New research shows that Atrazine is more effective and important than ever for both farmers and the general public.
According to the study released this month by Syngenta, U.S. consumers and society benefit from atrazine and other triazine herbicides by up to $4.8 billion per year, due to increased yield as well as decreased producer costs and reduced soil erosion. In addition, the U.S. economy benefits from atrazine and other triazine herbicides by as much as $22 billion over a five-year period. Benefits to farmers and consumers from the triazine herbicides include increased corn, sorghum and sugar cane crop yields, lower weed-control costs, significantly reduced soil erosion and less carbon released into the atmosphere. Atrazine and the triazine herbicides account for as many as 48,000 American jobs in corn production alone.
The Environmental Protection Agency is currently considering a petition from the amphibian conservation group, Save the Frogs, requesting that the Agency ban the use and production of atrazine. Comments were due in to the EPA on the subject November 14 and this study was submitted as evidence of the importance and safety of the herbicide that has been used by growers for over 50 years.
Syngenta also looked at the issue of herbicide resistance, which was Iowa State University extension weed scientist Dr. Mike Owen’s part of the study. Dr. Owen says the changes in agriculture over the last 15 years has led to glyphosate resistance. “What has to happen is there needs to be diversity in weed management,” he noted. “Which gets us to the point of Atrazine.”
Dr. Owen says despite the fact that Atrazine is more than 50 years old and has been a mainstay of corn management for all those years, “we have made such strides in the environmental perspectives of Atrazine use that it really now is a key player in managing this increasing problem of glyphosate-resistant weeds.”
During the recent NAFB convention, AgriTalk recorded a panel discussion about the Atrazine research. You can watch the AgriTalk program with all the researchers, as they share highlights of the new data, documenting atrazine’s impact on weed management, crop yields and jobs.
Thanksgiving dinner this year will cost more, but it’s still a bargain no matter how you slice it.
According to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the retail cost of menu items for a classic Thanksgiving dinner including turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie and all the basic trimmings increased about 13 percent this year. That may seem like a lot, but it still means that the average cost to feed a hungry table of ten is less than $50 – not even five bucks a plate. Try to get that in any other country for the same price!
“The quality and variety of food produced for our dinner tables on America’s diverse farms and ranches sets us apart from our contemporaries around the world,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “It is an honor for our farm and ranch families to produce the food from our nation’s land for family Thanksgiving celebrations.”
The turkey itself is what gobbled up most of the price increase this year. According to AFBF, a 16-pound turkey will cost about $21.57 this year at $1.35 per pound, an increase of about 25 cents per pound over last year. That triggered some misinformed columnists to start crying fowl and place the blame for the higher price on ethanol.
“Our biofuels policies are a big cause of the rising cost of food in recent years, and it just feels wrong to use food for fuel with so many families struggling to feed their families,” wrote Marie Brill of ActionAid in the Huffington Post, adding that “federal ethanol subsidies … are driving up the price of everything from eggs to milk to — yes, turkeys — and undoubtedly, some families will just have to go without.”
However, AFBF economist John Anderson says it’s more a case of basic economics – supply and demand. “Turkey prices are higher this year primarily due to strong consumer demand both here in the U.S. and globally,” said Anderson.
A more well-rounded and less emotional look at the cost of turkey comes from New York Times’ Wealth Matters columnist Paul Sullivan. “It turns out that turkey pricing is not much tied to commodities prices. Instead, other factors, like tight margins for farmers and perceptions of value, play a much bigger role,” he explains. “For most of us, the price we pay for our turkey bears little relation to what it costs to raise it.”
By the way, if you are into the organic scene, you can expect to pay double the amount for the average Thanksgiving meal, according to the Arizona Farm Bureau. The Organic Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings will cost $106.39, with a 16-pound organic turkey at $63.84 or $3.99 per pound. But really, even that is a bargain at just over $10 per person.
So, gobble up and give thanks this week for the most abundant and affordable food supply in the world.
The end of the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) is coming and the ethanol industry is prepared.
