Farm Futures News
Research Could Develop Real-Time Monitoring For BSEThe American Chemical Society has reported that scientists are developing the first test for instantly detecting beef that has been contaminated with tissue from a cow's brain or spinal cord during slaughter - an advance in protecting against possible spread of the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The study was scheduled to appear in the Aug. 13 issue of ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry . Jürgen A. Richt and colleagues from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Animal Disease Center and Iowa State University pointed out that removal of brain, spinal and other central nervous tissue after slaughter is "one of the highest priority tasks to avoid contamination of the human food chain with BSE. No currently available method enables the real-time detection of possible central nervous system tissue contamination on carcasses during slaughter." They describe a test based on detection of the fluorescent pigment lipofuscin, a substance that appears in high concentrations in the nervous tissue of cattle. The researchers found that it was a dependable indicator for the presence of brain and spinal tissue in bovine carcasses and meat cuts. "Small quantities of bovine spinal cord were reliably detected in the presence of raw bovine skeletal muscle, fat and vertebrae. The research lays the foundation for development of a prototype device allowing real-time monitoring of CNS tissue contamination on bovine carcasses and meat cuts," the report said. Source: FeedstuffsGrassley Defends WTO Compliance of Ethanol TariffSenator Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., has asked U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab to investigate whether the U.S. ethanol import tariff violates the rules of the World Trade Organization. Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is sending a letter to Schwab emphasizing the compliance of the tariff with WTO rules. "I think it is clear it's within our international legal obligations," Grassley says. "The tariff was accepted by consensus, and I want to emphasize by consensus, by members of the WTO, including Brazil at the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of WTO negotiations, going back at least 15 years." Grassley says he strongly disagrees with Feinstein's position that the possibility of a Brazil challenge at the WTO should cause the U.S. to take unilateral action to lower the tariff. "Not only is the U.S. ethanol tariff in its current form explicitly permitted under WTO rules, there are also many policy reasons for opposing the lower tariff," Grassley says. "The United States remains heavily reliant upon foreign energy sources and lowering the ethanol tariff would only make us more dependent upon imported energy and what difference does that make if that's oil or ethanol. We're still sending money overseas that we ought to be keeping in the United States ." Grassley also says that if Brazil wants to export more ethanol to the U.S. , why aren't they sending more through the Caribbean Basin Initiative? That law, which goes back more than 20 years, gives them duty free access the U.S. for up to 7% of the U.S. 's ethanol production. "Until Brazil takes full advantage of its ability to export ethanol duty-free to the United States , and that would be up to that 7%, I don't see why we should think about giving the Brazilians more generous treatment as Senator Feinstein would suggest in her letter," Grassley says.Late Planted Soybeans in Midwest Could Be Hurt By RustSo far in 2008, Asian soybean rust discoveries have been limited to states along the Gulf of Mexico with most of the confirmed finds in Florida . Only a few counties in Alabama , Louisiana , and Texas have seen soybean rust, unlike last year when hundreds of counties in more than a dozen states found the disease. Hot, dry weather in the Southeast has kept spores bottled up, but with tropical storm season here, wet conditions are conducive for spore development and rains and winds can rapidly carry spores hundreds of miles. Earlier this week, spores were discovered in a couple of counties in Georgia and with the wet weather, growers in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi need to be wary and ready to apply fungicides to late-planted soybean crops. In the past, by the time soybean rust reached Midwestern states, soybeans were in advanced growth stages so rust was not a problem, but because of the floods and wet spring, crops are maturing later and rust could spell yield losses. In particular danger this year is Missouri , where most of the 5.3 million acres of soybeans were planted as much as a month behind schedule. "This year we have late-planted full season soybeans, and then of course we have some double-crop soybeans and even some of those were planted pretty late," says University of Missouri agronomist Bill Wiebold. "So we have some soybeans that will enter into September that are pretty young and those would be vulnerable to a late season influx of rust spores." The usual pathway rust takes to the Midwest is through Louisiana and Texas , and until recently those areas have been extremely dry. Earlier this year Hurricane Dolly dropped a lot of rain in Texas and moved north into the Midwest , but according to Wiebold didn't bring rust. However; the move inland of the tropical storm Fay could bring rust to the Midwest depending on the air current patterns. "Now that we're into what looks like an active hurricane season, we have to keep an eye on what's happening in those southern states." Wiebold says. "They are kind of our sentinel plots and as we watch that we'll get an idea of whether we should be concerned or not."Fay Could Bring Rainfall to Drought Stricken SoutheastAs the tropical storm Fay moves into the South Atlantic states USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says it could remain there for several days. "There is going to be a high pressure system building over the Northeastern United States ," Rippey says. "That system will act as a suppressant of the motion of Fay." That means the storm will reach a holding pattern over states such as Georgia , and the Carolinas . "That could result in rainfall totals in excess of 10 inches," Rippey says. "To a point, this rain will be beneficial because we've got a very serious drought going on in much of the Southeastern United States ." Rippey says the rain will help the condition of summer crops and pastureland as well as help the seeding of fall crops, but warns that too much rain could cause some problems. "Sometimes the drought-baked soils are a little bit more prone to runoff," Rippey says. "So if you get torrential, tropical rains on a drought-baked landscape that can actually contribute to flash flooding."Biofuel Agreement Strengthens Collaboration Between U.S. and ChinaTuesday at the International Conference on Sorghum for Biofuel the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of the People's Republic of China signed an agreement to collaborate on biofuels research. The signing came during a meeting of over 200 scientists, industry leaders and government officials in Houston , Texas . Existing cooperation between the U.S. and China on science and technology was originally signed in 1979. In 2002, USDA and MOST signed a specific agreement paving the way for the agreement between Tsinghua University in Beijing