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Conveyor Currents                            November 15, 2013
Upcoming Dates

2014

January 15-16, 2014   Grain & Feed Industry Conference, Embassy Suites, Monterey, CA

April 23-26, 2014  CGFA Annual Convention ~ The Sheraton Resort, Maui, HI 
*** Information Click Here ***

May 14-15, 2014 California Animal Nutrition Conference,  Radisson Hotel in Fresno, CA

 
2015
 
April 22-25, 2015   CGFA Annual Convention - The Monterey Plaza Hotel on Cannery Row.

Annual Convention - Room Reservation Link to Sheraton

This is the link for the on-line reservations for the CGFA Annual Convention - April 23-26, 2014.  

 

 

Mahalo!

 

 

 

Quick Links
 
California
 Grain & Feed Assn.
      www.cgfa.org
 
California Dept. of Food & Ag 
   www.cdfa.ca.gov
 
U.S. Dept. of Food & Ag
    www.usda.gov
   

 
In This Issue
FSMA Impact on Farmers Worrisome
2014 Grain & Feed Industry Conference
Farm Bill Progressing
Farm Bill Insights
CARB Diesel & LSI Compliance/Retrofit Training
Immigration Reform Dead this Year
Industry Awaits EPA RFS Announcement
FDA to hold November 21 FSMA Feed Rule Public Meeting in Maryland
Obama Taps Treasury's Massad to be CFTC Chair
OSHA Sets New Program for Some Midwest Chemical Users
December is Farm to Food Bank Month
FSMA Impact on Farmers Worrisome; FDA Extends Comment Period

A bipartisan Senate letter this week to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, MD, says the agency must be sensitive to the Food Safety Modernization Act's (FSMA) impact on farmers and ranchers, and called on the agency to grant a longer comment period on the proposed rule related to produce production.

 

The four Senators got some of what they're asking for when FDA announced November 15, the original deadline for produce proposed rule comments, that it was extending the comment period for the "Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Rule: Standards for Growing, Harvesting, Packing and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption" until March 15, 2014.

The Senators said they're concerned with the ambiguity of the proposed regulation, and asked the agency to republish a second proposed rule after it has digested comments received on the first proposal.  High costs of compliance and the potential loss of grower operations are also concerns, they wrote, and "the rules as currently proposed would result in a multitude of unintended consequences that would be severely detrimental to national, regional and local agriculture. A longer comment period can help obviate that impact, they said.

 
CGFA Member Outreach Meeting & Christmas Luncheon

Wednesday, December 11, 2013
11:30 am-2:00 pm
Ontario Airport Hotel (formerly Hilton)
700 North Haven Avenue, Ontario, CA 91764
(909) 980-0400

CGFA EVP Chris Zanobini will update members on issues affecting the Association. Local Legislators have been invited to attend and participate in our discussions. Please join us for fun and fellowship with CGFA Members during this Holiday Season.


$20.00 per person-Jingle All The Way Buffet
For reservations contact the
CGFA office at: (916) 441-2272

PLEASE BRING A GIFT TO EXCHANGE!!

2014 Grain & Feed Industry Conference - Monterey, CA

The CGFA staff and the GFIC committee have finalized plans for the 2014 Grain & Feed Industry Conference.  As you know, the Grain & Feed Industry Conference is an annual two-day educational event that is planned and coordinated by the California Grain & Feed Association.  The basic purpose of the conference is to provide mill managers and key employees of grain handling and feed manufacturing operations an educational program consisting of both managerial and technical information specific to the industry.

The GFIC committee believes the program topics are very timely and encompass subjects which address the concerns of many of our customers.    The 2014 GFIC will be held January 15-16 at the Embassy Suites Hotel on Monterey Bay.   We are very fortunate to have secured some top notch speakers for our event.  

The success of the Grain & Feed Industry Conference is a direct result of  feed industry management, equipment, ingredient and all associated suppliers once again teaming up to make the conference valuable.  We are confident the 2014 GFIC will once again be beneficial to all attendees.

Registration materials will be mailed out next week along with additional information detailing the program.  Please call the Embassy Suites Hotel by December 31, 2013  to reserve your room.  Identify yourself as part of the California Grain & Feed Association and receive our discounted group rate of $139.00.  The Embassy Suites Hotel phone number  is (831) 393-1115 or go on-line for a hotel reservation form www.cgfa.org/events.

  • Hotel Reservations (831) -393-1115  - Group Rate of $139.00 reserve now.
  • 1-800-Embassy: Be Sure  to the say  "2014 Grain Feed Conference" or by referencing the group code "CGF".    

