Wednesday March 4 Ag News

NEBRASKA FARM REAL ESTATE VALUES SLIP 3 PERCENT IN LAST YEAR

After five years of increases in Nebraska farmland values, the state average dropped 3 percent, according to preliminary findings released today by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

      The state average farmland value as of Feb. 1 was $3,210 per acre, down 3 percent from the 2014 average of $3,416. Average farmland values in six of the state's eight districts (illustrated in the accompanying state map) decreased or remained the same.

      The average land value in the southwest district increased by 4 percent to $2,055 an acre while the value in the north district increased 7 percent to $1,300.

      Average farmland values for the other six districts and the percentage decrease from 2014 were: northwest, $855 (0); northeast, $6,320 (minus-2 percent); central, $3,995 (minus-5 percent); east, $6,570 (minus-10 percent); south, $4,785 (minus-1 percent); and southeast, $5,875 (minus-5 percent).

      Generally, grazing and haying land-use categories showed increases while irrigated and dryland cropland showed smaller increases or decreases. The statewide average value for hay land increased 20 percent from 2014, the highest of any statewide land use category. The state average for non-tillable grazing land increased 12 percent; tillable grazing land increased 7 percent.

      "Land classes that support the cow-calf industry are improving or holding steady due to a strong return in that market over the last one to two years," said Jim Jansen, UNL extension educator and co-author of the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Developments survey. 

      The survey covers the period from Feb. 1, 2014, to Feb. 1, 2015, and is reported in the current Cornhusker Economics, written by Jansen and Roger Wilson, UNL Farm Management Budget Analyst. The article is available online at agecon.unl.edu/cornhuskereconomics. Cornhusker Economics is a publication of the UNL Department of Agricultural Economics.

      "Irrigated crop ground classes, including center pivot or gravity irrigated, did not decline as quickly in value as the dryland categories. Their yields, and similarly their revenues, are not as variable as the dryland acres," Jansen said. "That's why we're still seeing some pretty strong values there."

      The state average decrease for gravity-irrigated land was 4 percent and for center pivot-irrigated land it was 2 percent, compared with a 10 percent decrease for dryland acres with irrigation potential and a 9 percent decrease for dryland acres with no irrigation potential.

      "Bearish comments reported by survey participants indicated lower expected grain and oilseed prices led to the lower tends in dryland cropland values in Nebraska," Jansen wrote.

      The higher grazing and hay land prices may reflect the $532.5 million in federal disaster relief that Nebraska livestock growers had received as of Jan. 6 for 2012-14 forage losses because of drought.

      "These payments lessened the impact of prior losses and may have provided financial incentive to expand cattle herds and add resources to change the size or scope of an operation," Jansen said.

      Comments from survey participants indicated a bullish outlook for classes of land that support the cow-calf industry and a more varied outlook for cropland where expectations were tied to the commodities being raised on the land.

      "Pasture and cow-calf pair rental rates continued to set new records for 2015," the authors reported. Cash rental rates for pasture in all regions increased, ranging from 4 percent in the north to 34 percent in the central and southwest. Cow-calf pair rental rates across Nebraska for the upcoming five-month grazing season in 2015 average about $50 per month or $250 for the season.

      Rates based on cow-calf pairs were unchanged in the central district but increased in all other districts, with the southwest, south and southeast showing the largest increases at 35, 45 and 50 percent, respectively.

      Changes in cash rental rates for cropland ranged from an increase of 5 percent for dryland parcels in central Nebraska to a drop of 18 percent for center pivot-irrigated cropland in the southwest district, with most cropland decreasing 5 to 15 percent.

      Land managers voiced concerns about increasing property taxes at a time when commodity prices had dropped and land prices were just starting to fall off, Jansen said.

      "Folks are trying to negotiate higher rents while tenants are feeling profit margins starting to decrease due to lower commodity prices, creating a tug-of-war throughout the crop and livestock land classes," he said.

      This may be a good year for landlords and tenants to look at the benefits of flexible cash leases, Jansen said. With flexible cash leases, both parties agree to a base rental rate and an additional amount that flexes around crop yield, crop price or crop revenue (yield times price). More information is available in the UNL publication Flexible Cash Leasing of Cropland at http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/ec862.pdf.

      Results are preliminary findings from the UNL 2015 Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey. 

