News Update
August 7, 2013
USDA Announces Funding To
Create Jobs, Aid Business and
Boost Economy in Rural Areas
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Aug. 6 that projects in 17 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico will receive loan and grant assistance to create jobs and boost economic development in rural areas. The USDA remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. The announcement is one part of the Department’s efforts to strengthen the rural economy. Rural Business-Cooperative Service Administrator Lillian Salerno made the announcement on Vilsack’s behalf while attending the National Veterans Small Business Conference in St. Louis.
The announcement involves funding provided through three USDA economic development programs: the Intermediary Relending Program, the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program, and the Rural Business Opportunity Grant Program.
Intermediary Relending Program funds are awarded to community-based development or regional planning groups that then re-lend the money at a low interest rate to local businesses. The loans must be used to create or retain jobs by starting or expanding businesses. Since President Obama took office, this program has created or saved approximately 40,000 jobs.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Grassroots Effort Will ‘Bring the Heat’
During Congressional Recess
Farmers and ranchers are a little hot under the collar, and it has little to do with fieldwork and a lot to do with the job Congress is — or more precisely, isn’t — doing in Washington. With work all but ground to a halt on three of agriculture’s top issues — farm bill, labor and waterways infrastructure — lawmakers at home for the August recess can expect to get an earful from their producer constituents.
“Throughout the month of August, farmers and ranchers will ‘Bring the Heat’ to their members of Congress,” said Dale Moore, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) executive director of public policy. “As part of a Farm Bureau grassroots effort, they’ll be at town hall meetings, having one-on-one conversations and making quite a few phone calls to get lawmakers fired up about finalizing the farm bill, pushing through immigration reform legislation that meets agriculture’s labor needs and moving waterways transportation legislation.”
Measures addressing farm policy, ag labor and waterway improvements are necessary to provide a measure of certainty in an otherwise very uncertain industry.
“Farmers count on having farm programs in place when they’re making planting decisions for the year ahead, for example,” explained Moore. “Similarly, specialty crop growers need to know they’ll have workers to care for their plants and trees and harvest those fragile crops during the few weeks per year they’re ripe for the picking.”
As for the Water Resources Development Act, with more than 60% of corn grown by farmers for export shipped via inland waterways and 95% of agricultural exports and imports moving through U.S. harbors, new projects for flood protection, port improvements and upgrades to the nation’s aging locks and dams infrastructure authorized under WRDA can no longer be overlooked.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Expert: Cattle Producers Young and Old Should Plan Accordingly for Drought
Texas beef cattle producers should plan for future periods of dry conditions as drought patterns exhibited in the 1950s continue to prevail in current models, according to an expert.
“We are still reliving the 1950s drought-producing pattern with periodic breaks,” Brian Bledsoe, a weather forecaster who is featured monthly in Southern Livestock Standard, recently told 1,400 attendees at the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course in College Station.
Bledsoe said when he speaks to young farmers and ranchers who are thinking about taking over operations from their fathers, he says, “have a drought plan … because we are going to have more dry years than wet years.”
Bledsoe said computer models forecasted for the next 90 days are going to be “pretty status quo.”
“At least through August, with the exception of tropical storm activity, the prospects of seeing significant rain in Texas aren’t looking great.”
Looking ahead, Bledsoe said come spring of next year, March through May, could “potentially be wet months.”
He said for now, it will be a drier and warmer-than-normal fall going into early winter, with potential for a possible El Nino trend in early 2014. However, Bledsoe said, “remember, we are still reliving the 1950s drought-producing pattern with periodic breaks.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
Jackson Beef and Forage Field Night is Aug. 29
Livestock producers can learn the latest in silage, forage seeding and heifer selection from experts with Ohio State University’s (OSU’s) College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences during a workshop Aug. 29 in Jackson. The Jackson Beef and Forage Field Night will include the opportunity for beef cattle producers to have an up-close look at replacement females for their herds, said Kenny Wells, manager of the Jackson Agricultural Research Station. The research station is part of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and has been a primary site for reproductive and production management research in beef cattle for more than three decades.
Research in forage management systems done at the research station has contributed to the grazing approaches used by many producers today, Wells said.
The event will feature presentations from OSU Extension and OARDC researchers and educators, including Bill Weiss, David Dugan, John Grimes and Jeff Moore. OSU Extension and OARDC are the outreach and research arms, respectively, of the college.
“Bill Weiss has a wealth of knowledge in the area of ensiled livestock feedstuffs, and attendees should come away from his session with some very good information on making and storing high-quality and safe large-bale silage” (also known as baleage), Wells said. “The session on fall forage seeding will feature both no-till and conventional seeding recommendations.”
For more information, please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library here.
3M Molecular Detection System Receives
First AOAC Official Methods of Analysis Validation
3M Food Safety announced today that its 3M™ Molecular Detection Assay Salmonella has been validated through AOAC International as a First Action Official Method of AnalysisSM (OMA method number 2013.09) for the detection of Salmonella in selected foods. A complete review of the study conducted for this AOAC-OMA validation will be published by the Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International, online at http://eoma.aoac.org/ and in an upcoming edition of its Journal of AOAC International.
3M’s Molecular Detection Assay Salmonella was introduced in December 2011 at the same time as the 3M Molecular Detection System as a means to help food processors and other parties detect Salmonella and thereby help to prevent salmonellosis, which affects millions of people each year. It received certification from the AOAC-Research Institute as a Performance Tested Method (PTM) in April 2012.
The Official Methods of Analysis (OMA), AOAC International’s premier, internationally recognized program for chemical, microbial and molecular biological testing methods, consists of a multi-laboratory validation of the method, and review by an expert panel. Methods assigned AOAC-OMA Final Action status are used throughout the world by standards organizations who rely on OMAs reputation for rigorous scientific and systematic scrutiny.
“Food safety is increasingly recognized throughout the world as a crucial to human, social and economic development,” said DeAnn Benesh, 3M Food Safety regulatory affairs specialist. “Our commitment to partnering with leaders in food and science to offer accurate, effective and easily implemented testing solutions is unwavering, and we’re proud to have received this OMA First Action approval from the AOAC’s distinguished review committee.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
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