News Update
November 3, 2011
Plans Under Way for 10th Annual Beef Industry Safety Summit
Plans are under way for the 10th annual Beef Industry Safety Summit, scheduled for March 7-9, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. The event, which attracts beef industry food safety experts from across the country, has been one of the premier events in the U.S. cattle and beef industry’s commitment to provide consumers the most wholesome product possible.
For more information, go to the BIFSCo website at www.bifsco.org or to the Angus Productions Inc. (API) Virtual Library at http://www.api-virtuallibrary.com/ (Navigate to Meeting Sites, then Calendar of Upcoming Events).
Tickets Available for Inaugural Stockmen’s Ball
Through its beef-related scholarship, leadership, research, promotion and building objectives, the North Dakota Stockmen’s Foundation (NDSF) works to ensure a legacy for future generations of rural North Dakotans — people who embody the values of hard work, environmental stewardship and the American free-enterprise system, and who share a love for the North Dakota landscape. To support those values and the future of the beef industry, the NDSF is hosting the inaugural Stockmen’s Ball Saturday, Dec. 17, at the Ramkota Hotel in Bismarck, N.D. The formal event will be a fun-filled night of Western elegance, succulent prime rib and live music by Kyle Shobe and the Walk ’Em Boys.
For more information on the Stockmen’s Ball, visit the API Virtual Library at http://www.api-virtuallibrary.com/meetings_calendar/Mtg_12-17-2011_NorthDakota.htm.
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Highlights
the 150th Anniversary of USDA
Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited the Old Illinois State Capitol to announce the yearlong celebration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) 150th anniversary in 2012. Secretary Vilsack was in the hometown of USDA’s founder — President Abraham Lincoln — who signed into law an act of Congress establishing the USDA in 1862.
“Through our work on food, agriculture, economic development, science, natural resource conservation and a host of issues, USDA still fulfills President Lincoln’s vision as ‘The People’s Department’ — touching the lives of every American, every day,” said Vilsack. “As we commemorate 150 years, we will look for lessons from the past that can help us strengthen USDA in the future to address the changing needs of agriculture and rural America.”
President Lincoln established USDA because he recognized the potential of America’s farmers to find new ways to cultivate the land and that with advances in research and technology, America’s farmers and ranchers could provide a safe, ample food supply for our nation and the world. In one of President Lincoln’s only speeches on agriculture at the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society on Sept. 30, 1859, he said, “… no other human occupation opens so wide a field for the profitable and agreeable combination of labor with cultivated thought, as agriculture.”
Today, America’s farmers and ranchers are responsible in no small way for the health and strength of this nation. The event readies USDA for a historic year for the Department. In February 2012, at USDA’s Annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, the Department will formally launch the 150th anniversary commemoration. Throughout 2012, USDA will recognize important events, such as President Lincoln’s signing of an Act to establish the Department of Agriculture on May, 15, 1862, and the July signing of the Morrill Act to establish public land-grant universities. Employees in USDA field offices across the country will find ways to celebrate this landmark throughout 2012.
USDA will use a 150th anniversary graphic to mark the occasion and created a web page, www.usda.gov/usda150 that went live Tuesday. The site will give the American people a sense of where USDA has been — and where USDA is headed in the 21st century.
Secretary Vilsack is currently working to transform USDA into a higher performing organization — one that is open and responsive, more collaborative, inclusive and effective to meet the needs of the American public. USDA is also building a workforce that looks like, and reflects the values of, and understands the broad range of Americans the Department serves.
Heart of America Grazing Conference
Livestock farmers from across the Corn Belt are invited to attend the 11th annual Heart of America Grazing Conference in Mount Vernon, Ill., Jan. 25-26, 2012.
“This is a very practical, goal-oriented conference talking about current issues in grazing,” said Jeff McCutcheon, Ohio State University Extension educator and member of the Extension Beef Team. “We pull in both university experts as well as farmers currently practicing these methods, so it’s a very balanced program.”
McCutcheon said agricultural interests from five states cooperate to plan and host the annual event. Organizers include both Ohio State University Extension and the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, in addition to Extension involvement from the University of Kentucky, the University of Illinois and the University of Missouri.