      Land values and rental rates presented in the report are an average of survey participants' responses by district. Actual land values and rental rates may vary depending upon the quality of the parcel and local market for an area. Preliminary land values and rental rates are subject to change as additional surveys are returned. Final results will be published in early June and will be available electronically on the Nebraska Farm Real Estate website at http://agecon.unl.edu/realestate.html.



Nebraska Farmers Union Sponsors College Students Attendance to College Conference on Cooperatives
19 agricultural students and their professors from 3 different Nebraska Colleges traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota February 19-22 to learn about cooperatives under the guidance of Nebraska Farmers Union.  The participating colleges included Northeast Community College at Norfolk, Southeast Community College at Beatrice, and Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture at Curtis.  The College Conference on Cooperatives brought more than 150 attendees from 25 states and Puerto Rico.

The Cooperative Conference participants learned how cooperative businesses are adapting to changing environments and heard from cooperative experts from across the nation on why member-owned businesses are thriving in industries ranging from senior housing to healthcare. They also toured the CHS (Cenex Harvest States) Headquarters, housing coops, food coops, and the Mill City Flour Museum. “This is an opportunity for the cooperative community to teach young people about cooperative business principles and to show them that there are great careers in these dynamic, ethical and community-minded businesses,” said NFU President Roger Johnson.

Students heard from cooperative leaders, farmers and government experts who explained current challenges they face. Presenters ranged from members, directors, employees and managers of traditional and value-added agricultural cooperatives to representatives of housing and worker-owned co-ops, as well as consumer cooperatives such as REI outdoor goods and natural foods co-ops. These professionals offered insights on cooperative development here and abroad.

The conference evaluations revealed that 48% of the students in attendance were from farms or ranches, 17% were rural, 21% were from small towns, and the remaining 14% were urban. Picard said, “The College Cooperative Conference helps make more students aware career options and tools that can be used to create the economic opportunities needed to help our rural youth stay in their communities.   We are pleased to partner with these Nebraska colleges to help send Nebraska kids to this Conference.”

The annual College Cooperative Conference is co-sponsored by the CHS Foundation in cooperation with the National Farmers Union Foundation.  Nebraska Farmers Union was awarded a grant from the CHS Foundation to help defray the attendance costs for the Nebraska participants.



SOIL TEST NEW AND ESTABLISHED ALFALFA
Bruce Anderson, UNL Extension Forage Specialist

               Alfalfa is a hungry crop.  Proper fertilizing in spring often is needed to feed alfalfa so it will produce profitable yields.  So what are your fertilizer plans?

               How much fertilizer should you apply to alfalfa?  With increasing fertilizer costs and strong land use competition from other crops, the only way to answer that question intelligently is to first get a soil test.  Soil tests tell you the amount of each nutrient your soil can provide to your alfalfa plants.  Then you can determine how much more fertilizer, if any, should be applied for maximum profits.

               Remember that alfalfa gets most of its nitrogen from the air if the plant roots are well-nodulated.  So usually you are just wasting money and fertilizer if you fertilize with nitrogen.  However, all other nutrients must come from the soil or from fertilizer.

               Many soils in our region provide high quantities of most nutrients.  But very few soils provide all the nutrients needed for top alfalfa yields.  So fertilizer often is needed.

               Collect soil samples as soon as frost is gone from existing alfalfa fields and also from fields you expect to plant to alfalfa this spring or next fall.  Send these samples to a lab for analyses of at least phosphorus and soil pH.  If your field is sandy, eroded, or highly weathered, also test for potassium and sulfur.

               Most important of all, use the results of these soil tests, with advice from your extension educator and fertilizer dealer, to develop an alfalfa fertilizer program designed for your conditions.  Better alfalfa profits will be the result.



 Agriculture Under Secretary Scuse Leads USDA Trade Mission to Southeast Asia March 9-13

Leaders from six state agriculture departments and 21 U.S. agribusinesses and organizations will accompany U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary Michael Scuse on a trade mission to Southeast Asia from March 9 to March 13 to expand export opportunities for U.S. food and agricultural products in one of the world's fastest-growing markets.

"U.S. agricultural exports to Southeast Asia have been on the rise thanks to strong economic growth and increasing demand for high-value products in the region," said Scuse, who leads USDA's Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services mission area. "With this growth expected to continue, the region holds significant untapped market potential for U.S. exporters."

