News Update
April 23, 2014
Making Connections
Oftentimes, life’s best motivation is a friend. Someone to connect with who shares a common purpose or goal, and can share ideas, inspiration and enthusiasm. In the Angus breed, there’s one group that amplifies that mission each day.
The American Angus Auxiliary is dedicated to supporting women involved in raising Angus cattle, developing friendships among them, and sponsoring activities and fundraisers to support Angus youth as the next generation of breed leaders.
On April 12-14 in Saint Joseph, Mo., the Auxiliary hosted its second “Women Connected” conference as a way to introduce women to one another, provide leadership training and, most of all, allow them to share what life is like on their farm or ranch.
Twenty-seven Angus cattlewomen, Auxiliary members and others involved in the cattle business took part in the three-day event, which was generously supported by the Angus Foundation.
“It sounds kind of simple, but our overall goal was just connecting,” says Auxiliary President Cortney Holshouser, Castalia, N.C. “One speaker stressed to us that we’ve got to connect to something. The one takeaway I hope women gained from this conference is finding that one thing that they want to connect to. For me, it’s finding women who aren’t aware of the Auxiliary and involving them in our organization.”
Throughout the event, participants were encouraged to connect with three main priorities — each other, beef consumers and the Angus business. They took part in a number of social activities, workshop speakers and tours while attending “Women Connected.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
BQA Certification Important Part of the Beef Sector
More than 30 years ago, a grassroots effort that involved many people in the beef industry led to the development of a training program that provided beef producers with proper management techniques. The program, first titled “Beef Safety Assurance” and now called “Beef Quality Assurance” or BQA, helps raise consumer confidence in beef production.
“It’s a tremendous program with a positive history and story to tell,” said Chris Reinhardt, beef feedlot specialist for Kansas State University (K-State) Research and Extension. “This program was designed by several teams of beef producers, veterinarians, representatives of the packing industry and consumer groups, with the single goal of helping producers develop a set of standards to produce quality beef that is wholesome, safe and sustainable.”
Reinhardt said many consumers know the nutritional value of beef and want to feed beef to their families. These consumers want to simply know that cattle producers are taking good care of their livestock and the environment and that the beef is safe to consume.
“What we need today and will need more of in the future is the ability to tangibly offer proof that we as beef producers are doing things well and justly,” Reinhardt said. “We want to demonstrate it to that consumer who might not personally know any beef producers.”
When the program began more than 30 years ago, the standard delivery method for the training was face-to-face, where instructors would gather with beef producers at places such as sale barns and other meetings to deliver the program and certify the producers.
“There’s tremendous merit in that opportunity, being one-on-one with producers, answering their questions and dealing with their current concerns and opportunities,” Reinhardt said.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Food Shortages Could be Most Critical
World Issue by Mid-Century
The world is less than 40 years away from a food shortage that will have serious implications for people and governments, according to a top scientist at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“For the first time in human history, food production will be limited on a global scale by the availability of land, water and energy,” said Fred Davies, senior science adviser for the agency’s bureau of food security. “Food issues could become as politically destabilizing by 2050 as energy issues are today.”
Davies, who also is a Texas A&M AgriLife regents professor of horticultural sciences, addressed the North American Agricultural Journalists meeting in Washington, D.C., on the “monumental challenge of feeding the world.”
He said the world population will increase 30% to 9 billion people by mid-century. That would call for a 70% increase in food to meet demand.
“But resource limitations will constrain global food systems,” Davies added. “The increases currently projected for crop production from biotechnology, genetics, agronomics and horticulture will not be sufficient to meet food demand.”
Davies said the ability to discover ways to keep pace with food demand have been curtailed by cutbacks in spending on research.
“The U.S. agricultural productivity has averaged less than 1.2% per year between 1990 and 2007,” he said. “More efficient technologies and crops will need to be developed — and equally important, better ways for applying these technologies locally for farmers — to address this challenge.”
Davies said when new technologies are developed, they often do not reach the small-scale farmer worldwide.
For more information, please view the full release here.
UK to Host Grazing Field Day in Monroe County
A well-managed grazing program can benefit producers, livestock and the environment. Specialists with the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture, Food and Environment will discuss good grazing management practices during the West Region Grazing Field Day Saturday, May 10, in Monroe County.
During the field day, UK Master Grazer Program leaders and grazing industry experts will present information on managed grazing topics including the benefits of rotational grazing, temporary fence construction, portable water systems construction, grazing plan design, grass and legume management, energizers, and cost-share programs available through the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The field day will begin with registration at 8 a.m. CDT at the Monroe County Extension office. Morning sessions will be at the office. Afternoon sessions will include on-farm demonstrations on local producer Jimmie Thompson’s farm.
The cost to attend is $25, and lunch will be provided. Those interested in attending the event should contact either Ken Johnson at 270-487-5504 or Kenneth.johnson@uky.edu or Steve Osborne at 270-237-5716 or sosborne@uky.edu to reserve a lunch. Johnson and Osborne are agriculture and natural resources extension agents in Monroe and Allen counties, respectively.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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