Some Groups Support GIPSA Rule

Cindy Zimmerman

We’ve been hearing a lot from producers and organizations with concerns about the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule, but there are some groups in favor of the rule.

The most vocal is R-CALF USA, led by CEO Bill Bullard, who calls the proposed rule “critical” to help “an industry in crisis.” Bullard contends that the rule is simply designed to address anti-competitive practices by meat packers and that concerns about unintended consequences being made by groups like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the National Pork Producers Council are “scare tactics” initiated by the packers themselves. “The opponents to the rule, primarily the meat packers, are fighting against it as hard as they can and trying to convince producers that they should help the meat packers kill this rule,” Bullard says. He believes that the rule will not result in meat packers abandoning marketing agreements they have made with producers for premium traits. “It is incomprehensible that the packers would forgo what they claim to be a very profitable venture simply because they have to maintain the records to justify it,” said Bullard.

R-CALF is encouraging 25,000 rural Americans to show up at the USDA/DOJ public workshop this Friday in Ft. Collins, CO to show their support for the rule.

Listen to or download Chuck’s interview with Bill here: Bill Bullard Interview

Another group supporting the GIPSA rule is Food & Water Watch, an environmental activist group, which is working with R-CALF on a public forum they are sponsoring the day before the USDA/DOJ public workshop in Ft. Collins. This is the group behind “The Meatrix,” an anti-“factory farming” viral video series produced in 2007 that comes off more than just a little anti-animal agriculture in general. Other groups supporting the rule include the Western Organization of Resource Councils, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and the Missouri Rural Crisis Center.

I had forgotten just how darn funny and clever the “Meatrix” videos were, even if you don’t agree with the agenda. Watch the original here:

Audio, GIPSA, Livestock, USDA, Video

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Farm Journal Media has launched an all-new AgWeb.com – the Homepage of Agriculture. AgWeb, the largest online media and information network in agriculture, now features even more robust news, weather and market data.
  • The Food Channel has released its top ten snack trends, one of its regular trend reports.
  • The U.S. Grains Council has hired Keith Williams as the new director of strategic relations. In this role, Williams will help provide accurate and timely information to the Council’s membership and international customers of U.S. corn, barley, sorghum and their products.
  • Farmer, Lumpe + McClelland Advertising Agency announced the addition of nationally acclaimed agency executive K. Burke Johnson as creative director.
Zimfo Bytes

USDA/FFA Lesson Plans

Chuck Zimmerman

The USDA’s National Ag Statistics Service and FFA are teaming up to develop new tools for classrooms to “help promote agricultural and statistical literacy among kindergarten through 12th-grade students.”

“By including these materials in the classroom curriculum, teachers can help students better understand statistics and their importance to the farming community, rural America and society as a whole,” said Dr. Cynthia Clark, NASS administrator. “These lesson plans contain relevant information to give students a realistic view of statistical processes used to track trends and changes in U.S. agricultural production, economics and demographics.”

The classroom-ready resources, which include lesson plans and supporting materials, are aligned with national curriculum standards for science, math and social studies. The materials use current Census of Agriculture data to teach a variety of concepts including discovering new trends in population subsets and evaluating diversity among farmers.

The materials are available online via the NASS website (http://www.nass.usda.gov/Education_and_Outreach/index.asp) and the FFA Learning Center (http://ffa.learn.com).

Education, FFA, USDA

NCBA President Urges Piecemeal Approach To GIPSA Rule

Chuck Zimmerman

He’s a western Illinois cattle and hog producer and also has a feed yard. He’s Steve Foglesong, President of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. I spoke with Steve today for our series on the proposed GIPSA rule making. The picture is Steve during a press conference at this summer’s Cattle Industry Conference.

He says that when you read the proposed rule the first time it makes you say, “Yeah, that’s really good.” But he goes on to say that when you step back and analyze it you realize how broad it is and that it includes things that beef and pork producers have fought against for years. Then Steve says, “There are some very good pieces that are in this rule. The poultry part is pretty good and there’s some other stuff in there about fairness and things like that but in its entirety this thing because it is so broad and so far reaching is a bad rule because it puts the government in charge of the market place. Let’s take it apart, let’s get rid of this and then bring some pieces of it up one at a time and I think we can deal with some of those and do all the producers some good that way.”