"I am especially pleased to be traveling with a broad cross-section of U.S. agricultural interests who represent every region of the country and will help me showcase the quality, variety and abundance of farm and food products produced for export by the United States," Scuse said.

Scuse noted that the majority of participating companies are small- or medium-sized enterprises and many are owned by women, minorities and veterans.

The delegation will travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Manila, Philippines, and will also meet with potential customers from Burma and Thailand while in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia, the Philippines, Burma and Thailand boast a combined population of 262 million. As members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), these countries are already strong trading partners of the United States. U.S. exports of food and agricultural products to the four countries have doubled over the past five years, from $2.7 billion in fiscal year 2009 to $5.4 billion in 2014.

Mission participants include representatives from the Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia departments of agriculture, as well as the following companies and organizations:
    Bridgepathway LLC; Jericho, N.Y.
    Case New Holland; New Holland, Pa.
    Consolidated Grain and Barge Co.; Princeton, Ill.
    Crown Nut Co.; Tracy, Calif.
    Garuda International, Inc.; Exeter, Calif.
    GEMCO; New York, N.Y.
    The Ginger People; Marina, Calif.
    Global Strategy Group/Greenfield Mills; Sunrise, Fla.
    Gray & Company; Portland, Ore.
    James Farrell & Co.; Seattle, Wash.
    JM Grain; Garrison, N.D.
    Kizable Kandy, LLC; Clearwater, Fla.
    Nebraska Farm Bureau; Lincoln, Neb.
    Platinum Trading; Alexandria, Va.
    Richmond Wholesale Meats/American Custom; Richmond, Calif.
    Robinson Fresh; Miramar, Fla.
    Sun Grape Marketing; Visalia, Calif.
    United Global Trading; Dallas, Tex.
    U.S. International Foods; St. Louis, Mo.
    USA Rice Federation; Arlington, Va.
    Quirch Foods; Medley, Fla.

USDA trade missions open doors and deliver results for U.S. exporters, giving them the opportunity to forge relationships with potential customers and foreign government officials, as well as to gather market intelligence that will help them develop strategies to expand their sales in key markets overseas. The next USDA trade mission will take place June 1 to June 5, 2015, to Panama and the Dominican Republic. Visit https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDAFAS/subscriber/new for more information or to sign up for an upcoming USDA trade mission.



AG SUPPLY CHAIN LEADERS CALL ON IOWA AG SUMMIT SPEAKERS, PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS TO SUPPORT CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE

Prominent leaders from agriculture's diverse value chain issued an open letter to policymakers and presidential hopefuls attending the first ever Iowa Ag Summit, urging them to consider Iowa's renewable energy record in wind, solar and biofuels as an example for clean energy policies for the nation.

"Iowa farmers have demonstrated they can fuel and feed the planet at the same time," said Ron Heck, an Iowa soybean and corn producer, a former president of the American Soybean Association and a founder of the 25x'25 Alliance. "We're number one in biofuels, number three in installed wind capacity, and installed our largest solar farm last year. We are harnessing homegrown energy in a manner that's good for farmers, the economy and the environment."

Notable signers to the letter, which urges "every single Iowa Ag Summit speaker to acknowledge the critical role wind, solar and biofuels play in building a strong, vibrant farming future for our nation," include the 25x'25 Alliance, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Farmers Union, the American Council on Renewable Energy, the National Corn Growers Association, the American Soybean Association, the National and Iowa Biodiesel Boards, the American Solar Energy Society, CropLife America, and Windustry.

Iowa ranks near the top in the United States in production of renewable energy. 

Biofuels industries have added $13.1 billion to Iowa's economy, generated $4.1 billion in new household income, and created and supported 62,000 jobs statewide. Overall, Iowa accounts for 30 percent of total U.S. biofuels production. 

The state obtains 27 percent of its total electricity generation from wind, the largest share among states in the nation and enough to power nearly 1.5 million homes. Iowa is host to 14 active wind-related manufacturing facilities in the state, which create and sustain jobs and strengthen the economy.

According to the Farmers Electric Cooperative, its solar farm in Johnson County will generate roughly enough electricity to power 120 homes out of the 650-home service area and reduce electricity costs for ratepayers.

