Eight former agriculture secretaries will help celebrate the 150th anniversary of USDA as they participate in a historic plenary panel at the 2012 Agricultural Outlook Forum, which will be held Feb. 23-24, 2012, in Arlington, Va.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will give the keynote address at the forum and moderate the panel which will feature any and all of the former living secretaries who are able to attend. They include (in reverse chronological order) Ed Schafer, Senator Mike Johanns, Ann Veneman, Dan Glickman, Mike Espy, Clayton Yeutter, John Block, and Bob Bergland.
In addition to the traditional USDA commodity supply and demand and food price outlooks, the forum will also feature 25 breakout sessions with more than 80 speakers that will focus on a broad range of topical issues, including: global food security; foreign trade, financial markets, and economic development; conservation; energy; climate change; food safety; food hubs; extension programs; and next generation farmers. USDA has hosted the Agricultural Outlook Forum since 1923.
Registration for the forum is still available for a cost of $425. Plenary speeches will be Webcast after 6 p.m. EST on Feb. 23, and breakout session speeches and PowerPoint presentations will be posted online after 6 p.m. Feb. 24.
I have a concern about this announcement from the FFA.
With more than 100,000 new farmers needed over the next few years, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack issued the young leaders of the National FFA Organization a challenge in 2011. “I would like you to with your fellow students and the adult leadership of the organization to develop a series of recommendations around the upcoming Farm Bill that will encourage more young people to pursue careers in farming,” Vilsack said.
It was a challenge that the national FFA officer team for 2010-11 took seriously. The students immediately began work- framing key questions, consulting FFA members, engaging leaders in agriculture, compiling input and formulating recommendations.
Okay. On the surface it looks and sounds nice that the government wants to do something to encourage youth in agriculture. We certainly do! But . . . Here’s more from FFA. I’ve highlighted section that immediately drew my attention and comment below.
“Never before had we been invited to submit direct input to the Secretary of Agriculture that could enhance the ability of agricultural education and FFA to help students succeed and strengthen American agriculture,” said Riley Pagett, national FFA President, 2010-11. “We were honored to be invited to be a part of this process.”
In December 2011, the 2010-11 national officer team met with Sec. Vilsack to share their recommendations which fell under four main categories. Those are: Getting started in production agriculture; creating vibrant rural communities; who should care about agriculture and why; planning for the future.
Items that were recommended were as follows: USDA and other agencies should encourage and assist beginning farmers to start or continue in production agriculture; USDA should help transition farms from older related and non-related farmers to younger of beginner farmers who may not come from a farm; USDA should help keep young people in rural communities and make rural communities an even more important part of our nation’s economy and society; USDA should support efforts to increase the public’s knowledge of agricultural literacy; USDA should strengthen the capacity of agricultural education o produce more students that pursue production agriculture and other agriculturally related careers and the USDA should provide authority, responsibility and support for school-based agricultural education and FFA.
So, FFA student leaders, everything you mention here is all asking USDA to do something for you. As in “USDA should . . . ” Where’s the money for that going to come from? Are you sure you want more involvement fromt he government in your business or potential business? I think it’s great that the Secretary invited you in but I’d urge caution before you ask for too much, if anything. I think you’d be better off talking with agribusiness leadership about stand alone private practice programs to help you get established in farming or make transitions on your farm. These things are being done. I think most agribusiness companies would be quite willing to talk with you about that. Then maybe we wouldn’t need the government to “take care of us.” What do you think?
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack revealed a plan for streamlining operations and cutting costs at USDA during an address to the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting on Monday.
“The USDA, like families and businesses across the country, cannot continue to operate like we did 50 years ago,” said Vilsack. “We must innovate, modernize, and be better stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars. We must build on the record accomplishments of farm communities in 2011 with a stronger, more effective USDA in 2012 and beyond.”
