News Update
Nov. 11, 2010

USFRA Reveals Vision and Initial Focus

Today’s agriculture continues to be attacked by a number of different groups. Unfortunately, as the majority of the U.S. public has become further and further removed from the farm, they tend to believe the groups attacking agriculture, according to the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA). This new alliance is comprised of most of the leading national farmer- and rancher-led agricultural organizations.

USFRA believes the actions of these groups have led a number of agricultural organizations to fund programs that bolster the image of agriculture and enhance public trust in our food supply. While these individual efforts have been helpful in answering some of the criticism, there is a growing need for all of agriculture to coordinate messages and reach out even further to the consuming public through consumer influencers and thought leaders.

“We in production agriculture recognize the immediate need to build consumer trust in today’s U.S. food production system,” said newly-elected USFRA Chairman Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. “We also recognize the need to maintain and enhance the freedom of American farmers and ranchers to operate in an economical, sustainable and responsible manner. The sun rises today on a new, collaborative and coordinated effort by many segments of production agriculture to tell our great story as never before.”

At a news conference introducing the USFRA founding affiliates and board participants, Stallman recalled a historic meeting that took place Oct. 12 in St. Louis. Twenty farmer and rancher organizations in attendance agreed to form USFRA to develop and implement a well-funded, long-term, and coordinated public trust campaign for American agriculture.

Stallman stated the Alliance’s vision is to enhance consumer trust in today’s U.S. food production system, to maintain and enhance the freedom of U.S. farmers and ranchers to operate in a responsible manner, and to strengthen collaboration with the food production, processing and distribution systems.
Editor’s note: Look for more information about the USFRA, including names of the groups and founding leaders, in the Nov. 22 edition of the Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, Angus Productions Inc.’s electronic supplement to the Angus Beef Bulletin, as well as the December Angus Journal. Sign up for the EXTRA at www.angusbeefbulletin.com.

Kansas Angus Association Commercial Angus Replacement Female Sale

The Kansas Angus Association (KAA) will sponsor the 19th Annual commercial Angus replacement female sale at Pratt Livestock, Pratt, Kan., Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010, at 1 p.m.; and is currently seeking consignments of young cows, bred heifers, and open heifers.

Females must be consigned in minimum five-head lots, with all females being seven years of age or younger. To qualify for this special sale, the females must meet Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) live specifications: be predominantly black-hided; black white faces and/or “baldies” will be accepted; have typical beef-type conformation (no visible dairy influence); and be without long floppy ear and hump (no visible Brahman influence).

The sale welcomes bred cows and heifers to calve in the spring of 2011; fall pairs, cows or heifers to calve in the fall 2011; and open heifers.

Those interested in consigning cattle to the sale can find entry criteria and submit entry consignments online at www.kansasangus.org. To discuss the offering or consignment possibilities contact sale chairman Gordon Stucky at 620-532-3220 or e-mail gordon@stuckyranch.com. Entries will be accepted up to Nov. 19.

Angus seedstock producers are encouraged to help inform their commercial bull customers of this sale as an option for producers to market source-verified Angus genetics. The AngusSource™ tagging and marketing program sponsored by the American Angus Association will be promoted at this sale. Consignors do not have to be members of the Kansas Angus Association and consignments from out-of-state are welcome.

 — Release by KAA.

No Link Between Red and Processed Meats and Prostate Cancer

There is no independent positive association between consumption of red or processed meats and the development of prostate cancer, according to a new meta-analysis of large scale prospective studies on red and processed meats and cancer published in Nutrition Journal.

Several large epidemiologic investigations of meat intake and prostate cancer have been published during the past decade. Therefore, researchers, led by Dominik Alexander of Exponent Health Sciences Practice, conducted a meta-analysis of prospective studies to: 1) estimate the summary associations between red meat and processed meat and total prostate cancer; 2) evaluate associations among men with advanced disease; 3) estimate dose response trends; 4) evaluate potential sources of heterogeneity; and 5) assess the potential for publication bias.

The researchers analyzed 26 studies — 15 on red meat and 11 studies investigating processed meats and cancer risk — and concluded that consumption of red or processed meats overall have no association with prostate cancer.

“The results of this meta-analysis are not supportive of an independent positive association between red or processed meat intake and prostate cancer,” concluded the researchers in the review.

In the review, the authors note that additional studies are needed to fully evaluate any potential associations between consumption preferences, dietary mutagens and prostate cancer.

The paper, published in Nutrition Journal Volume 9, Issue 50, can be found in its entirety here: http://bit.ly/ds5dKf.

— Release by the American Meat Institute.

Free Webcast Nov. 19 on Federal Requirements of Livestock and Other Operations Under Oil Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure Program

The November webcast from the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center of eXtension is an update on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation of livestock operations. The federal requirements under the Oil Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Program work to prevent oil spills into waters of the United States and adjoining shorelines.

Livestock and other operations are covered if they:

• store, transfer, use or consume oil or oil products such as diesel fuel, gasoline, lube oil, hydraulic oil, adjuvant oil, crop oil, vegetable oil or animal fat; and
• store more than 1,320 U.S. gallons (gal.) in aboveground containers or more than 42,000 U.S. gal. in completely buried containers; and
• could reasonably be expected to discharge oil to waters of the U.S. or adjoining shorelines such as interstate waters, intrastate lakes, rivers and streams.

J. Troy Swackhammer of EPA’s Office of Emergency Management will explain the recent extension of the compliance deadline and the status of a proposed rule to exempt certain milk containers.

The Friday, Nov. 19, webcast begins at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time (1:30 p.m. Central, 12:30 p.m. Mountain, 11:30 a.m. Pacific). The 75-minute webcast is part of eXtension’s Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center monthly webcast series. More information about the center, its webcasts and how to participate is available on the eXtension site.

— Release by eXtension.org

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