May 23, 2012

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Promoting lamb as a menu item (audio)

April 20, 2012 By

Sheep producers in Iowa may be able to launch a marketing campaign like the dairy industry’s “Got Milk?” promotion because of a bill that has cleared the Iowa House and Senate.

The legislation would allow sheep producers in Iowa to vote to boost the fee they pay when selling a lamb, ram or ewe. It’s 10-cents per animal today, but the referendum could raise that to 25-cents per animal. Senator Joe Seng, a Democrat from Davenport, expects the sheep industry to use the money for something rivaling “the other white meat” promotion.

“You hear of all the pork promotion,” Seng said. “I think that it’s needed possibly to raise the awareness of the healthy attributes of sheep.”

Lamb has fewer calories and less fat than beef and pork. Seng suggests promoting lamb as a menu option might boost the number of Iowa farmers who raise sheep.

“When I drive up to Des Moines, there is only one herd of sheep that I go by on the interstate,” Seng said.

The bill did not win unanimous approval in the Senate, however. Sixteen senators voted against the idea. Senator Dick Dearden, a Democrat from Des Moines, questioned why Republicans wanted to force sheep producers to pay this promotional fee while Republicans resist efforts to do the same when it comes to labor union dues.

“I would hope that my good Republican friends onm the other side of the aisle that care so much about ‘Right to Work’ would vote this bill down,” Dearden said. “You’re forcing people to pay dues. Isn’t that horrible?”

A farmer who is also a state senator said the sheep promotional fund allows farmers who don’t want to pay the fee to pay it when they sell their animals, but then apply to have it refunded. Senator Mark Chelgren, a Republican from Ottumwa, opposed the idea of a mandatory fee, even with the potential of a refund.

“I think if they want to pay extra because they want to promote themselves, then they should do that,” Chelgren said. “No one’s stopping them from giving extra money, but the very fact that we’re asking them to go ahead and mandate that they contribute by the people who vote for it — I don’t believe in tyranny by the majority.”

But a majority of senators voted for the bill, which had already won approval in the House. It’s now up to Governor Branstad to decide if he supports the concept.

AUDIO of Thursday’s Senate debate of House File 2459.

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Corn planting is underway and ahead of last year

April 18, 2012 By

The U.S.D.A. crop report shows some farmers have been able to get their planters into the field. The report says 5% of Iowa’s corn acreage has been planted in the early going, which compares with 1% at this time last year. It’s also ahead of the 5-year average of 3%.

The report says widespread rain improved moisture levels throughout the state — with topsoil moisture levels improving so only 6% is very short and, 21% short of soil moisture. Subsoil moisture also improved, with 53% of the state reporting it is adequate and 2% surplus.

The report says the cold weather did raise some concerns, as farmers fear hay growth was affected after most of the state received a hard freeze in the early part of last week.

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Biodiesel use almost doubles in year’s time

April 11, 2012 By

Figures from the Iowa Department of Revenue show the sale of biodiesel nearly doubled in Iowa from 2010 to 2011. The figures show sales of biodiesel went from 7.4 million gallons to 13.9 million. Iowa Biodiesel Board executive director, Randy Olson, says he’s pleased to see the numbers, which indicate drivers of the big rigs are using the product.

“Reports and analysis suggest that truckstops along our interstate highway system are embracing the use of biodiesel. The economics have been very favorable for biodiesel in 2011,” Olson says. “Truck stop operators are clearly patriotic folks as are truckers, and the trucking industry have been strong supporters of biodiesel.”

Olson says federal tax incentives, the federal renewable fuel standard and the state tax credit have all helped biodiesel. “He says there’s a (state) retailers credit in 2011 that incented blends of B-2 or 2% biodiesel at 3-cents-per-gallon, and in 2012 retailers are incented four-and-a-half cents for blends of 5% biodiesel, B-5,” Olson says.

