The High Plains Journal reported Colorado State University veterinarians’ recommendation to vaccinate livestock and horses against rabies due to an increased number of infected skunks in the state. Increased infected wildlife is creating concern and imposing a need for precaution. Although bats have spread the disease for years, the increase in other wildlife infections is [...]
Author Archive
18 Nov
HSUS Strikes Again
Agriculture awareness is becoming an ever critical component of our daily lives. Unfortunately, there some organizations are out to portray the most negative image of agriculture possible. The Humane Society of the United States released an undercover video today showing alleged animal abuse and food safety problems at Cal-Marine Foods, the nation’s largest egg producer. [...]
10 Nov
USDA urges support for National Broadband Plan
USDA has submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission to support development of the National Broadband Plan based on USDA’s considerable experience in financing broadband projects in rural areas. The FCC is implementing the plan to guide broadband deployment nationwide. “Robust economic growth and job creation in rural America depend on the quality and reach [...]
10 Nov
EPA under suit for Ethanol Blend Decisiod
Agriculture Resumes its Infighting The Grocery Manufacturers Association and the American Meat Institute joined other groups in filing a lawsuit Tuesday against EPA to overturn the agency’s decision to allow a higher ethanol blend in gasoline. The groups said EPA overstepped its authority in allowing cars built in 2007 and later to burn E15 or [...]
8 Nov
Proposition 2 Could be Declared Unconstitutional
The California Supreme Court could be requested to rule on the constitutionality of the state’s ballot initiative process. It’s highly unlikely, but if the court were to rule that the process is unconstitutional, all ballot initiatives adopted over the last 100 years could be declared invalid, including the 2008 ballot initiative on animal housing, Proposition [...]
28 Oct
Farm Bureau Asks Senate to Oppose Federal Water Control Bill
Farmers and ranchers would face burdensome federal regulatory control if provisions of a restrictive Senate water bill make it through the “lame duck” session of Congress, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. AFBF and a coalition of other groups are vowing to oppose any effort to attach the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration [...]
25 Oct
Medicaid Expansion will Bankrupt States
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is expected to add up to 16 million more Medicaid enrollees and expand eligibility for families. Although the federal government will pay 100 percent of the cost of the newly eligible, newly enrolled populations and 95 percent of the costs through 2019, hidden costs will strain already [...]
12 Oct
Beef Board Studies “Factory” Term
Th Beef Board says consumers increasingly see modern agriculture and cattle production as “factory farming” and are looking for strategies to counter this perception. One of the tools activists use to denigrate modern agriculture is the term “factory farming,” which British writer Ruth Harrison first used in 1964 in her book Animal Machines to describe [...]
8 Oct
Study Shows More Benefits of Bt Corn
From the USDA Agriculture Research Service: A group of agricultural scientists reported in today’s issue of the journal Science that corn that has been genetically engineered to produce insect-killing proteins isolated from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) provides significant economic benefits even to neighboring farmers who grow non-transgenic varieties of corn. “Modern agricultural science [...]
8 Oct
USDA Sends the Wrong Message about Meat
USDA recently launched a school lunch recipe contest that excludes meat from the recipe categories. That move, along with the USDA Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s recommendation to move to a plant-based diet, is sending the wrong message to consumers, says Kristina Butts, director of legislative affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). Butts encourages [...]
8 Oct
Learn More about GIPSA
GIPSA, the federal agency responsible for issuing regulations that govern contracting, buying and selling of livestock and poultry has written new rules that- if finalized- would drastically change the way that producers, packers, dealers and contractors raise, buy, and sell livestock and poultry. The National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas is hosting [...]
5 Oct
USDA Paying Direct Farm Program & CRP Rental Payments In Oct.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday that USDA will pay farmers and ranchers some $3.8 billion in final 2010 direct payments and $1.6 billion in annual Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) rental payments during October. “October is an important production month because CRP rental payments, direct and counter-cyclical payments (DCP), and now Average Crop Revenue Election [...]
4 Oct
Animal Behavioralist Temple Grandin shares views with Agri-Pulse
Animal welfare is a hot topic in agriculture news right now and Temple Grandin is on the forefront of animal behavior. After an award winning video release, Temple Grandin shares her thoughts on revolutionizing animal welfare in U.S. agriculture with Agri-Pulse. Her comments can be found at the Agri-Pulse. Image (Agri-Pulse)
28 Sep
Small-Business Law Could Help Farmers
Farmers can receive sizable tax write-offs under the small-business law that was signed by President Barack Obama on Monday. The new law raised the threshold on Section 179 expenses from the current limit of $250,000 to $500,000 for tax years beginning in 2010 and 2011. In the past, this deduction did not apply to purchases [...]
28 Sep
Global Food Prices Up thanks to Russian Embargo!
