both biodiesel and renewable diesel fuels are produced from refining vegetable oils or animal fats. Biodiesel is blended with petroleum diesel up to 5% or 20% by volume (referred to as B5 and B20, respectively). Renewable diesel is a diesel-like fuel that meets specifications for use in existing infrastructure and diesel engines, and thus is not subject to any blending limitations.
While the RFS is meant to encourage the production and consumption of renewable fuels, obligations for 2014 still have not been finalized and those for 2015 have not yet been proposed. The initial proposal for the 2014 RFS program year, released in November 2013, stated that the 2014 biomass-based diesel obligation would remain unchanged from its 2013 value at 1.28 billion gallons, while the advanced biofuels obligation would be reduced to 2.2 billion gallons, down from 2.75 billion gallons in 2013. The uncertainty and proposed lower target levels have made it difficult for refiners to comply with the RFS recently, but the flexibility and value of biomass-based diesel volumes towards all obligation levels make it a strong driver of biodiesel consumption as long as the RFS is still active.
Two other factors help explain lower biomass-based diesel imports in 2014. In late 2013, there was a surge of biodiesel imports from Argentina as a result of European Union (EU) antidumping duties placed on Argentine biodiesel. This action by the EU temporarily diverted large volumes of Argentine biomass-based diesel that were previously destined to be exported to Europe, Argentina's largest biodiesel export market, to the United States. U.S. imports of biodiesel from Argentina fell by 57% from 2013 to 52 million gallons in 2014.
Another factor was the expiration of the $1.00 per gallon biodiesel tax credit at the end of 2013. While the credit was retroactively restored at the end of 2014, the extent to which producers considered this outcome in making decisions during 2014 remains unknown. Still, relatively high diesel fuel prices for much of 2014 kept domestic biodiesel relatively economic to blend, supporting production at levels near those in 2013. Domestic biomass-based diesel production was sufficient to meet most of the proposed reduced RFS obligations in 2014, thus reducing the need for imports. Total imports of biodiesel and renewable diesel represented an average of 23% of domestic biomass-based diesel consumption in 2014, down from an average of 34% of consumption in 2013.
The 212 million gallons of biodiesel imported into the United States in 2014 was sourced primarily from Canada (47%), reclaiming its spot as the top U.S. supplier after being surpassed by Argentina in 2013. The remaining volumes of regular biodiesel imports entered the United States primarily on the East Coast, mostly from Indonesia and Argentina. U.S. renewable diesel imports reached 121 million gallons in 2013, down 42% from 2013. Slightly more than 92% of total U.S. renewable diesel imports came from Singapore and entered the United States primarily through West Coast ports, likely destined for California LCFS compliance.
Roundup a Carcinogen? Never Mind the Science…
L. Val Giddings, Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
Today, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has departed from the scientific consensus to declare glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup®, to be a class 2A “probable human carcinogen”. This contradicts a strong and long standing consensus supported by a vast array of data and real world experience, and comes from an organization that rarely addresses potential pesticide carcinogenicity, perhaps because the real concerns in this area are minimal, and lie elsewhere. The IARC statement is not the result of a thorough, considered and critical review of all the relevant data. It is beyond the pale.
A vast body of relevant information, including dozens of detailed genotoxicity, studies, animal bioassays, peer-reviewed publications and regulatory assessments, that show no evidence of carcinogenicity, and confirm its safety were presented to the IARC, but seem to have been ignored. On the other hand, witnesses report one paper so severely criticized and discredited that it was condemned by the scientific community and withdrawn by the publisher was actually taken on board by IARC.
That the IARC seems to have even considered such a fatally flawed and withdrawn paper triggers the Séralini Rule: “If you favorably cite the 2012 Séralini rats fed on Roundup® ready maize study, you just lost the argument.” The fact that IARC seems to be taking seriously this laughingstock publication suggests they have run thoroughly off the rails, gone beyond anything defensible as science, and well into fictional realms.
Scientific experts who have considered the body of relevant research do not agree with a categorization of glyphosate as carcinogenic for a very simple reason – it’s clearly not. There is nothing in the data to support such claims, and nothing in the deep reservoir of real world experience with glyphosate, to justify such a move. IARC did not consider any new research or data, and all the information they considered has already been evaluated by regulatory bodies around the world. The most recent of these reviews was conducted by Germany on behalf of the European Union.
IARC, a semi-autonomous “extension” of the World Health Organization, has been criticized before for advancing unsupportable conclusions reached using flawed methodology. But IARC’s assault on glyphosate breaks new ground, which is all the more ironic given its clearly superior safety profile compared to the likely alternatives. Glyphosate lacks the chemical structural characteristics of known carcinogens, and neither IARC nor anyone else has ever offered an even remotely plausible mechanism of carcinogenicity. No new data have been advanced to support this categorization, which can be reached only by ignoring and defying a vast body of data and experience. One might be forgiven for suspecting the intrusion of politics into the process; a suspicion not weakened by noting that one of the participants is employed by the Environmental Defense Fund, an organization of professional campaigners that has recently faced charges of manufacturing chemophobic alarms without scientific basis.
It seems IARC is in dire need of some adult supervision. Whether or not WHO finds the bureaucratic courage to apply such, and correct this policy miscarriage, remains to be seen. If they don’t will IARC start picking off the entire list of agrochemicals?
Welcome to the KTIC Agriculture Information blog!!! Check back here for the latest in ag news and information, from local events to international happenings and government reports that affect your operation. Please email with suggestions! -Chad Moyer, Farm Director, KTIC Radio
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