Economics blamed for declines in barley acres in Western Canada

Harry Siemens

By Harry Siemens / Farmscape.ca   —  While those who support the Canadian Wheat Board would have producers believing the drop in barley and even wheat acres has to do with weather and other such things, but there are those who actually think it has to do with economics.

A researcher with the University of Saskatchewan told Bruce Cochrane at Farmscape.ca the main reason for recent drops in the number of acres seeded to barley in western Canada is economics.

End users of barley have expressed concern over the dwindling number of acres seeded to the crop in western Canada in recent years.

Dr. Brian Rossnagel, an oat and barley breeder with the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre, said it comes down to economics and barley just isn’t priced high enough.Read More

Uncategorized

StollerUSA Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary

Joanna Schroeder

Back in 1970, Jerry Stoller started StollerUSA with a few dollars and some unusual ideas and now the company has a global footprint and a lot of acceptance in the U.S. Today, Jeff Morgan, Stoller’s marketing director, said that they are happy to commemorate their 40 year anniversary.

AgWired reporter Chuck Zimmerman was able to catch up with Morgan during the annual NAFB Trade Talk in Kansas City. StollerUSA may be 40 years old, but each year they are releasing bigger and better products to help the grower succeed.

“The success of our Bio-Forge product continues to increase. Growers are beginning to understand how our products dovetail into their programs,” said Morgan. “They spend a lot of money on seed. There are a lot of genetic traits built into that seed that they need. The challenge becomes when they go out and stick it in the dirt, nature takes over and they need to find a way to extract all that potential. That’s where Stoller products like Bio-Forge come in. We help extract all that potential out of that seed so you can earn that ROI.”

The evidence comes out in the field and was demonstrated when Missouri farmer Kip Cullers broke the soybean yield record. One of the products he used was Bio-Forge. Morgan noted that one thing Kip did that other growers can emulate is that he pre-treated his seed with Bio-Forge. According to Morgan, it’s a cost effective way for growers to become familiar with Stoller technology.

You can learn more about Bio-Force and other Stoller products in Chuck’s interview with Jeff. Increasing Yield With Bio-Forge

NAFB, Seed, Soybean

Stabenow New Senate Ag Chair

Cindy Zimmerman

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) has been chosen to be the new chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, replacing Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas who was defeated in her re-election bid.

“I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, as we begin writing a new farm bill that once again recognizes the importance of America’s agricultural economy and rural communities,” Senator Stabenow said in a statement.

The American Farm Bureau Federation issued a statement congratulating Stabenow on the chairmanship. “With a proven track record as a proponent of Michigan’s agriculture industry, we are confident in Sen. Stabenow’s ability to provide leadership on the 2012 farm bill and other important issues related to agriculture and rural communities. Chairwoman Stabenow’s committee will play an important role as we look forward to the future of American agriculture.”

Senator Stabenow has served on the Agriculture committees in the Michigan legislature, U.S. House of Representatives and currently the U.S. Senate.

AFBF

Scoop Up An Extra $250 In Holiday Cash

Joanna Schroeder

Scoop up some extra cash for the holiday season by filling out the AgWired Survey. By participating in our fast, easy survey, you could win $250 to spend on yourself or to help spread the joy to your friends and family.

Here’s all you need to do. Click on this link to complete the survey that will help the blogging team bring you more stories that are of interest to you. Once you’ve answered all the questions, enter to win $250 in cash. Each month, one winner will be chosen from all of the survey’s entrants. Non winners will be put into the drawing for the next month so there is no need to fill out the survey multiple times.

Ready? Then click here to begin.

Uncategorized, ZimmComm Announcement

Pork Producers Submit GIPSA Comments

Cindy Zimmerman

With just days remaining before the comment period deadline, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) yesterday submitted its official comments on the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule.

NPPC comments say the USDA agency “lacked authority or exceeded it on certain provisions of a proposed rule on buying and selling hogs, failed to support the need for the regulation with evidence of problems in the pork industry and didn’t consider its own studies showing that restricting contracts could harm the industry.” An economic impact study by Informa Economics estimates that the cost to the pork industry alone would amount to $333 million per year, after an initial $69 million expense.

