EDITOR’S NOTE:
I am preoccupied with another project. There won’t be anything new here for a while, unless someone else has anything to say — anything about farming in the Northeast.
I can be contacted by email, see CONTACT tab above.
Dan Hurley
Northeast dairy farmers are hearing opposition to some of the emergency assistance proposed by state legislators and officials, even as regional researchers warn that northeastern dairying will be hurt by approaching climate changes caused by the greenhouse house effect. Meanwhile, enterprising “scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each” by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) think tank, “to undermine a major climate change report” from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Reports the U.K.’s The Independent: AEI wants “articles that emphasize the shortcomings” of the IPCC report, which “is widely regarded as the most comprehensive review yet of climate change science.”
AEI “has received more than $1.6 million from ExxonMobil,” reports Ian Sample, “and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI’s board of trustees.” AEI visiting scholar Kenneth Green sent the offer “to scientists in Britain, the US and elsewhere,” in a letter describing the IPCC as “resistant to reasonable criticism and dissent.” On February 5, the Fraser Institute, “another Exxon-funded organization based in Canada,” launched “a review in London which casts doubt on the IPCC report.”
And, while we watch the 2007 Farm Bill hearings, we can also follow the activities of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), along with Rep. Thomas Davis (R-Va.), is demanding the release of documents to determine “whether the White House’s political staff is inappropriately censoring impartial government scientists.”
FDA scientists say there’s no difference between clones and regular cows, pigs, sheep or goats. The Organic Trade Association disagrees. Its leader, Caren Wilcox, says that “organic animal products will not come from cloned animals.” Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., would legislate that uncloned animal products be clearly labeled “This product is from a cloned animal or its progeny.” This isn’t an issue between the organics and the non-organics. U.S. milk producers are upset, too. “A huge burden would be on every single milk, cheese and ice cream company in this country, large and small, to provide 100 percent traceability and segregation and labeling of their milk,” says Susan Ruland, spokeswoman for the International Dairy Foods Association.
Meanwhile, the FDA asks producers to voluntarily keep clones out of the food supply, for now…
I missed the recent annual Vermont Farm Show in Barre, a tiny affair compared with big, big shows in Pennsylvania and New York State. The PR flacks churned out an incredible number of press releases before, during and after the PA event, billing it as the biggest indoor farm show in the Northeast. Now comes the the 22nd annual New York Farm Show on February 22nd through the 24th in Syracuse — it calls itself the premier indoor farm show in the Northeast.
With two friends, I introduced a new monthly newspaper called Vermont Farm at the 1976 Barre show. That grew into a monthly newsmagazine, New England Farmer, which we eventually sold to an Australia/New Zealand publishing giant — it very quickly owned all the Farm Progress magazines, including New York’s American Agriculturist, co-sponsor of the New York show. The Aussies “merged” NEF into American Ag, and it soon disappeared. This isn’t sour grapes, but I retain special affection for the neighborly, compact Vermont show.
The upcoming Syracuse show, whose other sponsor is the state equipment dealers association, claims to be “packed with new and practical equipment, services and products just right for your farming operation… over 425 exhibitors covering more than 215,000 square feet.” My feet are hurting already — all those long, crowded aisles. Twenty-five years ago, I’d go-go-go, from 8:30 a.m. to closing at 4 p.m. — every day. My aching knees! Older and weaker now, this year I won’t “shop, compare and buy the latest developments in the agriculture industry as well as ask the experts about the latest practices and efficiencies” or “fill out an entry form to win many prizes” like “a Kvemeland 1Taarup 2424 Disc Mover, the use of a Miller Pro 1150 Rotary Hay Rake for the 2007 hay season and a chain saw from the NY Forest Owners Association.”
I will miss “the Robotic Milking unit at the Lely display” and “the Silver Bullet Pulling Tractor, and the new ‘Hot Beef Sundae’” at the Beef Industry display, and all the “workshops and presentations, including the Beef Industry, Forestry Management Workshops and Agricultural Safety Programs.” I won’t get to be a winner at “the Robert Watson Memorial Toy Auction on February 23 at 6 p.m. in the Empire Room of the Arts and Home Building with over 200 Farm Toys to the highest bidder. All proceeds to benefit New York FFA.”
But don’t let me discourage you, youngsters. Get your free tickets from any member of the “Northeast Equipment Dealers or by writing New York Farm Show, P.O. Box 3470, Syracuse, NY 13220. Include a self-addressed, stamped legal envelope with your request by February 15. Admission at the door is $5; children under 18 are free. Parking is free and bus shuttles are available.
Maybe I’ll see you next year in Barre. I know exactly where I’ll be sitting.
Vermont plans dairy aid, but needs U.S. help, too.
