Activists and Agriculture
Farm Bureau members attending this week's Commodity Conference at Hinds Community College will hear NCBA Issues Management Director Rick McCarty discuss the growing threat from radical animal activist organizations intent on destroying animal agriculture. The Conference will be held on Thursday, June 26th at the Central R & E Center in Raymond. |
Farm Bureau Beef Commodity Conference
Farm Bureau members attending this week's Commodity Conference at Hinds Community College will hear NCBA Issues Management Director Rick McCarty discuss the growing threat from radical animal activist organizations intent on destroying animal agriculture.
The Conference will be held on Thursday, June 26th at the Central R & E Center in Raymond. |
| BQA Certification
Producers wanting to certify or recertify in the Mississippi Beef Quality Assurance Program are invited to attend one of the July meetings being held in Tylertown on July 10th and Grenada on July 24th.
Livestock Producers Association will host the Tylertown event and Glenwild Stockyard will be the site for the Grenada meeting. |
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S. Korean President Promises to Ban U.S. Beef from Older Animals
All U.S. beef exported to South Korea will come from cattle less than 30 months old, officials said Saturday, in a deal made to placate South Korean protesters worried about mad cow disease.
An age verification system will be set up to ensure that only U.S. beef from young cattle is exported, said South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon.
The agreement was reached earlier this week between Kim and his U.S. counterpart, Susan Schwab, in Washington, he said.
South Korea will "not import U.S. beef from cattle older than 30 months until consumers' confidence improves," Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said at a news conference.
Younger cattle are considered less at risk of mad cow disease.
The deal was made in an effort to halt daily demonstrations in South Korea over the past month that have brought tens of thousands of protesters to the streets and threatened the stability of President Lee Myung-bak'sgovernment. | |
| Finally! Farm Bill Passes
On June 18, both houses of Congress voted to override President Bush's veto of the Farm Bill. The Senate overrode the veto by a vote of 80 -14. Earlier in the day, the House voted to override by a vote of 317 - 109. A clerical error omitting the Trade Title from the Farm Bill that was passed last month necessitated full re-passage of the bill, followed by another veto and override vote. The override was the final step in completing the 2008 Farm Bill, allowing the rulemaking process to begin for the newly enacted provisions of the legislation. |
| Beef Still King of the Grill
Nearly 80 percent of Americans like to cook out on the grill and beef is their food of choice when they do, according to a checkoff-funded survey measuring consumers' passion for grilling. In fact, 83 percent of men and 76 percent of women say they like to grill, and 63 percent say they food they grill most often is beef. That's three times the number that prefers chicken! When it comes to specifics, burgers are a favorite, but when it comes to steak, ribeyes, T-bones and sirloins lead the pack. Americans are going lean, too: Overall, 72 percent say they choose lean or extra lean ground beef for their grills. |
Supreme Court Ends Horse Slaughter
The U.S. Supreme Court last Monday refused to hear an appeal by the last U.S. horse abattoir against its forced closure, despite claims that American horse meat is greatly valued in Europe. Until last year, there were three horse abattoirs in the United States -- two in Texas and one in Illinois. But they closed after both states, under pressure from animal rights groups, passed laws banning killing horses for human consumption. The Illinois slaughterhouse, run by Cavel International, fought the ban, arguing that since almost all of its meat was exported to Europe and Japan, the Illinois law encroached on federal regulations on international commerce. But an appeals court rejected Cavel's argument in September, saying the company had failed to show that stopping its operations risked affecting the global horse meat market. On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case or any further appeal. from U.S. Animal Health Association |
NCBA Files Comments in Support of RFS Waiver Request
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting comments through June 23 on the petition filed by the State of Texas to reduce by 50 percent the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) mandating production of grain-based ethanol in 2008. The reduction would trim the mandate to 4.5 billion gallons of feedgrain-based ethanol, from the current 9 billion gallons. This mandate - which is scheduled to expand to 15 billion gallons by 2015 - was included as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) that passed in December 2007.
In keeping with its member-driven policy on renewable energy development, NCBA filed comments June 19th in support of the waiver request. While NCBA recognizes that the RFS is only one of many factors behind skyrocketing grain prices, cattlemen believe the waiver should be granted in light of current grain supplies and troubling crop conditions.
"NCBA does not believe that issuing a partial waiver of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) will immediately reverse commodity price escalation, nor do cattle producers claim that it will single handedly address the difficult marketing environment that currently exists for our industry," says NCBA Chief Executive Officer Terry Stokes in his comments. "But, the RFS is clearly one factor contributing to higher feed prices."
NCBA notes that 25 percent of 2007's record corn crop was processed to produce ethanol. That percentage will likely be much higher this year, as corn acres have been reduced and spring crop progress has been extremely slow. Grain harvest projections recently received another major setback as a result of catastrophic flooding in critical areas of the Corn Belt.
While NCBA policy supports the development of alternative energy sources and the overall goal of energy independence, cattlemen want to see a greater emphasis on fuels produced from cellulosic, non-feedgrain sources. NCBA maintains that until grain-based ethanol production operates in a climate that is less driven by federal mandates and government subsidies, the nation will continue to see extremely slow development of alternative fuel sources. | |
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Market Highlights Friday, June 20, 2008
A light to moderate fed cattle trade developed in the North and in Kansas on Thursday with live values at $93 to $94, mostly $1 higher and dressed values at $149 to $150, up $2 to $3. Additional trade was expected, but had not developed at press time. Feeder cattle values were mostly $1 to $3 lower with the market under the most pressure early in the week. Stockers were also $1 to $3 lower with early values down $3 to $6. Market cow values were mostly $1 to $2 higher with instances of $1 lower. Corn futures closed approximately $0.30/bu below Monday's contract highs. Boxed beef values were stronger this week and movement improved during the second half of the week. Through Thursday Choice was up $1.58 at $158.38 and Select gained $0.25 at $152.72.
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Don't Miss NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen- On this week's episode, airing Tuesday, June 24th, Cattlemen to Cattlemen brings you some of our favorite stories from sponsor Fort Dodge Animal Health. Experts from Fort Dodge provide critical information about maintaining proper herd health, and they'll have tips on de-worming your cattle. Plus, Cattlemen to Cattlemen provides tips on how to effectively communicate beef industry messages, and we spend a day in the life of a Minnesota cattleman.
NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen on RFD-TV provides weekly news and features for cattle producers across the country. It airs every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., with repeat episodes on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. and Sundays at 11:00 p.m.It is also available online at www.CattlementoCattlemen.org. The program's sponsors include Purina Mills, Fort Dodge Animal Health, Dow AgroSciences, Bayer Animal Health and McDonald's.
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Calendar of Events
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23-25 Making Tracks
24 4-H Beef Cookout
Contest, Winona
25 4-H Beef Cookout
Contest, Gallman
25 Statewide Dairy
Field Day, Tylertown
26 Farm Bureau
Commodity Conf.
July
10 BQA Meeting,
Tylertown S/Y
17 Lee CCA
24 BQA Meeting,
Grenada S/Y |
| Here's Your
Beef Sign
The 4' X 8' metal beef signs are now available from the Mississippi Beef Council for only $100 each and they will be customized for your farm or business.
For details, contact the Beef Council office at
601-353-4520 or missbc@bellsouth.net
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