UNL ag communications unit victim of budget cuts

The ag communications unit of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s (UNL) Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources has fallen victim to the budget-cutting knife.

Ag communications—officially called Communications and Information Technology (CIT)—will be eliminated as part of a three-point-six million dollar budget cut announced Tuesday by UNL chancellor Harvey Perlman.  The unit provides news releases, radio and TV programs, newsletters, web support and other information services for ag programs at UNL.

According to the Lincoln Journal-Star, eight of the 18 CIT employees will be laid off, with the others likely moved elsewhere within the university.  Some of the services provided by the ag communications unit will be picked up by the University Communications and Information Services departments.  Perlman says that the delivery of education information by UNL Extension and other ag programs will be preserved and reassigned to other divisions.

Jumping off point for pork industry

During the National Pork Industry Forum held March 4-6, 2010 in Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Novak, CEO of the National Pork Board told Brownfield this is the “jumping off point” for the pork industry.

“We have had two years where pork producers have struggled with losing more than $20 for every hog they sold on average as we looked where grain markets were, feed prices for feeding out hogs and what they were getting from the marketplace,” Novak explained.  “ We are starting to see recovery. We are seeing prices that are offering pork producers an opportunity to return a profit. That is an important step for this industry. More importantly for our organization though we are looking ahead to the future and looking ahead to how we can improve pork marketing. How we can focus and refine the research and investments we are making on behalf of the pork producers and we are very very excited about the future to come.”

As for the next step, Novak said, “One of the things we have done this past year is to reach out to consumers. We conducted a 12 to 18 month consumer research project to understand what consumers think about pork, what they think about The Other White Meat advertising, and the way that we have communicated to them about pork. We have found out unfortunately that many folks are still listening to grandma or mom when they say that pork should be overcooked. Today we have a product that is healthy and safe and if consumers would cook it to a medium rare or medium consistency as opposed to over cooking it they would be serving their family a much better product. That is a very important message going forward; how consumers can enjoy pork in more ways. It adds flavor to menus. It adds diversity to menus. That is something we have tried to communicate in the past, but we are truly getting around the table again and rethinking the way that we communicate to consumers.”

It is  also important to communicate with consumers the animal welfare practices that the pork industry is involved in everyday.

“The pork industry, three years ago, at this national meeting adopted a set of ethical principles,” said Novak. ”It wasn’t because this was the first time that they discovered ethics.   These were the values and the principles that pork producers have lived with for years. Yet, suddenly three years ago the industry realized that consumers who no longer have a connection to agriculture – people who not only their parents but their grandparents may not have been involved in food production - that we needed to be able to reach out to those consumers and explain to them what farmers stand for today.  How farmers are committed to protecting the environment, providing better, safer food for tomorrow, as well as providing better animal care. So, the ethical principles that our pork producers adopted became the launching pad for the “We Care” initiative. That initiative encompasses a number of programs that our industry has including the Pork Quality Assurance Plus Program, and the Transport Quality Assurance, a lot of acronyms. But the bottom line for consumers is that pork producers are voluntarily engaging in programs to learn better ways to handle animals, protect the environment, provide safer, better, and higher quality food products to our American consumers. Those steps are going to be important for us in assuring and reassuring consumers about the safety and quality of food.”

There has been a movement toward local where food is concerned. How is the pork industry embracing that?

Novak said, “The issue of local and organic and natural production is vital to this industry and we know that it should be there as a choice for consumer. And I think that is a very important message that we want to share. We do certainly want consumer to have a choice of food products based upon their individual beliefs. To the extent that we want to reassure consumers that the products coming from a modern farm operation are safe, are high quality, are grown or raised in a proper manner. That is an important message for all consumers to understand. At the end of the day for consumers the difference is price. We know that some of our natural systems, some of the systems that aren’t using animal health products regularly produce fewer pigs. They have fewer pigs that are born alive. They have more pigs that get sick from illness and aren’t able to get to market. To that extent, there is a higher cost of production. Those farmers have to pay more to produce the pork that goes on the table. So the expectation is that when consumers see those products in a grocery store they are going to come with a higher price tag. For consumers who can afford that choice it is a great thing. For consumers who are simply looking to feed their family and maximize their food dollar we know that the modern systems we have are better for the animals in many ways. We have moved animals indoors to keep them out of the Midwestern winters and out of the snow drifts to ensure better quality and safety for those animals as well. So, those are some things that I know are a part of consumer discussion and yet we also know that many consumers don’t necessarily understand the methods behind modern production. That is going to be part of the story that we do want to tell consumers going forward.”