Steve also talks about the unintended consequences of the rule in its proposed form. One of them is his concern about the packers telling producers that they won’t accept the liability called for in the proposed rule when it comes to special pricing contracts. “They’ll just level the playing field and pay a standard price for all cattle irrespective of quality. Ultimately it’s going to be consumers that will suffer because consumers have driven us into this quality situation.”

Listen to my interview with Steve here: Steve Foglesong Interview

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the National Pork Producers Association are working to inform producers about the potential consequences of the proposed rule and encouraging them to make comments.

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, GIPSA, Livestock

“Dirty Jobs” Host to Keynote AFBF Meeting

Cindy Zimmerman

Farmers and ranchers get their hands dirty nearly every day, so they should appreciate hearing from a man who specializes in showcasing dirty jobs.

afbfMike Rowe, the creator and executive producer of Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe,” will deliver the keynote address to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF) 92nd annual meeting on January 10, 2011, in Atlanta, GA.

A champion of farmers and ranchers and other hard-working Americans, Rowe has spent years traveling the country, working as an apprentice on more than 250 jobs that most people would go out of their way to avoid. Rowe knows how to get his hands dirty and has worked in just about every industry, including many agriculture jobs such as big animal veterinarian, cow feed lot worker, dairy cow midwife, rice plantation worker, egg producer, and a farmer for goats, pigs, turkeys, potatoes, and sugar cane.

afbf“We are excited to have Mike Rowe as our keynote speaker,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “Like farmers and ranchers, he’s not afraid to roll-up his shirt sleeves and get his hands dirty. Mike understands that most things that contribute to our standard of living—such as abundant food—are the result of someone else’s hard work, dedication and skill, not magic. I think Farm Bureau members will get a lot out of his message.”

Rowe’s support of farming includes highlighting the issues facing America’s farming community through his website and specifically on his blog “The Future of Farming”.

Farm Bureau members can register for the 92nd AFBF annual meeting through their state Farm Bureaus.

AFBF

NAFB Luncheon Scores a Touchdown

Cindy Zimmerman

national association farm broadcastingA luncheon in Kansas City Monday with the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) board of directors scored big with members who were able to attend.

It was a new deal for NAFB that served several purposes at once. It was held in conjunction with one of the organization’s regular board meetings, so that whole gang was already in town. It also served as a recruiting event, as non-members in the area were invited to get to know NAFB and network with both broadcast council and allied industry members. About 70 NAFB members got to just visit with each other and enjoy a nice meal with no pressure to do any interviews or conduct any other business, which was very nice.

national association farm broadcastingTo top it all off, we got to hear a fantastic speaker – Voice of the Kansas City Chiefs, Mitch Holthus. Mitch was a first class act who was able to relate to the NAFB members on several levels, since he is both a Kansas farm boy and a broadcaster. His inspiring, funny and endearing talk was based on the letters in the word FARM – Finish what you begin, have Accountability, be Resilient and Make a footprint.

Mitch also talked about the success of the KC Chiefs “viral videos” and he played a few of them for us, like Mitch “the Fun Inspector” at the Chief’s training camp Family Fun Day.

All in all, it was a really enjoyable luncheon and I hope they make it an annual event.

NAFB

NPPC Calls Proposed GIPSA Rule a “Disaster”

Cindy Zimmerman

Go to the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) homepage and you will see a prominent link to information about the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule with the bold headline “Proposed GIPSA Rule a Disaster.”

Strong words from the organization, but that is how many producers feel about the rule that they believe will limit their ability to negotiate contracts, according to Indiana producer Mark Legan, chairman of NPPC’s Competitive Markets Committee. “We would like to see GIPSA withdraw the rule and would like to see them rewrite it and basically stick to the points that they were charged with in the last Farm Bill,” said Mark during an interview today. “We feel this ruling goes way beyond what Congress asked GIPSA to do and, in fact, GIPSA’s included pieces in the ruling that Congress voted down during debate on the last Farm Bill.”

