Boulder Council Says ‘No’ to Biotech Crops

Photo by Mark Leffingwell: Meredith Frantz leans forward to look through the glass doors of the 3rd floor hearing room to watch the hearing on Roundup Ready Sugar Beets from the hallway with dozens of others who couldn't fit into the room at the Boulder County Courthouse in Boulder

After 7 hours of testimony and debate, members of the Boulder County Food and Ag Policy Council recommended against allowing the cultivation of Roundup Ready sugarbeets on county open space land by a vote of 10-3

With dozens of citizens present for the hearing, public testimony began at 5:30 and stretched well into the 11 o’clock hour. 45 members of the community were present to oppose a request by 6 farmers to allow the cultivation of the beets. 11 farmers and other community members supported the farmer’s request.

The six farmers have argued that they need to plant GMO beets to remain competitive, since the modified seeds increase yield and decrease pesticide and labor costs. Proponents of GMO sugar beets also say that the crop requires both less herbicides and less plowing than conventionally-grown crops, ultimately protecting soil fertility.

In the end, the majority of council members were not swayed by those arguments, at least not in the face of vigorous public opposition. But even council members who voted against the beets seemed to agree with council member Matt Pierce on one point: the public doesn’t seem to know much about farming.

The county commissioners will make the final decision at their meeting Aug. 25, taking into account the conflicting opinions of the council and the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee, which voted to recommend the genetically modified sugar beets at a meeting last week.

Tune into the Pulse on Monday to hear audio of some public comments both for and against the proposal. We will also have clips of State Women’s Committee member Amber Clay’s testimony before the Council.

House Passes Food Safety Bill

The House passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 2749) Thursday on a mostly party line vote of 283-142. The Senate must now act on the House bill or take up a food safety bill of its own; the American Farm Bureau Federation expects the Senate will use S. 510 introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) as its legislative vehicle rather than the House bill.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) was successful in obtaining exemptions from most of the bill’s provisions for farms. The Agriculture Department will continue to regulate feed grain farms and livestock and poultry operations, rather than FDA.

AFBF continues to remain neutral on the House bill. While improvements have been made, AFBF believes some outstanding issues remain to be resolved. For example, AFBF is still concerned about the impact of the legislation on growers of fruits and vegetables.

“There are problems at the FDA that need to be fixed, but we don’t need to create a whole new system,” said Kelli Ludlum, AFBF director of congressional relations, in an interview with the Des Moines Register.

There is no timeline for Senate action, but both Durbin and the bipartisan leadership of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee have indicated they intend to complete healthcare reform before beginning consideration of any food safety measure.

Michigan Livestock Care Measure Passes Hurdle

Comprehensive standards for farm animal care are one step closer to state law in Michigan. Redrafted House Bills 5127 and 5128 were passed by the Michigan House Agriculture Committee Thursday.

The bills, supported by Michigan Farm Bureau and thirteen other ag groups, provide a solid framework to assure consumers that Michigan livestock have been raised with the highest safety and accountability standards. The re-drafted bills address previous objections raised by opponents. These measures closely mirror the proposed November ballot question in Ohio.

Jim Spink testifies in support of the legislation, refuting claims that the bills are designed for "industrial farms." Spink raises about 50 head of dairy steers and heifers and considers himself a "small farmer."

H.B. 5128 would put into law voluntary industry guidelines for farm animals’ care — ranging from how much living space they need to slaughter practices — and require audits of livestock farms. A 12-member council would review and possibly recommend updated animal care standards at least every five years.

H.B. 5127 Introduced by Rep. Mike Simpson (D) on June 23, 2009, will impose and enforce farm animal care regulations on agricultural producers, and impose fees on farms sufficient to pay for this new regulatory regime. At first the regulations would be those created by producer organizations, but the Michigan Department of Agriculture would have the power to create and enforce its own. The department would be empowered to impose “a progressive enforcement mechanism” on violators to bring about compliance.