Novak suggests that those who want to be involved in telling the story of agriculture should do so, starting in their local community.  “First, the “We Care” initiative, a part of that, one of the ethical principles is that pork producers will be involved and engaged in their community. So, one of the programs we have is Operation Main Street. We have trained 700 pork farmers who will travel thousands of miles each year to visit Kiwanis, Rotary, Optimist Clubs, local Chambers of Commerce, any type of community gathering in a fifty to 100 miles radius of where they are living. They are willing to take their time and provide those audiences with information about pork production and why we do the things that we do on the farm. We are working with some of those Operation Main Street speakers to move into the blogosphere. We are teaching them about facebook and twitter. We have a number of pork producers out there watching the dialogue in social media and jumping in. They are protecting and defending their industry, sharing information about what they are doing on their farms with consumers. We have some pork producers who have actually opened live web links with cameras on their farm operation. So, if consumers want to see what is happening on a farm they have that opportunity. Those are just a few of the things that producers can do. Engaging with local media stations – we have a wonderful farm broadcast crew obviously that helps us share the message - but for producers to pick up the phone or send a letter to their local media stations and offer themselves as a resource is also a great step. The pork check off has a number of tools that can help producers get information that they can share with local media sources. Producers can go to pork.org.  We also have porkcares.org which is a brand new website that we have launched that helps talk about those issues we know consumers have questions about as far as production agriculture; and finally theotherwhitemeat.com has been revamped. It has lots of recipes for consumers who are interested in spicing up their dinner menu.”

Conversation with Chris Novak

Pork producers wary of HSUS bill in Congress

Pork producers will be keeping a close eye on that HSUS-backed animal rights bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill proposes to set rules around confinement of animals used to produce food purchased by the federal government.  According to Dr. Jen Greiner with the National Pork Producers Council, it’s the first time legislation addressing animal housing—gestation stalls, veal crates and laying hen cages—has been introduced in Congress. 

Greiner doesn’t expect the proposal to gain much traction by itself—but she is concerned its backers might try to tie it to reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act later this year.

“(It’s) the bill that gives USDA the ability to go out and purchase food products to go into the school lunch program, the school breakfast program, and the Women, Infants and Children—or WIC—program,” Greiner says, “and so, as we look at that, obviously those foods are going into federal programs and this legislation could get swept into it.  So, clearly, we’re concerned about that.”

HSUS has been successful with animal rights initiatives at the state level and, to this point, has not shown much interest in pursuing federal legislation.  We asked Greiner if she’s surprised with this move in Congress.

“We did pick this year—an election year for the House of Representatives and part of the Senators—we did pick this year as being a year of potential mischief,” she says, “but (we) really hadn’t seen a whole lot of movement in that direction until last week.  So I guess while we are maybe a little bit surprised that it came this early, (we’re) definitely not shocked.”

The federal government spends more than one billion dollars buying animal products for a variety of programs and agencies, including the national school lunch program, the armed services and federal prisons.

AUDIO: Jen Greiner (4 min MP3)

USDA slightly lowers 2009 corn, soybean production estimates

USDA has slightly lowered its 2009 corn and soybean production estimates following resurveys of farmers in a number of states where harvest was delayed.

USDA’s new corn production estimate is 13.131 billion bushels, compared to January’s projection of 13.151 billion bushels with an average yield of 164.9 bushels per acre, compared to 165.2 in the previous report.

Soybeans came out at 3.359 billion bushels, compared to 3.361 billion in January with an average yield of 44.0 bushels per acre, unchanged from January.

The resurvey includes corn in Illinois and Wisconsin and soybeans in South Carolina.

USDA will do another survey of corn in North and South Dakota later in the year.

Selected resurveyed states:

Illinois: Corn: 2.053 billion bushels with an average yield of 174.0 bushels per acre; planted area of 12.000 million acres and harvested area of 11.800 million acres.

South Carolina: Soybeans: 13.843 million bushels with an average yield of 24.5 bushels per acre; planted area of 590,000 acres and harvested area of 565,000 acres.

Wisconsin: Corn: 448.290 million bushels with an average yield of 153.0 bushels per acre; planted area of 3.850 million acres and harvested area of 2.930 million acres.

