Office of Communications (202) 720-8138 AgNews Summary for USDA Executives Monday, Jan. 5, 2009 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION * * * * * * * * * * * * * * AgNews is intended for use by authorized government personnel only. Redistributing AgNews by any means to any unauthorized person violates copyright on the source material. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To access AgNews on the USDA Intranet, go to http://agnews.usda.gov FARM & FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL SERVICES FINANCIAL CRISIS CASTING SHADOW OVER BEEF EXPORT EXPECTATIONS (101 Wall Street Journal 12/5) The global financial crisis and reduced foreign buying power are casting a shadow over expectations for U.S. beef exports in 2009. But despite the gloomy economic picture, some growth areas exist, and beef sales continue to benefit from the Bush administration’s efforts to cut import restrictions. “The big unknown in this whole global beef market is...the impact of the global financial crisis,” said Chuck Lambert, a deputy under secretary for USDA. “We saw export sales and shipments looking really good into Korea until early October, but then they declined on a weekly basis.” How long and to what extent the crisis weighs on beef exports isn’t something government and industry representatives want to predict. Foreign Agricultural Service Administrator Mike Yost said it isn’t a question of whether the global slowdown will depress beef exports in 2009. “There’s no question about that,” he said. “It’s a question of magnitude.” USDA DROPS INTEREST RATE FOR CROPS IN JANUARY (102 Reuters 1/2) The interest rate for U.S. commodity and marketing assistance loans in January for crops grown since 1996 will be 1.625 percent, down from 2.250 percent the prior month, USDA said on Friday. Loans on crops grown in 1995 or earlier will have an interest rate of 0.625 percent, down from 1.250 percent in December, USDA said. FOOD, NUTRITION AND CONSUMER SERVICES STATES SEE INCREASE IN FOOD STAMP PARTICIPATION (103 AP Jan. 1-4) In four separate brief articles, the Associated Press reports that food stamp participation is up in Illinois, New Jersey, Vermont and South Dakota. In Illinois, nearly 1.4 million people used food stamps in November, up from 1.3 million in November of the previous year. State officials blamed higher food prices and the struggling economy for the increase. In New Jersey, food stamp applications doubled over the period from October 2007 to October 2008, again because of the faltering economy. Welfare agencies said many of the applicants now come from the middle class. In Vermont, the number of people relying on food stamps jumped by 7,000 to a total of 60,000, and more people are now eligible because of changes in the program’s income and saving restrictions. In South Dakota, the number of people on food stamps has increased as more people have found themselves out of work. As of the end of November, 67,217 state residents were receiving food stamp assistance, an increase of more than 4,700 over a year ago. MARKETING & REGULATORY PROGRAMS NEW BIRD FLU CASES REVIVE FEARS OF HUMAN PANDEMIC (104 L.A. Times 1/4) The H5N1 bird flu virus has resurfaced in poultry in Hong Kong for the first time in six years, reinforcing warnings that the threat of a human pandemic isn’t over. India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and mainland China also experienced new outbreaks in December. During the same period, four new human cases – in Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia – were reported to the World Health Organization. The new cases come after a two-year decline in the number of confirmed human deaths from H5N1, and as fewer countries are reporting outbreaks among poultry. A United Nations report released in October credits improved surveillance and rapid culling of potentially infected poultry for helping to contain and even prevent outbreaks in many countries. Yet H5N1 has continued to “at the very least smolder, and many times flare up” since the chain of outbreaks began in 2003, said the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Study at the University of Minnesota. He said the year-end uptick is a reminder of how quickly the situation can turn as long as the H5N1 virus is still out there. LABS MOVE BEYOND GM CORN AND SOY, INTO WHEAT AND RICE (105 Seattle Post-Intelligencer 1/2) Genetically modified corn, soybeans, cotton and canola are widely used by U.S. farmers to produce more food, feed and fiber, but rice and wheat are fairly new to gene modification because farmers and consumers have been less accepting of artificial changes to those crops. But BASF, a German chemical giant that came late to agricultural biotechnology, has begun to branch out. Its executives think those preferences are changing, and that the demand will increase as populations grow and acreage stays the same or shrinks. Much of the research work is done at BASF’s plant science research hub in North