Farmers See Prices Tank For Carbon Credits

One of the biggest fronts in the battle against Cap and Trade legislation has been the debate over just how much money in carbon credits the ag community stands to make under the proposal. The USDA analysis seems to think that the estimated $50 million in carbon credit payments the industry stands to receive under the program will offset the estimated increase in energy costs. Without going into an extended analysis about the false assumptions built into the EPA and USDA calculations, Colorado Farm Bureau has held from the start that the exact opposite is true.

In fact, any payments that the industry stands to receive will be far outstripped by the skyrocketing energy costs and reduction in GDP that the country will experience under the Cap and Trade scheme. Not only will many producers have difficulty in implementing carbon capture technology and strategies (planting trees, no-till, fallow, methane digesters, etc.) but the price of the carbon credits that farmers will be able to trade is grossly overestimated. Farmers are already seening the value of carbon offset credits drop to near worthless levels.

According to the AP…

Farmers enrolled in a program that rewards them for reducing greenhouse gasses are finding the market for their carbon credits has shrunk amid the recession and uncertainty about climate legislation being crafted by Congress.

Carbon dioxide credits are fetching about 60 cents a metric ton, down from a high of about $7 a year ago, according to the National Farmers Union, which runs the program.

Colorado Ag Seeks to Increase Trade with Cuba

The Denver Post reports that officials at the Colorado Department of Agriculture are looking for ways to open up more agricultural trade with the nation of Cuba, a practice banned by the Owens administration. Cuba’s demand for American foodstuffs has grown from $6 million in 2001 to $700 million in 2008 and Colorado can no longer afford to ignore such a market. The Colorado Department of Agriculture is seeking partner organizations who can help with the logistics of coordinating a trade delegation to the island.

The Post writes that…

Tim Larsen, the state Agriculture Department’s senior international marketing specialist, is leading Colorado’s exploration of the Cuban market with the support of many farm and business interests across the state.

“We’re complying with U.S. regulations in a growth market,” Larsen said. “The mood is changing about Cuba. Do we position ourselves to take advantage of it now, or do we wait?”

Colorado companies already sell some products to Cuba — about $1 million worth in 2008 — all of them exempt from the long-standing U.S. trade embargo.

Since 2000, when Congress exempted agricultural and medical products from the embargo, at least 21 states have led trade missions to the island nation with varying degrees of success.

Study: ‘Organic Has No Health Benefits’

The BBC writes…

Organic food is no healthier than ordinary food, a large independent review has concluded.

There is little difference in nutritional value and no evidence of any extra health benefits from eating organic produce, UK researchers found.

The Food Standards Agency who commissioned the report said the findings would help people make an “informed choice”.

“Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically over conventionally produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority.”

Peter Melchett, policy director at the Soil Association said they were disappointed with the conclusions.

“The review rejected almost all of the existing studies of comparisons between organic and non-organic nutritional differences.

Of particular interest are the audio clips accompanying the story. The BBC did short-takes on what people thought of the results of the study and their answers were very interesting. 

Activists Step Up Opposition to Roundup Ready Sugarbeets

Anti-Agriculture activists in Boulder County have stepped up their efforts in the media to slander and malign sugarbeet production on open space land. Activists are lining up to attack the Roundup Ready Sugarbeets that local farmers have requested permission to produce on county-owned open space land.

The Boulder Daily Camera has a story on sweeteners in their Food section that examines the environmental impact of sugar production from various sources. It focuses heavily on the energy required to produce and refine each type of sugar; as if no other food crop requires energy to grow and refine.

The Boulder Daily Camera also reports this morning about 40 people protested genetically modified sugar beets Wednesday morning, waving “No GMO” signs as cars sped through the intersection of Broadway and Canyon in Boulder.

The Denver Post also reports on a group called Transition Colorado who is sponsoring a screening of the radical French-made documentary film “The World According to Monsanto” at the Nomad Theater in Boulder.

