Agriculture
and government programs for rural areas
This page
provides links to assist in reporting on Agriculture and also
includes older blog items that may be of interest to those reporting
on agriculture. The blog items are listed at the bottom of this
page. Please click here to access those
items.
Please let the Institute
know about links that do not work, or about sources we should
add. If a resource here helped you in covering a story, please
let us know by emailing al.cross@uky.edu.
American Agricultural
Editors' Association, http://www.ageditors.com/
Agricultural
History Society, http://www.usi.edu/libarts/history/AHS
American
Farm Bureau Federation, http://www.fb.org
American Horse
Council, http://www.horsecouncil.org
Cattlemen's Beef
Board (checkoff for promotion, research, education),
www.beefboard.org
Community Alliance
with Family Farmers, http://www.caff.org
Farm subsidy database:
The Environmental Working Group has a farm-subsidy
database at http://www.ewg.org/farm/index.php.
FedStats:
Agriculture Statistics,
http://www.fedstats.gov/programs/agriculture.html
--
FedStats provides official statistical information on Federal
agencies reporting expenditures of at least $500,000 per year
in one or more statistical activities.
Future Farmers
of America, http://www.ffa.org
Institute of
Food and Agricultural Sciences, http://www.ifas.ufl.edu
Iowa Corn,
http://www.iowacorn.org/
Land Grant Partners,
http://www.landgrantpartners.com
715-386-9361 Roger Olson roger@landgrantpartners.com
2 Proehl’s Trail, Husdon WI 54016
Land Stewardship
Project, http://www.landstewardshipproject.org
651-653-0618 George Boody gboody@landstewardshipproject.org
National
Agroforestry Center, http://www.unl.edu/nac
National Center
for Food and Agriculture Policy, http://www.ncfap.org/
(202-328-5048 Jill Long Thompson longthompson@ncfap.org 1616
P St NW Suite 100 DC 20036)
North American
Agricultural Journalists, http://naaj.tamu.edu
(Vice President Larry Dreiling, 785-628-1117 ldreiling@aol.com
is senior field editor of High Plains Journal, Box 1309,
2605C Augusta Lane, Hays KS 67601-1309
Nutrient
Database, USDA http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
Sustainable
Agriculture Coalition, http://www.msawg.org
Trade:
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, http://www.iatp.org/
USDA Rural Development,
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov
This group of agencies in the U.S. Department of Agriculture
help finance water and sewer systems, housing, health clinics,
emergency-service facilities and, through the Rural
Utulities Service, electric and telephone service.
It makes loans to businesses through banks and community-managed
lending pools, offers technical assistance and information to
help start and improve cooperatives get started and improve
the effectiveness of their member services. It also provide
technical assistance for community empowerment programs.
University
of California Small Farm Center, http://www.sfc.ucdavis.edu
University of
Kentucky College of Agriculture news site, http://www.ca.uky.edu/news
Women, Food and
Agriculture Network, http://www.wfan.org
712-243-3264 Denise O’Brien cowfan@metc.net
59624 Chicago Rd., Atlantic IA 50022
World Agricultural
Forum, http://www.worldagforum.org/
(314-206-3208 Leonard Guarraia wafstl@stlrcga.org 1 Metropolitan
Square, St Louis 63102)
Past
Blog Items on Agriculture:
Tuesday,
May 29, 2007
Brazilian
firm to buy Swift & Co., creating world's largest meatpacker
Latin America's largest beef processor, JBS
S.A. of Sao Paulo, Brazil, has agreed to buy Swift
& Co. of Greeley, Colo., America's third-largest
beef and pork processor, "creating the world's largest
meatpacking firm," reports Tom Johnston of MeatingPlace.com,
a magazine for the read-meat industry.
The $1.4 billion sale was announced today by "the companies'
respective majority owners, J&F Participacoes S.A.
of Sao Paulo, and Dallas-based private equity firm HM
Capital Partners LLC," Johnston writes. "It
also includes the assumption by J&F of almost $1.2 billion
in Swift debt and other related expenses," related to the
sale of Swift by ConAgra Foods in 2002.