Carolina. The article quotes a BASF executive who says the company is “seeing success” in field trials with rice, but that research into genetically modified wheat is just beginning. RANCHERS CONCERNED ABOUT PLAN TO MOVE BISON TO RESERVATIONS (106 AP 1/4) Ranchers are voicing concern about plans to relocate some Yellowstone National Park bison to Indian reservations in Montana and Wyoming. The ranchers are worried about the bison’s history of carrying brucellosis, a disease that causes domestic cattle to miscarry their calves. At issue is the relocation of more than 40 bison kept under quarantine for three years as part of an experiment to keep alive at least some of the bison migrating from Yellowstone. Bison that have left the park and tested positive for brucellosis have been slaughtered to prevent them from coming into contact with livestock. However, the quarantined bison have tested negative for brucellosis for three years, have been allowed to reproduce in captivity and are now ready for relocation. Three Indian reservations have submitted proposals for acquiring the bison. NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT FOREST POLICY SET TO CHANGE, AIDING DEVELOPER (107 Washington Post 1/4) The Bush administration appears poised to push through a change in Forest Service agreements that would make it easier for mountain forests to be converted to housing subdivisions. USDA Under Secretary Mark Rey last week signaled his intent to formalize the controversial change before the inauguration of President-elect Obama. As a candidate, Obama campaigned against the move in Montana, where local governments have complained about being blindsided by Rey’s negotiating the policy shift behind closed doors with the nation’s largest private landowner. The shift would allow Plum Creek Timber to pave roads through Forest Service land. For decades, such roads were little more than trails used by logging trucks to reach timber stands. But as Plum Creek moved into the real estate business, paving the roads became a necessary prelude to opening vast tracts of the company’s 8 million acres to the vacation homes that are transforming landscapes across the West. CANADA’S FORESTS NO LONGER WORK TO ABSORB GREENHOUSE GASES (108 Chicago Tribune 1/2) In an alarming yet little-noticed series of recent studies, scientists have concluded that Canada’s forests, stressed from damage caused by global warming, insect infestations and persistent fires, have crossed an ominous line, and are now pumping out more carbon dioxide than they are sequestering. Worse yet, experts predict that Canada’s forests will remain net carbon sources, as opposed to carbon storage “sinks,” until at least 2022, and possibly much longer. Canada’s 1.2 million square miles of trees have been dubbed the “lungs of the planet” because they could be depended upon to suck in vast quantities of carbon dioxide, naturally cleansing the world of much of the harmful heat-trapping gas. But “we are seeing a significant distortion of the natural trends,” says one expert. “Since 1999, and especially in the last five years, the forests have shifted away from being a carbon sink to a carbon source.” FOREST SERVICE TO RE-EXAMINE AVALANCHE POLICY (109 AP 1/2) Forest Service officials say they plan to re-examine local and nationwide avalanche control procedures following avalanche deaths at Western ski resorts. Already this season, three people have been killed while skiing in-bounds at resorts. Avalanches have killed others at resorts in Wyoming, Utah, California and Colorado. The article focuses on two avalanches at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Wyoming, including one in which a skier was killed and another that damaged a restaurant. The director of the Forest Service’s National Avalanche Center in Idaho is quoted as saying recent avalanche activity is very unusual, and that it has been “a crazy, crazy year.” FOREST SERVICE SETTLES LAWSUIT OVER IDAHO TIMBER SALE (110 AP 1/3) The Forest Service settled a lawsuit filed by environmentalists fighting a central Idaho timber sale by agreeing to scale back logging that was meant to reduce fuels near the town of Salmon. In May, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies won an order from a federal court to halt the Salmon-Challis National Forest’s 1,486-acre Moose Creek timber sale, which had been approved in 2006. According to an agreement last week resolving the litigation, work will now be limited to timber cutting in several areas that a local logger had purchased before the lawsuit was filed in 2007. The national forest also agreed to stop logging old-growth stands greater than 80 acres and to apply heightened scrutiny to future commercial logging. The environmental group argued in the lawsuit that the Moose Creek project would have allowed clear cuts on old-growth forests that are home to sensitive species such as boreal owls and northern goshawks. WHERE’S SMOKEY? BEAR SNATCHINGS ON THE RISE IN GEORGIA (111 Florida