Certified crop advisor credits will be offered. For more information or to register, download the online brochure. For the full press release, visit the API Virtual Library at http://www.api-virtuallibrary.com/meetings_calendar/Mtg_01-25-2012_Illinois.htm.
Local and Regional Farm and Food Bill Introduced to Congress
Today Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Representative Chellie Pingree of Maine and 35 original co-sponsors introduced the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act, a comprehensive bill intended for inclusion in the 2012 Farm Bill. The bill includes provisions that cut across 10 titles of the Farm Bill, including proposals that address conservation, credit, nutrition, rural development, research and extension, food safety, livestock, and crop insurance. Some of the specific proposals within the bill include
- Whole Farm Revenue Insurance
- Local Marketing Promotion Program
- School Meals
- Rural Development
- Specialty Crop Block Grant Program
- National Organic Certification Cost Share Program
For more information on the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act, visit NSAC’s website.
USMEF Conference Kicks Off in Tucson
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) 35th Anniversary Strategic Planning Conference opened Wednesday in Tucson, Ariz., with a wide range of guest speakers, each of whom offered a unique perspective on the importance of red meat exports.
Harry Kaiser, a Cornell University economist, presented the findings of his recently completed study on the effectiveness of USMEF’s foreign marketing efforts. The study was commissioned by USMEF to quantify the returns that the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs receive from their investments in USMEF’s export market development programs. The independent study was funded by the USDA, and Kaiser was chosen from several researchers who proposed to do the research.
Basically what we found is very good news,” Kaiser told the audience. “The U.S. Meat Export Federation’s beef and pork market development programs were found to have a positive and statistically significant impact on imports of U.S. red meat in all of the eight markets that were analyzed.”
The economic model showed that combined producer and USDA marketing expenditures increased U.S. red meat exports by more than 30% per year.
“If we compare the results of this study to the results of 16 published studies for other commodities, the bottom line is that these USMEF programs have had a larger impact on import demand than the majority of similar programs for other commodities.”
More details on Kaiser’s findings are available online. Bill Rupp, president of JBS USA’s beef division, also addressed the audience on the importance of exports, driving home the critical role the international markets play in his company’s profitability.
“When you look at some of the products that we export, you see a price volatility in some cases,” Rupp said. “But there’s a constant return over what we could expect if we had to ‘disappear’ these products into a domestic market. So I want to say thanks for the great job USMEF does in helping us promote and position our products in the export markets. Clearly today, we’re not in business without strong international growth.”
John Bellinger, CEO of Food Safety Net and Agri-West International, spoke to the importance of exports to the health of the entire U.S. economy.
“There’s one way for our country to get out of this economic recession,” Bellinger said. “We have to export our way to prosperity. Do you think China became an economic powerhouse by selling to its own people? They exported. They exported their way out of poverty. We’re just trying to export our way out of a little recession — China exported its way out of poverty.”
USMEF Chairman Keith Miller and President and CEO Philip Seng also addressed the opening general session audience, recapping export results in 2011 and discussing the challenges that lie ahead. Market updates were provided by regional directors who represent USMEF in Japan, Mexico, Central America, South America, Europe, Russia and the Middle East.
Thursday’s general session will include a global market review and updates from China, Taiwan, South Korea and the ASEAN region. Committee activity on Thursday will include meetings of the USMEF Exporter Committee, Beef and Allied Industries Committee, Pork and Allied Industries Committee and the Feedgrain and Oilseed Caucus.
Cattle Welfare Issues, Demonstration
Featured at Texas A&M Event
Cattle welfare from conception to harvest was of top interest recently to several hundred Texas A&M University students who learned more about proper handling of livestock from the farm to the packer.
The event was held on campus at the Pearce Pavilion and coordinated by the Texas A&M department of animal science and Texas AgriLife Extension Service. The Saddle and Sirloin Club in the department of animal science and the College of Veterinary Medicine student chapter of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners sponsored the program.
Animal welfare issues continue to play an important role, particularly in the livestock industry. Dr. Ron Gill, AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist and associate department head for animal science at Texas A&M, said it’s always been in the best interest of the animal and the industry to do so.
For the full press release, visit the API Virtual Library at http://www.api-virtuallibrary.com/News_coverage/CattleWelfareIssuesDemoFeatTexAM.htm.
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