Tuesday August 7 Ag News

MARK WILKINS NAMED NEBRASKA CORN CHECKOFF PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR

Mark Wilkins, professor of biological systems engineering and food science and technology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, has been named Nebraska Corn Checkoff presidential chair.

The Nebraska Corn Board made a $2 million commitment to the University of Nebraska Foundation in 2014 to establish the permanently endowed chair. The endowment provides annual support to the university’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources for research and development related to corn demand.

“We’re excited to have Mark Wilkins as the first Nebraska Corn Checkoff Presidential Chair,” said David Merrell, chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board. “Our mission has always been focused on promoting the value of corn by creating opportunities. Through this position, we look forward to exploring new uses of corn that will benefit our state’s farmers and economy.”

Wilkins has been with the university since 2016. As director of the Industrial Agricultural Products Center, he works to build new partnerships across campus and with industry to develop new and innovative products that add value to agricultural crops.

“Developing new markets is critical to the long-term sustainability of the corn industry,” Wilkins said. “I look forward to working with university and industry partners to identify opportunities to increase the demand for corn, which will be beneficial for producers in Nebraska and beyond.”

Before coming to Nebraska, Wilkins was a professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering at Oklahoma State University, where he taught courses in bioprocessing, food processing and renewable energy. Wilkins holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural and biological engineering from Purdue University. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in agricultural engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

To learn more about the Industrial Agricultural Products Center, visit https://agproducts.unl.edu.



Long-Time NE Ethanol Board Administrator to Retire

Todd Sneller, administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board, will retire Sept. 14 after more than 40 years of service with the state of Nebraska.

Sneller started his career in 1976 as a staff assistant with the Agriculture Products Industrial Utilization Committee, now the Nebraska Ethanol Board. He left for a brief period from 1978 to spring 1979 to work as a business development consultant for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. In May 1979, the Nebraska Ethanol Board recruited him to serve as their administrator, a role he has held ever since.

“It has been my privilege to work with a host of forward-looking policymakers at the state and national level during my career,” Sneller said. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with top business leaders during the process of developing a new economic sector in the state.”

Starting his administrator career when the U.S. faced the third serious oil supply shortage of the 1970s, Sneller engaged in advancing ethanol from a concept to a partial replacement of fossil fuels. The U.S. gasoline supply now contains more than 10 percent ethanol and Nebraska ranks No. 2 nationally in ethanol production. The state has 25 plants with an annual production capacity of 2.5 billion gallons of ethanol.

“Nebraska’s ethanol industry generates more than $5 billion annually,” Sneller said. “That economic impact in concert with the corn, livestock and bio-products sectors plays a significant role in the economy of Nebraska and in agriculture specifically. Perhaps most importantly, ethanol plants greatly contribute to the economic health of the Nebraska counties where they reside.”

The Nebraska Ethanol Board selected Sarah Thornton Caswell of Omaha as the next administrator. Caswell has extensive experience in the bio-industry sector and recently served as vice president of Government and Regulatory Affairs for Edeniq, a technology firm serving the biofuels industry. Caswell earned her juris doctor from American University’s Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C., and is a member of the Illinois Bar. She will assume the role of board administrator Sept. 17.

“Todd’s contributions to ethanol development extend beyond Nebraska, but his dedicated efforts in the state have helped create a new economic sector,” said Jan tenBensel, Nebraska Ethanol Board chairman. “We are pleased to have Sarah Caswell take the reins as the Board continues to advance into bio-products created from the ethanol platform.”



Seaboard Triumph Foods receives “Pride of Sioux City: Business Beautification Award”

Seaboard Triumph Foods (STF) received the “Pride of Sioux City: Business Beautification Award” from the Sioux City Economic Development Department. Presented at City Hall on Aug. 6 at the Sioux City Council meeting, the award recognizes Sioux City employers who show pride in the appearance of their business property.

“We’re extremely honored to be nominated and chosen to receive this award, especially as a pork processing facility,” said Tori O’Connell, Seaboard Triumph Foods communications coordinator. “We credit our entire leadership team, maintenance team and local property management firm, The Claussen Group, for their pride in being good stewards in our community.”

The award was given for the pork processing plant’s July 2018 patriotic landscape design that featured patriotic flower planters, building flags, luscious front lawn, and more.

“The Design-Build-Manage process our firm uses to work with our clients builds a working environment which allows for long-term successful partnership,” said Chief Operating Officer of The Claussen Group, Chris Roan.