The figures show biodiesel makes up around 42% of all diesel sold at the retail level in Iowa. “Biodiesel would be normal petroleum diesel that’s blended with any percentage of renewable biodiesel,” Olson explains. “So biodiesel can be made from agricultural co-products like soybean oil, or animal fats, or even recycled restaurant greases. And any product that is made out of those renewable agriculture byproducts can be blended into diesel at any percentage.”

Olson says the blended fuel performance is comparable to the straight diesel. “Blends of biodiesel up to B-20 perform very comparably to petroleum diesel, and very importantly, it’s good for Iowa’s economy, it’s good for Iowa’s environment because it burns cleaner. And it’s good for our nation’s energy security. For every gallon of biodiesel we use, we import less foreign petroleum. And I think we all agree that’s a good idea,” Olson says.

Iowa is home to 13 biodiesel plants that produced about 175 million gallons of biodiesel in 2011.

 

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Pioneer opens new plant research facility in Johnston

April 9, 2012 By

Pioneer Hi-Bred opened its new $40-million plant genetics research facility today in Johnston. Pioneer vice president John Soper oversees crop research and genetics development for the company.

Soper says the new facility will focus on two things. “One is the utilization of molecular marker technologies. And to describe that in a nutshell,  it’s a lot like science they use in forensics were they go to the crime scene and they try to match the blood sample with the perpetrator of the crime,” he explains.

“We’re actually able to genetically profile literally millions of corn hybrids or soybean varieties and look at the traits that those plants would possess.” The other focus of the facility is “biotechnology trait development,” which continues and expands on the ongoing research.

“For things like herbicide, new sources of insect resistance. Longer term, looking at things like trying to make corn hybrids that will be more tolerant to drought stress, corn hybrids that can yield the same with lower levels of nitrogen inputs,” Soper says. The new facility will eventually have 400 new employees.

“It’s very complex and very wide, and it’s cutting edge technology. A great facility, but it’s also a place where we not only are providing jobs for Iowans, but we are also attracting top scientists from around the world to come and work at our facility there,” Soper says. Soper says the company is putting more money into research to improve seeds because the demand for food is projected to continue to grow.

“It’s been estimated because we are not going to put a lot more global land into agricultural production that we’re going to have to increase our productivity per acre by 70-percent between now and 2050. And the way that you do that is you invest in plant breeding and you invest to protect the crop against diseases and pests that try to reduce that productivity,” according to Soper.

DuPont, the parent company of Pioneer, says it will invest $10-billion globally in research and development dedicated to the food, agriculture and nutrition sectors by the end of 2020 as part of its targeted food security goals.

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Warm weather has farmers itching to get into the fields

April 9, 2012 By

With the snow long gone and warmer temperatures for most of the spring so far, Iowa farmers have been anxious to start putting corn seeds into the ground. State Ag Secretary, Bill Northey, says there hasn’t been a lot of planting yet, but he expects things to start picking up.

“We still can get some cold weather this time of year, we saw some frost last week in part of the state, but I think there’ll be some corn go in this week. I think folks are kind of not getting into too much of a hurry, but the ground is ready and it’s hard not to go,” Northey says. Some farmers may be waiting until midweek to get started.

He says you can’t plant before April 11th to be able to get failed planting coverage if you have to replant. Farming has become more precise with GPS systems guiding the tractors through the fields, and that leads to fuel savings. But Northey says higher fuel prices are still felt on the farm.

“We can still buy four to six gallons an acre of fuel out there in some cases, and if you start multiplying five-gallons-an-acre times four-dollars-a-gallon, than it dollars up when you see the price come up,” Northey says. “So it has an impact. Right now that’s a small part of our input costs when you look at seed and fertilizer and the other costs of taking care of that ground…but it’s still like everything else, it adds up and it does make a difference.”

Northey says the mood is good as farmers enter the planting season and see the commodity prices. “Lately we’ve actually seen the bean prices slip up a little higher than what the corn prices are for fall. So, I’m sure we have a few folks trying to decide on those last acres, whether they will go ahead and plant beans or corn,” Northey says.