MeatingPlace also notes, "In December, federal
agents raided six Swift plants and arrested some 1,300 workers
on immigration charges. Company officials said the raids cost
upwards of $50 million in lost production and other expenses,
but that Swift is on the rebound, with staffing and production
levels normalizing in May." (Read
more) For a staff story from The Tribune of
Greeley, click
here.
Friday,
May 4, 2007
Crop
insurance: Taxpayers take most risks, insurers make big profits
"Private companies are taking advantage of
a poorly designed crop insurance program for farmers to reap
'excessive' profits while taxpayers absorb most of the costs
and risks, investigators told a House committee yesterday. Republican
and Democratic members of the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee reacted with calls
for major changes in the insurance program," reports The
Washington Post.
Reporters Dan Morgan and Gilbert Gaul were following
up on some of their own work. They reported in October that
the 16 government-approved firms writing crop insurance made
$3.1 billion in profits in the past eight years, while the government
lost $1.5 billion. The Government Accountability Office
found that the companies "had rates of return
averaging 30 percent in 2005 and 24 percent in 2006," compared
with a 'benchmark' of 6.4 percent for property and casualty
insurers, Gaul and Morgan report.
Here's a local angle for you: The Agriculture
Department "paid the companies $6.6 billion to
cover administrative costs in the past decade. Much of that
has been passed on to local crop insurance agents -- some of
them farmers -- who constitute an influential lobby that has
fought changes in the program."
USDA sets premiums to insure crops against weather
losses and falling prices, and "charges farmers only about
a third of what it costs to pay the claims, and it covers most
costs on policies for farms with the worst weather risk,"
the Post notes. "Congress expanded crop insurance subsidies
in 2000, promising that the subsidies would end other 'emergency'
farm payments. But last week Congress approved $3.4 billion
in drought and weather relief, ignoring a White House veto threat."
(Read
more)
Monday,
March 19, 2007
Agriculture
Week, Ag Day celebrate American farmers, tout ethanol
This is National Agriculture Week, and National
Agriculture Day is Wednesday, March 21, the first full day of
spring. “Ag Day serves to recognize and celebrate the
abundance provided by agriculture and is celebrated by producers,
agriculture associations, agribusinesses, academia and others.
The day itself is hosted nationally by the Agriculture
Council of America, but events are carried out at the
state and local level across the country,” writes Kristin
Danley-Greiner of The Messenger in Fort Dodge,
Iowa. (Read
more) Sponsors include John Deere and Archer
Daniels Midland, an agricultural processing and fermentation
company and ethanol producer based in Decatur, Ill.
This year’s Ag Day theme will be “Convergence
of Food and Fuel,” reflecting the growing relevance of
ethanol and biofuel to the agricultural sector. According to
an ACA release
and data from the Renewable Fuels Association in
2006, the U.S. ethanol industry increased U.S. gross domestic
output by $41.1 billion dollars and created more than 160,000
jobs.
The week will celebrate the more than 22 million
people employed in farm-related jobs. “Today each American
farmer feeds more than 144 people compared to 25 people four
decades ago,” said Greg Webb, public-affairs vice president
for Archer Daniels Midland in an ACA release.
“Simply put, American agriculture is doing more - and
doing it more efficiently - than ever before to meet growing
demand.” The ACA lauds the changing nature of agriculture
production, including renewable fuels and advancements in farm
technology such as self-guided tractors.
Sunday,
March 18, 2007
Farm
interests seek more money for university-based agriculture research
"Over
the past two decades, public funding of agricultural research
and extension has been reduced or declined in real dollars,"
Farm Foundation reports. "Evidence is
now emerging that the rate of growth in agricultural productivity
is beginning to decline. At the same time, some U.S. competitors
are increasing public funding of agricultural research. Adequate
public funding for agricultural research and Extension programs
is a critical factor in the future competitiveness of U.S. agriculture."
To
address these issue, Farm Foundation held a conference last
week in Washington. Among the speakers was Bob Stallman, president
of the American Farm Bureau Federation, which
issued a
press release quoting Stallman as saying, “Congress
needs to consider how our land grant universities contribute
and verify advancements in agriculture. . . . We need more funding
for research, not less.”