“The market place has changed,” says Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen. “We’re now looking at $85-100 a barrel oil on a sustained basis so it’s difficult to go to the taxpayer and ask them to provide an incentive when the marketplace is already providing the incentive. We’re the lowest cost liquid transportation fuel in the world today.”
In addition, Dinneen says the ethanol industry itself has changed. “it’s not your father’s ethanol industry anymore. We are more efficient, we are utilizing new technology,” he said. “It’s an exciting time to be in the ethanol industry.”
However, Dinneen would like to see the oil industry sacrifice its tax incentives as well. “They are hanging on to their subsidies to their dying breath,” he said. “I hope at some point Congress takes a look at all the energy tax subsidies and decides to level the playing field.” Dinneen notes that, unlike the ethanol tax credit which is temporary, oil subsidies are imbedded in the tax code and “will go on for all eternity until somebody steps up and rips them out.”
As the VEETC goes away, however, fuel retailers are concerned about what that means for the future of E85 so the recently-formed Coalition for E85 is working to have 85 percent ethanol designated as an alternative fuel under the tax code.
“E85 as an alternative fuel is defined everywhere in the U.S. code, except for the Internal Revenue code,” explains tax code specialist Jeff Trinca, who is working with the coalition. That was because of the VEETC, to avoid “double dipping” in tax credits. “Now VEETC’s going away and what we’re basically saying is we would like E85 to be included in the definition of alternative fuels with propane, natural gas and others so there’s a level playing field,” Trinca says, noting that the coalition is only looking for a five year bridge to get the infrastructure in to be competitive with gasoline.
Trinca says they are working on getting a bill introduced in Congress to address the issue before the end of the year.
Local food is sexy. Like any trend, interesting, powerful people seem to love it. From Michelle Obama to a slew of celebrity chefs, everyone seems to be talking about the exact farmer from which they purchased their lettuce. The hottest restaurants include menu descriptions that read like a list of the most prominent family from every bordering local community. On the surface, local foods appear to be the epicurean’s equivalent of retro chic.
Scratch beneath the surface, though, and the local food movement isn’t always what it seems. A complete cultural shift to a paradigm in which local foods reign supreme would yield some ugly results for the economy and for our health.
On top of that, the foods which would become the most expensive in a local food world would be those needed for a healthy, balanced diet. Obesity already plagues the United States. If locavores get their way, the poor would be condemned to a sentence of junk food options for the crime of being unable to afford their nutrient-rich, lower-calorie counterparts.
So speak up. Trends and fads come and go. Fashions and crazes like leisure suits and pet rocks pass naturally through the cycle of cool. Don’t let this trend, and all of its harmful repercussions, be written into our laws and regulations. Tell the government to keep our options open instead of basing public policy in popularity.
One of the busiest booths at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk last week was the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), where president Garry Niemeyer of Illinois and first vice president Pam Johnson of Iowa spent the day doing interviews with broadcasters from all over the country.
Among the topics of interest were farm policy, this year’s crop, the American Ethanol partnership with NASCAR, USFRA, exports and atrazine. I hit on just about all of those subjects during my interview with Garry. Here’s some of his comments:
Farm Bill – “Passing farm bills usually takes about 15 months, and ironically, this one – if it happens – will be one of the quickest ever in history.”
Corn Crop – “All the adversity we’ve had, and here we are with the 4th largest corn crop. I’m thoroughly amazed.”
USFRA - “We’ve been laying a lot of the ground work here to get the message out to defend agriculture. We have everybody working together on the same page for the first time, telling our story.”
Trade – “These three free trade agreements give us the impetus to move forward to improve our infrastructure – locks and dams on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers.”
American Ethanol – “We have been going back over the advertising and we’re at 71% acceptance, that’s with 75 million fans throughout the United States.”
Atrazine – “It’s been a stalwart, it works, it’s inexpensive, it keeps the price of food affordable for the American public.”
Farm broadcasters on radio and television were advocating for agriculture long before anyone ever even dreamed of inventing the word “agvocate.” Their numbers may have declined over the years, but the farm broadcast professionals who remain on the air every day talking about agriculture reach an enormous audience across the nation. They are literally on the front lines in the battle for the hearts and minds of the 98% who are not in the barns and fields providing food, fuel and fiber for the nation and the world.
