News Update
March 11, 2009

Drought seminar slated for Coastal Bend growers

A drought strategy seminar has been scheduled to help Coastal Bend growers address their planting options, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.

“We’re in the grip of a severe, if not historic, drought,” said Jeffrey Stapper, an AgriLife Extension agent in Nueces County. “Without soil moisture, farmers throughout Texas, and especially in South Texas, are faced with some tough decisions about when and what to plant.”

The seminar will take place from 8:15 a.m. to noon March 19 at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center just west of the Corpus Christi International Airport.

There are a variety of viable options available to growers faced with severe drought at planting time, Stapper said. Those options, including planting strategies, alternative crops, information resources and the National Weather Service forecast, will be discussed.

The seminar is being sponsored by AgriLife Extension in Nueces and San Patricio counties. For more information, contact Stapper at 361-767-5223. To see the entire news release, visit http://texasextension.tamu.edu/agnews/index.php?id=1059.

— Adapted from a release provided by Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension.

Roger Johnson Elected NFU President

Delegates to the 107th Anniversary National Farmers Union (NFU) Convention elected North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson to lead the organization.

Johnson grew up in Farmers Union, participating in the organization’s youth programs, serving as a county president and chairman of the board of a local Farmers Union cooperative. A third-generation family farmer from Turtle Lake, N.D., Johnson was elected North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner and recently served as president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.

During the convention, NFU delegates adopted the organization’s 2009 policy positions, including special orders of business on farm bill implementation, energy and the environment, rural health care, fair trade, competition and dairy. The special orders of business reflected members’ concerns on all aspects of the nation’s ailing economy.

For more information about the convention and Johnson, visit the organization web site at http://nfu.org.

— Adapted from release provided by National Farmers Union.

American Humane Certified to Launch Online Training

The American Humane Certified™ farm animal welfare program announced March 11 that it will launch an online Humane Care Training Program for food producers to use in educating employees, growers and contractors who handle animals. The training will complement and expand American Humane Certified’s existing national program of auditing and certifying the humane handling of animals raised for food.

The new curriculum will be developed by John McGlone, animal and food science professor at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, in association with Farm Animal Care Training and Auditing (FACTA LLC), which provides independent, professional, science-based animal care training and auditing services.

More than 50 million farm animals are now covered by American Humane Certified. The proprietary audit system delivers transparency, accountability and consistency to producers, retailers and consumers. Producers who successfully comply are allowed to use and promote the American Humane Certified label on their products, attesting to the humane animal care that consumers are demanding along with other sustainable farming practices.

The new training program will begin testing in the spring of 2009, and should be available for widespread use by food producers in July 2009. The training will be required as a key component of American Humane’s certification process. It will feature easy access and clear, comprehensive lessons for anyone working in direct contact with animals. Every species will have its own training module that incorporates video and graphics to demonstrate key points. It will be the first humane training curriculum offered to producers and employees to demonstrate and reinforce science-based and compassionate animal welfare standards.

For more information, visit www.thehumanetouch.org.

— Adapted from a release provided by American Humane Certified.

Program Geared Toward Environmentally Conscious Food Producers and Consumers

Integrated Management Information Inc. (IMI Global), a leading provider of verification and Internet solutions in the agricultural/livestock industry, today launched VerifiedGreen,™ a verification program that caters to producers and consumers who are committed to reducing their carbon footprint.

Under the VerifiedGreen program, farmers and ranchers can have their operations certified “green” by IMI Global’s auditors, making them eligible to market their products as consistent with environmentally sustainable production processes. Such a program is expected to appeal to producers and retailers who are both environmentally conscious and looking for a marketing edge, as well as to consumers who want to support producers practicing good environmental stewardship.

“VerifiedGreen offers a unique opportunity for farmers and ranchers to communicate their message of environmental stewardship to consumers,” said John Saunders, president and CEO of IMI Global. “Unfortunately, this positive story is not the one most consumers hear today from the mainstream media. In fact, the vast majority of producers we work with are passionate land stewards and very open to new ideas about sustainable agriculture.”

John Butler, CEO of Beef Marketing Group, a large consortium of feedyards in Kansas and Nebraska, says he looks forward to buying cattle from VerifiedGreen approved ranches.

“Our own Progressive Beef Standard verifies our feedyards are engaged in sustainable activities in addition to other humane handling and food safety practices,” Butler says. “Sourcing cattle from producers engaged in these sustainable activities is a perfect fit for our customers who want to know that the process has been verified by a third party.”

VerifiedGreen encourages farmers and ranchers to adopt, maintain and/or enhance environmentally sustainable production processes with reduced carbon output. These practices can include a wide variety of initiatives, ranging from improving grazing programs that foster CO2 sequestration and forage quality to wind and solar energy systems to earth friendly feed to biodigesters that recover methane from manure to reduce emissions and produce electricity, heat and hot water for operations. IMI Global’s role is to verify that its customers are implementing and sustaining such progressive practices, ensuring that the products they are producing are truly “green.”

— Adapted from a release provided by IMI Global.

46th Annual World Livestock Auctioneer Championship Set For June 13

Fergus Falls Livestock Auction Market Inc. will put the auction method of selling livestock in the spotlight when it hosts the 46th annual World Livestock Auctioneer Championship (WLAC) June 13.

“The auctioneer continues to be a very vital part of competitive livestock marketing,” said market owner Joe Varner. “We’ll have 33 of North America’s best, competing for the top title in their profession, the world livestock auctioneer champion.”

The annual contest is sponsored and conducted by Livestock Marketing Association (LMA), Kansas City, Mo. LMA is North America’s largest membership organization dedicated to supporting, representing and communicating with and for the entire livestock marketing sector.

The contest is an actual sale, with buyers on the seats. The contest starts at 8 a.m. and is open to the public.

Thirty-two of the Championship semi-finalists qualified for the Minnesota contest through four WLAC quarterfinal qualifying contests, conducted from September through December 2008 by LMA. The top eight scorers in each quarterfinal move on to Fergus Falls. The 33rd contestant is the current International Auctioneer Champion, Peter Raffan, of Armstrong, B.C. The WLAC traditionally gives a “bye” into the semi-finals to the winner of this Canadian contest.

Six judges, all LMA members, score the semi-finalists on two elements: an interview and live auction rounds. The interviews will be conducted before a live and webcast audience, Friday morning, June 12, during LMA’s annual meeting. 

For program and registration information, call LMA at 800-821-2048.

— Adapted from a release provided by the Livestock Marketing Association.

— Compiled by Shauna Rose Hermel, editor, Angus Productions Inc.