2014 Grain & Feed Industry Conference

 

Schedule of Events

 

Tuesday: Jan. 14th

5:00 pm/7:30 pm                      Early Registration and Welcome Reception

 

Wednesday: Jan. 15th 

8:00 am/9:30 am                      NFPA New Standards, Regulations, Bin Sweeps, and New Legislation

    Facing Industry

          • Jess McCluer, Director of Safety and Regulatory Affairs, NGFA.

9:30 am/10:00 am                    Forklift Maintenance

          • Audie Burgan, JM Equipment Co., Inc.
10:15 am/11:30 am                 Food Safety in the Spotlight specifically compliance w/ new U.S. food safety laW
          • Matt Frederking, Ralco Nutrition Inc.

11:30 am/12:00 noon              CDFA Update on FSMA Model for the Feed Industry

          • Jenna Areias/Mike Davidson/Samantha Moran, CDFA

12:00 noon/1:00 pm                 Group Luncheon: Networking Opportunities for Students/ Internships

                                   

1:00 pm/2:00 pm                     Rail / Locomotives / Rail Safety

          • Frank Jones, Pacific West Systems
          • Bart & Phillip Verstegen, Southwest Locomotives
          • Peter Schwartzing, H & H Eng.

2:00 pm/3:15 pm                     Trucking

          • Outsourcing - Rodney Nye, JB Hunt Transport, Inc.
          • Regulations/Rules - Pat Smith, Harris Ranch

3:30 pm/5:00 pm                     Production Session

          • Mixers - Mark Daniel, Evonik
          • Pelleting - Ragen Garrison, Andritz
          • Emissions - Doug Vickery, R.F. MacDonald
          • Castell Trapped Key - Castell Representative  

5:00 pm/6:30 pm                     Table Top Exhibits and Social Hour

 

6:30 pm/9:00 pm                     Group BBQ Dinner Buffet and Fun Casino Night

 

Thursday: Jan. 16th

8:00 am/9:15 am                      Energy

          • Solar Panels - Grant Garland, Bar ALE Inc.
          • Energy Savings Measures for Feed Mills - Justin Westmoreland PE, Staff Engineer at Alternative Energy Systems Consulting

 

9:30 am/11:30 am                    Motivational

          • Marty Jakosa, Human Resource Manager/Certified Professional Coach

 

11:30 am                                 Golden Bucket Award, Closing, Grand Prize

 

1:00 pm                                   Golf at Pacific Grove Municipal Course

 

 

Farm Bill "Progressing," Say Conferees; Increasingly Key to Budget Talks

Principals in the on-going 2013 Farm Bill conference committee continue to plug along, with reports this week there is "good, solid progress", and there actually may be at least the framework of a broad deal next week that will get overall congressional approval.

 

However, is the $20-30 billion in savings included in the pending 2013 Farm Bill a key to getting an overall federal budget deal?  Yes, say the Democrats, including Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D, MI), who sits as a conferee on both conference committees, her sentiment echoed by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack this week.  House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH) surprised many by saying "no," Farm Bill savings are not deficit reduction fodder just to get a budget deal, but "a separate issue." He's made sure House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R, WI), who chairs the House-Senate budget resolution conference committee, understands that fact.

 

Rep. Frank Lucas (R, OK) shed light on commodity title negotiations when he told an Oklahoma radio station this week Senate negotiators have finally agreed "you have to have a safety net that works not just for the Midwest, but for everybody else."  This, he said, is a signal both sides of the conference table will agree to a shallow loss program as an option to replace direct payments - the government covers losses not paid by crop insurance - but there will be target prices and countercyclical payments offered on some crops.  Lucas said he favors farmers choosing an income protection option and sticking to that choice for five years.  The Senate wants to allow farmers to move among program options during that time.  Outstanding issues that remain include how participation is calculated - choice v. "all inclusive," and how acres are calculated - but Lucas said he was feeling "upbeat" about progress.  Also under active discussion is a requirement in the Senate bill to require cross compliance between conservation programs and crop insurance.

 

Rep. Collin Peterson (D, MN), ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, said good progress is being made on a deal, and that he, House ag panel chair Rep. Frank Lucas (R, OK), Stabenow and Senate ag committee ranking member Sen. Thad Cochran (R, MS) "have been left alone" by their respective chamber leadership.  Ag staff told reporters they're not talking much to the media about discussions because "negotiating in the press" slows the process.

 

Vilsack stated at a meeting this week Congress will pass a Farm Bill by the end of the year, because "if you don't have a Farm Bill, you don't have a budget."  He referred to attempts by budget resolution negotiators to temper the impact of sequestration's mandatory spending cuts using Farm Bill savings rather than going after entitlement programs like Medicare or Social Security.

 

Ag leaders said this week they'd hoped to make quicker work of reconciling the two bills, but waiting for the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to provide them formal cost projections was slowing the process. 