"As the U.S. and other world economies move to a low carbon future, policymakers need look no further than Iowa for what a vibrant clean energy future can and should look like," said Ernie Shea, Project Coordinator for the 25x'25 Alliance, a coalition united behind the goal of securing 25 percent of the nation's energy needs from renewable sources by the year 2025. "Iowa's farmers have found a way to take advantage of abundant, economical, clean sources of energy. It is my hope that as the Summit convenes, national leaders will look toward Iowa as an example of what is possible for our clean energy future."

The Summit convenes on Saturday. Several presidential hopefuls have confirmed attendance, such as former governors Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee and Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, New York businessman Donald Trump and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.



Aquaculture Publications a Resource for Farmers Raising and Caring for Fish

Fish producers can stay current on the areas of fish health, feeding practices, water quality and water treatment by referring to the standard operating procedures for aquaculture outlined in new Iowa State University Extension and Outreach publications. The publications are available as free downloads from the ISU Extension Online Store at https://store.extension.iastate.edu/.

“Interest in indoor recirculating aquaculture in the north central part of the United States has greatly increased in the past several years,” said D. Allen Pattillo, extension fisheries specialist. Recirculating aquaculture is when the fish tank water is filtered by mechanical and biological processes to create a highly efficient, bio-secure and environmentally friendly method of livestock production.

A USDA report on the aquaculture industry released last year showed that the number of fish farms in Iowa jumped from 21 in 2005 to 31 in 2013. “Since fish farm numbers have increased in the past few years, it was time to get fisheries knowledge in the producer’s hands,” said Pattillo.

“Aquaculture in the Midwest has grown and matured in recent years,” said Joseph Morris, professor of Natural Resource Ecology and Management and the director of the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center at Iowa State. “At the same time, people are eating more fish, and there’s a growing acceptance of fish as a source of healthy protein.”

The North Central Regional Aquaculture Center advances emerging trends in the aquaculture industry and identifies research questions that will help the industry progress. The center gathers input from aquaculture producers in 12 Midwestern states and directs federal funds to research and extension projects. The ISU Extension and Outreach Value-Added Agriculture Program and the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center have closely worked with NCRAC and provide ongoing coordination and assistance for Iowa’s developing aquaculture industry.

The aquaculture publication series was developed to help educate new and beginning farmers on critical aspects of recirculating aquaculture and to get a jump-start on business planning and management through fact sheets, standard operating procedures and records management templates.



Pork Groups Urged Congress To Pass TPA

The National Pork Producers Council and 39 state pork associations today urged Congress to approve legislation renewing Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) so that major trade deals can be finalized and implemented to help the U.S. economy. Failure to do so would allow other countries to write the rules for international trade, according to the organizations.

TPA defines U.S. negotiating objectives and priorities for trade agreements and establishes consultation and notification requirements for the president to follow throughout the negotiation process. Once trade negotiators finalize a deal, Congress gets to review it and vote yes or no – without amendments – on it. Congress has granted TPA to every president since 1974, with the most recent law being approved in August 2002 and expiring June 30, 2007.

In a letter sent today to all 535 congressional lawmakers, the pork organizations pointed to the benefits of agricultural exports, which have nearly quadrupled in value since 1989 – the year the United States began using bilateral and regional trade agreements to open foreign markets – topping a record $152.5 billion in 2014, and of pork exports, which have increased 1,550 percent in value and 1,268 percent in volume over the same period. The United States shipped more than $6.6 billion of pork to foreign destinations in 2014.

To grow pork exports, which support more than 110,000 U.S. jobs, NPPC and the state pork associations have been pressing the Obama administration to conclude a good deal in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, a 12-nation Asia-Pacific trade agreement. If approved, it would be the most significant commercial opportunity ever for U.S. pork producers, generating more than 10,000 pork industry jobs.

“But to realize the tremendous potential of TPP,” the groups said in their letter, “we need Congress to pass TPA. Once it does, it will allow nations to cut to their bottom line negotiating position in TPP.

“If Congress does not pass TPA, we will not empower our TPP negotiating partners to get to their last and best position. Instead, we will signal to the world that the United States is turning its back on the Asia-Pacific region, the fastest growing economic region in the world. And it will signal that we are willing to allow other nations to write the rules of trade,” the organizations concluded.