Part of the plan includes closing 259 domestic offices, facilities and labs across the country, as well as seven foreign offices and consolidating over 130 county Farm Service Agency offices in 32 states. “Of the 131 offices on the list, 35 currently have no employees,” Vilsack said. “Let that sink in for a second.”
The USDA Economic Research Service has a Farm Program Atlas online for your searching pleasure.
The Farm Program Atlas is a web-based interactive mapping tool that displays payment and participation data on major farm programs and covered commodities at the county level — to visualize how these Federal farm programs vary across the United States. Users can select maps displaying county-level data for nearly 100 variables. Each map may be viewed for the entire country or users can use a zoom tool to focus on a single region, State, or county. When viewing a program map, users may also click on a single county to view a table of data on all the variables associated with the program for that particular county.
With these tools, users can:
View maps showing levels of participation and benefits from key farm programs
View maps comparing participation and benefits from selected programs
View all data for any county on a selected farm program
Print a version of the map or save the image in a graphics-file format for use in other documents or presentations
Download a spreadsheet containing all the data for a selected county or for all U.S. counties included in the Atlas
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack once again paid a visit to the nation’s farm broadcasters at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting in Kansas City where he commmented on a number of issues important to farmers and ranchers.
The secretary led with USDA’s announcement today on record growth of U.S. agricultural exports in 2011. “I’m pleased to report that we reached a record amount of $137.4 billion of agricultural exports,” Vilsack said. “This is $22.5 billion higher than the export number last year and testimony to the extraordinary productivity, quality and affordability of what American farmers and ranchers are producing, growing and raising.” He noted that agriculture supports 1.15 million jobs in the economy – 1 out of every 12 jobs in the country are connected to agriculture.
Other topics Vilsack addressed included trade, government regulation, rural development, Farm Bill, cutting the deficit, GIPSA and more.
I think the fall colors are fading here in mid Missouri. We have had some real contrasts this year and it seemed to me like the trees turned color in a couple of waves instead of all at once. Here’s our maple tree when it was in full color.
So, have you wondered about the science behind leaf changing? Then read about it on the USDA Blog.
Daylength (or more correctly, the length of nights) is the real cause of trees’ transition to autumn colors. (Read more here about how longer nights translate into the vibrant color of autumn.)
So what role does frost play in the changing color of autumn leaves? Frost actually ruins vivid fall colors by causing cells in the leaf to rupture and die.
The appearance of fall colors shifts each year due to weather. Heavy cloud cover limits ultraviolet light, so the chlorophyll lasts longer, and leaves stay green longer. High night temperatures cause cells to burn accumulated sugars, so less red and purple pigments are formed and yellow and orange are the predominant colors. Drought stress or a windy interlude cause leaves to drop prematurely.
The ideal conditions are warm, sunny days and cool nights with little wind or drought stress.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack chose the John Deere Des Moines Works facility to talk about his priorities for the 2012 Farm Bill, which he says is really a misnomer.
“After all, for decades this bill has been about a whole lot more than just farming. It’s been about energy, it’s been about nutrition, it’s been about jobs. Now, some may keep calling it the Farm Bill out of convenience, or maybe even out of tradition; but I think we’re doing it a disservice,” Vilsack said.
The secretary acknowledged that fiscal and political realities will have an impact on the outcome for any legislation in the coming year. “So our priorities must be clear. We simply need to do more with less,” he said.
It would be nice to see all government agencies take a look at some programs that might be able to be cut to save tax dollars, like USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service has done.
In light of funding reductions in fiscal year (FY) 2011 and the likelihood of additional reductions in FY 2012, NASS conducted deliberate reviews of all programs against mission- and user-based criteria, aimed at finding cost savings and forward-thinking business efficiencies so that key timely, accurate and useful data remains available in service to agriculture. As a result, the agency is discontinuing or reducing a wide range of agricultural survey programs. The decision to eliminate or reduce these reports was not made lightly, but it was nevertheless necessary, given the funding situation. Because of the timing of the agency’s survey work during the coming year, these decisions are necessary now.
