Agriculture News
Livestock production, a much smaller challenge to global food security than often reported
Phys.org | Posted on October 9, 2017A new study in Global Food Security found that livestock place less burden on the human food supply than previously reported. Even stronger, certain production systems contribute directly to global food security because they produce more highly valuable nutrients for humans, such as proteins, than they consume."As a Livestock Policy Officer working for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, I have been asked many times by the press to report on the negative environmental impacts of livestock," explained lead investigator Anne Mottet, PhD. "Doing so, I came to realize that people are continually exposed to incorrect information that is repeated without being challenged, in particular about livestock feed. There is currently no official and complete international database on what livestock eat. This study contributes to filling this gap and to provide peer-reviewed evidence to better inform policy makers and the public." ....Despite these benefits, raising livestock is often pointed to as an inefficient system because animals consume food that could potentially be eaten by people. Some previous studies, often cited, put the consumption of grain needed to raise 1 kg of beef between 6 kg and 20 kg. Contrary to these high estimates, the current investigation found that an average of only 3 kg of cereals are needed to produce 1 kg of meat. It also shows important differences between production systems and species. For example, because they rely on grazing and forages, cattle need only 0.6 kg of protein from human food to produce 1 kg of protein in milk and meat, which is of higher nutritional quality. In addition, this study determined that 86% of livestock feed, which includes residues and by-products, is not suitable for human consumption. If not consumed by livestock, the study points out, these "leftovers" could quickly become an environmental burden as the human population grows and consumes more and more processed food. Researchers also analyzed land use and herd management.
Time to bid adieu to GMO regulations
The Western Producer | Posted on October 9, 2017It disturbs me to see less-developed countries using valuable resources to implement western-style regulatory systems for such crops when those resources could be better used elsewhere and such technologies probably hold greater potential than in the western world. Some people have made their careers debating from a pro- or anti-GMO point of view. Organizations have developed on both sides, again taking resources that could be better used elsewhere. In addition, we are devoting resources to develop international policies to regulate shipments for low-level presence of GMOs and for GMO labelling, even though there is no scientific basis for either.Let’s get rid of these needless and expensive regulatory systems, deploy the wasted resources to where they can do more good, and return to where we were 30-plus years ago, when plant breeders used any process (traditional breeding, mutation, genetic engineering, gene editing) to produce new material that had value to the farmer, the processor or the consumer, and let the market place decide the true value of the products of plant breeding.
EPA Action would Break President’s Promises on Protecting the RFS
Hoosier Ag Today | Posted on October 9, 2017Efforts underway from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to scale back the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) would break repeated promises by President Donald Trump to protect the RFS. As part of a Notice of Data Availability (NODA) published by the agency on Oct. 4, EPA signaled that it is contemplating reducing proposed RFS volumes, including volumes that were finalized a year ago.
Oregon Court of Appeals affirms ruling overturning GMO ban
Capital Press | Posted on October 9, 2017The Oregon Court of Appeals has affirmed that a prohibition against genetically engineered crops in Josephine County is pre-empted by state law. Voters in Josephine County approved the ban in 2014, nearly a year after state lawmakers passed a bill barring local governments from regulating genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. The appeals court has now upheld the ruling without comment, but GMO critics vow to continue the battle in the legislative arena.When passing the GMO pre-emption bill, lawmakers vowed to create a statewide system for overseeing GMOs, but instead they have left a “regulatory void,” Middleton said.Under Oregon law, Jackson County lawfully approved a GMO ban because its initiative was on the ballot before the state pre-emption was approved.The Oregon Legislature passed the pre-emption bill to avoid a county-by-county patchwork of restrictions for genetically engineered crops, said Scott Dahlman, policy director for Oregonians for Food and Shelter, an agribusiness group that opposed the GMO ban.
California animal welfare laws led to higher egg prices, lower production
Purdue | Posted on October 9, 2017Laws that changed animal confinement standards in California raised the price of eggs dramatically upon adoption and have kept prices higher than had the laws not been enacted, according to a Purdue University study. An analysis of the laws’ effects on egg production and prices in California could inform other states considering similar legislation. By July of 2016, the number of egg-laying hens and eggs produced in California had dropped by 35 percent. Lusk and Mullally say that led to price increases as high as 33 percent per dozen. The average price for a dozen eggs was 22 percent higher from December 2014 to September 2016.“Our results indicate that over the 22 months observed in our data after the initial structural break in retail prices, total consumer welfare losses from higher retail prices in the three markets considered by this article were between $117 million and $144 million, or between $12.15 and $14.97 per household,” the authors wrote.