Times-Union 12/31) Someone stole the handcrafted, six-foot-tall wooden Smokey Bear cutout that was bolted to the wildfire danger sign outside the fire station in Hortense, Ga. It was the latest in a series of Smokey snatchings in Brantley County, said Barry Rowell, the chief ranger of the Georgia Forestry Commission unit in the county. He said another Smokey Bear was stolen earlier from its fire danger post at the Waynesville Volunteer Fire Department. “We used to have one outside our office here, but it was stolen so many times that we finally gave up and stopped replacing it,” Rowell said. Four of the unit’s bears were stolen in as many years. USDA -- MULTI-MISSION ADM STANDING BY ETHANOL DESPITE CRITICS (112 Business Week 12/31) As chief executive of Archer Daniels Midland, Patricia Woertz has watched various parts of her $70 billion-a-year empire gyrate wildly during the past year. Her continued passion for corn-based ethanol angers many corporate customers at a time when enthusiasm for the fuel additive is waning. Ethanol’s profitability has eroded as oil has slipped, and social critics complain that it harms the environment and diverts corn supplies, raising food prices. Woertz argues that ADM is “not just an ethanol company,” and she’s right. While ethanol was the largest single contributor to ADM’s profits last year, it’s dwarfed by the business of processing wheat, cocoa, soy, seeds for vegetable oil, and other staples. Woertz committed to an ethanol-heavy strategy when oil was on the way up and alternative biofuels looked smart. Now she’s sticking with that bet. She plans to build two more plants by early 2010 that could easily increase production to 1.9 billion gallons a year, up from the current 1.1 billion. With the bankruptcy of leading distributor VeraSun Energy, ADM has cemented its dubious position as industry titan. That dominance will probably make Woertz and her company an even more inviting target for environmental groups and other ethanol opponents. LIVESTOCK FARMERS TEST OTHER MONEYMAKING IDEAS (113 Washington Post 1/3) The article looks at a Maryland farmer who has sold his hogs and most of his cows, and replaced them with two dozen alpacas. The alpacas eat less, their wool can be harvested and he doesn’t have to haul them to a slaughterhouse. The economy and other factors have forced many livestock producers to halt or dramatically refashion their operations. Nearly half of the producers in Southern Maryland have cut the number of animals they raise or gotten rid of them altogether. Last year, feed prices shot up, mostly because of new demand for corn and soybeans to produce ethanol. Record-high gas prices during the summer made a trip to the slaughterhouse more expensive. Drought drove up the price of hay. And after livestock producers invested more than usual in raising their animals, they were met with lower-than-usual prices at the market. Many turned their attention to other sources on income: greenhouse-grown vegetables, grain, specialty animals such as alpacas, agri-tourism, or jobs off the farm. RESEARCHERS FOCUS ON BRINGING MISSING BEES BACK (114 AP 1/5) Scientists are trying to solve a mystery critical to the future of U.S. agriculture: Why are honeybee hives failing at a disturbing high rate? Some researchers are studying whether pesticides and other chemicals used in fields and gardens might affect honeybees, as well as bumblebees and other insects that pollinate crops. Other research is focusing on building more habitat – planting trees, shrubs, and flowers that pollinators prefer. Penn State University has been spearheading the research, and a senior Extension associate there said researchers remain concerned about the number and combination of pesticides that have been detected in decimated hives. “We realize it’s much more complicated than what we thought a year ago,” she said. “From what we know now, it’s not something we’ll figure out very, very quickly.” FRANKEN GAINS MOMENTUM IN MINNESOTA SENATE RACE (115 Washington Post 1/5) Recent developments in the recount in Minnesota’s Senate race have given entertainer Al Franken a burst of momentum over Sen. Norm Coleman, and left national Democrats increasingly confident that the state will fall into their column sooner rather than later. Although Franken trailed Coleman on election night, he has steadily gained ever since. A hand recount of the nearly 3 million ballots cast turned the race into a dead heat, and the recent recounting of 933 wrongly rejected absentee ballots yielded a 255-vote edge for Franken heading into today’s meeting of the state Canvassing Board, in which a winner – presumably Franken – will be named. However, Coleman’s campaign thinks pending legal challenges – the most important of which will be decided by Minnesota’s Supreme court – can sway the outcome. Even if that ruling goes against them, Coleman’s legal team can be expected to formally contest the recount. EDITORIAL AND OPINION SUBSIDY GUIDELINES TO GET QUICK SCRUTINY (116 Des Moines Register 1/4) Reporter and columnist Philip Brasher writes that if there was one piece of farm policy that Barack Obama made a priority of, it was to tighten limits on farm subsidies. “The public will find out early in his administration how serious he was about doing that,” Brasher says. USDA last week published new regulations for subsidy eligibility to implement requirements of the 2008 farm bill. The rules refine the definition of what it means to be “actively engaged” in farming, a requirement for receiving crop subsidies. The Bush administration’s new rules don’t set a minimum time commitment, and Brasher says that without such a measurable standard, “it’s easy for people to collect subsidies, even if they have only a limited involvement in farming.” He quotes the executive director of the Center for Rural Affairs, who says lack of such a standard is “the granddaddy” of loopholes.” Obama’s Agriculture Department must address the issue during the first few days in office, Brasher says, since the rules are open for public comment until Jan. 28, and can be modified before they take effect. AGRICULTURE’S NEXT BIG CHALLENGE (117 Chicago Tribune 1/4) A commentary by former Sen. George McGovern and Marshall Matz says critics are wrong when they assume that agriculture secretary nominee Tom Vilsack is going to be an enemy of sustainable agriculture because he supports agriculture biotechnology and commercial agriculture. While there are important roles for organic and sustainable agriculture, the writers say, “commercial agriculture is still the backbone of the economy in most rural counties across the nation” and is also “a big factor in offsetting our unfavorable balance of international trade.” They also argue that biotechnology and commercial-scale agriculture are necessary to feed the world’s growing hungry population. The writers list some key challenges for agriculture, including feeding America as well as others around the globe who lack America’s resources; assisting needy people at home and in developing countries; producing crops for renewable energy; and doing all this without plowing up environmentally fragile land. In conclusion, they argue that “we need to get beyond ideology and depend more on science...to develop a new understanding of agriculture based on our larger goals if we are to craft a long-term food and farm policy that works.” VILSACK MUST RESIST URGE TO BACK BIG AG AT EVERY TURN (118 Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, Iowa 1/04) A columnist says President-elect Obama’s choice of Tom Vilsack as secretary of agriculture is “safe and sound.” The writer notes that Vilsack is the third consecutive Midwestern governors selected as agriculture secretary, all of them “more bank managers than ag innovators.” As governor of Iowa, Vilsack, the columnist says, “backed just about every idea Big Ag brought” to the statehouse, while to sustainable and organic farming interests, Vilsack “was akin to Attila the Hun.” Now that he is expected to be confirmed as secretary, the columnist says, any further political ambitions Vilsack might have will be best served if he takes “the smooth, well-marked path paved by Big Ag, Big Bio and Big Money.” If however, Vilsack views the secretary job as “the climax of his political career,” he might place farmers and food “ahead of agbiz’s ceaseless quest for profit and unending drive to use government to undermine competition and quality.” That’s the path most food producers and all consumers need him to take. What remains to be seen, the writer concludes, is “if he is an independent leader or just another agbiz chicken.” CLINTON’S ROADLESS RULE SURVIVES UNDER BUSH (119 Salt Lake Tribune 1/1) A commentary looks at the history of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which was put in place by President Clinton at the end of his term in office. The Bush administration has tried to overturn the rule, but it remains in effect for 35.6 million acres of national forest in seven Western states. The administration first tried to get rid of the rule quietly, the writer says, by not defending it against lawsuits from timber companies. Later, it tried issuing a weaker replacement rule, but a court overturned that rule, and subsequent conflicting court decisions left the roadless rule “in a curious legal position,” the writer says. More court rulings are expected, but in the meantime, the Clinton roadless rule “has effectively protected the nation’s roadless areas.” President-elect Obama could craft another administrative rule, but a more permanent solution would be for Congress to enact legislation, the writer says. In any case, the Clinton rule has bought time for protection of roadless areas, and has also changed the terms of the roadless discussion. A 50-YEAR FARM BILL (120 N.Y. Times 1/5) A commentary says agriculture has “too often involved an insupportable abuse and waste of soil,” which is being made worse by “the huge monocultures and continuous