Despite the challenging planting conditions this spring USDA is saying that farmers have planted even more corn than last year and the most acres in 77 years, according to Friday’s Acreage report. Corn planted area for all purposes in 2013 is estimated at 97.4 million acres, up slightly from last year. This represents the highest planted acreage in the United …
Immigration Policy Forum in Kansas City
With the Senate poised to vote on comprehensive immigration reform this week, USDA held a forum on the issue Friday in Kansas City, featuring Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, former Kansas City mayor and current Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, and representatives of the nation’s dairy industry. “We are blessed by the most productive, most innovative and most hard-working farmers and ranchers,” Vilsack …
Harvest is Plenty, Ag Laborers are Few
It was over 2,000 years ago that Jesus said “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” and that is apparently very true today in the agribusiness world. “Here in the United States, just in the next five years based on surveys that we’ve done, we know we’re going to have about 60,000 jobs available in the agribusiness enterprise …
USDA’s Alonzo Updates WPX on Key Issues
Anne Alonzo is attending her first World Pork Expo since taking the helm as the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Administrator just over a month ago. During her comments this morning, she said that the USDA is very supportive of the efforts of the pork industry and will continue to work with them on key issues. There were several items …
Reaction to COOL Decision
USDA has issued the final rule for mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), including an amendment to the regulations for muscle cut covered commodities derived from animals slaughtered in the United States. The decision pleased some livestock organizations, but disappointed others. “We are deeply disappointed with this short-sighted action by the USDA,”said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President Scott George. …
Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack Meets with NAFB
This morning U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack met with attendees of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Washington Watch. As is a “tradition” now, he posed with us in the USDA office building. He then spent quite a while talking with us and answering questions. You can find more photos in my online photo album. Of course the focus …
Studying Affects of Weather and Climate on Cattle
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded $19.5 million to support research, education and Extension activities associated with climate solutions in agriculture aimed at the impacts of climate variability and change on dairy and beef cattle. USDA remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. The announcement is one part of the Department’s efforts …
Ag Organizations Applaud Six Countries
Key members of the U.S. agricultural value chain have joined together to applaud the work of the United States and like-minded governments to promote the importance of science-based regulations to facilitate trade of agricultural commodities derived from agricultural biotechnology. In a joint statement, the United States was joined by the governments of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Paraguay to announce …
USDA and EPA Release Honey Bee Health Report
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released a comprehensive scientific report on honey bee health. The report states that there are multiple factors playing a role in honey bee colony declines, including parasites and disease, genetics, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure. “The challenges are complex and there is no smoking gun,” said …
Discussing Open Data for Agriculture Conference
Data, data, data. I wonder how many times that word was used at this week’s G-8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture? A lot I’m sure. Well, I was not there but Paul Welbig, Raven Industries was. Here’s a photo of Paul on the left with Dr. Aboubacar Diaby, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. They are holding …