News Update
June 15, 2012
Use Science In Regulating Antibiotics,
Agriculture Coalition Says
Use Science In Regulating Antibiotics, Agriculture Coalition Says
A coalition of agricultural organizations sent a letter yesterday to Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., who is seeking to severely restrict antibiotic use in livestock and poultry production, pointing out the stringent federal approval process and regulation of antibiotics, the lack of human health risks from their judicious use in livestock production and the benefits they offer in food animal production.
Members of the coalition include the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Feed Industry Association, American Meat Institute, Animal Health Institute, American Veterinary Medical Association, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Chicken Council, National Milk Producers Federation, National Pork Producers Council, National Meat Association and the National Turkey Federation.
Slaughter in February asked food companies to submit to her by June 15 their purchasing policies related to antibiotic use in food animals. She is the primary author of the "Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act" (H.R. 965), which seeks to ban the use in livestock and poultry production of several classes of antibiotics employed for preventing and controlling diseases and for promoting nutritional efficiency.
"Antibiotics used in veterinary medicine are reviewed and approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA)," the coalition stated in its letter. For animal antibiotics, the safety assessment is more stringent than that for human antibiotics in three ways:
1) If there are risks to humans, FDA will not approve the antibiotic for animals;
2) FDA requires a food safety assessment to ensure meat is safe; and
3) FDA studies the pharmaceutical thoroughly to guarantee it does not increase the risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in food.
The coalition further explained that FDA recently issued new regulations that effectively prohibit the use in food animals of "medically important" antibiotics for improving nutritional efficiency. The rules also ensure veterinarians will be involved in overseeing all uses of these products.
For more information and the full release, http://www.fb.org/
index.php?action=newsroom.news&year=2012&file=nr0613.html.
Iowa Learning Farms Hosts No-Till, Strip-Till Field Day
Iowa Learning Farms will host a field day at the Dana Norby farm near Osage, Iowa, June 21, beginning at 11 a.m. The field day will focus on no-till and strip-till conservation farming for optimum results.
For more information and the full release, visit www.iowaagconnection.com/
story-state.php?Id=606&yr=2012.
Russian Trade Means Big Opportunities
for South Dakota Farmers
The South Dakota Soybean Association (SDSA) welcomes the introduction of a Senate bill that would graduate Russia from the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the Trade Act of 1974, and authorize President Barack Obama to establish permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with the world's sixth largest economy. SDSA urges the immediate passage of the bipartisan bill introduced by Senators Max Baucus (D-Mont.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Thune (R-S.D.), which enables the U.S. to take advantage of the many market opening commitments that form Russia's accession package to the World Trade Organization, to which the country was formally invited in late 2011.
For more information and the full release, visit www.southdakotaagconnection.com/
story-state.php?Id=446&yr=2012.
Study Calls for Removing Prime Farmland From CRP
Congress should include legislative language as part of the 2012 Farm Bill that mandates removal of millions of acres of 'prime farmland' from the acreage-idling Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), according to a new study conducted for the National Grain and Feed Foundation.
The study noted that as recently as 2007, up to 8.7 million acres that the USDA itself considers to be 'prime farmland' were idled under 10- to 15-year CRP contracts.
For the full release, visit www.southdakotaagconnection.com/
story-national.php?Id=1358&yr=2012.
Finalists Named in Search of New UW-Madison Vet School Dean
The search for a new dean to lead the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) School of Veterinary Medicine has been narrowed down to four. This week, the school announced that after a five-month application process, four finalists will now be considered to replace Daryl Buss, who is retiring after nearly 20 years at the helm.
They include Ina Dobrinski, head of the Department of Comparative Biology and Experimental Medicine in the faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Calgary; Mark Markel, professor and chair of the Department of Medical Sciences in the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine; Christopher Olsen, a professor of public health in the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine; and Robert Washabau, professor of medicine in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine.
The finalists were identified by a 17-member committee led by Tony Goldberg, professor in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences in the school.
For more information and the full release, visit www.wisconsinagconnection.com/
story-state.php?Id=716&yr=2012.
A Child Born in 2011 Will Cost $234,900
to Raise According to USDA Report
USDA released the annual report, Expenditures on Children by Families, finding that a middle-income family with a child born in 2011 can expect to spend about $234,900 ($295,560 if projected inflation costs are factored in) for food, shelter, and other necessities to raise that child over the next 17 years. This represents a 3.5% increase from 2010. Expenses for transportation, child care, education, and food saw the largest percentage increases related to child rearing from 2010. There were smaller increases in housing, clothing, health care and miscellaneous expenses on a child during the same period.
The report, issued annually since 1960, is a valuable resource to courts and state governments in determining child support guidelines and foster care payments. The report is based on data from the Federal government's Consumer Expenditure Survey, the most comprehensive source of information available on household expenditures. For the year 2011, annual child-rearing expenses per child for a middle-income, two-parent family ranged from $12,290 to $14,320, depending on the age of the child.
The report, developed by the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, notes that family income affects child-rearing costs. A family earning less than $59,410 per year can expect to spend a total of $169,080 (in 2011 dollars) on a child from birth through high school. Similarly, middle-income parents with an income between $59,410 and $102,870 can expect to spend $234,900; and a family earning more than $102,870 can expect to spend $389,670.
For middle-income families, housing costs are the largest single expenditure on a child, averaging $70,560, or 30% of the total cost over 17 years. Child care and education (for those incurring these expenses) and food were the next two largest expenses, accounting for 18% and 16% of the total cost over 17 years. These estimates do not include costs associated with pregnancy or the cost of a college education or education beyond high school.
For more information and the full release, www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/
usdahome?contentid=2012/06/0197.xml&contentidonly=true.
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