The pork producers call the regulation a “bureaucratic overreach” and point out that GIPSA lacks the authority to declare that no showing of injury to competition is necessary to establish a violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act. NPPC asked that GIPSA withdraw the portions of the proposed rule that will have an immediate and detrimental impact on the pork industry. It also requested a thorough analysis of the affect on the pork producers of any new regulation.

“As proposed, the GIPSA rule is bad for farmers and ranchers, bad for consumers and bad for rural America,” said NPPC President Sam Carney, a pork producer from Adair, Iowa. “We’d like the agency to rewrite the rule, sticking to the mandates Congress gave it in the 2008 Farm Bill.”

GIPSA, Pork

#foodthanks

Chuck Zimmerman

The AgChat Foundation has come up with a unique idea for you to use during this upcoming week of Thanksgiving. It’s called #foodthanks. It’s a way to show your thanks for the food we enjoy every day and the people who produce it.

So what you’re encouraged to do is go to the webpage where you’ll find images for your Twitter accounts and other web purposes. Tweet with the hashtag, #foodthanks, especially on November 24.

Food

Tech Savvy Farm Journalists

Chuck Zimmerman

During the NAFB convention last week I conducted a session on new technology titled, “Tech Savvy – The Latest and Greatest Tools for Broadcasters.” Joining me was John Lynch, BSW USA.

We both showcased a variety of new digital tools for communications with a focus on portability and for use in the field. Of course in farm communications, field means something different than the average journalist out there. In this photo John is displaying a Comrex ACCESS PORTABLE that allows for studio quality sound delivered by a variety of means including phone lines, wifi and cellular service. Many in the room remember doing everything from hooking up alligator clips to a public phone handset to larger models of this new gadget. The studio base station even works with an iPhone or Android app so you can send studio quality audio via your phone!

John brought along several others gadgets including digital audio recorders like the new Zoom H-1 Handy Recorder.

BSW USA made it a door prize and the winner was Gary Jackson, ABN Radio. I’m wondering if his new recorder saw any action at Trade Talk before he got home. It is probably the smallest form factor recorder out there right now with a very affordable price point. As of this post it’s only $99 at BSW USA.

I showed some of the gear from my MOJO (mobile journalism kit) including the now world famous Golden ZimmComm Microphone which is actually a Heil PR-20. Cindy and I use them so much the paint wears off and Bob Heil asked us to send them back so he could put on a new coat! Problem is, when do I get the time to do that?

Besides BSW USA I also had donations of equipment from a variety of manufacturers, most of whom donated their equipment for door prizes. They included Cisco, makers of the Flip cameras, Sennheiser microphones, Blue Microphones, Azden shotgun microphones, Think Tank Photo camera/gear bags, Audio Technica microphones and Ultimate Ear buds. I’d really like to thank them for their support. It was a great session and one that I hope NAFB may choose to expand on in the future.

NAFB Convention Photo Album

Equipment, NAFB

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • StollerUSA recently launched Bio-Forge ST, a new formulation of Bio-Forge specifically developed for growers interested in seed treatment application as a cost-effective way to increase yields.
  • Bethany Nolan, Gilmer, Texas, was crowned the 2010-11 National Hereford Queen during the American Royal National Hereford Show in Kansas City.
  • Thirteen Iowa college students from a wide range of backgrounds have been named to the inaugural Iowa Corn Student Advisory Team.
  • Novus International, Inc., has announced that president and CEO Thad Simons has been selected from among nearly 300 regional candidates nationwide as the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year in Distribution and Manufacturing.
    Zimfo Bytes

    The good with the bad in the Alberta hog industry

    Harry Siemens

    harrycjob-crop.jpgWith the processing and packing industry re-settling after Maple sells one plant in Ontario and closes another in the Maritimes, it also makes good sense to see what is happening in Western Canada.

    Maple Leaf, and as they said they would way back when they announced their restructuring is placing most of its eggs in the Brandon, Mb plant. That is good news for producers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and to a lesser degree in Alberta, but makes good sense from a competitive position. It is also good news for Saskatchewan hog producer that the former beef plant in Moose Jaw is reincarnating into a hog processing plant, scheduled to come online in December.

    All of these changes during an economic upheaval in the hog industry making it mostly positive with what is happening in the industry, at least in western Canada.

    This fall, Olymel is getting questions surrounding their new Olywest 2010 Plus pricing contract.Read More

    Swine