The release said, “With new expectations
being placed on American agriculture, as well as farmers and
ranchers exploring new ways to improve the environment through
innovative conservation practices, the need for research is
intensifying. . . . Key areas where research is needed, according
to Stallman, are bio-security; improved diets; the environment;
rural revitalization; biotechnology; and renewable energy.”
Smaller-scale agricultural interests spoke up,
too. Bill Nelson, president of WineAmerica,
the National Association of American Wineries, said producers
of specialty crops need research for many reasons: Such crops
are diverse, with complex, site-specific growth characteristics;
many require considerable capital and time to establish; and
producers and processors face strict and wide-ranging quality
requirements. For an outline of the Farm Foundation program
and links to presentations of other speakers, click
here.
Friday,
March 16, 2007
Kentucky,
North Carolina looking at future of tobacco-settlement money
The top two tobacco-producing states, Kentucky
and North Carolina, each set aside for agriculture half of the
money they got in the national settlement with cigarette manufacturers.
They have invested it in very different ways, but now both states
are considering changes.
At the first Kentucky Governor's Summit on Agriculture
yesterday, called to start drafting a strategic plan for agriculture
in the state, there was much talk about the settlement money,
most of which has gone directly or indirectly to help the state's
cattle industry, the largest east of the Mississippi River.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a Republican seeking re-election, said
the plan should build on past successes but "not shy away
from new opportunities and the unknown. . . . The prospects
for growth and diversification are endless."
Scott Smith, dean of the University of
Kentucky College of Agriculture and a member of the
board that has made nearly 3,000 grants totaling $233 million
from settlement funds, said the state needs to invest "wisely
and more wisely" in ag-related projects. "We need
to broaden our scope and broaden our vision" to include
research and development, workforce and education, infrastructure
and leadership, he said.
In North Carolina, where the settlement money
is invested and only the earnings are spent, Gov. Mike Easley
wants the foundation that handles the money "to be more
aggressive in helping rural areas win jobs," report Jonathan
Cox and Tim Simmons of The News & Observer.
Easley, a Democrat in his first term, "said the Golden
LEAF Foundation needs to use more of its money to build
infrastructure and buildings in distressed communities so they're
more attractive to industry."
Foundation president Valeria Lee told the Raleigh
newspaper that Easley's staff had already told her much the
same. "She said that the foundation has been aggressive
in its efforts to help struggling communities and has done a
good job.' What's more, it's planning a new initiative to go
into communities and identify needs," Cox and Simmons write.
It has made about 560 grants, totaling about $205 million. (Read
more)
For a detailed comparison of the two states' settlement
spending, from the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community
Issues, based at the University of Kentucky, and its partner
at the Project on Public Life in the Center for the Study of
the American South at the University of North Carolina,
click
here. For a report on the Kentucky summit from business
writer Greg Hall of The Courier-Journal, click
here.
Saturday,
March 10, 2007
Tobacco
migrating off mountains in N.C.; a local story in several states
The end of the federal tobacco program is concentrating
production among large-scale growers and reducing the amount
grown in hilly areas where large tracts are more difficult to
assemble. That trend is illustrated by figures on production
of burley tobacco in North Carolina and its Watauga County,
reported by Scott Nicholson of The Watauga Democrat
in Boone, N.C. This is a story that can be done by
any news outlet in a tobacco-growing county, with data from
the local office of the federal Farm Service Agency.
“Local tobacco production continued to decline
even though last year the state had a historic high production
of burley tobacco, the kind most often grown in the High Country,”
Nicholson reports. “Statewide burley tobacco production
totaled 6.46 million pounds last year, a 31 percent increase.
Yield per acre averaged 50 pounds more than the 2005 crop, suggesting
large-scale farmers were achieving more efficiency.”