CA Gov. Brown signs bill allowing water users to save money
Capital Press | Posted on October 9, 2017Gov. Jerry Brown signed a California Cattlemen’s Association-sponsored bill to ease requirements for ranchers who must measure their water diversions from nearby streams. The governor on Oct. 4 approved Assembly Bill 589 by Assemblyman Frank Bigelow, R-O’Neals, that changes a State Water Resources Control Board rule that those who divert more than 10 acre-feet of water per year hire a licensed engineer to install a water-measuring device.Diverters will be able to instead install their own devices or implement their own measurement method after taking a course from the University of California Cooperative Extension. The UC will work with the water board in the coming weeks to develop the course.
EPA Inspector General criticizes EPA over CAFO foot dragging
Farm Futures | Posted on October 5, 2017Why has it taken over a decade for EPA to come up with emission estimation methods for large animal feeding operations? EPA’s Inspector General (IG) claims EPA has not developed emission estimation methods (EEM) to determine whether concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)comply with the Clean Air Act (CAA).The IG Report, while not receiving much publicity, will eventually impact animal feeding operations throughout the country. The report on September 19, 2017 is on EPA’s website at www.EPA.gov/oig. It is an opinion of the Inspector General and does not reflect EPA’s position.The IG determined EPA failed to follow through on a 2005 agreement with major livestock groups, which was to develop methods for estimating airborne emissions such as ammonia, particulate matter, hydrogen sulfide and volatile organic chemicals being emitted from CAFOs.Environmental groups have been using petitions to force regulation of ammonia, for example. Millions of dollars were spent by livestock groups and others to develop EEMs for “estimating emissions” from animal production facilities.EEMs are difficult to determine and consequently EPA has never set a timeline for completing its work. Even though this effort began in 2005 with an agreement, EPA has suggested that it will have a plan on how to estimate emissions from animal operations by the beginning of 2018.
More suitors emerge for Tyson project in Kansas
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on October 5, 2017Officials in at least two counties in Kansas are expected to send formal letters seeking to attract Tyson Foods to build its embattled chicken complex in their communities, according to published reports. The Saline County Commission sent a letter to Tyson officials supporting efforts of nearby Cloud County to bring the $320 million project – and the anticipated 1,600 jobs – to north central Kansas. The letter said the proposed poultry complex will offer prospective employees a wide selection of homes for sale and rental properties, an excellent transportation network and a “welcoming location” for the project in Concordia, Kan
Tom Brady: Visit my farm and lean food facts
Global Farmer Network | Posted on October 5, 2017Then again, who is Tom Brady to tell me how to farm? In “The TB12 Method,” the bestselling book he released last week, Brady offers a lot of opinions about farming and food production. He’d do well to learn a few facts, which I’d be glad to teach him. Tom, I want to personally invite you to visit my family farm so we can talk about your food and farming concerns.I happen to be a fan of Brady and his team. I was born in Massachusetts and grew up watching the Patriots. I was a Patriots fan before Brady was ever on the team. Brady gets sacked for a loss, however, when he takes up the subject of GMOs: “Then of course there’s genetic engineering,” he writes. “Does that sound like something you’d want to eat? It sounds like a chemistry experiment to me.”The quarterback may think this is a clever quip, but in fact it exposes his ignorance. Genetics have nothing to do with chemistry: They’re a feature of biology. They’re also essential to agriculture.On our farm, we grow two kinds of soybeans. One is a non-GMO variety that becomes tofu sold to Asian food processing companies. The other is a GMO crop—in other words, the kind that Brady condemns as a “chemistry experiment,” even though it’s a safe and proven technology for farmers and consumers.Here’s the irony: Our GMO soybeans are high in oleic oil, which allows our customers to extract from them an oil that is free of trans fat.Brady ought to cheer us on: “Basically, trans fats are the worst kind of fat out there,” he writes in his book. He advises his readers to avoid them.
Golden rice – a miracle tarnished by irresponsible activism
The Hill | Posted on October 5, 2017“Their eyes tell their sad stories as ghostly white irises give way to vacant stares. We can look at them but they can’t look back at us. They’ve gone blind because of malnutrition.,” V. Ravichandran, a farmer in Tamil Nadu, India, describing children suffering from vitamin A deficiency. This is a dual tragedy — first, because more than two-thirds of the children referred to in Ravichandran’s commentary will be dead within a year — blindness from vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is an early sign of life-threatening debilitation — and second, because VAD could be prevented with an accessible, modern agricultural technology. The most elegant and practical approach to preventing VAD is a group of genetically engineered rice varieties known as Golden Rice because of its color, which is imparted by the presence of beta-carotene, the precursor of vitamin A.