Workshops on competition in agriculture, like the one held last week in Iowa, can allow farmer-owned co-ops to tell their story. According to the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC), Friday’s joint workshop between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) set the stage for farmer-owned co-ops to show how they promote a more competitive agricultural …
Sec. Vilsack Speaks At Commodity Classic
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack spoke to the crowd at Commodity Classic just moments ago. You can listen to his full speech below. Joanna is attending his press conference right now and I’ll post audio from it later. Some of the standout phrases I heard included, “Different strategies for different markets” when he was talking about expanding world trade. …
Record Crop Production in 2009
Despite weather challenges in 2009, American farmers produced record corn and soybean crops. According to USDA’s crop report out this morning, U.S. corn for grain production is estimated at a record 13.2 billion bushels, up 2 percent from the November 1 forecast, and 1 percent above the previous record of 13.0 billion bushels set in 2007. U.S. grain yield is …
Fluidigm Inks Deal With USDA
It looks like AgWired sponsor, Fluidigm Corporation, is making some new inroads into the agricultural sector with their announcement that “USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has purchased a Fluidigm microfluidic-based EP1™ System to help develop and validate focused 96- and 384-SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphism) panels for testing America’s dairy and beef cattle. To ensure healthy cows and top quality product.” ARS …
Corn in the Snow
The final USDA crop progress report on this year’s harvest released last week showed that 95 percent of the nation’s corn crop was finally harvested, just a few days before Christmas. Illinois was on par with the national total, reporting five percent of the crop left in the field. I saw some of that corn this week during a visit …
Improving Feedgrain Access In Egypt
In Egypt, the Agricultural Minister Counselor for the United States is Jonathan Gressel (pictured center). He met with the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team today at a late lunch and we really appreciate him taking time for the visit. John says his primary mission is market access and development for U.S. products. He says that currently Egypt is an …
Ag Secretary at NAFB
Somehow I neglected to do a post on Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack being at NAFB last week. He did a press conference and attended the NAFB Foundation luncheon where he spoke and helped to honor this year’s scholarship winners. Not a whole lot of newsy information out of the Secretary’s visit, but it was nice to have him there. He …
Harvest is Making Progress
USDA reports that farmers took advantage of a dry week to get 17 percent of the corn out and 14 percent more soybeans harvested last week. The new crop progress report has the soybean harvest nearing average for this time of year at 89 percent, while corn remains about 35 percent behind normal at just 54 percent complete. North Dakota …
Corn Down and Soybeans Up in New Crop Report
USDA lowered its forecast for 2009 corn production and yields in the latest report out today, but increased the soybean estimate. Corn production is forecast at 12.9 billion bushels, down 1 percent from last month but 7 percent higher than 2008. Based on conditions as of November 1, yields are expected to average 162.9 bushels per acre, down 1.3 bushels …
Facts About Pigs With H1N1
USDA has confirmed the presence of 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus in a pig sample collected at the Minnesota State Fair. The National Pork Producers Council notes, despite this development, pork is safe to eat and handle and that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu viruses cannot be transmitted through food, including pork. Pigs, like people, …