In the film, Monsanto is portrayed as an international conglomerate bent on controlling the world’s food production.

“The film is pretty strong,” said Michael Brownlee of Transition Colorado in Boulder. “It’s the kind of film that, like many have said, can inspire a whole new generation of farmers.”

A spokesman for Monsanto said the film is so biased that the company prefers to not even legitimize it with a formal response.

It should be noted that Michael Brownlee is also a member of the Boulder County Food and Ag Policy Council. The Council will rule on the Boulder farmers request tomorrow, Friday July 30th.

Cynthia Torres, another member of the Council has written a blog post about her experience so far in dealing with the controversy.

The ruling from both the Food and Ag Policy Council and the Boulder County Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee will be taken into consideration by the Boulder County Comissioners who will issues a final ruling on the request on August 25th.

The Open Space Committee has already issued a favorable recommendation to the Commissioners.

New Mexican Truck Rules May Ease Export Tensions

The Washington Times reports that a plan containing guidelines on getting Mexican trucks back on U.S. highways has gone through bureaucratic review, the first step toward ending Mexican tariffs on $2.4 billion worth of U.S. goods. The plan would help alleviate tariffs on at least $900 million in U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico, a large share of which is held by Colorado.

The tariffs were imposed by the government of Mexico under NAFTA guidelines after President Obama signed legislation that, among other things, ended the pilot program for Mexican trucks, Mexico quickly implemented the retaliatory tariffs, affecting 89 U.S. agricultural and industrial products from 40 states.

The sanctions have caused major headaches for both manufacturers and agricultural producers and business interests across the country are encouraged by the possibility of the ending of sanctions. A June 8 letter from 24 U.S. legislators to Mr. Obama noted that “many companies are being forced to shift production abroad or simply stop shipments.

Over $1.5 billion in U.S. manufactured products and $900 million in U.S. agriculture products are impacted by the retaliatory tariffs.”

Colorado agricultural exports have been hurt as well. Our state id the single largest exporter of potatoes and they now face a 20% tariff when crossing the southern border. Colorado also exports large amounts of onions and sunflower seeds to Mexico and tariffs on those products will hurt Colorado producers.

California Farm Bureau Federation sent a letter to the president last month warning that California agriculture alone stands to lose up to half of its exports to Mexico and that entire markets could be eliminated for some commodities.

In a sharp policy reversal, Debbie Mesloh, a spokeswoman for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, told the Associated Press that Obama has asked the office to work with Congress, the DOT, the State Department and Mexican officials to come up with legislation to create “a new trucking project that will meet the legitimate concerns” of Congress and the U.S. under the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. The proposal to re-start the program has gone through the inter-agency review process and is ready to be presented to congress.

Removing ‘Navigable’ From CWA Creates Regulatory Quicksand

Legislation that would remove the word “navigable” from the Clean Water Act (CWA) and allow the Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency to regulate all interstate and intrastate waters could put farmers in “regulatory quicksand,” according to Missouri Farm Bureau President Charlie Kruse.

The Clean Water Restoration Act will make virtually any 'wet spot' in the country subject to federal regulatory authority.

Testifying on behalf of the American Farm Bureau Federation before the House Small Business Committee, Kruse, a Dexter, Mo. corn producer, said the bill leads to increased compliance costs, burdensome permit processes and extends the reach of the Clean Water Act to any body of water in the United States.

Kruse cited a number of cases that point out the hurdles farmers across the country will face if the Clean Water Restoration Act (S. 787) is approved. In one example, Kruse told the account of a small farmer in Minnesota who wanted to improve existing drainage on 11 acres of his land.

“USDA and the state did not consider his land a wetland, but the Corps did,” Kruse testified. “They told him he needed both a permit and 17.7 acres of mitigation. The cost of compliance — $77,000 – was more than the property was worth, and the farmer could not afford to comply.”