Amish farmer wins Wisconsin premises challenge

An Amish farmer has won his court case challenging Wisconsin’s livestock premises registration law. Clark County Circuit Judge Jon Counsell ruled the law violates Emanuel Miller Jr’s religious beliefs. The judge said the state failed to prove its need to protect food safety and animal health could not be achieved by adopting something less restrictive. Counsell cited several flaws in the state law noting it was impossible to keep the register current because farmers only have to sign up every three years and it does not require the farmer to have a telephone so in the case of an outbreak officials would still have to go door-to-door.

Clark County was the site of a pseudorabies outbreak in 2007 and state officials spent days going door-to-door looking for hogs in two quarantine areas.

Wisconsin Assistant State Veterinarian Paul McGraw expects his agency will appeal the ruling.

Thanks to Thom Gerretsen, Wheeler News Service.

Crop reinsurance agreement caps agent commissions

Crop insurance agent commissions will be capped if the Federal Risk Management Agency has its way. The second draft of the standard reinsurance agreement says crop insurance agent commissions are to be no more than 80 percent of what the RMA provides to the company in administrative expenses for the policy.

Some reinsurers are currently paying as much as 27 percent in commissions to agents, says Bill Murphy, administrator of the Agency.

“How they’re making this work is that they’re betting that they’re going to have an underwriting gain in order to offset that cost,” Murphy told Brownfield Tuesday. “Well, what happens if we have another [year as bad as] ’93, say in Iowa?”

 AUDIO: Bill Murphy (8 min. MP3)

With that level of commission, Murphy says a bad year would put a financial strain on a company. As a concession, the RMA is proposing that agents be compensated with profit sharing, but he says agents aren’t buying it and Murphy says he’s surprised by their attitude.

“I have to question the logic,” says Murphy. “Would [agents] prefer that a company go out of business? You can just imagine in today’s environment, with the amount of insurance we’re now carrying, what kind of market disruption would occur if one of these major carriers went out of business.”

Murphy says the agreement is being renegotiated to control underwriting gains along with administrative and overhead costs. Combined, he says they went from $1.8 billion in 2006 to $4 billion in 2009.

“This is taxpayer money,” says Murphy. “There are better ways to spend this money.”

Murphy says the purpose of renegotiating the reinsurance agreement is to get control of costs.

“We’d like to make sure the companies get a reasonable rate of return [and] that the agents get a good amount of money to deliver the program,” says Murphy. “They are key to the success of this program.”

Wisconsin livestock facilities siting hearings conclude

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) has completed its hearings on renewal of the state’s Livestock Facilities Siting Rules. Wisconsin Farm Bureau president, Bill Bruins says the hearings were well attended and both sides stated their cases “but it was clear to the livestock industry that it has been a good thing for them.” Bruins says the plan really provides “a roadmap to local officials as to how they can best utilize the land base surrounding their cities.” He says the livestock industry is growing in Wisconsin and part of the credit goes to this process.

DATCP is accepting written comments on the measure through Wednesday and will then formulate the final rule. Bruins does not expect any big changes in the rule. The legislation which created livestock facilities siting includes a review of the rules every five years, this is part of that process.

AUDIO: Bill Bruins comments on the process

Cattle mixed waiting for cash trade

Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures were mixed, mostly lower, ahead of cash business. April and June had additional support from fund buying, the higher midday boxed beef and good weekend clearance over the weekend while deferreds picked up extra pressure from profit taking and the lower corn. April was up $.20 at $94.40 and June was $.05 higher at $92.32.

Feeder cattle were mostly lower on profit taking, spreading and contracts’ premium to the cash index. March was down $.17 at $102.35 and April was up $.02 at $106.02.

Direct cash cattle markets were quiet with widespread business not expected until Thursday or Friday. Asking prices are around $94 in the South and $148 + North with bids at $90 to $91 on the live basis in Texas and Kansas. Boxed beef was firm on light to moderate demand and offerings with Choice up $.21 at $149.50 and Select $.91 higher at $149.02. Tuesday’s cattle slaughter was estimated at 123,000 head, up 3,000 from a week ago and steady with a year ago.

Hogs were lower on the mostly steady to lower cash, Monday’s lower cutout and most contracts premium to cash. Technical weakness and spreading out of the April contract into June were additional features. Both April and June traded below the 10-day moving average. April was down $.40 at $72.40 and May was $.87 lower at $77.92.

