Economic Update written by Tom Elam, FarmEcon, LLC 

2011 Turkey Demand Outlook:  The last few economic updates have focused on feed supply and costs.  Costs are only half the story, though.  The demand side of the turkey market helps drive turkey product prices that can offset the record-high feed costs the industry is already experiencing this year. The problem with demand is that it is very difficult to measure. First, you have to consider prices and supply at the same time to get a feel for what is happening to demand. Then you also have to look at turkey prices measured against production costs to see if costs are really driving supply and prices rather than demand. Longer term, each company also will have to make an individual determination about whether demand is strong enough to increase production in spite of higher costs.

Turkey Demand:  To measure turkey demand you have to ask how much the customer is willing and able to pay for some given level of production. The answer for 2010 and 2011 is clear. On a product-weighted basis, turkey customers have been willing and able to pay record-high prices for whole birds and parts. Production has declined slightly, but not by enough to explain the current market prices for these turkey products.

Click here to read the full article.  

Legislative

NTF Past Chairman Testifies Before House Agriculture Subcommittee:  NTF Past Chairman Paul Hill, chairman of West Liberty Foods, told a House Agriculture Subcommittee that increased corn prices cost the turkey industry more than $1 billion in 2007 and 2008, and the current situation is almost as bad.  During his testimony to the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry on April 13, Hill told committee members that Congress should refrain from making a significant new investment in ethanol infrastructure and should implement a safety net to protect against the volatility in the commodity markets, which currently forces all industries to pay higher prices for input costs due to the fluctuations in the corn market. Additionally he mentioned other areas of concern, including GIPSA's proposed marketing rule and EPA's Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Loads targets.  Other panelists included Dan King, a chicken grower for George's Foods; and Mike Welch, president and CEO of Harrison Poultry, Inc.  NTF sent a press release on Hill's testimony, which was picked up by various publications ranging from an Arkansas newspaper, Southwest Times Record, to major trade publications like Food Business News and Meatingplace.

NTF Past Chairman Paul Hill testifies before a House  

Agriculture Subcommittee.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Hearing on Renewable Fuels: 

Scientific and Regulatory

Technical and Regulatory

FSIS Begins PHIS Implementation:  FSIS began its rollout of the new Public Health Information System (PHIS) on April 11, which includes a list of FSIS circuits scheduled for the first phase of implementation.  As part of the rollout, FSIS issued a number of PHIS notices and directives.  Meanwhile, NTF is working with the agency to clarify and resolve the industry's concerns while in the first phase of implementation.  As more information becomes available, it will be published on FSIS' PHIS webpage.

Marketing Communications

Marketing 

Americans Urged to "Upgrade" Family Meals and Activities to Reduce Calories Kids Consume:  NTF on April 28 released new consumer research that found moms are not prepared to fight childhood obesity.  The findings, from a new poll of 500 mothers of school-age children, found that more than three-quarters of moms whose children are overweight don't recognize this fact and are not taking simple steps to improve their children's weight status.  Building on the survey results, NTF unveiled new extensions to the Meal Upgrade Calculator, which includes a family activity calculator, a school meal challenge, menu ideas for dining out, and a child obesity measurement tool.

Satellite Media Tour:  To get maximum exposure, NTF's Hilary Thesmar and Shape Up America President and CEO Barbara Moore shared the new research through a satellite media tour that morning, which included 21 interviews with television and radio stations in top-tier media markets such as Phoenix, Las Vegas and Oklahoma City.  Moore was also featured on Fox News discussing the Meal Upgrade Calculator and how consumer can upgrade their diet with turkey.

Multimedia News Release: A multimedia news release (MNR) was also distributed and includes interviews with Thesmar and Moore, along with Chef Lisa Schroeder, Mother's Bistro and Bar, in Portland, Ore. NTF will provide preliminary results on the reach of the MNR in next month's newsletter.

