News Update
Jan. 19, 2009

USDA Announces Additional Funding for Cattle Fever Tick Prevention

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced mid-January that it will make an additional $4.9 million in emergency funding available to support the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program (CFTEP). These funds will help address the emergency cattle fever tick situation in Texas.

The eradication program was initiated in 1906 and was initially funded by Congress in 1907 as a cooperative federal/state/industry disease and pest eradication effort. Due to these efforts, cattle fever ticks were eradicated from all 14 states that comprised the fever tick’s historical range and were pushed across the Rio Grande River by 1943. A permanent quarantine area was established along the Texas side of the Rio Grande River in 1938 to prevent re-establishment of fever ticks from Mexico in Texas.

Despite the success of the program, since 2005 the level of tick infestations has been trending upward. Tick incursions from Mexico are increasing, resulting in a historically high number of infested premises as well as temporary expansions of the permanent quarantine buffer area in Texas.

— Adapted from a release provided by NCBA.

APHIS Proposes Rule on NAIS

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has proposed a rule to amend the domestic livestock regulations with respect to the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The proposed rule — published in the Federal Register Jan. 13 — would require that when animal identification numbers (AIN) are used, only those numbers beginning with the 840 prefix will be recognized as official for use on all AIN tags applied to animals one year or more after the date on which this proposed rule is finalized. In addition, the rule would require all new premises identification numbers (PIN) issued on or after the effective date of this rule to use the seven-character alphanumeric code format.

Official eartags using a premises-based numbering system issued after a one-year phase-in period would be required to use the seven-character alphanumeric code format as well. The rule further proposes several changes pertaining to the use of the U.S. shield on official eartags, numbering systems that use such eartags, and the correlation of those numbering systems with the PIN.

According to APHIS, the proposed changes are intended to achieve greater standardization and uniformity of official numbering systems and eartags used in animal disease programs and to enhance animal traceability.

— Adapted from a release provided by NCBA.

FDA Issues Final Guidance on Regulating Genetically Engineered Animals

Jan. 15 USDA issued a final guidance for industry on the regulation of genetically engineered (GE) animals under the new animal drug provisions of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). The guidance, titled “The Regulation of Genetically Engineered Animals Containing Heritable rDNA Constructs,” clarifies the FDA’s statutory and regulatory authority, and provides recommendations to producers of GE animals to help them meet their obligations and responsibilities under the law.

The FFDCA defines “articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals” as drugs. An rDNA construct that is in a GE animal and is intended to affect the animal’s structure or function meets the definition of an animal drug, whether the animal is intended for food, or used to produce another substance. Developers of these animals must demonstrate that the construct and any new products expressed from the inserted construct are safe for the health of the GE animal and, if they are food animals, for food consumption.

For more information, see www.fda.gov/cvm/GEanimals.htm.

— Adapted from a release provided by FDA.

Ethanol Production Will Have to Increase to Meet Government Mandates

Ethanol plant construction has come to a halt, but the mandates by government are not declining, which could mean prices could jump again. Producers should prepare for Round 2, Steve Amosson, Texas AgriLife Extension economist, said. “Expanded ethanol production is probably a given; however, the pace is expected to slow due to capacity limits and policy.”

Nationwide, 213 ethanol plants were in production or under construction in September 2007, with many more on the drawing table, he said. Nine months later, some of the plants that were under construction have come into operation, but no new plants have started construction.

The credit crisis and declining ethanol margins dried up financing for 11 billion gallons (gal.) of “probable” projects, said Bill Tierney, former Kansas State University (K-State) grain marketing economist.

Recent analysis shows that ethanol plants are losing money given the current prices of ethanol and distillers’ grains byproducts, after taking into consideration the cost of the primary inputs natural gas and corn, Amosson said.

The energy bill signed into law in December 2007 requires 36 billion gal. of ethanol to be available for use by 2022, Amosson said. Twenty-one billion gal. is supposed to come from feedstocks other than corn. The problem, he said, is that cellulosic ethanol production is not even expected to get off the ground until 2015 or after, and then it takes time to ramp up the industry.

“The renewable fuel standards will not hold up; it can’t,” Amosson said. According to the standards, 11.1 billion gal. of ethanol nationwide, or 10.21% of the national energy supply, must come from renewable fuel this year, Amosson said. The amount gradually steps up from there. Penalties for blenders not meeting the mandates include having to return any profit from non-renewable fuels and a fine of $25,000 per day.

— Adapted from a release written by Kay Ledbetter, Texas A&M University.

USDA Approves First Guaranteed Loan for Commercial-scale Cellulosic Ethanol Plant

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced Jan. 16 that USDA Rural Development has approved the first-ever loan guarantee to a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant. The $80 million loan to Range Fuels Inc., Soperton, Ga., comes from the Section 9003 Biorefinery Assistance Program authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill.

“The investment in this facility, which will make cellulosic ethanol from wood chips, has the potential to significantly advance the timetable for second-generation ethanol production in this country,” Schafer said.

The Biorefinery Assistance Program promotes the development of new and emerging technologies for the production of advanced biofuels, defined as fuels that are not produced from food sources. The project is expected to produce an estimated 63 jobs. When fully operational in 2010, the plant is expected to produce approximately 20 million gal. of cellulosic ethanol per year.

USDA Rural Development’s mission is to increase economic opportunity and improve the quality of life for rural residents. Further information on rural programs is available at a local USDA Rural Development office or online at www.rurdev.usda.gov.

— Adapted from a release provided by USDA.

Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 (S. 22) Passes Senate

By a vote of 73-21, the Senate Thursday passed S. 22, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. The bill authorizes specified programs and activities in the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture concerning national wilderness designations, national rivers, the national landscape conservation system (NLCS), national conservation areas, land conveyances and exchanges, watershed management, watershed restoration and enhancement, wolf livestock loss, national parks, national heritage areas, water projects, tribal water rights, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and coastal and estuarine land conservation.

The Public Lands Council (PLC) has been closely monitoring this legislation and has been actively engaged in the provisions affecting NCBA members. Specifically, PLC supported the “wolf livestock loss” section, which would provide grants to assist livestock producers in reducing the risk of livestock loss due to wolf predation and to compensate livestock producers for losses due to predation.

— Release provided by NCBA.

USDA Launches BQMS Pilot Project

APHIS Jan. 16 introduced a pilot of the biotechnology quality management system (BQMS). The system is part of continued efforts to enhance compliance with the regulatory requirements for field trials and movements of certain genetically engineered (GE) organisms.

APHIS has accepted five volunteer participants into the pilot project: Bayer CropScience, BASF Plant Science, J.R. Simplot Plant Science, Pioneer Hi-Bred International and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. The participants will develop, implement and maintain a BQMS within their organization to proactively manage the movement and field release of regulated GE organisms. As part of the process, they will:

• work to identify vulnerabilities in their processes for working with GE organisms,
  
• develop or revise standard operating procedures that address vulnerabilities,
  
• properly train personnel on the standard operating procedures and
  
• undergo a third-party audit to determine effectiveness of their quality management system.

APHIS regulates the importation, interstate movement and release into the environment of certain GE organisms. BQMS is intended to supplement existing APHIS regulatory and inspection requirements.

— Adapted from a release provided by AgPR on behalf of USDA.

— compiled by Shauna Hermel, editor, Angus Productions Inc.