Bellies were higher in light trade on spreading, solid demand and oversold signals. March was up $.50 at $93 and May was $.77 higher at $92.80.

Cash hogs were mixed with influences from both good packer demand and questions over wholesale demand. The Eastern Cornbelt was down $.54 with a weighted average of $70.33, the Western Belt was up $.24 at $73.75 and Iowa/Southern Minnesota was $.32 higher at $73.86. Butcher hogs at the terminals were mostly steady to $2 lower with an instance of $1 higher and tops at $46 to $53. Missouri Direct butcher trade was steady at $65 to $67. The pork carcass cutout value was down for the third day in a row, $.12 lower at $74.60 in slow to moderate trade with mostly light demand and light to moderate offerings. The estimated hog slaughter of 402,000 head was down 30,000 from last week and 16,000 less than last year. Monday’s kill was revised down 5,000 head to 409,000.

ASA urging quick passage after today’s vote

The U.S. Senate voted to end debate on the tax extenders bill today and the American Soybean Association is urging quick passage by the full Senate to restore vital jobs lost in the biodiesel industry. ASA is urging the Senate to find agreement with the House on a final bill that can be passed and signed into law as quickly as possible.

ASA President Rob Joslin of Ohio says the extension is desperately needed to save the 23-thousand jobs in the biodiesel industry because layoffs have already begun and most biodiesel plants are at a standstill since the credit was allowed to expire at the end of last year, “The major ones, the ones that actually contribute and produce a lot of biodiesel, virtually, I’m pretty sure, about all of them have shut down. So, the vast majority of the production capability has shut down and idled.”

ASA communications director Bob Callanan says remaining biodiesel production varies a lot by state, “You know, some states where there’s a mandate, they still have to produce the fuel to meet their in-state mandate so there’s still SOME production going on.”

Joslin told reporters that restoring the biodiesel tax credit retroactively is the number-one issue among many issues for the ASA. Joslin and Callanan made their comments at the ASA news conference at Commodity Classic in California last Friday.

Grains and oilseeds mostly lower ahead of USDA numbers

Soybeans were mostly lower with traders getting ready for the USDA supply and demand update. The trade expects USDA to lower the 2009 production estimate and domestic ending stocks with the report out at 7:30 AM Central on Wednesday, March 10. That said – USDA could also raise South American production estimates. Two new Brazilian estimates were out Tuesday with Brazil’s National Commodities Supply Corp. or CONAB pegging the crop at 67.5 million tons and Brazil’s Census Bureau or IBGE projecting beans at 66.9 million. Brazilian ag consultancy Celeres, via Dow Jones Newswires, reports 32% of Brazil’s 2009/10 crop had been harvested as of March 5. Contracts made one month lows early before pulling back up on a lack of follow through selling. Soybean oil was up modestly on product spread adjustments. Meal was steady to weak on that spread activity, hitting a one year low during the session.

Corn was lower on technical and fund selling, in addition to pre-report position squaring and pressure from the higher dollar index. Traders see USDA making downward revisions to 2009 production and average yield estimates. However, ending stocks should be just about unchanged from last month due to slack demand and some in the trade seem to be more focused on prospective 2010 planting estimates out March 31. Ethanol futures were lower.

The wheat complex was lower on technical and fund selling, along with the higher dollar and spillover from corn. Fundamentals for wheat remain extremely bearish with a large supply and poor demand for U.S. wheat. Those negative fundamentals should be reflected in the upcoming supply and demand numbers with domestic ending stocks expected to see a modest decline. USDA’s National Ag Statistics Service reports 60% of Kansas’ winter crop is in good to excellent shape, up 7% on the week, with jointing at 4% and 20% of the crop out of dormancy thanks to warm weather. European wheat was mixed following the currency markets; May Paris was down .2% and May London was flat. According to Dow Jones Newswires, Jordan’s government has taken a $100 million loan from the Jordan Islamic Bank to buy wheat and barley. Japan issued a tender for 152,000 tons of wheat (42,000 tons Australian standard white, 40,000 tons U.S. dark northern spring, 25,000 tons Canadian western red spring, 25,000 tons U.S. western white and 20,000 tons U.S. hard red winter) and Egypt is tendering for 120,000 tons from a variety of sources.

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