Reports which will be eliminated include Annual Reports on Farm Numbers, Land in Farms and Livestock Operations; Catfish and Trout Reports; Annual Floriculture Report; January Sheep and Goat Report; July Cattle Report; Annual Bee and Honey Report; Annual Hops Production report; Annual Mink report (didn’t even know we had one!); Nursery report; June and September Rice stocks report. Other reports – including chemical use, monthly potato stocks and fruit and vegetable forecasts – will be reduced in frequency. The Distiller Co-Products for Feed Survey would be canceled.
NASS plans to make similar data included in these reports either less frequently or within the every 5-year Census of Agriculture. The next census will be conducted beginning January 2013 to reflect activities in the 2012 calendar year. A Federal Register notice announcing the program changes will be forthcoming.
Some people will no doubt be unhappy with the proposed changes, but it certainly seems like most of these reports can easily be eliminated or reduced without too much angst. I bet with a little effort, even more could be cut.
It’s time to analyze some new data about farm computer use and ownership. USDA’s National Agricultural Statistic Service has released a new report, “Farm Computer Usage and Ownership, August 2011.” Here’s the opening summary. It’s interesting to see that dialup access has dropped in half since the last report in 2009. Also note how high the percentages get as you increase the income of the farm.
DSL was the most common method of accessing the Internet, with 38 percent of U.S. farms using it, up from 36 percent in 2009. Dialup access dropped from 23 percent in 2009 to 12 percent in 2011. Satellite and wireless were each reported as the primary Internet access methods on 15 and 20 percent of those U.S. farms with Internet access, respectively. Cable was reported as the primary access method on 11 percent of the farms, the same level as 2009.
A total of 62 percent of U.S. farms now have Internet access, compared with 59 percent in 2009. Sixty-five percent of farms have access to a computer in 2011, up 1 percentage point from 2009. The proportion of U.S. farms owning or leasing a computer in 2011, at 63 percent, was up 2 percentage points from 2009. Farms using computers for their farm business remained virtually stable at 37 percent in 2011 compared to 36 percent in 2009. (more…)
I have now moved from Nebraska to Illinois for the 2011 InfoAg Conference. This is all about precision agriculture so most of our coverage will be found on Precision Pays. Thanks to Cindy we have coverage already started since I was a little slow moving this morning. Here’s her report on the opening session:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Acreage Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiative Project (ACRSIP) may well be the “most important thing that USDA has ever done,” according to Acting Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse.
Scuse talked about the initiative as the keynote speaker at the opening of InfoAg 2011 in Springfield, Illinois on Tuesday. The concept is to simplify and provide new reporting options for producers. “Rather than a farmer or rancher going to the local FSA office to do their crop reports as they do now and have to give a second report to their agent, they can actually do the report from home,” Scuse said. “Our ultimate goal is for those that have precision ag equipment in their planters and combines to actually use the information that’s collected from that equipment to be downloaded directly to their Farm Service Agency and to the crop insurance agent, to simplify the process even further.”
Scuse says they plan a pilot test of the program this fall and hope to have it implemented by 2013. “This is how we’re going to provide a better service for farmers and ranchers,” he said. “It will ultimately save the taxpayers a great deal of money with this initiative.”
Chuck and I are tag-teaming this InfoAg Conference. He will be covering tomorrow while I head to Dixon, IL for a Wyffles corn strategies field day. Chuck will be doing a presentation on using social media here at the conference on Thursday.
Fruits and vegetables should make up half of our plates under the more user-friendly nutrition image released today by First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. USDA is ditching the long-used food pyramid for a plate. “I can already tell you how much this is going to help parents across the country,” said the First Lady. “We do have time to look at our kids’ plates … as long as they’re eating proper portions. As long as half of their meal is fruits and vegetables, alongside lean proteins, whole grains and low fat dairy, then we’re good. It’s as simple as that.”
