News Update
December 12, 2013
Apply for the
2014 Beef Leaders Institute
American Angus Association members interested in becoming more effective leaders in the agriculture industry are encouraged to apply for the seventh annual Beef Leaders Institute (BLI). Hosted June 23-26, 2014, the program brings Angus producers together in Saint Joseph, Mo., for a series of informative sessions, followed by a three-day tour across several industry segments.
“BLI allows our members to experience firsthand the entire beef production chain, and better understand how their quality Angus cattle contribute to the industry as a whole,” says Robin Ruff, Association director of events, activities and education.
Funded through the Angus Foundation, BLI is designed for Association members 25-45 years old to provide insight into the beef industry, while enhancing their knowledge of the Association and strengthening leadership skills.
“This opportunity really helped me recalibrate my focus on the beef industry, and look at it from a more holistic manner,” said Rhonda Wulf, a 2013 BLI participant from Morris, Minn. “I would encourage others to apply, just for that chance to see the industry on a broader level, to get out of their comfort zone, broaden their mind, and to go back to work with a new energy.”
During the three-day event, BLI participants are able to tour a beef harvesting and packing facility, retailer, fabricator, feedlots and other industry segments, including the Association. The Association provides transportation, lodging, meals and materials during BLI. Attendees will be responsible for round-trip transportation between their home and either Kansas City or Saint Joseph, Mo.
To apply, click here or contact the American Angus Association at 816-383-5100. Information can also be found on www.angus.org. Applications for the 2014 program are due March 1, 2014.
NFU Praises Farm-to-Fleet Initiative
National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson issued the following statement after U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the USDA and the Navy’s joint “Farm-to-Fleet” venture will now make biofuel blends part of regular, operational fuel purchase and use by the military:
“NFU is very supportive of the continued partnership between USDA and the Navy to strengthen energy security with homegrown, renewable fuel. This initiative will strengthen national security while providing new economic opportunities for America’s farmers.
“This initiative will also benefit rural America by encouraging the development of the next generation of biofuels, which will lead to job opportunities in local communities.
“While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently took a step backwards in this area by reducing the 2014 targets for the Renewable Fuel Standard, we are very pleased that USDA and the Navy are taking a more forward-looking approach toward the future of energy in our country. NFU is especially appreciative of Secretary Vilsack’s extraordinary leadership on renewable energy issues.”
OSU Researchers Earn $600,000 USDA Grant
to Study Sediment in Fort Cobb Watershed
A team of Oklahoma State University (OSU) researchers is set to study the best strategies for safeguarding water supplies in Oklahoma and the Midwest after earning a USDA/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant totaling more than a half million dollars.
The three-year grant of $638,000 was awarded this fall through the USDA’s National Integrated Water Quality Program (NIWQP) and will include researchers from the OSU Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE), OSU Department of Agricultural Economics and the USDA Agricultural Research Center (ARS) Grazing Lands Research Station in El Reno.
“This research focuses on the long-term protection of water supplies,” said Garey Fox, project director, professor and Buchanan Endowed Chair in BAE. “Those supplies could be used for drinking water, recreation and irrigation. We’re trying to develop the best strategies to prevent excess sediment from getting into reservoirs and causing them to decline or fill up, shortening their life spans or projected capacity.”
Joining Fox on the research team are Dan Storm and Jason Vogel of BAE; Tracy Boyer, Larry Sanders and Art Stoecker of Agricultural Economics; and Daniel Moriasi, Patrick Starks and Jean Steiner of the USDA ARS.
While studies now show as much as 80% of the sediment load entering streams in some watersheds is coming from stream banks, attempts to control sediment loads have often focused almost exclusively on implementing upland practices.
OSU and USDA ARS researchers plan to expand that approach to look at the most effective combination of upland, in-stream and riparian erosion strategies to reduce sediment loads reaching Fort Cobb Reservoir in southwest Oklahoma.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Utilizing Warm Season Grasses as Vegetative Buffers
Livestock odors are an ongoing concern for both the livestock producer and the farm’s rural neighbors. In 2008, Larry Jacobson from the University of Minnesota Dept. of Biosytems and Agriculture Engineering reported that more than 50% of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and odor from mechanically ventilated swine barns were concentrated in the air exhausted via the building’s pit fans. Odor-control strategies that focus on the ventilated air from pit fans may significantly reduce odor and other air emissions from the farm as a whole.
Vegetative environmental buffers (VEBs) are strategic plantings of trees, bushes and grasses intended to reduce odors and other air emissions from livestock facilities.
Because they are relatively inexpensive to plant and almost maintenance free once established, vegetative buffers utilizing trees and bushes are being used by livestock farmers as landscape enhancements and for their potential odor mitigation. This past summer Michigan State University Extension partnered with the Natural Resources and Conservation Service (USDA NRCS) Rose Lake Plant Materials Center and H & H Farms of Vicksburg, Mich., to demonstrate the use of tall warm-season grasses as vegetative buffers to filter dust and odors contained in the ventilated air from swine-barn pit fans.
The practice of using tall warm-season grasses as vegetative buffers near livestock facilities, if proven successful in reducing air emissions, offers unique opportunities. Grasses can be grown close to buildings without concern that roots may damage underground services or the manure-pit integrity. Though they must regrow each spring, grasses will reach their mature height relatively fast when compared to slower-growing trees or bushes.
For more information, please view the full release here.
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