Kruse noted that expanding the scope of the Clean Water Act would sweep many agricultural and forestry activities under Clean Water Act regulation simply because such activities are conducted near some isolated ditch, swale, wash, erosion feature or ephemeral stream that would newly be deemed a “water of the United States.

“This would represent the most sweeping change to the law since its enactment in 1972,” Kruse testified.

“Farmers and ranchers are practical small business owners,” Kruse said. “We recognize and understand that words matter. It is clear to us that Congress intended to use the term ‘navigable waters’ when it passed the CWA in 1972 – or it would not be there. It is our view, and that of many legal experts, that deleting this form the 1972 act would fundamentally expand, not simply restore, the scope of areas that would be subject to federal regulation.”

According to AFBF, the Clean Water Restoration Act would give the federal government the right to regulate any body of water, from farm ponds to storm water retention basins to roadside ditches to desert washes.

Study Author Admits False Link Between Meat and Cancer

A much-publicized meat study that was released two years ago was flawed, the author of the report now admits. The epidemiological study, which declared there was “convincing” evidence linking the consumption of red meat with cancer, specifically colorectal cancer, was flawed, and the author of the report who has promised to write a letter to the Agriculture Department saying so.

The study, an intense literature review of previous studies—“a  study of studies”—was conducted by the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute of Cancer Research and recommended that the consumption of red meat (beef, pork, lamb) and processed meats should be limited to 18 oz. per week due to the cancer link.

A review of the two groups’ research conducted by Exponent Health Sciences at the request of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association using checkoff funds revealed “no conclusive evidence” of a link between red meat consumption and cancer.

Read the Feedstuffs article for more details.

Of course I’m serious…

My husband is readying his derby car for the County Fair next week. That means I’m spending long hours in the shop with him but please don’t make the mistake in assuming that I’m doing anything constructive. I can typically locate tools, nuts and bolts that are randomly scattered about the shop and that’s about where my mechanical skills end.

I am pretty good at making parts runs though I must admit that those poor guys at Witt Boys in Limon see me coming and must hope and pray that I have the necessary part names jotted down. Otherwise, I’m asking for the “yellow deal that goes on the thing with the valve that hooks on the gun whatchamacallit.” Bless those poor guys. They know I’m asking for a hose for the air compressor. They’re good.

We just returned home from a long evening in the shop working on the 1964 Mercury derby car. It’s green and yellow. That’s about all I know about it.

Our conversation consisted of phrases like, “Rachel, my darling bride…might you please hold the light a tad to my left?,” and “Rachel, fair, sweet, Rachel…it appears that the gas line is leaking. Might you be able to locate the drip?,” and “Shucky darn, Rach…might you be able to sidle up to the bench and fetch the electrical tape?”

All of these phrases were nearly sung to me in the sweetest of tones. The wiring never smoked, no wires were tightened into nuts, the fuel pump worked the first time, the headers bolted right to the engine and the manifold weren’t bent. A tear came to my eye when it was time to leave though I’m sure I’ll skip to the shop again tomorrow. Whee!

Mike Rowe of ‘Dirty Jobs’ on Lamb Castration, PETA, and American Labor

I have been asked by members to re-post the Mike Rowe video of his speech on Lamb Castration, PETA, and American Labor. His talk centers around his trip to Craig and the sheep ranch of CFB members Albert and Melody Villard. He learns an important lesson about animal husbandry and animal welfare. Enjoy!

Gulf’s ‘Dead Zone’ Much Smaller than Predicted

Scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and Louisiana State University found the size of this year’s Gulf of Mexico dead zone to be 8,000 square kilometers (just over 3,000 square miles).

The ‘Dead Zone’ is an area of water with too little oxygen to support marine life. Termed hypoxia, areas with this lack of oxygen form every year off the Mississippi coast, caused by algae blooms from the flow of nitrogen runoff in the Mississippi River.

“This was surprisingly small given the forecast to be among the largest ever and the expanse of the dead zone earlier this summer,” said Dr. Nancy Rabalais, chief scientist for the mapping expedition.