“My plate is a tool that’s simple enough for children to understand even at the elementary school level,” she continued. “So the My Plate icon is a wonderful, kid-friendly tool.”
Details of the new My Plate nutrition symbol can be found on choosemyplate.gov.
“There were 66,000 comments, about 30,000 of which are unique,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told an agriculture committee meeting last week. “Our hope is that we get this done sometime in the fall.”
Last week, 147 members of Congress sent Vilsack a letter about the proposed rule urging him “to proceed in a manner that allows further public comment on revisions to the proposal and the pending economic analysis” before a final rule is published, adding that a timeline for completion of the economic analysis and any further action is also needed.
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Bill Donald of Montana says the members of Congress are standing up for U.S. cattlemen and women. “The proposed GIPSA rule puts big government smack dab in the middle of our business. It is the most pervasive invasion of federal government into the private marketplace I have ever witnessed,” he said.
National Pork Producers Council President Doug Wolf says the regulation as written “would be bad for producers, bad for consumers and bad for rural America” and would cost the U.S. pork industry nearly $400 million a year.
American Meat Institute president and CEO J. Patrick Boyle noted that an “almost unprecedented” third of House members signed the letter. “The sheer number of signatories on this letter is a testament to the growing concern on Capitol Hill about the proposed GIPSA rule. Congress is asking a fundamental and essential question: when will USDA tell us the price tag on this rule?”
Since May is World Trade Month, you would think it would be a great time for Congress to pass those pesky pending Free Trade Agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama that have been awaiting approval for years. Several of the nation’s largest agricultural organizations who testified before the House Agriculture Committee this week on why it is so important to get those agreements operating think so. Actually, most would say that last May World Trade Month would have been better!
Among those testifying was National Cattlemen’s Beef Association president Bill Donald of Montana. “Each day that goes by without implementing these agreements is another day we risk losing American jobs by losing market share to other countries. With 96 percent of the world’s consumers living outside of the United States, future growth of the U.S. economy depends upon our ability to produce and sell products competitively in the global marketplace,” said Donald. May is also National Beef Month, coincidentally.
National Corn Growers Association CEO Rick Tolman told the committee that passing the FTAs and developing new markets for our country’s agricultural products will help our sector lead the nation in economic growth and international competitiveness. “The United States is the largest corn producer and exporter in the world, and exports of corn and corn co-products are essential to producer income,” Tolman said. “Our members want to maintain current export markets and significantly increase demand for corn through opportunities in value-added corn products.”
The committee also heard from American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman, which you can see on the AFBF website. “These trade agreements are not only important to the bottom line of America’s farmers and ranchers but the economic health of our rural communities and the overall U.S. economy,” said Stallman. “There is a long supply chain made up of American workers who get products from the farm gate to foreign consumers.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also noted the importance of the FTAs for jobs in this country. “”These three trade agreements will create jobs. Through agricultural exports alone, they will yield over $2.3 billion in sales and help support more than 19,000 American jobs in agriculture and related industries,” said Vilsack.
Some progress has been seen recently on moving the FTAs forward and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk indicated to the committee that all three agreements will be submitted to Congress with a view to having them considered this year.
The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service is requesting comment on the creation of a voluntary National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement that would assist all segments of the leafy green industry in meeting commercial food quality and safety requirements.
To reflect the different climates, production practices and markets handling leafy green produce, USDA is proposing that there be eight regional zones represented on the Board. Representatives from these zones, appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, would form a Board to manage the Agreement. The Board would include 26 representatives – 12 handlers, 10 farmers (at least two of which must be small farmers), one importer, one retailer, one food service representative and one member of the public.
“We are asking for extensive public participation with input from farmers and handlers as well as the public to develop a comprehensive, voluntary agreement that will meet the needs of everyone,” said AMS Administrator Rayne Pegg. “This agreement is a proposal at this point and we encourage your comments over the next 90 days. We will analyze the comments and decide how or whether to proceed with an agreement.”