“Those boys down East ... picked up the
slack,” FSA man Bud Smith told Nicholson. “Burley
just migrated off the mountain.” Eastern North Carolina
production has been almost entirely flue-cured, but the end
of federal quotas has allowed growers in the region to adopt
burley, which is in higher demand by cigarette companies. Those
growers were already large-scale, making it relatively easy
for them “to find barns and other covered, dry buildings”
for burley, which is air-cured, Nicholson explains, quoting
Smith. “They’re not growing two or four or six acres
like we did up here. They have 50 or 80 or 100 acres.”
(Read
more)
Friday,
March 9, 2007
Closings
of federal Farm Service Agency offices raise farmers' concern
The federal
Farm Service Agency wants, and probably needs,
to close some of its 2,346 county offices, where farmers get
information about farm programs and provide information to the
FSA, an agency of the Department of Agriculture.
"As
farms get bigger and the number of farms declines, it certainly
makes sense that a system that was originally designed to serve
almost three times the number of farms we have today should
change, particularly at the county office level. And, increasingly,
change means the closure of county FSA offices," Farm Week said in an editorial in December,
complimenting the agency's decision to leave the decision about
which offices to close up to state administrators. (Read
more)
But the closing of a county office is still a
story for local newspapers, as the weekly LaRue County
Herald-News of Hodgenville, Ky., showed this week,
covering a hearing that drew about 80 people to complain to
FSA officials about the plan to close the county office. "The
FSA office assists farmers with commodity programs, crop loans
and conservation methods. Nearly 700 LaRue County farmers utilize
the grain program alone," editor Linda Ireland explained.
(Read
more)
Jeff Hall, FSA administrator for Kentucky, said
the agency plans to close about a third of the offices in the
120-county state, largely because of the end of the federal
tobacco program. Much tobacco is still grown in Kentucky, but
by many fewer farmers -- about 7,500, University of
Kentucky tobacco economist Will Snell estimates. That's
about 10 percent of the number who grew the crop 20 years ago.
Wednesday,
March 7, 2007
Some
states cutting farm irrigation to reduce depletion of aquifers
Irrigation is the number one consumer of fresh
water in the United States, and the vast quantities of water
used by farms is raising contention with governments and environmental
groups. Irrigation, particularly in the West, has been said
to contribute to dried up streams and lowered reservoirs and
may damage the land in the long term, reports Maria Sudekum
Fisher of The Associated Press.
“Several states have taken steps to curtail
irrigation,” writes Fisher. “Colorado shut down
about 400 wells last summer. Farm states such as Kansas and
Nebraska have also been developing new plans to stem overpumping.
Kansas is paying farmers to stop irrigating and retire the water
rights to wells that draw on underground sources like the massive
Ogallala Aquifer, which has been showing signs of depletion
in some sections for years.”
However, irrigation could not be halted completely
without dealing a huge blow to the economy. “The U.S.
Department of Agriculture estimates that while about
16 percent of all cropland is irrigated, largely in the western
states, that acreage generates about $60 billion, or about half
the value of U.S. crops,” writes Fisher. (Read
more)
Tuesday,
Feb. 27, 2007
Disappearance
of bees threatens production of fruits, nuts, vegetables
In
24 states all over the country, "Bees have been disappearing
inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their
livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including
California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable,"
reports Alexei Barrionuevo of The New York Times. (Photo:
bee in almond tree by Ann Johnannson for NYT)
"The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting
the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that
gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables
across the country," Barrionuevo writes. "Beekeepers
have fought regional bee crises before, but this is the first
national affliction." It is called "colony collapse
disorder," and it's a big deal.
Cornell
University estimates that more than $14 billion
worth of U.S. seeds and crops, mostly fruits, vegetables and
nuts, are pollinated by honeybees each year. “Every third
bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate
that food,” Zac Browning, vice president of the American
Beekeeping Federation, told Barrionuevo, who reports:
"The bee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the
West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas
reporting losses of more than 70 percent; beekeepers consider
a loss of up to 20 percent in the offseason to be normal."
