News Update
August 11, 2014
Russian Ban on U.S. Agricultural Products to Affect Texas
Russia’s ban on U.S. agricultural products would be costly, especially to Texas, with the biggest impact to beef and poultry exporters, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist.
The proposed ban is in retaliation for U.S. sanctions against Russia and its war with Ukraine. It’s unclear how the restrictions will be applied.
Luis Ribera, AgriLife Extension international trade economist in College Station, said the value of U.S. food and agricultural exports to Russia is $1.3 billion annually, which accounts for 10% of all exports.
“In Texas, beef is a big export item and poultry is important, particularly dark meat items,” he said. “Texas also produces some soybeans and horticultural crops, so those industries could be affected.”
According to the USDA-Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), poultry is the primary U.S. export to Russia at 25% valued at $323 million; oilseed, $186 million; farm machinery, $185 million; and live animals valued at $149 million.
Russia is also the fifth-largest export market for U.S. pork and the eighth-largest export market worldwide for U.S. beef, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.
“There will be a ripple effect among all industries, everything from shipping and transportation to retailers,” he said. “There will be a multiplier in there, so the potential economic impact could be significant.”
Ribera said the ban could lead to rising food prices and increased inflation rate.
“Russia had an inflation rate of 7.9% during the first half of 2014,” he said. “Food prices have the potential to go way up as result of this ban. The issue there is this will hurt their own people as 40% of their total food supply is imported.”
South Dakota Ranch Honored for Stewardship Efforts
The Perman family and Rock Hills Ranch of Lowry, S.D., were honored August 4, as one of seven regional Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP) winners. The award, which is sponsored by Dow AgroSciences, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the National Cattlemen’s Foundation, is presented to farmers and ranchers who are working hard to protect America’s natural resources.
“Rock Hills Ranch is without a doubt one of the very top operations that I have been privileged to tour and interact with. Lyle and his wife, Garnet, have established a truly sustainable ranching operation, as they have not only made it through the bottleneck of generational turnover with Lyle’s parents, but now with their own son, Luke, and his family,” said Barry Dunn, director of South Dakota State University Extension. “Lyle is very well educated, thoughtful, articulate, analytical and is an extremely hard worker. These attributes have resulted in not only a very well managed ranch, but Lyle is also a respected leader in his community and state.”
The Permans’ goal at Rock Hills Ranch is to leave the land better than they found it by implementing improvements such as rotational grazing, water developments, cross fencing, and the use of cover and residual crops for grazing. This benefits not only the cattle operation, but the Permans’ focus on wildlife diversity, grassland health, and their desire to maximize the potential of the natural resources in their care. Because of this care, the Permans have been able to host pasture walks and ranch safari tours, implement pay hunting due to increased wildlife diversity, and offer internships to college students majoring in range management.
“Our goal is not to sustain what we’ve got. Our goal is to regenerate what there was at one time on this ranch, so we’re not content with what we’ve got,” said Lyle Perman of Rock Hills Ranch. “We’re always looking for ways to improve it and to restore what, at one time, was here.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
Colorado State University to Host
Cattle Handling Workshop Sept. 5 and 6
Curt Pate and Colorado State University (CSU) Professor Temple Grandin — two internationally renowned beef cattle-handling experts — will be featured speakers during a workshop at CSU’s Agricultural Research Development and Educational Center (ARDEC) in Fort Collins.
The program is part of the National Beef Quality Assurance Stockmanship and Stewardship Tour, aimed at educating cattle producers about proper handling and management of beef cattle.
The workshop will begin at 6 p.m. on Sept. 5 and will include an evening program, 6:30-8:30 p.m., followed by events on Sept. 6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., at ARDEC, E. County Road 56, Fort Collins, Colo.
The workshop will open Friday evening with a keynote presentation and interactive discussion with Grandin, an animal well-being and handling expert. CSU’s Meat Laboratory will host a beef dinner served during the keynote presentation.
The morning session on Saturday will include a hands-on low-stress cattle-handling clinic presented by Pate (http://curtpatestockmanship.com/) using live animals. Tips will be provided to improve gathering, penning, sorting, chute-work and loading of beef cattle.
During the afternoon, participants will receive training related to Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) guidelines by rotating through “stations” in small groups. Topics will include diagnosis and treatment of sick animals and proper use of protocols; efficient and safe chute-side processing of cattle and handling of pharmaceuticals; and trouble-shooting animal-handling and facility-design problems. Attendees will have the opportunity to become officially BQA Certified in the Colorado BQA Program at the conclusion of the workshop.
The BQA Stockmanship and Stewardship tour is focused on educating beef cattle producers about consumer demands and proper BQA practices for beef cattle, including low-stress cattle handling and proper health management. Emphasis is placed on ways to increase cattle performance by reducing handling stress and how these principles actually have a significant economic, as well as “quality of life” benefit when applied in a cattle enterprise.
A reduced preregistration fee of $50 ($25 for students) is available for those who register by Aug. 29. The registration fee includes all meals and clinics. A block of hotel rooms is available for $59 per night by contacting Days Inn in Wellington at 970-568-0444 and mentioning CSU Stockmanship Clinic.
To register, contact Katy Lippolis at kdlippo@rams.colostate.edu or call 970-491-BEEF.
The workshop is being hosted by CSU ARDEC and the Department of Animal Sciences, as well as the Colorado and National BQA Programs.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
“Antibiotics & Stewardship” Focus of
NIAA Symposium Nov. 12-14 in Atlanta, Ga.
Stewardship is the theme for the 2014 Antibiotics Symposium being hosted by the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) Wednesday, Nov. 12-Friday, Nov. 14, 2014, in Atlanta, Ga., at the Crown Plaza Atlanta Midtown hotel. More specifically, the symposium will focus on antibiotic use and resistance, and moving forward through shared stewardship.
The Symposium is open to individuals who want to learn from each other, engage in productive discussion and create successful strategies to preserve antibiotic efficacy. Historically, the NIAA Antibiotics Symposium has brought together academia, government researchers, the scientific community, and stakeholders within animal agriculture, human medicine and the environment to share and learn from each other to seek resolution about the often-misunderstood issues of antimicrobial use and resistance.
Keynote speakers representing both the animal and human health communities will start by identifying and prioritizing key resistance issues at the human and animal interface, including important antibiotics that are used in both animal and human health, potential routes of transmission of human antibiotic resistance, and ways genetic components of resistance are moved around.
Next, existing animal and human health antibiotic stewardship programs will be presented, highlighting best practices for farm, small animal, human hospital and private clinic settings; focusing more attention on small animal practitioners and independent physicians; identifying gaps and weaknesses; and looking for alternative use practices in the future.
As with all goals, a means of measurement is necessary, and the symposium will address what are/should be the metrics of success of implementing antibiotic use regulations/policies. Existing metrics of success will be illustrated, followed by the identification of proposed metrics of success and recognizing a desired outcome (quantifying use vs. minimizing resistance).
For more information, please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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