Palisade peaches, Rocky Ford melons and Olathe sweet corn are just a few of the locally produced fruits and vegetables that have been tickling our taste buds this season. The Colorado Egg Producers (CEP) Association, a membership organization representing seven family farms, would like to remind you that in addition to seasonal fruits and vegetables, [...]
Archive for August, 2010
31 Aug
AgChat President Jeff Fowle: Social Media Growth ‘Amazing’
Social media hasn’t just hit the mainstream. It’s also hit the back roads and the back forty. Farm Bureau member Jeff Fowle, a fourth-generation farmer and rancher from northern California, said social media has become an important part of his daily routine. “On Twitter currently I am almost at 23,000 followers and on an average [...]
30 Aug
CFB Releases South Platte Task Force Report
The Colorado Farm Bureau has released its final report of the South Platte River Task Force. The South Platte Task Force was charged with the following: to recommend and report to the CFB Board of Directors what can be done from a public policy perspective to increase water usage in the South Platte River Basin [...]
30 Aug
Enviro Groups Admit Losing Global Warming Battle
Leading environmental groups are admitting defeat in the climate change battle now that it appears Congress will not pass a climate change bill this year. Last week, the environmental groups held two events in Wisconsin to rally support, but neither event drew enough people to fill a high school gym. The Washington Post reports that [...]
26 Aug
Iowa Grand Champion Steer is a Clone
DTN reports that the 2010 Iowa grand champion steer was a clone of the animal that won the same event in 2008. The crossbred steer was shown by Tyler Faber of Sioux Center, Iowa. According to the DTN report, Faber’s father, David Faber, is president of Trans Ova, a livestock production company in Sioux Center. [...]
26 Aug
USDA Forecasts Lowest Food Price Increase Since 1992
USDA forecasts that the consumer price index for food will increase just 0.5 percent to 1 percent this year, the lowest rate since 1992. In last month’s forecast, USDA pegged the food price increase at 1.5 percent to 2 percent. The lower food price inflation is attributed to a still moribund global economy. Because of [...]
26 Aug
Colorado Ag Exports Up 27%
Colorado agricultural exports in the first half of the year rose 27 percent from the same period last year, to $508.9 million, state officials said Wednesday. This success exceeds the national ag export increase of 15 percent. Colorado exports of meat, hides and skins; animal products such as milk, eggs and honey; miscellaneous food; and [...]
26 Aug
Food Price inflation only Mild this Year
Although agricultural commodities have been on the rise this summer, the United States Department of Agriculture expects an unusually tame food-price inflation. The consumer-price index for food is expected to rise only 0.5% to 1.5% this year; the smallest increase since 1992. Comparatively, wheat, corn and soybean prices have seen increases over the summer months. [...]
24 Aug
Colorado Farm Bureau Disappointed in River Access Taskforce Appointees
The Colorado Farm Bureau is extremely disappointed in the make-up of Governor Ritter’s River Access Dispute Resolution Taskforce. A cursory level of research shows that the political orientation of the task force appointees is clearly one-sided, with one of the Governor’s appointees a signatory of an online “9-11 Truth” petition and many more being directly [...]
23 Aug
Wheat Research Reveals Exciting Traits
Texas AgriLife Research scientists have discovered a resistance gene to one of the most plaguing wheat viruses today. Studying a Colorado wheat variety, scientists identified the gene providing resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus. The virus is one of the most common wheat viruses found in the 75 million acres of wheat in the US. [...]
23 Aug
Mike Rowe to Keynote AFBF Annual Meeting
Mike Rowe, the creator and executive producer of Discovery Channel’s Emmy-nominated series Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, will deliver the keynote address to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 92nd annual meeting on Jan. 10, 2011, in Atlanta, Ga. A champion of farmers, ranchers and other hard-working Americans, Rowe has spent years traveling the country, working [...]
20 Aug
Smith Qualifies 29th in Farm American Chevrolet
Driving the Farm American Chevrolet for Furniture Row Racing, Regan Smith will start 29th in Saturday’s IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. In Friday’s Sprint Cup time trials, Smith covered the high-banked, half-mile oval in 15.822 seconds at 121.274 miles per hour. “We obviously wanted more out of our lap, but going out [...]
18 Aug
Vilsack: Estate Tax Won’t Hurt Most Farmers
Move along, nothing to see here. You have nothing to worry about. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today defended proposals to reinstate the estate tax, despite concerns raised at an Iowa State Fair roundtable about the need for more rural capital and incentives for young farmers. Vilsack, the former Iowa governor, said he thinks the [...]
18 Aug
Three Colorado Counties Declared Disaster Areas
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated three Colorado counties as natural disaster areas because of losses caused by rain, hail, high winds, lightning, flooding and flash flooding that began June 3, 2010 and continues. The counties qualify because they are contiguous to nine counties in Nebraska which were also designated. The affected counties in [...]
18 Aug
NASCAR.com Features #78 Farm American Chevrolet
NASCAR.com has posted a feature story about the Farm American Program on its front page. Driver Regan Smith spoke with reporter Joe Menzer about the goal of the Farm American program and did a great job raising awareness about farm and ranch families across America. “I think the most important aspect of this whole program [...]