The Times story has much more on the bee industry
and possible causes for the disorder. (Read
more)
Thursday,
Feb. 15, 2007
Organic
farming is small, but is growing fast, including livestock
“It’s still a small proportion of
farm land, but organic farming continues to be one of the fastest
growing segments of U.S. agriculture,” writes Sara Wyant
of Agri-Pulse. “The U.S. had under a
million acres of certified organic farmland when Congress passed
the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. By the time USDA implemented
national organic standards in 2002, certified organic farmland
had doubled, and doubled again between 2002 and 2005, according
to a recent report by USDA’s Economic Research
Service. For the first time, all 50 states in the U.S.
had some certified organic farmland in 2005. California ranked
first in terms of acreage, with over 220,000 acres and North
Dakota came in second. U.S. producers dedicated over 4 million
acres of farmland -- 2.3 million acres of cropland and 1.7 million
acres of rangeland and pasture -- to organic production systems
in 2005.”
“Many U.S. producers are embracing organic
farming in order to lower input costs, conserve resources, capture
high-value markets, and boost farm income, according to ERS,”
writes Wyant. “However, the overall adoption level is
still low — only about 0.5 percent of all U.S. cropland
and 0.5 percent of all U.S. pasture was certified organic in
2005. ... Only a small percentage of the top U.S. field crops
-- corn (0.2 percent), soybeans (0.2 percent), and wheat (0.5
percent) -- were grown under certified organic farming systems.
On the other hand, organic carrots (6 percent of U.S. carrot
acreage), organic lettuce (4 percent), organic apples (3 percent)
and other fruit and vegetable crops were more commonly organic
grown in 2005. Organic livestock was beginning to catch up with
produce in 2005, says ERS, with 1 percent of U.S. dairy cows
and 0.6 percent of the layer hens managed under certified organic
systems.” (Read
more)
Tuesday,
Feb. 13, 2007
A weak
dollar can be a strong advantage for U.S. agricultural exports
American farm exports may benefit from a weak
dollar and the prosperity of other nations, giving produce grown
stateside a competitive advantage when pitted against those
in other countries. “Between February 2002 and May 2006,
the U.S. dollar depreciated almost 18 percent against foreign
currencies. When the dollar appreciates against foreign currencies,
U.S. exports cost more in foreign local currencies and thus
demand for them declines. Conversely, a depreciation of the
dollar increases U.S. agricultural competitiveness by lowering
prices of U.S. products in foreign markets,” write Mathew
Shane and William Liefert of Amber Waves, a
publication of the Agriculture Department's
Economic Research Service.
“The decline in the U.S. exchange rate since
2000 has helped boost U.S. agricultural exports to an all-time
high of close to $70 billion per year,” write Shane and
Liefert. “However, almost all of the depreciation is accounted
for by appreciation of currencies in developed countries such
as the European Union (EU), Australia, Canada, and South Korea.”
U.S. agriculture exports lose out in the many developing countries
that purposefully depreciate their currencies against the dollar
to keep a trade advantage. “Developing countries’
commodities and goods have thus become particularly competitive
in the U.S. market, while U.S. agricultural exports have become
more difficult to market in those countries. As a result, these
countries (mostly in Asia) have generated substantial trade
surpluses mirrored by trade deficits for the United States.”
“Yet, other longer term factors can help
boost U.S. agricultural exports,” write Shane and Liefert.
“High income growth in developing countries is the most
important. However, pursuing and maintaining high rates of productivity
growth in U.S. agriculture is equally important. These two factors
combine to create a strong potential for the future growth in
U.S. agricultural exports regardless of how the exchange rate
fluctuates in the short to medium term.” (Read
more)
Thursday,
Feb. 1, 2007
Bush
Farm Bill: Conservation, ethanol, specialties gain; wealthy
lose
The Farm Bill proposed by the Bush administration
yesterday, which would cut payments to farmers by $10 billion
over the next five years, may be the most reform-minded in decades.
Conservation, ethanol and fruit and vegetable growers would
get more money. Wealthy farmers would lose funding entirely
and multiple payment provisions will be cut off. “The
department noted that under the government’s current policies,
only 9 percent of all American farms collected 54 percent of
all government commodity payments,” writes Alexei Barrionuevo
of The New York Times. “These proposals
are more equitable distributions. We have to keep that support
amongst the people who pay the bill,” Agriculture Secretary
Mike Johanns said.