Registration Open for A Challenge for Tomorrow Seminar Offered by Zoetis

Registration is open for A Challenge for Tomorrow, a seminar offered at no charge by Zoetis. This special discussion about the future of food is taking place as a breakfast session during the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Midwest Section meeting. The session will start at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 18, 2015, at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center in Des Moines, Iowa.

This symposium is ideal for pork industry professionals who want to be more engaged in the conversation about food safety and security.

A Challenge for Tomorrow will feature Glynn Tonsor, PhD, associate professor and Extension specialist, Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University. Dr. Tonsor knows the pork industry well. He grew up on a farrow-to-finish farm in Missouri before studying agribusiness and agricultural economics at Missouri State University and Kansas State University, respectively. Dr. Tonsor has studied and speaks about a variety of food industry topics, such as the meat supply chain, economics, food safety, consumer demand and technology acceptance.

“As consumers are further removed from agriculture, we need to be fully transparent, explain what we do to provide affordable, safe food and engage with them via the communication platforms they are utilizing today,” said Gloria Basse, vice president, U.S. Pork Business, Zoetis. “Zoetis is pleased to facilitate Dr. Tonsor’s message to inspire Midwest ASAS attendees to look at their actions in a new light.”

To register for A Challenge for Tomorrow, visit www.asas.org or bit.ly/AChallengeforTomorrow. You do not need to be registered for the Midwest ASAS meeting in order to attend this seminar. If you have already registered for Midwest ASAS but not A Challenge for Tomorrow, please add this seminar to your registration. For more information on the seminar, contact Cheryl O’Brien at cobrien@bader-rutter.com.



Commodity Classic Reaches New Heights in 2015

With nearly 8,000 total attendees, the 2015 Commodity Classic convention and trade show, which took place last week in Phoenix, Arizona, shattered previous records for the landmark event.

“The 2015 Commodity Classic was a terrific event for our growers and all involved,” said Commodity Classic Co-Chair Sam Butler. “We know it wasn’t just getting away from the weather for a sunnier climate. Our farmers were actively engaged in everything the landmark event had to offer, with many arriving early for policy sessions and coming to association meetings on a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon in Phoenix.”

Total attendance was 7,936, more than 600 over the previous record, 7,325, set in 2014. Other records broken were the number of growers, at 4,328 (compared to 3,874 in 2014); and the number of first-time attendees, at 1,409 (compared to 1,261 in 2014).  Additionally, the trade show featured an all-time high of 355 participating companies, representing a record 170,500 net square feet of booth space. In 2014, 301 exhibitors used 126,200 net square feet.

“The number of first-time attendees we saw at this year’s Classic was important to us,” Commodity Classic Co-Chair Bart Schott said. “It shows that growers are spreading the word about the value of the Commodity Classic experience – and that they appreciate how the world-class educational and networking opportunities help them back home.”



Regulatory Relief in Newly Introduced Bill is Welcome News for USCHI

Legislation has been introduced in the US House and Senate that would eliminate a burdensome regulation for custom harvesters and others in the agriculture industry. This regulation requires producers and agriculture professionals to obtain a hazardous material endorsement before transporting diesel fuel.

“We’ve been fighting this for 23 years,” explains Tracy Zeorian, executive secretary, US Custom Harvesters, Inc., “We can only haul up to 119 gallons of diesel fuel without a hazardous material endorsement on a Class A CDL; this is a regulation that needs to change.”

This bill has been introduced by Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), and Jerry Moran (R-KS). Representatives Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) and Collin Peterson (D-MN) are expected to introduce the companion legislation in the House. The legislation exempts farmers, ranchers and agribusiness representatives from the requirement to obtain a hazardous material endorsement when hauling 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel or less, if the diesel fuel is clearly marked.

USCHI is praising the lawmakers for introducing this legislation and hope to finally see an end to this burdensome regulation.



Ethanol Stocks Ease Off 3-Year High

The Energy Information Administration released data midmorning Wednesday showing ethanol inventories in the United States eased off a three-year high last week as domestic production fell and blending demand edged up.

Total ethanol stocks fell 100,000 barrels (bbl) to 21.5 million bbl during the week-ended Feb. 27, although up 4.9 million bbl or 29.6% from a year earlier. The weekly decline was registered in PADD 2 Midwest region, where inventories were at 7.4 million bbl.