The 'Dead Zone.' Red areas indicate increased levels of phytoplankton, which reduces dissolved oxygen concentrations.

The interagency Gulf of Mexico/Mississippi River Watershed Nutrient Task Force goal is to reduce the dead zone to a size of 5,000 square kilometers (2,000 square miles) or less by 2015, based on a 5-year running average. This average is now at 15,670 square kilometers (6,000 square miles).

Don Parrish, AFBF’s environmental specialist, said any projections on the size of the dead zone in the Gulf need to be taken with a grain of salt, because the models appear to be very shoddy and the science is questionable. “This is an extremely complex issue and any change in public policy based on these models would be troubling,” he said.

One reason for this disparity between forecast and the actual size of the zone could be due to the fact that researchers insisted on assuming that corn acres will always increase because of the market for biofuels. Last year the number of planted corn acres decreased compared to 2007.

Coalition Urges Pelosi, Hoyer to Oppose Antibiotic Ban

The Coalition for Animal Health, which includes American Farm Bureau Federation and other organizations that represent veterinarians, farmers and ranchers, food and feed producers and animal medicine manufacturers, wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) asking that the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1549) not be added to bills now being considered on food safety and health care reform.

H.R. 1549 would ban from use in livestock and poultry animal health products that are used to prevent and control diseases. Farmers only would be allowed to use animal health products that treat diseases. The bill also would require all “critical antimicrobial animal drugs” to go through a second U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval process within two years of enactment of the legislation.

The legislation purports to address an increase in antibiotic-resistant illnesses in humans. But, the coalition pointed out, numerous risk assessments, including one conducted by FDA, have shown risk levels associated with antibiotic use in agriculture that are extremely low, and nationally recognized scientific studies have shown that the removal of important animal health products could increase food safety risks.

Chambliss Seeks More Analysis From USDA

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and other members of the Senate Agriculture Committee wrote to Joseph Glauber, the Agriculture Department’s chief economist, on Friday, requesting updates on the USDA economic analysis of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill.

Chambliss told Glauber that the analysis is a first step in understanding the impacts of the climate change bill on agriculture, but it is more appropriate for USDA to use a range of estimates, rather than rely solely on estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Colorado Bear Research

Three words that would fill a huge hole in this students otherwise fine Colorado bear research:

Spring. Bear. Hunt.

Biotech Controversy Grows in Boulder County

Boulder County owns a significant number of acres of farmland. Called “open space” the program seeks to preserve the county’s agricultural heritage by leasing that farmland back to producers. A controversy has been growing over the county’s ban on the use of biotech sugar beets on open space land. Farmers leasing the acres are under pressure to convert their plantings to Roundup Ready (RR) sugar beets which help them reduce pesticide use and increase yield. The county has taken the position that biotech crops pose a potential damage to the environment and public health and have so far prevented farmers from planting any biotech sugar beets.

Beet contracts require a certain yield be met or the producer is penalized. With the use of Roundup Ready sugar beets already the norm, (90% of the beets grown in the U.S. are now RR only a year after their introduction) producers using older seed are faced with the possibility of incurring penalties. There is also concern that the ubiquity of RR sugar beets will make it difficult to find non-RR seed next season.

Both CFB and the Boulder County Farm Bureau have advocated for the allowance of biotech beets on open space land. Recently the Boulder County Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee voted to officially recommend the use of RR beets to the Boulder County Commissioners who have the final ruling on the matter.

The Boulder Daily Camera reports that…

The Boulder County Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee recommended late Tuesday that six local farmers be allowed to grow genetically modified sugar beets on open space land.

In December, the farmers, all of whom are at least the second generation to farm in the county, asked that they be allowed to grow Roundup Ready sugar beets, which are genetically modified to resist the herbicide Roundup.

“I do have concerns about (genetically modified) food,” said committee member Janice Moore, who made the motion to recommend the beets. “I think they’re reasonable. I think many typical concerns are reasonable. … But somebody has got to farm this land because we cannot maintain it and we cannot manage it without our farm partners and they have to be economically viable.”