Mayor Bob Scott presented the award to company officials. Award winners are selected by a committee comprised of local business professionals and city staff from a list of nominations. Businesses are evaluated for several elements, including cleanliness, safety, creativity, signage, sense of community, accordance with city’s zoning code, and overall appearance.

The Seaboard Triumph Foods Sioux City plant is equally owned by strategic partners Seaboard Foods and Triumph Foods who connect every step between farms and family tables around the world to produce wholesome pork products, while ensuring the well-being of its animals, the environment, employees and communities.



Dairy Farm Stress Webinar Series Now Archived

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach hosted a series of three webinars that discussed how to recognize the signs of stress, how to deal with dairy farm families experiencing stress, analyzing a dairy for profits, the profitability of various dairy systems and what FINBIN says about production costs.

The webinars have been archived and remain available to be viewed through the Four-State Dairy Nutrition & Management Conference website at http://www.fourstatedairy.org/webinars.html

The topics discussed in the webinars include:
-    Recognizing and managing stress in dairy farmers.
-    Do you know your cost of production and where the dairy industry is headed?
-    Making production decisions during challenging times.

Farming is often listed as one of the most stressful occupations in the United States. This is particularly true for dairy farmers as they experience an extended period of low milk prices.

The webinars were presented and sponsored by extension specialists from ISU Extension and Outreach, University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin and University of Minnesota.

For more information contact ISU Extension and Outreach dairy specialists Larry Tranel at tranel@iastate.edu or 563-583-6496, Jenn Bentley at jbentley@iastate.edu or 563-382-2949 or Fred Hall at fredhall@iastate.edu or 712-737-4230.



New State Authority Over Local Waters a Boon to Farmers and Ranchers

The Trump administration’s decision to return water-permitting authority to more states means faster, better and more affordable decision-making for all Americans. Under terms of an agreement signed by the U.S. Army, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Justice Department and the White House, states can assume authority to issue permits for earth moving in and around regulated waterways, wetlands and land that sometimes channels water.

“The Clean Water Act was supposed to give states a real say in how water was regulated,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said. “Regular farming and ranching activities shouldn’t get tangled in bureaucratic red tape. Even so, only two states today―Michigan and New Jersey―have authority to issue permits to allow landowners to move soil that could potentially affect federally regulated waters. At least 14 more states have expressed interest in having those same powers, so today’s announcement takes us closer to [EMA1] how the law was intended to work.

“This is a major moment for federalism. Because permitting has been so complex and expensive, most farmers and ranchers have given up on exercising their rights under the law. This agreement is a step toward fully restoring the rule of law to environmental regulation.”



Deadline Approaches for Continuous Conservation Reserve Program Enrollment

Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Richard Fordyce reminded producers today that the deadline to sign up for enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is Friday, Aug. 17, 2018.

“Any agricultural producer that has eligible land should review the benefits of this program,” said Fordyce.  “It removes from production marginal, erodible land and, in doing so, improves water quality, increases wildlife habitat and provides more opportunities for recreational activities, including fishing, hunting and wildlife viewing.”

For this year’s signup, limited priority practices are available for continuous enrollment. They include grassed waterways, filter strips, riparian buffers, wetland restoration and others. View a full list of practices.

FSA will use updated soil rental rates to make annual rental payments, reflecting current values. It will not offer incentive payments as part of the new signup.

USDA will not open a general signup this year, however, a one-year extension will be offered to existing CRP participants with expiring CRP contracts of 14 years or less.
CRP Grasslands

Additionally, FSA established new ranking criteria for CRP grasslands. To guarantee all CRP grasslands offers are treated equally, applicants who previously applied (prior to the current sign-up period) will be asked to reapply using the new ranking criteria.
About CRP

In return for enrolling land in CRP, USDA, through FSA on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), provides participants that remove sensitive lands from production and plant certain grasses, shrubs and trees that improve water quality, prevent soil erosion and increase wildlife habitat with annual rental payments and cost-share assistance. Landowners enter into contracts that last between 10 and 15 years.

Signed into law by President Reagan in 1985, CRP is one of the largest private-lands conservation programs in the United States. Thanks to voluntary participation by farmers, ranchers and private landowners, CRP has improved water quality, reduced soil erosion and increased habitat for endangered and threatened species.

The new changes to CRP do not impact the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, a related program offered by CCC and state partners.