Hear Administrator Rayne Pegg in radio interviews and a podcast below.
Over 100,000 acres of prime southeast Missouri farmland is under water today after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blew up a levee on the Mississippi River Monday night to save the town of Cairo, Illinois from flooding. The action was taken after attempts to stop it were exhausted by Missouri officials. The picture is a screen shot of the video showing the explosions on the levee.
Now 25 farmers have joined in a class action lawsuit against the Corps contending that “the property rights of the farmers and landowners under the 5th Amendment to the Constitution were violated when a 15 foot high wall of water was released and flooded their property.” The Corps itself estimates damage to property in the path of the Birds Point levee at more than $300 million, including about 100 homes and more than 100,000 acres of farmland for corn, wheat and soybeans.
Missouri Corn Growers Association CEO Gary Marshall says the action will “not only decimate this year’s crop, but the sand and silt left behind will impede farmers for years to come. Our efforts will now focus on finding ways to identify federal and state support for growers in the spillway area.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is pledging help. “Notwithstanding the fact that this was a man-made initiative to breach the levee, it was a result of Mother Nature, so the crop insurance protections will be available to those landowners, both this year and most likely next year,” he told farm broadcasters in Washington DC this week.
*POST UPDATE – AUDIO*
Meghan Grebner (WMBD/WIRL Peoria) is in DC at NAFB’s Washington Watch and sent the audio of Vilsack’s comments about the levee. Listen to or download here: Secretary Vilsack Levee Comments
“I am a great believer in American ingenuity,” began Vilsack during his speech in Shenandoah, Iowa where the only first generation ethanol plant is co-located with an algae plant. “I’m a great believer in the capacity of the American farmer and rancher to literally meet any challenge.”
Vilsack recently went on an “energy” tour of the Midwest where he visited various energy projects, many that are supported by the USDA. One project, started three years ago, is the BioProcess Algae project co-located with a first generation corn-ethanol plant. The algae plant utilizes the waste carbon dioxide, waste water and waste heat to produce algal fuels and by-products. Vilsack, along with CEO Tim Burns of BioProcess Algae and CEO Todd Becker of Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) all believe that farmers will soon be growing algae – just like they currently grow other energy crops such as corn. In fact, Burns’ vision is that in 10 or 15 years, when you fly over Iowa, you will see concentric circles of algae around the ethanol biorefineries.
While Vilsack was excited about the technology and partnership happening in Shenandoah, Iowa, maybe what he was more excited about was the ability for domestically produced energy to revitalize rural America. During his keynote speech, Vilsack focused on the need for innovative and creative jobs to bring bright, young people back home. Today, 16 percent of our country’s population comes from rural areas like Shenandoah, Iowa and 44 percent of our military comes from these areas.
Vilsack believes that projects such as the BioProcess Algae / GPRE project will spread across the country and rural communities. “There’s phenomenal innovation and phenomenal growth opportunities to be able to do something for your country that needs to be done and that’s to wean ourselves off of our dependence on foreign oil,” continued Vilsack. “It’s an opportunity for us to create jobs in small towns. It’s an opportunity for American agriculture to continue to respond to the challenges it has met time after time in the country.”
There are four components that Vilsack believes are the secret for success in revitalizing the rural economy: significant investment dollars, innovation, networking, and a sense of place. Vilsack said these are the reasons why the USDA was supporting this project.
He concluded, “I want to congratulate the folks at BioProcess Algae and I want to congratulate the ethanol industry and the advanced biofuels industry for coming together in this operation because it’s a model for the rest of the country and it sends a strong unmistakable message the ethanol industry and the biofuels industry is here to stay and is going to play an important role in shaping not just opportunity for America but very specifically a wonderful opportunity, an unlimited opportunity for the bright young people who want to live, and work and raise their family in the greatest part of America.”