Plant production fell for the second-week running, down 16,000 barrels per day (bpd), or 2.0%, last week to 931,000 bpd while up 4.1% year-over-year. The four-week average output rate was up 5.5% from year prior.

Blender inputs, a proxy for ethanol demand, edged up 1,000 bpd to 846,000 bpd, while unchanged on year-over-year basis. The four-week average input rate was up 2.0% from year prior.

EIA reported implied demand for motor gasoline decreased 285,000 bpd to 8.63 million bpd, although 2.6% higher than the same week last year.'



Brazil Highways Clear Wednesday

For the first time in two weeks, Brazil's highways were free of blockades, allowing the free flow of soybeans to ports, crushers and meat plants and diesel to harvesting soy farmers.

But the protests aren't over, merely suspended until next week to give President Dilma Rousseff time to respond to demands for lower diesel prices and higher base freight rates, according to trucker leaders in the south of the country.

Still, the suspension came just in time for soybean exporters as supplies of beans were running perilously low at Paranagua and Rio Grande ports.

Meanwhile, crushers and meat plants will be able to resume operations.

The Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA) estimates the blockades caused around R$700 million ($234 million) in losses to the pork and poultry industry. Many plants had to suspend production and lost animals because of lack of grain and an inability to send trucks to customers.

Diesel has been reaching Mato Grosso farmers this week, allowing them to forge ahead with soybean harvest and second-crop corn planting efforts.



Dartmouth-Led Team Identifies Circadian Clock Gene That Strengthens Crop Plant

Dartmouth researchers and their colleagues have identified a circadian clock gene that helps a key crop plant to withstand extreme cold and salty conditions, which could help to develop hardier crops with improved yield. The next step is to extend these studies to corn, rice, wheat and soybean, the world’s four major crops.

The study appears in the journal PNAS. 

The circadian clock coordinates the timing of many aspects of plant growth and performance. The researchers identified a gene called GIGANTEA as responsible for natural variation in the circadian clock in Brassica rapa, a species of field mustard from which turnips, cabbages and other vegetables have been developed. Specifically, they identified the nucleotide (individual letter in the DNA encoding GIGANTEA) responsible for this alteration in circadian clock function. The researchers showed that different versions of the GIGANTEA gene affect many aspects of plant performance, including flowering timing, seedling development and resistance to environmental stresses like extreme cold and high salt.

Increases in agricultural productivity have greatly reduced the number of people worldwide without enough food, but one billion remain underfed and twice that many suffer from nutrition deficiencies. Predicted growth in population will require an estimated doubling of crop production by 2050, but yield trends for corn, rice, wheat and soybean, which currently produce nearly two-thirds of global agricultural calories, are insufficient to achieve this doubling. One strategy to increase yield is to identify genetic variation in plant regulatory networks that limit yield in order to define targets for molecular breeding. One such target is the circadian clock, which affects influences plant development in both natural and cultivated settings.

“Our results show that different forms of the GIGANTEA gene can affect many aspects of plant performance, so our findings will enable plant breeders to select for improved stress tolerance or improved flowering characteristics by deliberately choosing a specific form of the GIGANTEA gene,” says senior author Rob McClung, a professor of biological sciences at Dartmouth. “We propose that our results can be generalized to other crops: Natural variation of clock genes in general offers an attractive target for breeders to develop crops with enhanced stress tolerance and improved yield.”



McDonald's Eyes Antibiotic-Free Chicken

McDonald's Corp. said its U.S. restaurants will stop selling chicken raised with antibiotics that are important to human health, one of the biggest moves yet by a major food company to address growing concerns over antibiotic-resistant "super bugs."

McDonald's on Wednesday said it plans to make the changes over the next two years, working with its chicken suppliers, which include Tyson Foods Inc., the largest U.S. meatpacker. The world's largest restaurant chain said it would continue to permit the responsible use of antibiotics known as ionophores, which aren't used in human medicine, by its chicken suppliers.

The announcement comes just three days after Steve Easterbrook took over as McDonald's chief executive vowing significant change at the fast-food giant to reverse two years of worsening sales declines that culminated in the retirement of his predecessor, Don Thompson. Mr. Easterbrook in recent weeks has told analysts that he sees himself as an "internal activist" who plans to create a "modern, progressive burger company," and observers have been anticipating possible changes to the company's ingredients to improve consumers' views of its food.