Mark’s personal opinion is that markets work when given the chance and that government interference in the market will hurt the U.S. livestock industry, especially when it comes to competing on a global scale. “Today we’re exporting one out of every four or five pigs that’s produced, so we really are in a global marketplace,” he said.

“My concern about the government requiring everyone to get the same price is that everyone’s in a different situation and if I make a change in my genetics to produce a product that a certain packer wants, I should be rewarded for that,” Mark says. “My problem is if everyone’s paid the same, then usually the price goes to the lowest common denominator.”

Listen to or download Chuck’s interview with Mark here: Mark Legan Interview

NPPC and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association are working to inform producers about the potential consequences of the proposed rule and encouraging them to make comments. The two groups will be holding a joint event for members the day before the USDA/DOJ public workshop on competition in the livestock industry in Ft. Collins, Colorado on August 27.

Audio, GIPSA, Livestock, NCBA, Pork, USDA

Why NAMA Trends In Ag Is In Minneapolis

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 271The National Agri-Marketing Association will be holding it’s fall Trends In Agriculture conference in Minneapolis, MN this year. Perhaps you’re wondering why it’s not in Kansas City adjacent to the NAFB convention. I was. So I spoke with Jenny Pickett, NAMA CEO, and found out the answer.

Jenny, pictured right at last week’s Boot Camp, says the reason NAMA had to move the Trends In Ag Conf. was due to being unable to book rooms at the Hyatt Crown Center. Apparently another conference was booked there from five years ago. So the NAMA board chose to move to dates that wouldn’t interfere with the NAFB Convention and to a location with a strong local NAMA chapter. So that’s the story. ZimmCast 271

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, Novus International, and Leica Geosytems for their support.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page

Audio, NAMA, ZimmCast

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • The American Phytopathological Society’s website has been completely re-imagined and rebuilt, and will now include a daily news feed, an online bookstore, a webcast section, thousands of searchable abstracts, historical archives, and more.
  • The American Angus Association will host its 127th Annual Convention of Delegates and related Angus activities in conjunction with the North American International Livestock Exposition, Nov. 13-16, in Louisville, Ky.
  • Case IH announced the winners of the “Take the Field 2010 Parts & Service Sales Event,” which concluded earlier this month. The winners are: Dave Homan of Homan Jersey Farm in Remsen, IA; Jeremy Clenney of Clenney Farms in Holcomb, MO; Joshua McMasters of Klein Farms in Duncan, OK, and Russell Carlson of Jamestown, ND.
  • Valent U.S.A. Corporation announced Matt Plitt has joined the company as senior director of sales for its growing agricultural business unit.
Zimfo Bytes

That Was Then.

Melissa Sandfort

Then: My grandparents started out every morning by pulling their one-legged milking stool from the wall of the barn, then managed a balancing act with the stool and a bucket between their knees to catch the cow’s milk. One at a time, the cows would file into the barn, all three to five of them in the herd, to be milked by hand twice a day. It took about 10 to 15 minutes to milk each cow. They used the milk at home for their family, and leftovers to feed the hogs; they also used a crank-handle separator and sold the cream. That was then.

Now: Dairy producers utilize modern technology such as rotary milking parlors that offer a constant flow of cows and ease of operation. With some set-ups, producers can milk approximately 40 cows in the 17 minutes it takes for the carousel to make a complete rotation. Slow milking cows can be held in their stall and go around again. The carousel has variable speed control and can be reversed if needed. Then milk goes into a cooled bulk tank.

Rotary parlors are designed for herds larger than 1,000 cows, which goes to show that milking cows has come a long way since the milk bucket balancing act.

But there were some every day “advantages” back in the good ol’ days. For instance, once they learned the proper mouth-wide-open stance, farm cats used to enjoy the occasional drink of milk. I doubt they dare to get in the way of cows entering and exiting a rotary parlor.

Until we walk again…

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