Agriculture News
U.S. farmers tighten belts to compete with cheap LatAm grain
Reuters | Posted on October 27, 2017When Kansas farmer Tom Giessel drove over a deer carcass and punctured a tire on his combine during harvest this fall, he did not have the time or cash to fix it. He borrowed his neighbor’s tractor to finish. U.S. farmers are cutting costs any way they can to compete against cheaper producers in Argentina and Brazil. Four years of global oversupply have pushed down grain prices, reduced agricultural revenues and put more expensive producers under financial pressure.In response, U.S. farmers have bought cheaper seeds, spent less on fertilizers and delayed equipment purchases as they seek to ride out the downturn. But more bumper harvest forecasts and rising energy prices herald another tough year for farmers in 2018.“The logical thing to do is stop farming,” said Giessel, 64, who farms about 5,000 acres and has worked on the land all of his adult life.Giessel has cut spending on what he can control - seeds, chemicals, fertilizer, rented land - and chewed through his farm’s savings. He stands to lose $93 an acre, or nearly $15,000, on one corn field alone this year. Farmers cut $40.20 billion to bring total costs down to $350.49 billion between 2014 and 2016, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service.The downturn in spending has hurt farm equipment manufacturers.Sales in the agriculture division at Deere & Co (DE.N) and CNH Industrial (CNHI.MI) fell sharply during 2015 and 2016. Deere expects farm equipment sales in the United States and Canada to be down another 5 percent this year, and CNH said in July that sales in North America were down.
Canada Warns Nafta Talks Can’t Be ‘Winner Take All’
Bloomberg | Posted on October 27, 2017Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland criticized a one-sided strategy in Nafta negotiations after U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said he wasn’t prepared to make concessions to reach a deal. “A negotiation where a one party takes a winner-takes-all approach is a negotiation that may find some difficulties in reaching a conclusion,” Freeland said Thursday during a press conference in Toronto, without specifying which party she was referring to. She later added Canada understands the value of opening new export markets in China and elsewhere. “Perhaps now we understand it more urgently than ever.” Ross, speaking Wednesday to CNBC, said no one should prejudge talks and that he expects there will be a Nafta “proposal” he can eventually take to U.S. President Donald Trump, though said whether Trump accepts it is another matter. “But we’re trying to do a difficult thing. We’re asking two countries to give up some privileges that they have enjoyed for 22 years, and we’re not in a position to offer anything in return, so that’s a tough sell,” Ross said. “And I don’t know that we’ll get every single thing we want. The question is: will we get enough to make it worthwhile?” Ildefonso Guajardo, Mexico’s economy minister and lead Nafta negotiator, told reporters on Sunday his country has some margin to compromise with the U.S. on Nafta, without specifying in which areas. The government will be analyzing that issue between now and the next round of talks, scheduled for Mexico City from Nov. 17-21.
Boulder County scraps research initiative for GMO crop transition
Daily Camera | Posted on October 26, 2017Boulder County commissioners have scrapped a plan for a sustainable agriculture research program that would help it transition away from the use of GMOs after the hunt to find someone to run the program became mired in controversy. County open space staff placed the blame for the failure squarely on area farmers who fiercely opposed the county's RFP process, alleging it was unethical and biased toward organic farming. Last year, the county decided it would begin phasing out GMO crops on its open space farms and issued a request for proposals to create a transition program. Two entities bid: The one-man Mountain High Research from Fort Collins, and nonprofit Rodale Institute, a proponent of organic farming.Commissioners, on staff recommendation, rejected both those bids as insufficient and issued a new RFP, to which Colorado State University and Western Sugar applied. CSU had partnered with Rodale on the original RFP, which an employee of the university helped to write. That raised the ire of farmers and rebukes from an ethics expert.
Hispanic ranchers dealt blow in lengthy battle over grazing
Santa Fe New Mexican | Posted on October 26, 2017A group of Hispanic ranchers has been dealt a blow in their yearslong feud with the federal government over grazing rights on land in New Mexico that has been used by their families for centuries.Attorneys for the ranchers argued that the U.S. Forest Service violated the law when deciding to limit grazing on historic land grants even though the government has recognized that the descendants of Spanish colonists have a unique relationship with the land.The ranchers claimed the agency failed to consider social and economic effects that would result from limiting grazing in a region where poverty and dependence on the land for subsistence is high.In a recent ruling, U.S. District James Browning dismissed remaining counts against the government, finding that the National Environmental Policy Act does not require the Forest Service to consider social and economic effects that are a direct result of an agency’s action.The law narrowly centers on effects to the physical environment, the judge ruled. The ranchers say they are disappointed and that the Forest Service had a responsibility to consider a history in which they claim the property rights of Hispanics have been ignored and an institutional bias has been allowed to persist.