No country has disrupted grain markets over the years more dramatically than Russia — perpetrator of the infamous “great grain robbery,” when the Soviet Union secretly bought up a quarter of U.S. wheat stocks after a poor harvest in 1971. Even with the embargo, USDA estimates food prices will rise 15 percent in Russia over [...]
28 Sep
More Lawmakers Oppose EPA Dust Regulation
Yesterday, a group of US Representatives wrote a detailed letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opposing the July 2010 proposed Particulate Matter (PM) standards. Lawmakers state the proposed policy assessment, “lays the foundation for establishing the most stringent and unparalleled regulation of dust in our nation’s history. We urge the EPA to refrain from [...]
23 Sep
Vilsack Believes Antibiotic use is Appropriate
Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack believes antibiotics are being used appropriately. His views are strongly opposed by lead House of Representative proponent to Preservations of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), Rep. Louise Slaughter. Vilsack supports that antibiotics need to be used judiciously and already are being used judiciously by producers. “It doesn’t make sense,” he [...]
20 Sep
Corn Prices Soar
Corn Prices hit a two year high at the close of markets on Friday. Estimates of the size of this year’s crop are being cut an pushing prices up even higher according to MeatingPlace.com. Prices closed in Fridays market at $5.12 to $5.32 a bushel according to data collected by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The [...]
17 Sep
Child Nutrition Under Scrutiny
DTN Political Correspondent Jerry Hagstrom reported that, “The United Fresh Produce Association is urging passage of a child nutrition bill by Sept. 30 that would increase purchases of fruits and vegetables for the child nutrition program, but the prospects are complicated by disagreements in the House of Representatives and among advocates over how to pay [...]
17 Sep
Media has Negative Effect on Meat Consumption
Media attention to animal welfare issues corresponds to lower demands for meat both in that quarter and the following quarter, according to an economic analysis from Kansas State University. The researchers created an index of stories about animal welfare presented in top U.S. newspapers and magazines from 1982 to 2008 for the analysis. All indices [...]
17 Sep
Senate Passes Small Business Jobs Act
The Senate today completed work on H.R. 5297, the Small Business Jobs Act. The bill passed 61 to 38. During consideration the Senate defeated an amendment (41-58) offered by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to extend tax incentives for biodiesel and renewable biodiesel for one year, through 2010. Tax incentives for biodiesel expired at the end [...]
10 Sep
National Ag Image is a Concern
The last two years have been nothing but hard hits on the national image of agriculture. Michael Pollan’s string of best-sellers and emotionally captivating movies like Food, Inc., and King Corn are feeding consumers with false negative images of modern agriculture and agriculturists have had enough! Farm and public relation groups are taking an initiative [...]
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. [...]
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. [...]
4 Aug
CSU to Hold Dry Bean Field Day
Agriculture producers will have the opportunity to get up-to-date on dry bean developments during the Colorado Dry Bean Field Day. Colorado State University and the Colorado Dry Bean Administrative Committee will hold a Dry Bean Field Day at three sites in eastern Colorado on Aug. 24. The program starts at 8:30 a.m. on a farm [...]
4 Aug
E15 is Still Awaiting Approval
Last week a group of bipartisan senators requested information from the EPA about why E15 has not been approved. Some answers are finally filtering through. After a meeting with EPA administrator Lisa Jackson and a Department of Energy (DOE) official on Monday a few answers were revealed. The EPA’s request for additional testing of the [...]
4 Aug
Bacon Prices Reach Ten Year High
Bacon lovers in the U.S. are feeling the results of herd reduction and market decreases. Wholesale pork bellies are up 72 percent in the past year to $1.43 a pound, the highest price since at least 1998. Warehouse stockpiles, monitored by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, tumbled 73 percent in the last year. Prices usually climb [...]
4 Aug
Wheat Farmers Smile at High Prices
Wheat farmers are smiling all the way to the elevator this year. Good crops and higher prices wrap up this season’s harvest. Instead of storing wheat, farmers are taking advantage of a higher price. Wheat prices are sitting at a 22-month high. As wheat harvest began, farmers groaned at the mere $3.50 per bushel wheat [...]
4 Aug
USDA Introduces Cattle Dashboard
The Agriculture Department’s Agricultural Marketing Service introduced an enhanced system of electronic reporting for cattle pricing last month, as mandated by the 2008 farm bill. AMS developed the “Cattle Dashboard” to add an improved user interface, including tools for data visualization, to its primary Internet-based portal. The Cattle Dashboard feature is available on the AMS [...]
4 Aug
Farm Expenses Decline
After twenty three years of rising costs, farmers finally get a taste of relief. Farm production expenditures decreased by nearly $20 billion last year according to the Farm Production Expenditures 2009 summary released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). After expenses set a record high in 2008, the decline is [...]
Shawn Martini
Chad Vorthmann
Rachel Vermillion
Garin Vorthmann
Crystal Korrey
Troy B
El Sagehorn
Brent Boydston