“Right now if the ground is fit they will probably go ahead and plant corn. But if those bean prices are a little bit better, we may have a few folks leaning some of that direction based on soybean prices for fall which are still over 13-dollars a bushel.” Northey says the high commodity prices are nice, but you always have to keep a watch on the market forces.

“Certainly if China would decide to buy more from South America or decide to buy less overall, that would have some impact on these markets as well. And that worldwide economy and demand on livestock products affects how much livestock is produced and therefore how much corn and soybean meal they use. There’s plenty of things to be watching for, at the same token, we’ve certainly has a nice run here of decent prices,” Northey says.

Northey farms near Spirit Lake.

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It’s National Agriculture Day

March 8, 2012 By

Today is “National Agriculture Day,” a time set aside to put the spotlight on America’s farmers. The executive director of the U.S.D.A. Farm Service Agency, John Whitaker, says farmers have been a bright spot in the economic recovery. “It is agriculture in the midwest that is helping lead the national economy out of one of the worst, or the worst recessions since the great depression,” Whitaker says.

Whitaker says the ag economy has continued to push things ahead while other industries slowed. “We’re at record farm income, have been at record farm income for two years in a row. Those kinds of things create jobs,” Whitaker says. “Of course with one in twelve jobs tied to agriculture, having a robust ag economy helps lift us up.”

Iowa is at the forefront as the nation’s leader in the production of corn, soybeans, eggs and hogs. And much of that production is exported.”The record exports that we’ve been doing, gives us an opportunity to help feed the world and help to show the world the quality of products produced in America,” according to Whitaker.

The global population is projected to reach nine-billion people by 2050. The challenge — experts say — will be for agriculture to produce 40% more from existing acres in order to feed that forecasted population.

By Dan Skelton, KICD, Spencer

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Branstad says “ag gag” law protects Iowa farmers (audio)

March 5, 2012 By

Governor Branstad says he took the right step in signing into law a bill that offers new protections to Iowa farmers and large-scale livestock operations. The new law creates a new penalty for people who get a job on a farm or in a confinement in order to go undercover to release details of the operation or free the animals.

“I know there are those people who don’t believe anybody should eat meat and those people that want to release livestock or mink or whatever,” Branstad told reporters this morning when questioned about the proposal. “Or we’ve even had them attack research at the University of Iowa.”

During a telephone interview this morning, Matt Dominguez of the American Humane Society said the law will subject “whistleblowers” to another legal obstacle.

“Whistleblowing employees have repeatedly exposed animal abuse, unsafe working conditions and environmental problems on today’s factory farms,” Dominguez said. “You know — footage of animals confined for their entire lives in crates so small they can’t even move an inch.”

Iowa’s governor suggested so-called “whistleblowers” won’t be prosecuted. 

“If somebody comes on somebody else’s property through fraud or deception or lying, that is a serious violation of people’s rights and people should be held accountable for that,” Branstad said. “That’s very different from a whistleblower that sees something that’s wrong, that’s there in an appropriate and legal manner.”

Other critics, like the Animal Legal Defense Fund, are lobbying officials in other states and cities around the country to ban the purchase of Iowa-raised food as a response to the state’s new law. And fast-food giant McDonald’s recently announced it would not buy pork from operations where sows are confined to stalls or crates. Governor Branstad signed the bill into law late Friday, and he told reporters this morning that he’s not concerned about a back-lash to Iowa-grown and raised products.

“Agriculture is an important part of our economy and farmers should not be subjected to people doing illegal, inappropriate things and being involved in fraud and deception in order to try to disrupt agricultural operations,” Branstad said, “so I think if people look at this objectively, this is a reasonable public policy for the State of Iowa and I think a number of other states will probably follow.” 

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals issued a statement after the bill passed both the Senate and House last week, saying “people all over the country will think Iowa ag has a lot to hide, and kids who love animals will probably demand Iowa meat be taken off cafeteria menus.” According to PETA, similar legislation has stalled in Illinois, Missouri, Florida, New York and Minnesota.

Follow this link to audio of Branstad’s weekly news conference, where he was asked about this topic.

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