Planting season has officially started with the first USDA crop progress report of the year released this week. Three percent of the nation’s corn crop planted – the same as both last year and the five year average. Cotton is running on schedule with seven percent planted and sorghum is 20 percent.
As the planters start moving through the fields, Precision Laboratories is reminding growers to get the most out of their fields by getting the most out of their weed control by following two simple steps:
1. Reduce costly tank-mix incompatibility issues by following the proper mixing sequence
Tank mix compatibility issues can cost you time and money – lost spraying time from plugged sprayer nozzles, lost product and the risk of cross contamination problems later. Precision Laboratories recently released a simple and unique way to identify the correct mixing sequence for your crop protection products. The new Mix Tank app for iPhone and iPod touch, is the first of its kind, helping you determine the accurate mixing sequence for pesticides, adjuvants and foliar nutrition products. With over 700 crop protection products from over 15 manufacturers, the new Mix Tank app can process any combination of products and determine the correct solution. Download the Mix Tank app at http://bit.ly/MixTank. And if you don’t have an iPhone, you can enter to win a free iPod Touch loaded with the app and other tank mixing resources. To register for the Precision Laboratories/ZimmComm iPod Touch giveaway, click here. (more…)
It’s taken over four years to get to this point, but some action is finally happening on the Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA) and U.S. agriculture interests are thrilled.
President Obama announced today that an agreement has been reached on the deal that was signed by the U.S. Trade Representative and the Colombian trade minister on Nov. 22, 2006. The agreement will now be sent to Congress to ratify. It is estimated that the Colombia agreement could mean U.S. agricultural export gains of more than $815 million per year at full implementation.
According to a USDA Fact Sheet, a variety of agricultural commodities would benefit from the Agreement, as more than half of current U.S. farm exports to Colombia will become duty-free immediately, and virtually all remaining tariffs will be eliminated within 15 years. “Colombia will immediately eliminate duties on wheat, barley, soybeans, soybean meal and flour, high-quality beef, bacon, almost all fruit and vegetable products, wheat, peanuts, whey, cotton, and the vast majority of processed products. The Agreement also provides duty free tariff rate quotas (TRQ) on standard beef, chicken leg quarters, dairy products, corn, sorghum, animal feeds, rice, and soybean oil.”
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President Bill Donald said it’s essential for the U.S. to take aggressive measures to expand market access for agriculture to stimulate the economy and feed a growing global population. “The cattle industry can breathe a sigh of relief today as the Colombia agreement finally gets the long overdue attention it deserves,” said Donald. “This agreement has collected dust for well over four years while our trade competitors proactively sign, seal and deliver trade pacts.”
American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman says the development is just what a group of Farm Bureau leaders has been pushing for the last two weeks during a visit to Colombia and Panama. “After meetings this week and last with farmers, ranchers and agricultural leaders from Colombia, we know this is a development welcomed by all sides. Trade will help the United States build stronger bonds with our Latin American neighbors, and it makes sense given our advantage of proximity and history of cooperation.”
The National Corn Growers Association says the Colombia FTA would provide immediate access for U.S. corn growers to Colombia’s roughly 2.1 million metric ton market for corn at zero percent duty. “Colombia has traditionally been one of the Top 10 export markets for U.S. corn,” NCGA President Bart Schott said. “This is an important market for U.S. farmers and we do not want to watch this market slip away to our largest competitors.”
National Pork Producers Council President Doug Wolf says the agreement will increase U.S. pork exports to the South American country by $68.9 million and help create 919 U.S. pork industry jobs. “We must implement our pending FTAs to remain competitive,” Wolf said. “Pork producers also support the Korea and Panama FTAs and urge the administration to send them to Congress to be approved by this summer.”
It’s official. The Sorghum Checkoff (officially the Sorghum Promotion, Research and Information Order) will continue as announced by USDA today.
“We are pleased to announce that this Checkoff program will continue, and I am confident that this program will further its goal of strengthening the industry and expanding marketing opportunities for sorghum producers and importers,” said USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service Administrator Rayne Pegg.
