News Update

News Update
April 7, 2008

Colombia Free Trade Agreement Awaits Congressional Approval

President Bush signed a letter to Congress today that will transmit legislation implementing the U.S. Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer released a statement expressing his support of the legislation and urged Congress to move forward with approving the agreement.

“For more than a year, this Administration has been seeking to work closely with Congress to identify a bipartisan path to bring legislation to implement this agreement up for approval. Without implementation, American farmers lose. It is time for fair and equal two-way trade with Colombia,” Schafer said.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Colombia is the largest market for U.S. agriculture exports in South America, with 2007 U.S. exports comprising a record $1.2 billion of agricultural products to Colombia.

“Current tariffs between the United States and Colombia are one-sided, as 99.9% of Colombian food and agricultural exports enter into the United States duty-free while no U.S. agricultural exports to Colombia receive duty-free treatment,” Schafer said. “

Schafer said once implemented the agreement would grant immediate duty-free treatment to more than 70% of U.S. agricultural products. The remaining tariffs will be eliminated within 15 years.

Meyer Natural Angus Beef to Acquire Coleman’s Beef Operations

Meyer Natural Angus announced April 3 its plans to purchase the natural and organic beef business of Coleman Natural Foods LLC.

According to the Loveland, Colo.-based company, the sale will expand Meyer Natural Angus market presence and allow Coleman Natural Foods to continue growth in natural poultry, pork and prepared foods.

Both companies expect the transaction to conclude June 1.

BSE Blamed for 2 Deaths in Spain

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is being blamed for the deaths of two people in Spain. According to a CNN.com article today, two people in the Castilla Leon region north of Madrid have died, one Dec. 28 and another Feb. 7.

Although Spain’s Ministry of Health did not immediately confirm the deaths, a national monitoring network web site did.

MU Scientists Help Limit Spread of Antibiotics in Animal Waste

A recent report by The Associated Press (AP) revealing the presence of drugs in many municipal water supplies has raised questions about the risks to humans of long-term exposure to small amounts of pharmaceutical compounds. While it is believed that most of the drugs originate from human medications, University of Missouri (MU) researchers are investigating the impact of livestock pharmaceuticals and developing best practices to protect the environment.

MU scientists are looking at simple, low-cost techniques that farms and animal-feed operations might use to trap and neutralize antibiotics in animal waste. “We want to be able to help farmers in the state do what they need to feed the population and continue to be good stewards of the environment,” said Keith Goyne, a soil scientist with MU’s School of Natural Resources.

Many livestock producers use antibiotics to treat sick animals. Healthy livestock may also receive antibiotics in their feed in order to promote growth. Thirty to 80% of any given dose of antibiotic may end up excreted as waste rather than absorbed by the animal. When manure is used to fertilize croplands, antibiotics in the manure may get into the soil and eventually end up in streams, lakes or rivers.

“The amounts are relatively low,” Goyne said. But no one knows much about the long-term effect these compounds might have on humans, animals and the environment. “I think we should be concerned but not alarmed.”

According to Goyne, a tiny dose in our tap water is not the only potential problem. Antibiotics, which are designed to kill disease-causing bacteria, could wreak havoc on microbial communities in the soil. One consequence might be the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that could infect humans, livestock and wildlife.

Antibiotics also might disrupt essential biological activity in the soil. “Microorganisms are essential to life on earth,” Goyne said. “They conduct processes such as nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition and a variety of other functions. Without them behaving as they should, agriculture would change substantially.”

Goyne is collaborating with MU assistant professor of forestry Chung-Ho Lin, professor of soil science Steven Anderson and two USDA soil scientists based at MU, Robert Lerch and Robert Kremer. They are investigating the use of vegetative buffers to control the spread of antibiotics in surface runoff from fields treated with manure.

Studies by MU soil scientists have already shown that grass buffers in croplands can help contain nutrients and herbicides by reducing runoff and degrading the chemical compounds.

“We’re fairly confident that these buffers will work well for antibiotics, but it’s yet to be tested,” Goyne said.

Vegetative buffers serve as a filter for surface runoff. Placing buffers between rows of crops allows the buffers to intercept runoff as it flows downhill. Using the right plants in buffers is important. All plants change the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil in which they grow. Using specific plant species can make the soil a more effective filter by increasing its ability to physically trap sediment and by promoting a diverse community of microorganisms that can decompose certain chemical compounds.

“We’re looking at buffers that have just grass species as well as tree-grass buffers, which we call agroforestry buffers,” he said.