At the annual meeting of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) last week, about 100 of the nation’s farm broadcasters were busy gathering interviews with representatives from agricultural companies and organizations that will fill the airwaves between now and Christmas, and by virtue of the medium, that information will be heard and seen by millions of non-farm listeners and viewers as well. Social media is a wonderful new tool to get up close and personal with the public, but farm broadcasters have been bringing the farm to the public since the first radio stations commenced operations in this country in 1920.
Back in the early days of radio, much of the airtime was devoted to agriculture, since a much larger percentage of the population was still directly involved in farming and ranching. Over time, that has gradually diminished to the point where even some of the most well-known powerhouses of farm radio – such as WGN in Chicago and WHO in Des Moines – have drastically cut back or even eliminated farm programming all together.
There has been renewed talk recently about the demise of local radio, with the nation’s largest radio station operator making drastic cuts in local talent on its 850 stations. This makes it more important than ever for the agriculture community – including companies, organizations and individuals – to show their support for farm broadcasting. Whether it is a local farm broadcaster or even a network, farm programming is often the target of cuts – even if it is a source of significant revenue. Still, money does talk loudest, so financial support is crucial, but taking the time to send a note or an email of thanks to your local radio station that carries farm programming could make a big difference when decisions are being made.
Don’t wait until the axe falls – send a note to the general manager of your local station today and just say thanks for keeping our advocates for agriculture on the air.
It has only been a year since the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance was officially announced, and what a year it has been for the coalition of agricultural organizations!
USFRA held its first annual meeting last week in Kansas City just prior to the NAMA Trends in Agriculture and the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting where board members like Vice Chairman Bart Schott (pictured), who is also chairman of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), had a chance to talk with dozens of broadcasters about the accomplishments and goals of USFRA.
NCGA CEO Rick Tolman says it’s amazing to see how much the organization has grown in the 12 short months since the first USFRA board meeting in 2010. “There were 12-15 of us sitting around the table putting this thing together and dreaming what it might be,” Rick said. Now there are more than 20 on the board and another 80 were in attendance. He says they raised over $10 million dollars in the first year and have a second year budget of $11.1 million. “So, it’s really exciting to think of where we came from and where we are in such a short period of time.”
Much of the first annual meeting dealt with plans for 2012 and you can hear all about it in this interview that Chuck Zimmerman did with Rick about the accomplishments and goals of USFRA: Rick Tolman Interview
The longest of journeys begins with a first step and perhaps the national idiocy over the evils of corn sugar (HFCS) may be about to subside. In the “Well Blog” in today’s New York Times they pronounce that soda bans in schools have limited impact.
I know business professionals aren’t supposed to say “Duh” but this is a blog and sometimes simple is better so “Duh.”
The NY Times blog notes that “State laws that ban soda in schools — but not other sweetened beverages — have virtually no impact on the amount of sugary drinks middle school students buy and consume at school, a new study shows.”
Their study took a look at thousands of public school students across 40 states, found that removing soda from cafeterias and school vending machines only prompted students to buy sports drinks, sweetened fruit drinks and other sugar-laden beverages instead. In states that banned only soda, students bought and consumed sugary drinks just as frequently at school as their peers in states where there were no bans at all.
Did somebody actually pay for this information? In the name of saving some money and urging the discussion along let me go one step further and save you the time and investment in other moments that make you slap your forehead and scream “Eureka.”
Some schools have actually removed all drinks containing sugar in an effort to protect the students from themselves and guess what happens. Teachers I know who work in the trenches elbow to elbow with the children and young adults say an interesting phenomenon occurs; students actually bring their own drink of choice to school…or even more than one.
This easy access to their first choice of drinks/drinks may actually increase their consumption. Most teachers and many school administrators get this but apparently school boards who are making these silly decisions do not.
I have said it here before and will likely say it again; trying to legislate or regulate common sense is a slippery slope. The national obesity problem amongst children and adults in this country is a real issue but it needs to be addressed through intelligent lifestyle choices that include better selections of food and quantity consumed as well as regular exercise. Good role models at home can have far more impact on students than any school board.