Media Event:  A variety of consumer, foodservice and poultry media participated in a webinar that afternoon, including The Orlando Sentinel, School Nutrition Magazine and Meat and Poultry Magazine.   Thesmar discussed ways to "upgrade" family meals, school lunches and after-school snacks with turkey and to "upgrade" restaurant menu selections when families eat out.  Moore specifically discussed the findings of the research,  which show how many moms are not taking some simple steps that will improve their children's weight status and how families can easily burn 100 calories in activities that are fun for kids and take little time out of the day.  NTF's Sherrie Rosenblatt then demonstrated how the new extensions to the Meal Upgrade Calculator work.

Blogger Contest:  To extend the campaign even further, NTF launched a blogger contest to challenge food and recipe bloggers to choose a recipe for a favorite family meal - breakfast, lunch or dinner - and then "upgrade" the dish by changing the meat to turkey and making other modifications that will decrease the amount of fat and calories.  NTF announced the contest at Camp Blogaway, a retreat for food and recipe bloggers, where attendees received a clip with information on NTF's blogger contest.  More information on the contest is available here.

Issues

NTF Responds to Study on Staph:  NTF responded to a new study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute and Northern Arizona University published on April 14 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, which claimed that meat and poultry products purchased at grocery stores contained Staphylococcus aureus or Staph. 

NTF responded to two media inquiries - WebMD and The Arizona Republic - and put the study in perspective.  Dr. Hilary Thesmar, NTF's senior director of scientific and regulatory affairs, explained that Staph is a very common bacteria mostly found on human hands.  She went on to explain that practicing proper at-home food safety practices, such as washing hands and cooking meat and poultry thoroughly, would ensure consumers could continue to enjoy safe, high-quality, nutritious turkey products.  NTF's quote on the study reached a circulation of more than 17 million.

It's important to note that the Pew Charitable Trusts, which has been pushing for the elimination of antibiotic use in animal agriculture, provided a $290,000 grant to the study.

NTF Assists in Response to Ethanol Opinion Editorial in Chicago Tribune:  With NTF's assistance, Tom Elam, Farm Econ, LLC, sent a letter to the editor of the Chicago Tribune in response to a March 26 opinion editorial from former Agriculture Secretary John Block titled, "Rising Food Prices?  Can't Blame Ethanol."  Elam's letter, published in the Chicago Tribune on April 5, noted that Block's statistics were incorrect and misleading and then listed the accurate figures on world grain production and global food production costs. 

NTF Participates in PFSE Strategic Planning Session:  NTF's Vice President of Marketing and Communications Sherrie Rosenblatt participated in the Partnership for Food Safety Education's (PFSE) Performance Partnership Summit on April 12.  Rosenblatt was one of 28 leaders from multiple sectors who came together in Washington with a goal to create an action plan aimed at reducing infections caused by key pathogens transmitted through food and increasing the proportion of consumers who follow key food safety practices.

NTF's Sherrie Rosenblatt facilitates discussion with  

PFSE's meeting participants.

NTF Presents at College Journalism Conference:  NTF's Public Relations Manager Adrienne Richards spoke at Wilkes University's 11^th annual Tom Bigler Journalism Conference in Wilkes-Barre, Penn., on April 15.  The theme for the conference was "The Future of Journalism."

NTF's Adrienne Richards discusses the partnership  

between public relations and journalism at Wilkes  

University.

Richards, an alumnus of Wilkes, was one of the public relations workshop speakers.  Her presentation, "The Partnership between Public Relations and Journalism," included an overview of NTF and a discussion of how the ways in which public relations professionals "pitch" to the media continue to evolve with new technologies.  Richards also played the Social Media Revolution video and highlighted the federation's presence on social media platforms. 

Member Services

2011 Leadership Conference: The 2011 Leadership Conference, July 24-26, will return to the Washington Court Hotel, located in the heart of Capitol Hill, which provides easy access for congressional meetings. The conference will also include a Leadership Dinner that allows participants to learn more from regulatory agencies.  More information about the 2011 Leadership Conference is available here.  Meeting brochures will be mailed at the end of May.

Did You Know? You can now read Turkey - Today and Tomorrow on your smartphone? NTF's updated technology has already increased the number of members who viewed last month's e-newsletter by more than 4 percent. NTF's newsletter is a great place to learn how NTF is supporting the turkey industry and helping members like you.  Let us know what you think of the new newsletter format by clicking here.

Giblets