Published February 2nd, 2007 in Politics and Farm politics. 0 CommentsVermont’s legislature is taking a weekend break after making progress on emergency dairy assistance legislation. Governor Jim Douglas has backed away from strong opposition to an assistance appropriation, which is intended to help through the winter, until — maybe — long-delayed, longer-term federal help arrives. The week began with Republican Douglas and his ag officials’ suggestion that farmers borrow money if they need it, and the House Ag Committee proposing, 8-1, a lump sum payment of $3.7 million to milk producers next month that would come from a temporary 0.25 percent surcharge on commercial property transfer taxes.
The proposal drew an icey response from Douglas and horrified the state home builders’ lobby. But dairy farming is Vermont’s political sacred cow. Republican legislators clearly didn’t want to appear anti-dairy, anti-farm. And Democratic legislative leaders convincingly argued that many farms would not make it until spring without immediate help. The Republicans and Douglas found themselves in an untenable position; even the builders thought the aid package was a good idea (as long as they didn’t have to pay for it). Democrats control the legislature, too, so Douglas must compromise or fight an unwinnable battle for a politically deadly position.
All seemed to agree Friday that a compromise could be worked out early next week to let Douglas save face — support the popular emergency aid without the appearing to abandon his anti-tax stand. Everyone’s now focused on finding a funding source that isn’t tied directly to a new tax.
The $3.7 million is a “bridge” for farmers until there’s a permanent long-term solution to protect them from violent swings in the price of milk and costs of production. There’s still hope in Montpelier that Congress will finally provide at least some of the long-delayed $54 million that was promised last year, but never delivered. The new state money will come on top of $8.6 million Vermont, itself, has distributed to farmers since July when they were hit with a combination of low milk prices, high fuel and feed costs and crappy weather
The state’s Congressional delegation is demanding full funding of dairy price supports. But the Bush administration wants to fund the Milk Income Loss Contract program fully for just a year, then scale the supports back in following years.
Sen. Patrick Leahy called the Bush proposal “unfortunately… a small first step… It falls far short by disregarding the low milk prices, high feed costs and soaring fuel expenses that dairy farmers are facing. Scaling back the MILC Program while farmers are under siege is shortsighted and counterproductive.” Sen. Bernie Sanders says “it is clear that they just do not understand the scope of the crisis dairy farmers are facing. We should be trying to improve the federal safety net for family dairy farmers, not dismantling it.” Rep. Peter Welch is “troubled by their lack of long-term commitment.”
On replacing corn with an ethanol byproduct:
Published January 28th, 2007 in Dairy production, Economics & marketing, Feed, Research and Livestock. 0 CommentsWhat goes in, must come out.
To help improve the environment, dairy farmers have markedly reduced the phosphorus they’re feeding cows, and they’ve been trying to cut back on nitrogen.
Now, there’s talk about feeding more brewers’ grain, a byproduct of ethanol production, to help make up for the loss of reasonably-priced feed corn that’ll now be used to fuel cars, not cows.
Penn State experts on university’s Dairy Alliance blog are cautioning milk producers to “pay attention to ration costs (best cost ration vs. least cost), potential impacts on animal performance and profitability”
Feeding 20 to 25 percent of lactating cows’ daily dry ration as distiller’s grain amounts to 10 to 13 pounds per cow, compared to four to five pounds they’re now usually fed . “Add to the volume of distiller’s grain fed, the higher level of protein and phosphorus along with the variability in nutrients, the potential to over feed phosphorus and nitrogen is great.”
“There is also the issue of feeding high levels of fat and rumen undegradable protein and the effect on production and components.”
- See Distiller’s Grain Feeding Recommendations for Beef, Dairy, Swine and Poultry. 2006 from the National Corn Grower’s Ass’n. www.ncga.com and Using Distillers Grains in Dairy Cattle Diets. 2006. Penn State Dairy Cattle Nutrition Workshop Proceedings. Pg 79. http://www.das.psu.edu/dairynutrition/education/workshop2006/
Corn fever affects Iowa rotations & N.Y. stock exchange.
Published January 27th, 2007 in Dairy production, Politics, Economics & marketing, Farm politics, Feed and Livestock. 0 CommentsWith corn futures over $4.00, some Iowa growers may abandon traditional corn-soybeans-corn crop rotations. Why plant soybeans when you can go for the gold?
Iowa State specialists at a “Crop Advantage” conference in Waterloo this week said continuous corn or corn-corn-soybean rotations start making economic sense once corn hits $3.50.
The traditional rotation breaks insect cycles, lowers costs and improves oil fertility. Also, ag economist warn that a second year “drag” could affect breakeven price differences between the two crops. Seed corn is expensive and the crop is a voracious consumer of chemical and fertilizers.