Producers wanting to apply for the CRP continuous signup or CRP grasslands should contact their USDA service center. To locate your local FSA office, visit https://www.farmers.gov. More information on CRP can be found at www.fsa.usda.gov/crp.



Farm Bureau Details Farm Bill Priorities

In light of the steep, ongoing downturn in the farm economy, growing farm debt and lost access in some of farmers’ and ranchers’ biggest international markets, on-time completion of the farm bill is a must, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

“The risk management programs in the farm bill help farmers deal with the shifting winds of agricultural markets and help our farmers compete against heavily subsidized commodities produced in foreign markets,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall wrote in a letter to House and Senate agriculture leaders. Both chambers have appointed their farm bill conferees, so work on a final bill is expected to soon begin.

The farm bill also helps farmers and ranchers weather natural disasters and provides a degree of certainty that in the event of a price decline or crop loss the operating loans needed to grow another crop, milk cows or care for livestock will come through, Duvall noted.

In the letter, the organization detailed aspects of the House and Senate farm bills it supports, such as improvements to the Price Loss Coverage program and the Agriculture Risk Coverage program, as well as those it opposes, like a mandatory base acre update.

Duvall said farmers and ranchers want to maintain funding for conservation programs and prioritize working lands. They do not support permanent Conservation Reserve Program easements or data-sharing practices that jeopardize privacy.

The availability of crop yield and/or revenue insurance is important to all growers, Duvall emphasized.

Regarding rural programs, farmers and ranchers are encouraging lawmakers to include in the farm bill a grant and loan program to assist with the establishment of agricultural association health plans, among other things.

On the regulatory reform front, the organization is calling for the removal of the national pollutant discharge elimination system permit requirement for approved pesticides and greater flexibility for the transportation of agricultural commodities and livestock, which should also include live fish and crawfish.

The group also highlighted specific concerns with the Senate farm bill conservation title, as it takes a significant step back from progress made in the 2014 farm bill.

“It adds multiple layers of bureaucratic hurdles and consultation requirements, and earmarks redirect funding away from on-the-ground conservation practices,” Duvall said.



U.S. Dairy Exports Extend Growth Streak During June

U.S. dairy marketers kept the growth streak alive during June despite new headwinds from tariffs. On a volume-basis, exports of whole milk powder nearly tripled compared to a year earlier while shipments of all other product categories, except modified whey, were above the prior-year level. In terms of value and volume, June marked the eighth consecutive month of growth in exports.

Marketers shipped 180,984 tons of milk powder, cheese, butterfat, whey products, and lactose during the month, 16 percent greater than in June 2017. U.S. exports were worth $481 million, 4 percent more than a year ago. In the first half of 2018, dairy exports totaled $2.904 billion, up 5 percent from the same period in 2017.

Exports of NFDM/SMP increased by 24 percent vs. June 2017 and totaled 57,018 tons. Shipments to Southeast Asia (+49 percent) and Mexico (+11 percent) drove the gains.



Farmers for Free Trade Statement on Imposition of $16 Billion in Additional Tariffs

"The White House is escalating the trade war while telling farmers to be patient as their prices plummet and their markets are overtaken by foreign competitors," said Farmers for Free Trade Executive Director Brian Kuehl. “That’s why with each new tariff announcement polls show the patience of American farmers wearing thin. Tariffs are causing long-term damage, not just to farming, but also to American manufacturers and consumers. Members of Congress from both parties are hearing from Americans that are angry about tariffs while they are back in their states and districts. It’s time to end the trade war before tariffs cause any more economic pain for America's heartland.”



Farm Bureau Denounces Gag Rule Against NC Farmers, Neighbors

A judge’s order that forbids farmers and their neighbors from discussing abusive and predatory litigation must be overturned, lawyers for the American Farm Bureau Federation and North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation wrote in a brief filed in federal court yesterday.

Even though their law-abiding farms have been branded a "nuisance" by trial lawyers seeking multimillion-dollar verdicts from urban juries, the farmers and their neighbors are barred from publicly discussing the conditions and practices on the farms and the devastating effects of the lawsuits on their rural communities. Trial lawyers actively solicited hundreds of plaintiffs to assert nuisance allegations in dozens of lawsuits against Murphy-Brown LLC. While the suits name only Murphy-Brown as a defendant, most of the farms are independently owned family farms, which stand to lose their contracts and potentially their livelihoods as a result of the litigation.