soil exposure of the agriculture we now practice.” The writers say industrialized agriculture had compounded the loss of soil by adding toxic chemicals, which are now “universally present in our farmlands and streams.” Our present methods of agriculture are not sustainable, the writers say, and “we must restore ecological health to our agricultural landscapes, as well as economic and cultural stability to our rural communities.” They call for an increase in acreage of perennial plants, and a return to crop rotations that include hay, pasture and grazing animals. The writers conclude that agricultural policy should be based on ecological principles, and “we need a 50-year farm bill that addresses forthrightly the problems of soil loss and degradation, toxic pollution, fossil fuel dependency and destruction of rural communities.” ETHANOL PUSH HURTING WILDLIFE (121 Evansville Courier-Press, Ind. 1/3) A columnist says the race to grow more corn to produce ethanol has taken millions of acres of erodible farmland out of the Conservation Reserve Program, and he credits Secretary Ed Schafer with slowing the conversion with his decision that farmers could not de-enroll their acreage without paying a penalty. The columnist says CRP has helped restore duck numbers, created a pheasant boom and stopped the decline of threatened species, but he warns that if CRP can’t be made attractive to farmers, “look for wildlife to decline sharply.” He notes that other technologies are being developed that will provide new feedstocks for ethanol production , but “until this new fuel technology convinces the public it’s folly to turn edible food into fuel, the push to farm more acreage will continue.” INCREASING FOOD STAMPS WOULD HELP KIDS AND THE ECONOMY (122 Idaho Statesman 1/4) An editorial says the economic downturn is impacting children disproportionately, and that as Congress considers an economic stimulus package, it should look for ways to “simultaneously bolster the economy and alleviate child hunger.” The editorial cites the opinion of some analysts who say that rather than a cash infusion such as tax rebates, increasing food stamp benefits could have a larger and faster positive economic effect. Moreover, it says, increasing food stamp benefits is “a long- term investment in our neediest and hungriest children” and can help ensure “a productive and educated work force to sustain America’s economic future.” AGRICULTURE AND TRADE PRESS BROWNFIELD 1/2 (123) Conner to head National Council of Farmer Cooperatives KIPLINGER AGRICULTURE LETTER 1/2 (124) After five years of heady sales and income, outlook for 2009 is far more sober (125) Dairy farmers will face mediocre prices and tight margins (126) Revisions to federal regs on temporary farm workers will help a bit (127) Don’t rush to buy nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers (128) New USDA regulations will tighten up crop subsidies (129) USDA ruling on ACRE will favor farmers (130) Fracas between national soybean groups will cost them USDA funds FEEDSTUFFS 1/5 (131) New APHIS decision on premises ID numbers (132) Trade groups weigh in on biotech rule (133) Carbon monoxide packaging for meat is safe (134) USDA adds new tick inspection port AGRI-PULSE 1/2 (135) USDA lowers CCC lending rates for January AND ALSO… CATTLE DNA DATABASE HELPS NAB RUSTLERS IN ARGENTINA (136 Reuters 1/3) Cattle rustling is an age-old problem in Argentina’s legendary Pampas plains, but genetic testing is helping police crack down on thieves. Argentina is famous for its free-range beef from grass-fed cattle, but experts say lax controls and the sheer scale of some ranches make life easy for rustlers. However, plans are under way to expand a pioneering database of genetic samples from 10,000 cattle that has helped police solve 270 cases of cattle rustling since it was established seven years ago. Steaks or sausages coming from stolen animals can be used as a source of DNA to cross-reference with samples of hair, blood or flesh kept in the cattle database. To obtain a USDA release, access USDA’s Home Page at http://www.usda.gov To access AgNews on the USDA Intranet, go to http://agnews.usda.gov * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * DISCLAIMER -- AgNews content is derived from major wires, news magazines and mass distribution press. Inclusion of an item in AgNews does not imply USDA agreement; nor does USDA attest to the accuracy or completeness of the item. * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ACCESS AGNEWS ARCHIVES ON THE USDA INTRANET – AgNews archive files are available on the USDA Intranet at http://agnews.usda.gov. AgNews summary and PDF clip files for the past week can be found under the days of the week at the top of the page. Archive files for back issues of both the AgNews summary and the PDF clip files can be found under the “Archives” listing. Select a text file for the summary or a PDF file for the AgNews clippings and choose the date of the issue you want to see.