News Update
March 30, 2009

Study Says Vegetarians at Higher Risk for Colorectal Cancer

A new study by European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition–Oxford has analyzed the cancer incidence among vegetarians and concluded the incidence of colorectal cancer was higher in vegetarians than in meat eaters, the American Meat Institute (AMI) reported.

According to Meatingplace.com, the study was recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and it also found the risk of malignant tumors similar between vegetarians and nonvegetarians.

The study involved 63,550 men and women recruited throughout the United Kingdom between 1993 and 1999 and found that the incidence rate ratio for colorectal cancer in vegetarians compared with meat eaters was 1.39. The ratio allows comparison with people with no prior malignant cancer for various factors like smoking, body mass index, alcohol consumption and dietary consumption of meat, fish, eggs and dairy products, according to Meatingplace.com.

— Information from Meatingplace.com.

Canada, Mexico, U.S. Trade Tensions

Trade tensions are rising between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, according to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME’s) March 27 “Daily Livestock Report.”

Country-of-origin labeling (COOL) laws, which came into full effect, are having negative economic effects on some Canadians. In addition, CME reports, Smithfield Foods announced last week it would no longer purchase hogs of Canadian origin beginning in April. Other U.S. packers could follow suit, leading to a two-tiered market and significant discounts for Canadian producers, according to CME.

Mexican officials, meanwhile, have filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding COOL. In addition, the U.S. recently shut down a pilot program allowing Mexican trucks to operate in the U.S., causing Mexico to immediately impose tariffs on several U.S. agricultural and manufactured products, the report states.

Mexico and Canada are both important to U.S. meat trade, CME says. The two countries accounted for more than half of all U.S. beef and turkey shipments in 2008. They also accounted for about 23% of the 4.7 billion pounds (lb.) of pork and 14% of the 7 billion lb. of chicken in the U.S. exported last year. According to CME, growth in the Mexican and Canadian markets since 2000 has accounted for about 30% of the overall increase in U.S. red meat and poultry exports.

SDSU: Increase Your Calf Crop

A new publication from the South Dakota Cooperative Extension Service can help beef producers get more calves.

Extension Extra 2068, “Increasing your calf crop by management, pregnancy testing, and breeding soundness examination of bulls,” is available online at South Dakota State University’s (SDSU’s) web site, http://agbiopubs.sdstate.edu/articles/ExEx2068.pdf.

SDSU Extension Beef Reproduction Management Specialist George Perry, Extension Veterinarian Russ Daly, and Marshall County Extension Livestock Educator Tyler Melroe authored the publication. It discusses the importance of a high-percent calf crop, possible causes of a reduced calf crop, and ways to increase calf crop by nutrition and by managing herd health. The publication discusses both diseases that affect reproductive performance of the cows, and diseases that cause calf loss from birth to weaning.

The authors also deal briefly with breeding and calving seasons; calving distribution; dystocia, or difficulty with calving; and recordkeeping. They discuss what is involved in a breeding soundness exam and in pregnancy testing.

— Release provided by SDSU Extension.

Nebraska Farmland Values Hit Plateau, Survey Says

Agricultural land values in Nebraska reached a plateau in the last year after several years of gains, according to preliminary estimates from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).

The state’s all-land average value was $1,424 per acre as of Feb. 1, according to preliminary findings in the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey. That’s identical to the all-land average value in last year’s final report.

The survey also found that estimated 2009 cash rents are stable to slightly down from 2008 levels throughout most of the state.

The findings “show a clear picture of the market mood turning very cautious in response to the U.S. and global economic downturns,” said Bruce Johnson, the UNL agricultural economist who conducts the survey.

A closer look at the data shows land values’ response to changing economic conditions in the ag sector, Johnson noted. During the first nine months of the year, land values continued to increase “as crop commodity prices escalated to euphoric highs by mid-year,” Johnson said.

As commodity prices headed down during the rest of 2008, land values followed suit. From Oct. 1, 2008, through Feb. 1, 2009, declines in many parts of the state were around 5%, Johnson wrote in last week’s Cornhusker Economics newsletter from UNL’s Department of Agricultural Economics.

Johnson cautioned against reading too much into that reversal. He said it’s likely “more of a modest value recalibration than the beginning of a downward market freefall.”

By class of land, dryland cropland and grazing land values declined slightly for the year ending Feb. 1, while irrigated land classes for the state as a whole recorded slight gains. The effects of recent irrigation moratoriums are reflected in value declines for the dryland cropland class with irrigation potential in a number of the districts, Johnson said.

The preliminary findings show some distinct differences in land value changes among regions of the state. The East and the Northeast districts had overall decreases of 3% and 2.5%, respectively. In recent years, these regions had experienced some of the most dramatic percentage gains in values, Johnson said, “so in a longer-term context, these cooling effects of recent months are still very slight.”

The South and the Southwest districts recorded overall land value gains of 8.2% and 6.4%, respectively.

“These two districts had experienced much lower run-ups in values over the past several years, largely due to multi-year drought conditions and substantial irrigation water restrictions,” Johnson said. “So, with better moisture conditions in 2008 and unusually strong commodity prices (particularly for wheat), these regions have experienced relatively stronger bidding for agricultural land in recent months.”

The survey indicates that most recent buyers are active farmers looking to expand their operations. Nonfarm investors are still in the market but were not big players last year, Johnson said.

“And any interest in agricultural land for secondary recreational purposes has essentially dried up for the time being,” he added.

As for the cash rental market, the 2009 preliminary average rates for the cropland classes were down from 2008 levels in most cases, Johnson said. In categories where 2009 levels were higher, the percentage increases were modest.

Despite a strong income year in 2008 for the crop sector, “these levels would suggest that both landowners and tenants are factoring in much more restricted income expectations for 2009,” Johnson said.

Despite difficult economic times for the state’s cattle industry, pasture and rangeland rates for 2009 remain fairly similar to the previous year’s levels.

“The economic forces of the current recession have begun to hit the agricultural sector on many fronts. Clearly the bullish income conditions of recent years for agricultural crops have waned and are likely to remain so until some U.S. and global economic recovery commences,” he wrote. “Nevertheless, the fact that land values and rents have, to this juncture, escaped sharply downward movements must be solace to any agricultural landowner. As the old land economists would often recite, ‘productive agricultural land is a positive store of value.’

“In times such as these, when other aspects of wealth portfolios are rapidly shrinking, that statement rings more true than ever,” Johnson added.

Reports from a panel of agricultural land experts were compiled for this survey, which is conducted in cooperation with the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Agricultural Research Division. Final estimates will be available in a report this summer.

The report is available in Cornhusker Economics at www.agecon.unl.edu/Cornhuskereconomics.html.

— Release provided by UNL.

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