After Moore made her comments, most of the audience walked out of the room in protest, before the final vote was made.

The commissioners will also take into consideration a recommendation on the issue from the Boulder County Food and Agricultural Policy Council. The Council’s stated purpose is to “promote a locally-based food and agricultural system that advances Boulder County’s economic, environmental and social well-being, through research, education and public policy.“

Last month, members of the Boulder County Farm Bureau made presentations to the Council in support of RR beets.  The Council will make its final recommendation on the 30^th of July. A pro-RR finding is by no means guaranteed and might possibly create competing recommendations when the commissioners rule on the issue in August. It will be interesting to see how Boulder County weighs the posibility of reduced pesticide use in biotech crops, with increased pesticide use in “organic” crops. It will come down to fear, as in, are they more afraid of chemicals, or biotech crops. We will see.

Meanwhile, Boulder County Open Space is having a banner year for the growth of noxious weeds, the control of which- in Boulder County-  is in large part done by “Pulling invasive weeds by hand…”

Additional Reading:

Memo from the Boulder County Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee

Extensive white paper compiled by Boulder County staff to brief  both the Food and Ag Policy and the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committees

One Hot Harvest

Here in eastern Colorado, we’re nearing the end of wheat harvest and there is hay laying in windrows all over the place. Yesterday there was some excitement that we certainly could have done without.

One of our neighbors was swathing a field of grass when he realized his self propelled swather was in flames around him. He made a bee line to the dirt road to get out of the field and he was able to get out of the swather without injury. While the swather burned, he began fighting the fire with the tractor but the round baler also caught on fire. He was able to unhook the tractor and move it to safety.

Jason and I were hooking up our own swather when he spotted the smoke and we jumped in the pickup to check it out. We arrived only 15 or 20 minutes into the fire and were able to help contain the edge of the fire with shovels while waiting on the fire trucks. We’re a 40-minute drive from town so we knew the fire containment was on our shoulders.

A number of neighbors rolled in to help including a neighbor who works for the county running a maintainer. He was able to run his blade on the south side of the fire, containing it where it was too hot for men with shovels to work.

The fire departments arrived and Jason and I brought a tractor over to unroll the burning round bales. It was a big help to unroll the smoldering bales so they could burn out and be contained even though it was unnerving to watch Jason crash into the flaming bales with the grapple hook amid flames.

Once the situation was under control, the neighbors gathered on the north side of the burned field, visiting about harvest and remembering fires from previous years. It was nice to have everyone together even though the circumstances were terrible.

A number of the neighbors commented on how happy they are to see that Jason and I, the youngest in the group by at least 25 years, returned to the farm. It was an easy decision for us.

USDA Releases New Ag Satellite Imagery

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) today released new satellite images depicting agricultural land cover for the 2008 crop year. The images, referred to as the Cropland Data Layer (CDL), identify geospatial crop locations in three U.S. regions: the Mid-Atlantic and, for the first time, the Southwest and Southeast.

Alliance Formed to Urge Resolution to Trade Dispute

More than 150 U.S. manufacturers, companies and agricultural interests have announced the formation of a group called the Alliance to Keep U.S. Jobs. This group is going to press the Obama administration and Congress to fix an ongoing U.S.-Mexico trade dispute.

These companies were subjected to tariffs by the Government of Mexico only days after the U.S. Congress terminated a U.S. pilot cross-border trucking program, an act that put the United States in violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The Obama administration promised to take action several months ago, but no action has been taken. Alliance spokesman Steve Mulder says the Alliance was formed because the industries had become innocent victims of a lengthy political dispute.

Group Wants Cancer Warning on Hot Dog Packages

The Cancer Project filed a lawsuit in Essex County, N.J., on Wednesday, asking the court on behalf of three state residents to compel hot dog makers to put a cancer warning label on packages, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Americans paid $3.4 billion for 730 million packages of hot dogs and sausages in supermarkets last year, according to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council.