“The proposal would increase conservation
financing by $7.8 billion and direct almost $5 billion to fruit,
vegetable and other “specialty” growers, who have
received little federal assistance in the past,” writes
Barrionuevo. “It would also provide $1.6 billion for research
and development on cellulosic ethanol, which comes from agricultural
waste and nonfood crops. The proposal would actually increase
overall direct payments to farmers by $5.5 billion, or 10 percent,
over 10 years. But it would also reduce large loans that, Brazil
and other countries have argued, distort global trade.”
Subsidies would go only to “growers who
make less than $200,000 in adjusted gross income, a restriction
affecting 71,800 farmers of the 2 million who declared farm
income in 2003,” writes Barrionuevo. “The current
income cap is far more — $2.5 million — and it disappears
altogether if at least 75 percent of a grower’s income
is farm-related.” Antipoverty groups such as Oxfam
America have praised the bill for supporting poorer
farmers, but critics say it’s a bad move for business
and the economy. (Read
more) “The administration's plan also eliminates the
three-entity rule, which allows farmers to receive payments
under multiple entities, and would restrict the possibility
of maneuvering around the new, proposed limit. Under the 2007
plan, farm payments would be limited to individuals and capped
at $360,000,” writes Aine Gianoli of Data Transmission
Network. (Read
more)
Johnanns' announcement was "the administration's
opening move in what will be a lengthy tug of war with Congress
over a new multi-year farm bill," write Dan Morgan and
Gilbert Gaul of The Washington Post, which
has focused much attention on farm subsidies. Click
here for the story and links to related articles.
Hospitals and more: The
Farm Bill deals with much more than farming, including rural
development and rural health. “The plan includes $1.6
billion in guaranteed loans to complete the rehabilitation of
more than 1,200 current Rural Critical Access Hospitals. It
also includes $500 million to reduce the backlog of rural infrastructure
projects such as water and waste disposal loans and grants,”
said a USDA
release.
Sunday, Jan.
21, 2007
Changes
in tobacco market make a burley harvesting machine viable
The end of federal quotas and price supports has
turned burley tobacco from a mainstay of small farmers to a
plantation-type crop for large farmers. That, and a shortage
of immigrant labor to harvest the crop, means that the time
may have come for a tobacco harvesting machine developed by
engineers at the University of Kentucky and
the manufacturer, GCH International of Louisville.
"This is really the industrial revolution
for burley tobacco," GCH President Jeff Androla told Greg
Hall of The Courier-Journal. "Androla
said he doesn't see how farmers can continue to find the labor
needed to cut tobacco in the traditional way. The U.S.
Agriculture Department said some Kentucky burley growers
couldn't harvest their crop in time last year because they couldn't
get enough workers.
The machines sell for $379,000. "Androla
said about five growers are seriously considering ordering the
harvester. Producing one machine would take up to four months,
but making them in multiples could shorten that time, he said."
(Read
more) To watch a video of the harvester at work, click
here.
Thursday,
Jan. 11, 2007
Farm
Bureau delegates no longer want to keep Farm Bill the way it
is
Delegates to the American Farm Bureau
Federation convention "say they’d like the
2007 Farm Bill to be similar to the current one, but they’ve
abandoned policy that the measure be extended," reports
Tom Steever of Brownfield Network. "AFBF
policy had supported extending the 2002 until a new World
Trade Organization agreement is reached. Negotiations
on a new WTO pact collapsed last July."
The lobbying group's change of position may improve
chances that the nation's basic law on farm subsidies and rural
development will undergo substantial change this year. Many
interest groups and government officials are calling for more
limits on subsidies and more help for rural development. The
bill deals with a wide range of programs, including conservation
and food stamps.