According to a report released by a nonprofit research organization on the findings of the Military Advisory Board, reducing our oil consumption by 30 percent through the use of biofuels “would significantly improve security and economics by decreasing deficits, preserving capital for job creation and increase energy reserves.”
This finding, and the report in general, provide solid support for an idea that already seems logical to most Americans. Over the past decades, it has become painfully obvious that the U.S. addiction to cheap foreign oil creates problems. From the need to continually interact with unstable, even hostile, regimes to an untenable vulnerability to the whims of a cartel-controlled market, everyday people here suffer because they do not have simple, readily available ways to fuel their cars on something besides oil.
In the report, released in October, this panel concludes that the obvious would be effective. If imported oil exposes the United States to myriad risks, grow a reliable, sustainable alternative at home. U.S. farmers, working with a robust biofuels industry, could actually harvest security.
Given that ethanol production has already tripled since 2005, our nation’s corn growers have demonstrated their ability to supply a growing market. Actually, the report itself even notes the efficiency gains in biotechnology, coupled with yield gains, could continually increase the amount of oil biofuels could displace.
Regulators, bureaucrats and politicians may not be the best sources for unbiased information, but retired military leaders certainly understand national security and can be relied upon to put the national interest ahead of their own. Sometimes a solution is simple. Harness the power of our land. Harness the power of our people. Grow a country that is self-reliant and secure.
On the same day the world was officially proclaimed home of seven billion souls, the United Nations General Assembly officially declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives with the theme of “Cooperative Enterprises Build a Better World”.
“This Day of 7 Billion – is not about one newborn, or even one generation,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “This is a day about our entire human family.”
According to the U.N., one billion of the seven billion souls on the planet belongs to a cooperative and that cooperatives, especially in agriculture, contribute to “poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration” around the world. Agricultural producers are more likely than most to belong to a cooperative, and rural residents in general more than city dwellers.
The latest Global300 report, released by the International Co-operative Alliance this week, says that the world’s largest 300 co-operatives generate revenues of $1.6 trillion—equal to the GDP of the world’s ninth largest economy. Most of the largest cooperatives are found in the developed economies of France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands and the United States, with 30 per cent engaged in the agriculture and food sectors, 23 per cent in retailing, 22 per cent in insurance and 19 per cent in banking.
The root of the cooperative business model is the root of the very word itself – co-operate; to operate together as a unit. When farmers, producers, workers, and consumers find that they can accomplish more if they cooperate collectively than they could as individuals, a cooperative is born.
“Cooperatives have a long history going back to England in the mid-1800s when producers would get together to help market their products and that has resulted in the cooperative system here in the United States,” says Dan Kelley, an Illinois farmer and chairman of GROWMARK, one of the oldest and most successful agricultural co-ops in the country. “If you think of products like Welch’s grape juice, Florida’s Natural, SunMaid Raisins – those are cooperatives that have a national brand and market in some cases world wide.”
Cooperatives can also be credited with the rapid expansion of the ethanol industry in the Midwest over the past decade. A significant percentage of plants currently in production are still farmer-owned cooperatives, run by farmers in the area who found out what they could accomplish by working together.
Cooperatives define themselves in the spirit of working together to achieve a common goal. That is something to celebrate.
According to the study released this month by Syngenta, U.S. consumers and society benefit from atrazine and other triazine herbicides by up to $4.8 billion per year, due to increased yield as well as decreased producer costs and reduced soil erosion. In addition, the U.S. economy benefits from atrazine and other triazine herbicides by as much as $22 billion over a five-year period. Benefits to farmers and consumers from the triazine herbicides include increased corn, sorghum and sugar cane crop yields, lower weed-control costs, significantly reduced soil erosion and less carbon released into the atmosphere. Atrazine and the triazine herbicides account for as many as 48,000 American jobs in corn production alone.
“The quality and variety of food produced for our dinner tables on America’s diverse farms and ranches sets us apart from our contemporaries around the world,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “It is an honor for our farm and ranch families to produce the food from our nation’s land for family Thanksgiving celebrations.”
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