The group, a branch of the Washington, D.C.-based activist group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, wants the label to read: “Warning: Consuming hot dogs and other processed meats increases the risk of cancer.”

The Cancer Project is seeking class-action status for the suit. Defendants include Nathan’s Famous, Kraft Foods (which owns Oscar Mayer), Sara Lee, Marathon Enterprises and ConAgra Foods (which owns Hebrew National), according to the Times.

Nutritionists said in response that the science is more complicated than the Cancer Project implies, and also that such a warning label would not be effective in regard to public health.

“If we were to evaluate each food for its naturally occurring toxins and eliminate that food, then our food plate would be empty,” said Roger Clemens, a nutrition expert at the University of Southern California Pharmacy School.

What about Spinach?

Rancher and agriculture advocate Trent Loos responded to the announcement by The Cancer Project by asking the question,

If spinach is healthy, shouldn’t hot dogs be healthy too?

Johanns Criticizes Waxman/Markey

Mike Johanns, junior senator from Nebraska and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has written a piece in the Omaha World-Herald criticizing both the Waxman/Markey Cap-and-Trade scheme and the recent announcement by the USDA that claims agriculture will benefit from the legislation.

Sen. Mike Johanns

The Senator writes,

In July 14 testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, a USDA official testified that “the agriculture sector will face higher energy and input costs” due to cap-and-trade. A few breaths later, he outlined the USDA’s belief that “the opportunities from climate legislation will likely outweigh the costs.”

With this bombshell, the USDA indicated that it has thoroughly analyzed increased costs against projected benefits yet provided no evidence to connect those two statements. This rhetoric conveyed nothing about the impact cap-and-trade would have on American agriculture.

American Farm Bureau analysis indicates that USDA’s numbers are based on flawed EPA models. They also assume that every agricultural producer can and will take advantage of every carbon reduction program available in their analysis of the benefits to the industry. But as AFBF President noted in his recent testimony to the Senate Agriculture committee,

Not every dairy farmer can afford to capture methane. Not every farmer lives in a region where wind turbines are an option. Not every farmer can take advantage of no-till. And not every farmer has the land to set aside to plant trees.

Rushing Waxman/Markey an ‘Act of Folly’

In testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee Thursday on the massive global warming bill, American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman encouraged members to analyze the issue closely, carefully and thoroughly and make sure that it is as beneficial as possible for the agriculture industry.

“On a matter that could affect our nation for literally decades to come, it would be the height of folly to rush to judgment in a matter of days or weeks,” said Stallman.

Stallman maintained that an agricultural offsets program administered by the Agriculture Department is an essential cost-containment measure, but revenues from offsets will only partially defray increased costs and not all agriculture sectors will benefit from offset opportunities.

“Inclusion of an offset program is not the complete answer,” said Stallman. “Even with a robust agricultural offset program, the bill still does not make economic sense for producers because a number of sectors will be not able to participate.”

All States Except Florida Officially Removed from Russian Pork Ban

With last weeks removal of New York, Utah and Wisconsin from Russia’s A-H1N1 influenza-related trade suspensions, the suspension of pork exports from Florida was apparently the only portion of the import ban remaining in effect. The status of pork exports from Arizona and California was still unclear, however. While Russia had reported those two states as being eligible to export pork, beef and poultry, no updates for pork had been posted in the FSIS Export Library.

These updates have now been posted, and can be viewed online. With these changes, uncooked pork from Florida is now the only product still officially suspended by Russia for reasons related to A-H1N1 influenza.

Wheat Harvest Coming Fast and Furious

Keith DeVoe, general manager of the Roggen Farmers Elevator in southeast Weld County, said Tuesday “we need a little rain right now just so we can catch our breath.”

That’s due to a bumper wheat crop that has been coming in so fast and furious since July 6 that DeVoe can’t move it, so he’s put about 200,000 bushels on the ground in a pile that’s about three stories high. The problem, he said, is that there just aren’t “enough trucks and man hours” to haul the bumper crop to flour mills.