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against the State Fair of Texas
Big Tex | Posted on October 26, 2017Judge Tonya Parker of the 116th District Court in Dallas has dismissed a lawsuit brought against the State Fair of Texas by the Austin law firm Riggs & Ray, P.C., which appeared to be acting to further the political agenda of a party that does not want the State Fair at Fair Park in Dallas. The lawsuit alleged that the State Fair is a “governmental body” subject to the Texas Public Information Act. In fact, the State Fair of Texas is a private Texas nonprofit corporation granted tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is not supported by any governmental money. Judge Parker dismissed the lawsuit under the Texas Citizens Participation Act (Texas’ “Anti-SLAPP” law) concluding that the Fair is not a governmental body and awarded the State Fair attorney’s fees, expenses and sanctions totaling $298,206.59. The State Fair asked the judge to order that the $30,000 in sanctions be paid into the Fair’s Youth Scholarship Program, which gives money for college to graduating high school seniors around the state of Texas who have participated in competitive youth livestock events held at the State Fair, as well as from five Dallas Independent School District high schools near Fair Park, the home of the State Fair for 131 years. This lawsuit, if successful, would have paved the way for other private 501(c)(3) nonprofits in Texas to be classified as “governmental bodies” forcing them to spend their limited resources and funding to deal with the inevitable requests for what has always been understood as private information. The Fair is pleased that the judge in dismissing the case has saved these charitable organizations from this unnecessary burden.The plaintiffs have indicated that they will appeal the judge’s decision. “We are confident that the judge’s decision will be upheld at the appellate level,” Glieber said.
Small Prairie Plantings Bring Big Rewards In Midwest Farm Fields
Wisconsin Public Radio | Posted on October 26, 2017Much of the Midwest is dominated by farming: rows and rows of soybeans and corn, with bare soil between the rows. But before farming took over, the dominant ecosystem was prairie. Researchers at Iowa State University wondered if bringing the two ecosystems together could benefit both.They tested the idea in 12 small corn and soybean watersheds in central Iowa, planting strips of prairie grasses next to the row plants, collecting data over 10 years.It worked."Farmers started coming forward and saying, 'You know, I like what I’m seeing, and I want to try this on my farm,'" said Lisa Schulte Moore, a professor of natural resource ecology and management and lead author of the study.Researchers found that, when planted strategically, the prairie grasses reduced soil erosion and water runoff. They also provided an additional habitat for native wildlife.
U.S. ag organizations form coalition to support ag research funding
World-Grain | Posted on October 26, 2017A coalition of 66 ag-based organizations have joined together to focus on expanding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) research, education, and extension budget. In an effort to further the U.S. ag industry the coalition is working toward doubling the budget to $6 billion during the five-year life of the 2018 Farm Bill. The coalition submitted its request in a letter to U.S. House and U.S. Senate agriculture leadership.“Modern agriculture is a science-based business,” said Richard Wilkins, chairman of the American Soybean Association (ASA). “And yet, we as a nation are not investing enough in publicly funded research while China has doubled its commitments. We need to regain and maintain our nation’s place as the international leader.”
Survey shows farmers and ranchers struggling to hire employees
ABC News | Posted on October 25, 2017According to a survey done by the California Farm Bureau Federation (CFBF), farmers and ranchers are having an increasingly hard time finding, and hiring, people who are willing and qualified to work in the Ag industry. The survey conducted this summer showed that 55-percent of responding farmers had experienced employee shortages. Of those farmers who hie employees on a seasonal basis, 69-percent reported shortages of varying degrees.According to CFBF 762 farmers and ranchers throughout California responded to the survey.Officials say the results are consistent with a survey conducted by the CFBF in 2012 in which over half of those who responded reported shortages.
Labels can stigmatize conventionally produced foods: study
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on October 25, 2017New research from the University of Delaware concludes that food labels such as “organic” and “fair trade” can stigmatize foods produced with conventional processes even when there is no scientific evidence that they cause harm or that products are compositionally different. Such process claims often are not based on science and can cause consumers to misinterpret these labels and misalign their personal preferences and food purchases, the researchers said.
Supersized family farms are gobbling up American agriculture
Wall Street Journal | Posted on October 25, 2017Lon Frahm may represent the future of farming. Inside a two-story office building overshadowed by 80-foot steel grain bins, he points to a map showing the patchwork of square and circular fields that make up his operation. It covers nearly 10% of the county’s cropland, and when he climbs into his Cessna Skylane to check crops from the air, he can fly 30 miles before reaching the end of his land. At 30,600 acres, his farm is among the country’s vastest, and it yields enough corn and wheat each year to fill 4,500 semitrailer trucks. Big operations like Mr. Frahm’s, which he has spent decades building, are prospering despite the deepest farm slump since the 1980s. Years of low prices for corn, wheat and other commodities brought on by a glut of grain world-wide are driving smaller American farmers out of business.Farms with $1 million or more in annual sales—only 4% of the total—now produce two-thirds of the country’s agricultural output, the largest portion since the U.S. Agriculture Department’s census began tracking the statistic in the ’80s.The shift means food production is being increasingly handled by larger farms, which can be more financially secure. It also fuels a cycle in which size begets size, further transforming the rural economy. Smaller-scale farmers struggle to expand their operations to become profitable. Work becomes more scarce. Farm-supply retailers and grain companies are pressured, since larger farms use their size to wrangle better deals.