17 Aug
What Does ‘National Monument’ Really Mean?
In early March an internal Obama administration memo surfaced revealing plans for the federal government to seize more than 10 million acres from Montana to New Mexico for National Monument and/or Wilderness Area status. The proposal would halt job creating activities and dry up tax revenue essential for funding schools, firehouses and community centers. The [...]
17 Aug
Activists Share Anti-Agriculture Agenda at Conferences
Animal agriculture was under attack at the Animal Rights 2010 Conference and the Humane Society of the United States-hosted Taking Action for Animals, two of the nation’s largest animal rights events. Both meetings were held in Washington, D.C. during July 2010. AR 2010 and TAFA brought together more than 1,000 activists to discuss the political [...]
17 Aug
Mexico Retaliates Against Further Dithering on Trade Program
Mexico’s Economy Ministry announced Monday it would add 26 U.S. products to it tariff list while removing 16 others. Included in the tariffs are pork, applies, California oranges and pistachios. The levies would affect 54 agricultural products and 45 manufactured ones. The move by Mexico is seen as a push to get the Obama administration [...]
17 Aug
HSUS and Its Uncharitable Ways
The relationship between the super-rich Humane Society of the United States and the thousands of (often very poor) U.S. pet shelters is the stuff of legend in the animal rights movement. We’ve heard stories about HSUS using its checkbook as both carrot and stick, and a large number of pet sheltering professionals—the folks who do [...]
16 Aug
Support Grows For Furniture Row’s #78 Farm American Chevrolet
The paint scheme on Regan Smith’s No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet at this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Bristol, Tenn. will once again pay tribute to the American farmer and rancher. The No. 78 Farm American Chevrolet during Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway is designed to promote the importance of U.S. agriculture, which [...]
16 Aug
Judge Revokes USDA’s Approval of Biotech Sugar Beets
Federal District Court Judge Jeffrey White revoked the Agriculture Department’s approval of Roundup Ready sugar beets Friday because the department had not adequately assessed the environmental consequences before approving them for commercial cultivation. The decision appears to effectively ban the planting of biotech sugar beets, which make up 95 percent of the crop, until USDA [...]
16 Aug
USDA Reminds Producers of Approaching Sign-Up Deadline for CRP
The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds producers that the deadline to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up is quickly approaching. Farmers and ranchers have until close of business on Friday, Aug. 27, 2010, to offer eligible land for CRP’s competitive general sign-up. Applications can be completed by land owners at the [...]
13 Aug
Strong Mid-year Results for US Pork, Beef Exports
A very solid June performance allowed U.S. pork and beef exports to finish the first half of 2010 with strong momentum. According to statistics released by USDA and compiled by USMEF, pork exports of 361.6 million pounds were 24 percent higher than June 2009. Pork export value was $316.4 million, up 34 percent. June beef [...]
13 Aug
Farm American Driver to Talk Ag on Racing Show
Furniture Row Racing driver Regan Smith will talk about his NASCAR team’s #78 Farm American Chevrolet tonight on the show Trackside on the SPEED TV channel. The show starts at 7 p.m. ET. The Farm American Chevrolet will hit the track once again in two weeks, during an Aug. 21 race at Tennessee’s Bristol Motor [...]
13 Aug
Complete Federal Land Grab Document Released
Congressman Rob Bishop, the gentleman from Utah who kindly provided Americans with the documents that showed the Obama administration was planning another federal land-grab, has come through again. (The Pulse covered the original leaked document extensively. Read the original story here.) Bishop’s office has release the entire BLM document titled “Treasured Landscapes” of which only [...]
12 Aug
Colorado Breaks Record in Winter Wheat Production
USDA announced today that Colorado winter wheat production broke a record in 2010, with an average yield of 45 bushels per acre. This is the highest ever yield per acre for Colorado and raises the total production in 2010 to 103.5 million bushels. The 10-year average for winter wheat production is 63.3 million bushels, or [...]
12 Aug
U.S. Could Benefit from Russian Wheat Export Ban
The United States stands to gain a good share of the wheat export market that Russia is forfeiting due to the Russian government’s decision to halt grain exports until the end of the year, according to John Anderson, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation. The Agriculture Department today released its August World Agricultural [...]
11 Aug
AFBF Backs Bill to Clarify FIFRA Permitting Requirements
The American Farm Bureau Federation and Colorado Farm Bureau strongly support a bill introduced Friday by Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) that aims to clarify that additional permits are not required for pesticide application in accordance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. AFBF President Bob Stallman said the bill remedies [...]
11 Aug
Repeat of 2007-2008 for Wheat Not Likely
Even though Russia has decided to temporarily ban grain exports due to a severe drought, AFBF Economist John Anderson doesn’t expect a repeat performance of 2007-2008 when grain prices shot sky high due to global shortages. Last week, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced a ban on grain exports from Russia to begin Aug. 15 [...]
Shawn Martini
Chad Vorthmann
Rachel Vermillion
Garin Vorthmann
Crystal Korrey
Troy B
El Sagehorn
Brent Boydston