"The farm organization’s policy setting
session was remarkable in its brevity and general agreement
on what should be contained in the next farm bill," Steever
reports. "American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman told
reporters following the session that the rapid policy decisions
were a sign of solidarity in spite of commodity and geographic
differences. . . . Delegates also agreed that farmers should
have a safety net, but agreement was more fleeting on the subject
of country-of-origin labeling. While many members want policy
supporting a mandatory COOL program, the vote was to support
voluntary labeling." (Read
more)
In tackling the Farm Bill, Congress will be "debating
the future of rural America," says the Nebraska-based Center
for Rural Affairs. "Rural America is a valuable
part of America, but many rural people and communities are not
sharing in the nation’s prosperity. The place of rural
communities in the nation’s future is at risk. When rural
America is a risk, all of America is at risk." (Read
more)
Monday,
Jan. 8, 2007
Hay
runs short, used farm equipment prices run high in some areas
Our friend Al Tompkins at The Poynter
Institute has a couple of rural story ideas in today's
edition of Al's
Morning Meeting. One deals with a hay shortage
in places such as Alabama and Oklahoma. You can see if your
area is affected by clicking here for the National
Drought Monitor from the University of Nebraska.
The other story is on rising values of used farm equipment,
by Greg Peterson of FACTs
Report, an equipment-auction guide, which Al got
from one of our favorite sites, Agriculture Online.
When we went to the Ag Online page, we tool special
notice of the banner ad from Arctic Cat, which
brought to mind our Jan. 3 blog item on all-terrain vehicles
replacing horses in cattle country. But we also noticed something
strange about the ad. It read, "Wrangling cattle. Bailing
hay. We have you covered cowboy." Seems that the ATV manufacturer
is not as familiar with baling hay as the company would
like you to think -- and Ag Online isn't copyediting its banner
ads. To see the page, click
here.
Meanwhile, our hay note caught the attention of
Ivan "Red" Swift, a friend in North Alabama. He writes
that in The Huntsville Times "yesterday
there was an ad for hay rolls at $60 a roll," but cautions,
"If dry sage grass is in the roll, lots of cows and other
livestock won't eat it. . . . If the roll is rolled tight there's
a lot more hay in it. So, the $60 rolls for sale may be small,
packed loose, and not really edible cured grass, like fescue
and orchard grass. I put out three rolls today -- two for my
cattle, one for my goats. Put out a roll for my sheep on Saturday.
Haven't bought corn for several weeks but heard at the feed
store today that is was shooting up in price." Red may
be hearing the sounds of the corn-fueled ethanol boom.
Friday,
Jan. 5, 2007
Brownfield
Report offers wrapup of last year's big stories in agriculture
2006 "was a year of frustration for U.S.
cattle producers hoping that beef trade would once again approach
normalcy. The frustrations extended to those in agriculture
who hoped for some resolution in the Doha Round of global trade
negotiations," reports Brownfield Network. "There
was growing demand during 2006 for crops that are increasingly
used as sources of energy and that show promise for other uses.
It's been a year of position squaring ahead of the 2002 Farm
Bill expiration date."
To stream audio of Brownfield's 54-minute report,
click
here. To download it as an mp3 file, click
here. Brownfield Report, based in Jefferson City, Mo., is
an agricultural news service for radio stations, but does such
a good job of tracking agriculture-related news, it's useful
to all media. It also has information on rural issues, and commentaries
from founder Derry Brownfield. For the commentary page, click
here. To read the Brownfield Blog, which
tells more about its subscribers and contributors, click
here.
The
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues
helps non-metropolitan media define the public agenda in their
communities, through strong reporting and commentary on local
issues and on broader issues that have local impact. Its initial
focus area is Central Appalachia, but as an arm of the University
of Kentucky it has a statewide mission, and it has national
scope. It has academic collaborators at Appalachian State University,
East Tennessee State University, Eastern Kentucky University,
Georgia College and State University, Indiana University of
Pennsylvania, Marshall University, Middle Tennessee State University,
Ohio University, Southeast Missouri State University, the University
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville,
Washington and Lee University, West Virginia University and
the Knight Community Journalism Fellows Program at the University
of Alabama. It is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation and the University of Kentucky, with additional financial
support from the Ford Foundation. To get notices of
Rural Blog postings and other Institute news, click here.
