News Update
November 29, 2011
Meat Industry Injury and
Illness Rates Remain at Record Low
The meat industry’s workplace injury and illness rates remain at a record low, according to new numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
In 2010, total recordable injury and illness rates were at 6.9 cases per 100 full-time workers (per year). For perspective, just 10 years ago this number was 14.7, more than twice the current rate.
“Worker safety is of utmost importance to our industry, which is why we have made it a non-competitive issue,” said AMI President and CEO J. Patrick Boyle. “Over the past two decades we have made meaningful and measurable improvements, and we hope to continue to build on this record of success as we strive to make our workplaces as safe as possible.”
To access the full report go to http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/osh/os/ostb2813.pdf.
National Cattlemen’s Foundation Announces
Scholarship Program
The National Cattlemen’s Foundation is announcing an initiative to strengthen the future of the beef industry. Together with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the CME Group, the National Cattlemen’s Foundation will award ten $1,500 scholarships to outstanding students who are pursuing careers in the beef industry. The 2012-2013 Beef Industry Scholarships are open to graduating high school seniors or full-time undergraduate students enrolled at two-year or four-year institutions for the 2012-2013 school year.
Applicants must demonstrate a commitment to a career in the beef industry through classes, internships or life experiences. Fields of study for potential scholarship recipients may include education, communications, production, research or other areas related to the beef industry. Interim Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the National Cattlemen’s Foundation John Lacey said the scholarship program is aimed at helping future industry leaders.
“The Beef Industry Scholarships will help ensure a bright future for deserving students and for the beef industry in the United States,” Lacey said. “Investing in future industry leaders through contributions toward their continuing education is an important way to develop our industry and our young people.”
All submissions for the 2012-2013 Beef Industry Scholarship must be postmarked or received via email or fax by Dec. 9, 2011. To download the scholarship application online, visit www.nationalcattlemensfoundation.org. To have an application sent to you or for more information, contact Barb Wilkinson at bwilkinson@beef.org or ncf@beef.org.
Tall Fescue Helps Protect Peach Trees from Nematodes
Planting tall fescue grass as a ground cover in peach orchards helps protect peach trees from nematodes that attack tree roots, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.
In a study published in the Journal of Nematology in 2010, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) plant pathologists Andy Nyczepir at the Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory in Byron, Ga., and Susan Meyer at the Nematology Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., tested several tall fescue varieties to find out if they could thwart four troublesome root-knot nematode species — Meloidogyne incognita, M. hapla, M. javanica, and M. arenaria.
In the study, Nyczepir and Meyer found that a commercial tall fescue, MaxQ, prevented M. incognita and M. hapla from reproducing. M. javanica has a low level of reproduction on MaxQ, but M. arenaria can reproduce on it. Traditionally, growers have fumigated peach orchard soils prior to planting and then used a nematode-resistant rootstock. But in recent years, growers have faced tough times that have made it difficult to afford preplant fumigants, such as Telone II or Vapam. Many growers also have difficulty fumigating at the recommended time of year because of conflicts with managing other crops.
In Georgia, rotation with coastal Bermuda grass, which can also be harvested for hay, is recommended for control of root-knot nematode. According to Nyczepir, their studies show that MaxQ may have potential as a preplant control strategy for M. incognita and M. hapla in southeastern and northeastern areas of the United States. Using this tall fescue as a preplant cover crop treatment may allow growers to reduce the use of chemical nematicides.
Preliminary data from the team’s field trials using MaxQ as a preplant cover crop have so far found that peach trees planted after the cover crop are larger than those planted in soil that is not fumigated. Read more about this research in the November/December 2011 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.
World Grain Production Down, But Recovering
World grain production fell, exacerbating a global food situation already plagued by rising prices, according to new research published by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online publication. Despite record rice and maize yields around the world, global wheat production dropped substantially enough to bring total grain output to just below 2008 levels.
Maize, wheat, and rice provide nearly two-thirds of the global human diet and serve as critical inputs for both animal feed and industrial products. The significance of these crops guarantees that a decline in production will produce ripple effects throughout the global economy, particularly as increased food prices continue to take a toll on the world’s neediest populations. Overall, rice and wheat production have tripled since the 1960s, and maize production has quadrupled, despite global acreage of these crops increasing by only 35%.
“Production increased worldwide, but there was greater reliance on irrigation, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides — all of which take resources, can be costly, and may cause substantial environmental degradation,” said contributing researcher Richard Weil. Nevertheless, preliminary data for 2011 indicate that grain production is recovering from the 2010 slump. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently forecast that cereal output in 2011-2012 will be 3% higher than in 2010-2011.
“Grain remains the foundation of the world’s diet, and the failure of harvests in recent years to keep pace with growth in meat consumption and population is worrisome,” said Worldwatch President Robert Engelman. “It’s important that we identify and implement more inventive and sustainable strategies in grain production. Reducing the proportion of grain harvests lost to weather disasters and waste or diverted for corn ethanol production and animal feed is among such strategies. It’s also important that we prioritize grain availability for those who need it most.”
Recent growth in agricultural production has been uneven. In many regions, climate change has brought irregular weather patterns such as rising temperatures, violent storms, and flash flooding. In Russia, where severe drought has plagued large farming regions, overall wheat yields plunged 40% in 2010, compared to a decline of only 5% worldwide. Subsequently, Russia — the fourth largest wheat exporter in 2009 — banned all wheat exports, severely disrupting world grain markets. Poor weather took its toll elsewhere, as well: El Niño in the west Pacific, for example, brought rice production down significantly in the Philippines, already the world’s largest food importer.
Rising demand for ethanol fuel, which in the United States is produced almost exclusively from corn feedstock, is having an impact on grain prices as well. “According to the CBO, about 20% of the increase in maize prices between 2007 and 2008 was due to domestic ethanol demand,” said Weil. Demand for grains is also rising in countries such as China and India, where growing middle classes are adopting more diverse diets.
“Farming has always been an uncertain business that depends in large part on the weather, and it could be entering an even more difficult phase,” said Weil. “As the global climate changes, the warmer, less stable atmospheric conditions could be detrimental for food production.” In an already fragile economy, continued volatile prices and unpredictable weather-induced shortages are sure to negatively affect both producers and consumers in developing countries.
Further highlights from the research:
- Between 1960 and 2010, annual global grain production increased from 643 million tons to 2.2 billion tons.
- U.S. maize (corn) production was down 5% in 2010 due to drought in the east and excessive rain in the west. The United States is the world’s largest exporter of maize, accounting for 56% of global exports from 2006 to 2010.
- According to the FAO’s Cereal Price Index (CPI), which uses 2002-2004 prices for wheat, rice and maize as its baseline (100), food prices increased to an index level of 185 in August 2010 and set a record at 265 in April 2011.
- Forty percent of the global increase in maize prices in 2000-2007 was due to worldwide demand for ethanol, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute. Additional reasons for the jump in food prices include the weakening of the U.S. dollar, speculation on grain prices, and possible climate change impacts.
Stanford University researchers who created a model to determine how changing weather patterns affect crop yields found a 2.9% increase in global rice production as a result of greater precipitation, but losses of 3.8% for wheat and 2.5% for maize.
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