According to the Colorado office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, about 50 percent of the winter wheat crop has been harvested statewide, but as much as 15 percent or more of the crop is not yet ripe. That compares with the five-year average of 98 percent ripe and 79 percent harvested by this date.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates the statewide average will be 37 bushels to the acre, but in southeast Weld, that will easily be exceeded with the average possibly approaching 50 bushels to the acre.

(Via: The Fence Post)

Animal Rights T-Shirt Promotes Violence

A T-Shirt promoting violence and property destruction in the name of animal rights is being sold on a website called SmartPunk.com The shirt is emblazoned with a logo consisting of a fuel can, matches and flames, and bears the text

“Remember folks, fur farms don’t burn THEMSELVES down.”

Charming…

Phyllis Snyder Interviewed at NCBA Summer Meeting

CFB State Board Member Phyllis Snyder, was interviewed recently at the NCBA Summer Meeting in Denver. The interview is posted on the Beef Board Checkoff Meeting Blog.

Phyllis brings the same excitement and enthusiasm about the industry to her participation with the Beef Board as she does with Farm Bureau.

Weld County Farm Wiped Out by Storm

Joe Miller is used to having a big crop on his vegetable farm in Platteville. But this year it will be slim pickings as the July 20^th storm hailed out most of his crop.

Miller says two storms Monday night damaged his home, his cars and most importantly, his crops. Two-inch hail punched holes in melons and peppers, and shredded almost everything else.

The Weld County FSA says the storm damaged over 400 farms and ranches over 150 square miles, but does not have any estimate on the cost of the damage.

9 News Reports:

more about “9NEWS.com | Colorado’s Online News Le…“, posted with vodpod

No Hog Left Behind

My husband and I raise hogs and our herd is steadily growing one litter at a time. I typically take farrowing duties, especially in the summer when I’m not teaching, and serve as his farm hand. I worked on a farrowing floor in college at Fort Hays State, but the main advantage I have is that my hands and arms are smaller than my husband’s. This summer, we farrowed a number of litters bound for winter livestock shows and also for fat hogs.

One of our litters is out of a great Hampshire sow bred to the boar Ball and Chain. Her pigs are everything we look for in terms of base width, growth, style and structure and a few are likely headed to Denver this winter for the National Western. But there is one pig in her litter that will probably not show like his siblings. Garage Pig.

Garage Pig suffered some injuries in the first week or so that are hard to avoid in our business, despite our best efforts. He began to slow in his growth and it was apparent he needed some extra care so we moved him to a dog carrier in our garage.

We began feeding milk replacer by the syringe full and he began to perk up and gain weight. At three weeks, he’s less than a third of the size of his siblings so weight gain is good news.

Last Saturday, Jason and I traveled to Fort Collins to CSU’s ARDEC facility to participate in an artificial insemination clinic hosted by Lean Value Sires and Garage Pig couldn’t attend. Typically, he sleeps under an apple tree while we work in the shop but he snores, so they would have been wise to me had I snuck him into class in my purse. Luckily, we have neighbors with two daughters who are on Jason’s county livestock judging team and they do love a good pig. We dropped Garage Pig at their house and in a 24-hour period, he had a bath in the kitchen sink, lived in their house, slept in the grass snuggled up to one of the girls and generally was spoiled. I think everyone enjoyed it with the possible exception of the girls’ dad who wondered why there was a pig in the living room.

Our 8-year old son, Caden, returned home from Missouri Sunday evening and now Garage Pig is following him around and I expect him to be taught to lead on a leash shortly. Things may have been tough right off the bat for Garage Pig, but I think things are looking up for the little guy.

Welcome to The Pulse

Welcome to the new and improved Colorado Farm Bureau communications site, The Pulse of Colorado Farm Bureau. We are updating our communications strategy to keep you better informed!