and ARS's National Center for Ag Utilization Research (NCAUR.) Gale Buchanan, USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, and Liu Yanhua , Vice Minister of MOST from the People's Republic of China sign an agreement to cooperate on sweet sorghum and other biofuels research. The agreement establishes the intent to cooperate in establishing processes and infrastructure for conversion of sweet sorghum and other feedstocks to ethanol. This agreement represents an important step forward in the collaboration of some of the world's top scientists to contribute to alternative energy research through the development of alternative feedstocks, a statement said. "Today's signing establishes a virtual joint center for a series of projects that are very specific to the two centers," said Michael Abbey, International Affairs Specialist and Asia Program Coordinator for USDA's Agricultural Research Service. "We also intend to include universities and business in both China and the United States . We can now focus on specific areas of cooperation." Source: FeedstuffsFDA Extends Comment Period for CephalosporinThe Food & Drug Administration has agreed to extend the comment period on a final rule for an order of prohibition of cephalosporin to Nov. 1. FDA is also delaying the effective date of this final rule to Nov. 30. FDA had received extension requests from various groups saying they needed additional time to examine the available evidence, consider the impact of the ruling and provide constructive comment. After careful consideration, the agency believes that a 60-day extension allows adequate time for interested persons to submit comments without significantly delaying implementation of the final rule. The order prohibiting the extralabel use of cephalosporin antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals was originally announced in the July 3 Federal Register with a 60-day comment period and a 90-day effective date for the final rule. Source: FeedstuffsVery Little Change This Week for Corn or SoybeansLast week the USDA put out a surprising August Crop Report that is optimistic about the corn and soybean crop this year, predicting the second largest corn harvest on record and the fourth largest soybean crop. However those numbers are not guaranteed. "As we head late into the year with the crop running behind there is still time to change the outlook of the crop," says USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey. However, Rippey says that corn changed very little in the past week in both its outlook and condition. "Only a subtle change, just a few pockets trailing off in condition," says Rippey. "Overall we are looking very good and the crop is at 67% good to excellent. That's actually the same as we were a week ago, just a percent drop in excellent." Soybeans in the good to excellent category also dropped 1% during the past week. Rippey warns that crops are running late and the risk of an early frost in September is something to watch for.Despite High Prices Dairy Production Slow to IncreaseDairy producers are receiving very high prices, but it's not enough to prompt a major expansion in production. The forecast for next year is 190.3 billion pounds according to World Agricultural Outlook Board Chairman Gerry Bange, which is a very modest increase of 0.4%. Prices are at historic highs; the average all milk price is $18.95 per hundredweight this year and possibly slightly lower to $18.75 in 2009. "Even with those very, very strong prices milk producers are still looking at substantially higher costs of production," Bange says. "Even with the lower feed prices we're talking about this month, relative to a year or two ago the feed prices are still much, much higher." Bange says the higher cost of feed coupled with the higher energy costs makes the return for milk producers is not to their satisfaction.Farm Strike Could Resume in ArgentinaA large rally of Argentine farmers was held Monday, protesting economic hardships that are being placed on the agriculture sector. Leaders of the Argentine Agrarian Federation, which staged the rally, have threatened another strike citing continued restrictions on exports for a variety of agricultural products, rising costs for fertilizer and land rents, low and controlled domestic prices, and an exchange rate that strengthened while international soy prices dropped. Farmer strikes earlier this year crippled transportation and the economy. The strikes were in response to the sliding scale export tax on soybeans that was enacted by Argentina 's president. The strikes forced ratification of the tax by Congress, and while passing the House it was defeated in the Senate, thereby returning the export tax on soybeans to 35%. Farm Progress market analyst Arlan Suderman says from a soybean market standpoint as Argentina approaches planting season with decisions that need to be made this is poor timing of a possible strike that might disrupt the supply of soybeans. "Now the U.S. is going to have supplies coming online to meet world need here over the next month," Suderman says. "But our crop lacks maturity and we have very limited supplies of old crop available should Argentine farmers go back on strike." USDA is anticipating an increase in Argentine soybean acres when farmers begin planting in a few months, which Suderman says is essential because Brazil is pulling back on its planting intentions for next year and the U.S. is facing quite an acreage battle this spring. "If they resume a strike, it will further erode confidence in the global market in doing business with Argentina ," Suderman says. "We've seen this in the United States previous times when we issued embargos and it took a long time for countries to be willing to do business with us again. A lot of countries became wary of doing business with Argentina earlier this year and the business was just starting to go back to them. If they would resume a strike now, it would certainly hurt business once again and further erode that confidence, which would be bullish for demand for U.S. soybeans."Legislation Targets Rail Antitrust ExemptionsA set of companion bills in the House and Senate, S. 772 and H.R. 1650, would eliminate antitrust exemptions for the freight rail industry. The American Farm Bureau Federation has written to members of Congress urging them to support these bills that would make obsolete antitrust exemptions that protect freight railroads from competition and therefore keep rail rates artificially and unfairly high. "American agriculture depends on the railroad system, especially given the high costs of shipping commodities via truck. Like those in several other industries, agricultural producers are frequently captive rail customers and experience both unreliable service and exorbitantly high rates from the railroads," stressed AFBF President Bob Stallman in separate letters to House members and senators who have not already signed on as co-sponsors. Removal of these exemptions would force railroads to compete for business and reduce rates to captive shippers. Stallman said it is important for Congress to pass this legislation before the adjourning for this fall's elections. "Farmers all across America rely on reasonably priced rail service to deliver their crops to market," said Stallman. "Freight railroads must be opened to fair and open competition so that prices for shipping agriculture commodities via rail can be fair and reasonable."