“The best-informed people to speak about the farms and communities affected by these lawsuits are the member-farmers who are themselves in the cross-hairs, along with their spouses, children, extended family, friends, and neighbors,” the brief said. “These people know better than anyone the stakes at issue in nuisance lawsuits, the damage they inflict on rural communities, the toll they take on farm families, and the most effective (and ineffective) strategies for dealing with them in and out of the courtroom.”

The brief denounced the chilling effect the gag order has on AFBF’s and NCFB’s First Amendment rights. According to the brief, “Neither AFBF nor NCFBF will be able to effectively educate its members on these issues, or effectively advocate for legislative solutions to lawsuit abuse aimed at responsible livestock farms, if it cannot hear and disseminate the words of its own members who have personally experienced these suits.” For these reasons, the gag order “is stifling [AFBF’s and NCFB’s] associational and expressive activities in clear and troubling ways” and unless overturned “it will continue to do so for years to come.”



U.S. Poultry Gains New Market Access in Morocco

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced today that the government of Morocco has agreed to allow commercial imports of U.S. poultry meat and products into Morocco for the first time.

“The Trump Administration continues to prioritize the opening of new markets for U.S. agricultural products.  This new access to the Moroccan market is an important step in ensuring that American farmers and ranchers can continue to expand their exports,” said Ambassador Lighthizer.  “I welcome Morocco’s agreement to allow imports of U.S. poultry meat and products and the economic opportunities that will be afforded to U.S. producers.”

“Opening new markets for American poultry and other agricultural products is a top priority. I am convinced that when the Moroccan people get a taste of U.S. poultry, they're going to want more of it,” said Secretary Perdue. “The products that will be imported into Morocco are safe, wholesome, and very delicious. This is also a good harbinger of the kind of relationship that can be developed. We hope there are other things we can cooperate on as USDA works to expand markets around the globe.”

The United States is the world’s second largest poultry exporter, with global sales of poultry meat and products of $4.3 billion last year.  In May 2018, U.S. exports of agricultural products exceeded $12 billion (latest data available). Initial estimates indicate that Morocco would be a $10 million market, with additional growth over time.  Morocco had prohibited imports of U.S. poultry.  Officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture worked with the Moroccan government to provide assurances on the safety of U.S. poultry. 



USDA Inspectors Pressured to Keep Line Speeds Up Under Privatized Inspection System
FWW press release

Today, advocacy group Food & Water Watch sent a letter to USDA’s Acting Under Secretary for Food Safety to draw attention to a disturbing situation taking place in many large poultry slaughter plants, where USDA inspectors with the agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) are being pressured by their supervisors not to stop slaughter lines when problems occur.

The letter outlines what is occurring in many poultry slaughter plants that are participating in the New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS), which allows company employees to perform food safety inspection tasks that were formerly the responsibility of USDA inspectors.

“When the USDA launched this new privatized inspection system, it did not require company employees to receive additional training before getting responsibility for sorting out potentially unsafe meat,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “But now we are hearing from USDA inspectors that company employees in some plants miss so many defective carcasses that the USDA inspectors at the end of the line have to stop to make sure they don’t reach consumers.”

"I have been an inspector for over 30 years and inspection has deteriorated because FSIS management has permitted it to do so,” said Stan Painter, Chairman of the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Local Unions. “We are rapidly heading backwards to The Jungle of 1906."

The problems that company employees are supposed to catch include visible fecal contamination on the carcass, scabs, burns, bruises, tumors, exudate (pus), sores, and breast blisters. Inspectors in some NPIS plants have reported being admonished by USDA supervisors for stopping the line too frequently and having company management monitor the number of times they stop the line.

The plants where these problems have been occurring were part of the original pilot program for privatized inspection, the HACCP-based Inspection Models Project, and are allowed to operate at line speeds of 175 birds per minute. The USDA has announced that it intends to move forward with expanding the number of NPIS plants that can increase their line speeds to 175 birds per minute. These reports come after the recent suspension of an establishment in Mississippi that was also part of the original HIMP pilot. The group urged USDA to thoroughly analyze the problems happening in these plants before moving forward with any expansion of line speed waivers for NPIS plants.

“It is no surprise that these problems have surfaced in plants that were part of the original pilot program for privatized inspection, which lets the plants run at elevated line speeds,” said Hauter. “Rather than trying to blame inspectors for protecting consumers, USDA needs to figure out what is going wrong with company self-inspection in these plants.”