The referendum took place from Feb. 1, 2011, through Feb. 28, 2011. Of the 1,204 valid ballots cast, 917 or 76.2 percent favored the program and 287 or 23.7 percent opposed continuing the program. For the program to continue, it must have been approved by at least a majority of those eligible persons voting for approval who were engaged in the production and sale of sorghum during the period July 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2010.
Here’s how the National Sorghum Producers reacted:
Gerald Simonsen, National Sorghum Producers chairman of the board and sorghum farmer from Ruskin, Neb., proclaimed the results as a huge win for the industry and sorghum farmers across the nation.
“The NSP board recognized a need three years ago for improvement in the sorghum industry in the areas of market development, research and education,” said Simonsen. “We developed a vision, worked with USDA to create the program and are proud of the results the Sorghum Checkoff has produced in its two short years of operation.”
The votes have been cast and the winner of “Biofool of the Year” is ….. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack!
While we are disappointed that we were not chosen by Friends of the Earth (FOE) for this award, as they say in the Academy, it was an honor just to be nominated!
According to FOE, more than 6,000 votes were cast on-line for this award and Vilsack won it with 2,424 votes – more than the total number cast last year. They plan to deliver a letter to Vilsack later this month, “congratulating him on earning this honor and thanking him for his efforts to promote dirty biofuels at the expense of a comprehensive agriculture policy that would actually help American farmers who grow food!”
Meanwhile, with over 100 votes cast so far in our latest R&K ZimmPoll, Secretary Vilsack is virtually tied between getting an A or an F as a mid term grade. What do you think? Does the Biofool of the Year deserve to flunk or move to the head of the class?
In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
Chuck and Mike often wind up at the same events all over the country so it seemed like a good idea to do a little AgriTalking about the changes they've seen in the ag media landscape.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will give the keynote address at the forum and moderate the panel which will feature any and all of the former living secretaries who are able to attend. They include (in reverse chronological order) Ed Schafer, Senator Mike Johanns, Ann Veneman, Dan Glickman, Mike Espy, Clayton Yeutter, John Block, and Bob Bergland.
I have a concern about this 
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack 
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack once again paid a visit to the nation’s farm broadcasters at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting in Kansas City where he commmented on a number of issues important to farmers and ranchers. 
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack chose the John Deere Des Moines Works facility to 
In light of funding reductions in fiscal year (FY) 2011 and the likelihood of additional reductions in FY 2012, NASS conducted deliberate reviews of all programs against mission- and user-based criteria, aimed at finding cost savings and forward-thinking business efficiencies so that key timely, accurate and useful data remains available in service to agriculture. As a result, the agency is discontinuing or reducing a wide range of agricultural survey programs. The decision to eliminate or reduce these reports was not made lightly, but it was nevertheless necessary, given the funding situation. Because of the timing of the agency’s survey work during the coming year, these decisions are necessary now. 
I have now moved from Nebraska to Illinois for the 2011 InfoAg Conference. This is all about precision agriculture so most of our coverage will be found on 
Fruits and vegetables should make up half of our plates under the more user-friendly nutrition image 
Last week, 147 members of Congress 
Since May is World Trade Month, you would think it would be a great time for Congress to pass those pesky pending Free Trade Agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama that have been awaiting approval for years. Several of the nation’s largest agricultural organizations who testified before the House Agriculture Committee this week on why it is so important to get those agreements operating think so. Actually, most would say that last May World Trade Month would have been better!
Now 25
President Obama announced today that an agreement has been reached on the deal that was signed by the U.S. Trade Representative and the Colombian trade minister on Nov. 22, 2006. The agreement will now be sent to Congress to ratify. It is estimated that the Colombia agreement could mean U.S. agricultural export gains of more than $815 million per year at full implementation. 
The votes have been cast and the winner of 
In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
