News Update
Oct. 14, 2009

Beef Conference to Focus on Planning Today for Tomorrow’s Markets

While it’s true Kentucky beef producers have enjoyed higher cattle prices in the past couple years, feed costs have soared leaving producers wondering what the future holds. The Kentucky Beef Conference Oct. 27 at the Fayette County Cooperative Extension office aims to teach producers how to plan today for tomorrow’s markets.

The University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture is hosting the conference, which will focus on current marketing trends in the beef industry and show producers how they can manage higher feed costs and the current market volatility. Producers will have the opportunity to hear from top speakers in the country at virtually no cost thanks to corporate and industry sponsors.

After registration at 9 a.m., UK Associate Dean for Extension and Cooperative Extension Service Director Jimmy Henning will give a brief overview. Next up is Randy Blach, executive vice president of Cattle-Fax and CF Resources Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cattle-Fax.

In the morning session, UK’s Jeff Lehmkuhler, an animal sciences Extension specialist, will discuss nutrition for healthy cattle from calf to market. After lunch, Larry Hollis, Extension beef veterinarian for Kansas State University will discuss health and management practices for today’s market. At 2 p.m., Blach will wrap up the meeting and discuss marketing strategies for 2009 and 2010.

Organizers request participants preregister by contacting their local county Extension agent. Registration is $10 and includes lunch and refreshments.

— Release by Aimee Nielson, UK Cooperative Extension and Research.

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Highlighs Recovery Act Effort to Bolster Healthcare in Rural America

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is providing $30 million for 36 community facilities projects through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, many of which are for healthcare facilities. To date, USDA has announced more than $335 million in Recovery Act funding for community facilities projects. Altogether, the Department has provided more than $94 million in Recovery Act loans and grants for 146 healthcare projects across the country.

In rural America and communities across the country, high costs or lack of insurance deters many people from seeking needed health care, and, as a consequence, many illnesses go undiagnosed and long-term costs increase. Recent studies show that rural Americans pay 39% of their total health care costs out of pocket — the highest percentage for all Americans. Meanwhile, rural Americans are more likely than their urban counterparts to postpone or forego medical care because of the cost — 9% say they delayed care and 7% skipped treatment.

At the same time, rural residents are more likely to report fair to poor health status than urban residents, have a higher mortality rate and are more likely to have a chronic condition such as arthritis, diabetes and heart disease. In fact, almost one in four Americans living in towns with less than 2,500 people has no health insurance coverage.

In addition to the $30 million that USDA Rural Development is awarding for these 36 projects, recipients will invest $19.6 million from other sources.

USDA Rural Development’s Community Facilities program helps finance essential community facilities for public use in rural areas. These facilities include hospitals, health care and assisted-living facilities, child care centers, fire and rescue stations, police stations, community centers, public buildings and transportation. Through this program, USDA ensures that these facilities are available to all rural residents. Funds are available to public bodies, nonprofit organizations and federally recognized Indian tribes.

— Release provided by USDA.

University’s Food Safety Hotline Now Available by E-mail

Thanks to a partnership between The Kroger Co. and the Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT), Ohio State’s Food Safety Hotline — 1-800-752-2751 (toll-free in Ohio) — has had trained students answering calls from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday since July. Before that, callers usually would leave a message unless a faculty member was immediately available to assist. The hotline has been available since 1985 and is housed in the university’s Food Industries Center, in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

The foodsafety@osu.edu address has just been launched. Questions e-mailed to that address will automatically go to the students answering hotline questions as well as a group of faculty members studying different aspects of food safety from the Department of Food Science and Technology, the Department of Human Nutrition, the Food Industries Center, and Ohio State University Extension.

“One of the great things about the hotline is that it is drawing together faculty with food-safety expertise from across the university,” said Lydia Medeiros, food safety specialist for OSU Extension and professor of human nutrition in the College of Education and Human Ecology. “We’re all putting something on the table, and we’re working together much more closely than we have in the past.”

Although food-safety information is widely available on the Internet, particularly on the web sites of the USDA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Medeiros said they can be difficult to navigate, particularly in trying to find specific information. That’s where the hotline — both phone and e-mail — can help.

In their downtime, the students answering questions on the hotline are developing a comprehensive database of food-safety-related questions and answers to draw upon in answering future questions. That will be another advantage of the hotline, Medeiros said: “Some food safety web sites only give their own perspective in answering questions, but, sometimes, there’s conflicting information regarding food safety. Since we’re independent of those agencies, we can be frank with consumers and offer broader, more comprehensive information.”

— Release provided by OSU’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Communications and Technology Unit

— Compiled by Mathew Elliott, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.