In field tests at the MU Bradford Research and Extension Center, the researchers are dousing small plots with a rainfall simulator to test the effectiveness of different buffer designs in reducing concentrations of antibiotics in surface runoff. In the laboratory they are applying antibiotics to soil samples and analyzing the results: Using high-performance liquid chromatography, the scientists can measure parts-per-billion levels of antibiotics in solution. A technique called infrared spectroscopy allows researchers to detect the infrared wavelengths absorbed by the soil samples. This combination of wavelengths serves as a “fingerprint” for identifying changes in the organic-matter composition of the soil induced by different plant species in the buffer.

“Noting such changes will improve understanding of how the buffers influence retention of the antibiotics in soil,” Goyne said.

Preliminary results have shown promise. “We’re seeing that soil that has been extracted from the root zone of a poplar tree is enhancing the degradation of at least one of the antibiotic drugs we’re looking at,” Goyne said. “That shows us that the microorganisms in the soil where the poplar tree is growing are helping to break this compound down, which will prevent it from remaining in the environment for long periods of time or moving on to surface water resources.”

The research is funded by the MU Center for Agroforestry. For more information about the center, go to www.centerforagroforestry.org.

— Release provided by MU Extension.

Oilseed Crop May Sprout New Life as Biodiesel Source

During the early 1950s, more than a quarter of a million acres of flax — an oilseed crop — could be found growing from Waco southward in Texas. Grown primarily for the vegetable oil market, it may have new potential as a biodiesel crop as determined in part by a Texas AgriLife Research field trial experiment, according to researchers.

Four varieties of flax pioneered by the agency formerly known as the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station during that time are part of a recently developed research trial funded by Chevron Energy Technology Ventures.

“It’s kind of like we’re coming full circle,” said Dr. Gaylon Morgan, small grains researcher and member of the Texas A&M AgriLife project team. “Flax was grown on about 400,000 acres during that time and Texas AgriLife Research had an active flax breeding program.

“Those varieties were known nationwide for having good cold tolerance. That’s what we needed, a flax variety [that] you could plant in the fall, survive the winter, avoid late freezes, and produce seed in the spring. Now we’re evaluating this as a possible biodiesel product or (one which) could be used in the vegetable oil industry.”

Canola, rapeseed, winter-hearty safflower, and camelina can be found growing in the field trials near College Station.

“This project is funded by Chevron Technology Ventures, and there is another (camelina) trial funded by Targeted Growth International,” Morgan said.

Results from this trial, as well as some spring types will be harvested in the next month and a half, Morgan said. Winter types will be harvested in about two months, he said.

The project does have its challenges, Morgan said, such as stand establishment.

“Most of these crops have small seeds and must be planted very shallow compared to our traditional crops,” he said. “Therefore, good stand establishment is highly dependent on a rainfall following planting. Some other things we are running into now are weed control problems. There’s not a whole [lot] of herbicides labeled for these crops.”

Harvesting has some challenges, too, Morgan added.

“Again, these are small seeds, and some varieties are worse about shattering and require a timely harvest.”

There are 51 entry trials at the College Station plot and have been repeated at nine locations across the state at different Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Centers.

“We’re trying to get a good idea of where these species and varieties fit in specific growing regions across Texas,” Morgan said.

The data collected on the different varieties will be used in determining which type of crop is best suited for either the biodiesel or vegetable oil industry, Morgan said.

“If it’s biodiesel we’re considering, we want the highest oil yield per acre. The majority of the crops being evaluated have an oil content of about 40%. However, if some of these varieties have vegetable oil potential, then oil characteristics may be more important.”

— Release provided by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension.

TAMU Signs Agreement with Panama

The Texas A&M System announced April 4 it has signed a memorandum of technical and scientific cooperation that will help Panama improve its agricultural competitiveness and enhance its agricultural capacity.

Through the agreement, Texas A&M System entities, primarily Texas AgriLife Research, the Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, will play a key role in assisting Panama with a number of national agricultural programs. The agreement was signed during a ceremony in Panama in March. Signatories included President Martin Torrijos Espino of Panama, Guillermo Salazar, Panama’s Minister of Agriculture and Elsa Murano, president of Texas A&M University.

The agreement focuses on three general areas of cooperation, said Ed Smith, director of AgriLife Externsion. “The first area relates to helping strengthen Panama’s national food safety program, which is essential to ensuring their agricultural exports will be acceptable to other countries,” he said. “The second will focus on strengthening their national agricultural Extension service. And the third will address technical assistance with their livestock, rice and jatropha production.” Jatrohpa is a genus of trees, plants and shrubs native to Central America.

— Release provided by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension.

— compiled by Crystal Albers, associate editor, Angus Productions Inc.