News Update

News Update
Nov. 7, 2007

USDA Grants $234 Million to Promote U.S. Food and Agricultural Products

Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner announced Nov. 5 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has provided more than $234 million to help market American farm products overseas in the 2007 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

The allocations were provided under the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development Program (FMD), both administered by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).

The MAP uses funds from USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to share the costs of overseas marketing and promotional activities with U.S. agricultural trade organizations, state regional groups and cooperatives. Activities conducted with MAP funding include market research, consumer promotions for retail products and seminars to educate overseas customers.

Under the FMD program, USDA establishes a trade promotion partnership with nonprofit U.S. agricultural trade organizations. Funding priority is given to organizations that represent an entire industry or are nationwide in membership and scope.

Program activities focus on reducing market impediments, improving the processing capabilities of importers, modifying restrictive regulatory codes and standards in foreign markets and identifying new markets or uses for U.S. products.

After final export numbers are tallied, U.S. agricultural exports for fiscal year 2007 are expected to reach $79 billion, making 2007 the fourth year of back-to-back records. Fiscal year 2008 exports are forecast to reach $83.5 billion.

For more information on exports and FAS’ market development programs, contact the Office of Trade Programs at 202-720-4327 or visit www.fas.usda.gov/mos/marketdev.asp.

— Release courtesy of USDA.

White House Panel Presents Import Safety Plan

A White House panel recommended Nov. 6 a series of steps to improve imported food and product safety in an effort to better protect American consumers, MeatingPlace.com reports.

President Bush established the interagency group in July in response to a series of tainted food and product import recalls, many of which came from China.

The panel, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, outlined 14 broad recommendations and 50 action steps, according to MeatingPlace.

Some of the highlights mentioned include:

Create a stronger certification process giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to require producers of certain high-risk foods in a particular country to certify that their products meet FDA standards;
Encourage good importer practices by providing incentives to importers to maintain the highest safety practices for products that carry greater risks;
Increase transparency by making the names of certified producers and importers public;
Exchange product and compliance data on each import transaction to better inform decisions to clear or reject import shipments;
Increase U.S. presence overseas and increase training for foreign inspection agencies;
Ask Congress to give import safety and inspection agencies the ability to strengthen their standards; and
Strengthen penalties for unsafe products.

In conjunction with the plan, FDA has developed a three-part Food Protection Plan to use science and a risk-based approach to prevent, intervene and respond to ensure the safety of domestic and imported foods. The plan will support the FDA’s ongoing collaboration with such agencies as the Centers for Disease Control and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

— Adapted from a MeatingPlace.com news release.

Missouri Beef Industry Council Funds Research

New research funded by the Missouri Beef Industry Council (MBIC) hopes to find a faster, more efficient way to detect contamination in food products.

According to MBIC Executive Director John Kleiboeker, the study will focus on new technology capable of detecting E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella simultaneously in ground beef.

University of Missouri (MU) food scientist Azlin Mustapha will lead the study with the ultimate goal of reducing the incidence of food products contamination and foodborne illnesses.

The E. coli/salmonella test study is one of two research projects approved by the MBIC board for the current fiscal year and both are being done at MU.

The second project is a study of glycerol, a byproduct of the biodiesel production process, as a feedstuff that may enhance marbling and beef quality. That study will be led by MU animal science professor Monty Kerly.

— Adapted from an MBIC release.

Study Weighs Cover Crop Use

Because sowing cover crops between rounds of cash crops can protect fields and enrich Midwest soils, Jeremy Singer, an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) agronomist at the National Soil Tilth Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, wanted to find out how many farmers in the Corn Belt actually use cover crops.

Singer and collaborators at Iowa State University (ISU) sent a survey about cover crop use to a random sample of 3,500 crop farmers in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota. They had more than 1,000 usable responses to the survey.

When the results were analyzed, they found that farmers who cultivated a greater number of different crops were more likely to use cover crops. But only 18% of farmers in the region reported ever using cover crops, and only 8% had planted them in fall 2005.

The survey results showed a majority of farmers believed cover crops improve soil conditions by reducing erosion and increasing soil organic matter. Even if they were not participating in government conservation programs, the survey showed that 80% were using some type of conservation practice.

More than a quarter of the farmers surveyed perceived that cover crops were too expensive and more than a third believed that planting cover crops took too much time.

Singer and his colleagues are incorporating the survey results into their research to develop more user-friendly annual and perennial cover crops that farmers would be willing to use. For instance, farmers could realize a double payoff if they used the lull between cultivating annual cash crops to grow cover crops.

The cover crops could maintain or even enhance soil productivity, and some of the cash crop residue could be harvested for bioenergy production, which would increase producer profits. Finding ways to minimize the cost and time needed to establish and manage cover crops will support the expansion of cover crop use in all types of farming.

The study was partially funded by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at ISU in Ames.

— Adapted from an ARS release.

— compiled by Linda Robbins, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc. (API)