Farm Equipment stocks, meanwhile, are attracting savvy investors, along with seed, chemical and fertilizer shares.
The Associated Press reports that “JPMorgan on Friday initiated coverage of several heavy equipment manufacturers, saying that expectations of strong demand in 2007 make farm equipment companies some of its favorite picks in the sector.
“Stephen Volkmann said one of his top high-quality picks for the industry is Deere & Co., …which he rated ‘Overweight.’”
Feds are terrorizing the nation’s farmers
Published January 25th, 2007 in Fruit & vegetable growing, Farm politics and Farm life. 0 Comments“They came to our farm before dawn,” the New York vegetable grower said, “kicked in the doors of our labor cottages… arrested 28 illegal workers,” sent the rest inside.
“Then they (Immigration and Naturalization agents) filed charges against me for harboring illegal aliens,” said Maureen Marshall, chairman of the board of the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Ass’n. The Torrey Farms vice president was keynoter at the recent annual Southeast Fruit & Vegetable Exposition.
A federal Labor Department survey of agricultural workers found more than half are illegal. Northeast dairy farmers are afraid they’ll lose their hired hands. And northeastern growers share Marshall’s plight: “Last year, we had to choose every day which of our crops was most valuable, harvest those crops, and hope the less valuable crops could wait for harvest.”
“In New York,” she said, the Farm Credit Association “says we can expect to lose 900 farms and $200 million in production in 2007 and the first six months of 2008 due to a lack of farm labor.”
While the federal Environmental Protection Agency has been looking into developing a set of regulations governing the use of wood-burning boilers, some cities and towns in our region have begun to address the matter themselves. Chicopee, South Hadley, Longmeadow and Holyoke have instituted outright bans. West Springfield, Northampton and Belchertown have issued moratoriums.
The smoldering outdoor wood burners, which produce as much as 12 times the smoke as a normal indoor wood-burning stove or fireplace, are here and polluting the environment today. Waiting for some kind of federal action on the matter would not help anyone who is suffering currently from noxious smoke from next door or just up the street.
—excerpted from Springfield (MA) Republican editorial
Seed, chemical & fertilizer shares soar. Bush wants more ethanol. Growers plan huge 2007 corn planting. Dairy & livestock farmers, consumers & the environment will suffer.
Published January 25th, 2007 in Dairy production, Politics, Economics & marketing, Beef production, Farm politics, Feed and Livestock. 0 CommentsPresident Bush joined the ethanol stampede with his State of the Union speech last night, calling for huge increases in subsidized ethanol production, as though he really needs to encourage Congressional ethanol fantasies (and those swirling around State House domes).
The growing crop of presidential candidates and eager Midwestern House and Senate power brokers certainly don’t value his weakening lameduck support. Democrats and Republicans, alike, are energetically promising more federal gold to Farm Belt corn growers.
Investors are pumping up the shares of fertilizer, chemical and seed companies. And, even without promised additional subsidies, private capital is funding breakneck construction of a massive ethanol production and distribution infrastructure.
Corn futures doubled in 2006 to over $4 a bushel ($4.21 on Jan. 17), the highest in ten years. This is now expected to increase plantings to 10 million acres, several million more than previously predicted, the most since 1949, back when yields-per-acre were comparatively puny. The American Farm Bureau says cornfields will increase by 10 percent this year. By the time thy’re harvested, the USDA says, there’ll be less than a three week supply left in storage, less than in any of the past ten years.
Missouri farmers are planting so much corn that some seed varieties were sold out in November, according to Dupont distributors.
Visions of a dustbowl? Feed costs will skyrocket, as will consumer milk and meat prices. Northeastern dairy and livestock framers will be hard pressed to maintain present production levels and herd sizes.
Iowa State economists think U.S.farmers will have to cut their use of corn for feed by two billion bushels a year.
Even in Iowa, the kingdom of corn, feed prices are worrisome. Professor Dermot Hayes of Iowa State told delegates at the recent Iowa Pork Producers Association annual meeting that to stay profitable, they’ll have to reduce pigs farrowed by ten percent. Iowa, he said, needs “lighter hogs and less hogs.”
However, most Iowans won’t be as devastated as northeastern farmers. Many pork producers are corn growers, and 20 percent of 600 association members who were surveyed, said they hold shares in ethanol plants and 14 percent own shares in biodiesel plants.
Who will benefit from the ethanol boom — besides corn growers and biofuel investors? Seed companies. DuPont and Monsanto share prices are soaring. As are the stocks of the big fertilizer conglomerates like Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and Terra Industries.
Share prices of Monsanto, the master of genetic manipulation, rose 33 percent in 2006. Dupont, the biggest corn seed producer, climbed 27 percent. Potash of Saskatchewan shares rocketed 77 percent.