 
Farm Bill Insights

Obama Calls Farm Bill "No. 1" Economic Priority - President Obama at a November 8 speech in New Orleans said, in the context of overall job growth and economic recovery, the Farm Bill must be Congress' first step in growing the economy.  He called for passage of a "farm bill that helps rural communities grow and protects vulnerable Americans...so let's do the right thing," he said, "(and) pass a Farm Bill.  We can start selling more products, and that's more business (for the Port of New Orleans), and that means more jobs right here."  

 

CBO Says 10-year, $130-Billion Ag Savings Possible --  A regular Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report this week on how the overall federal budget can be trimmed to save money included six options in the ag sector, changes that could save $130 billion over 10 years.  The areas targeted by CBO include conservation by prohibiting new enrollment and reenrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), saving $5 billion; crop insurance by reducing premium subsidies to 40%, saving $27 billion, limiting reimbursement of company administrative costs to 9.25% of premiums, and limiting the return on company investment subsidy to 12%; eliminating direct payments and saving $25 billion; food stamps could be changed to save $50 billion by requiring standard asset/income eligibility standards, lowering the income limit on households generally not eligible and eliminating energy cost subsidies; eliminating federal subsidies for school lunches for students from high income families, saving $10 billion, and several changes to the Forestry Service to save $5 billion over the next decade

Reports Say Food Stamp Deal may be $10-Billion Cut - Farm Bill negotiators are looking at a compromise on federal food stamp cuts that would trim the program by $10 billion over 10 years, but seeks to placate critics by incorporating changes in how the program works, according to a National Journal story this week.  The cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are seen as a major hurdle to achieving a final Farm Bill as the Senate wants to cut $4.1 billion over a decade, but the House bill would cut $40 billion over the same period. The extra $6 billion the Senate is expected to accept would be paid for by changing how benefits are calculated using a formula in the Senate bill.  It would also tinker with the low income energy assistance program loophole that allows participants to get more foods stamps if they qualify for energy assistance. Critics of the $10-billion figure say it represents budget tricks, as the program already took an $11-billion reduction when the recession-inspired food stamp expansion program expired on November 1.

 

NMPF Says No Production Control Equals Milk Surplus - The Senate reinvention of dairy price support programs - margin insurance coupled with production controls - continues to generate angst among Farm Bill conferees because the House version eliminated its production control language during floor consideration.  The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) this week said if production controls aren't part of the final package then USDA will "spend billions of dollars" on milk price supports due to overproduction. The production control language - opposed by dairy processors and some independent dairy producers - is necessary to signal farmers to cut production when margins narrow. NMPF says supply controls equal "market stabilization," a move to "encourage a faster rebound in healthy margins and reducing costs."

 

King Amendment Chances "Even" - Language in the House Farm Bill by Rep. Steve King (R, IA) to preempt state laws dictating farm animal production practices that interfere in interstate commerce has an "even" chance of being part of the final package, the Iowa lawmaker said this week.  He told a forum in Washington, DC, the conference hasn't taken up his language, but "if the Constitution and rationale thought prevail" it will stay.  Critics, including animal rights groups, governors and several of his fellow conferees, contend his language, designed to stop states from blocking the sale of animal products not produced under state criteria, has a much broader impact on unrelated state laws and programs.

 
CARB Diesel & LSI Compliance/Retrofit Training - NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2013 -- New Sessions Added

The California Air Resources Board is offering the following training courses in mid-November and December. Several new sessions have been added. These courses will help diesel & LSI vehicle owners, operators, fleet managers,brokers, dealers, and maintenance personnel understand requirements and technologies for complying with California's diesel and LSI vehicle regulations. There is no charge for these courses.

 

  •  Click here for all dates and class descriptions.....  (CLICK)
 
Immigration Reform Dead this Year

The House has walked away from its plans to begin floor consideration of a series of individual immigration reform bills before the end of 2013. This week House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH) said he will not let the House conference on the Senate-approved comprehensive immigration reform bill.  This effectively means election year political wrangling will wait until 2014.  "Frankly, I have no intention of ever going to conference with the Senate...bill, even if Republicans pass one of their own," he told reporters.  The Senate approved a comprehensive package of federal immigration law changes, many sections negotiated between affected stakeholders before the bill was introduced.  The bill passed by a strong bipartisan majority.  The House has opted to take up individual bills dealing with specific areas of federal immigration law, and the House Judiciary Committee has taken the lead on moving nearly 10 bills.  Boehner says the House approach is the "common sense, step-by-step way" to achieve federal immigration reform.

 
Industry Awaits EPA RFS Announcement; AP Story on Enviro Impact Denounced

 

As agriculture and the renewable fuels industry continue to await EPA's announcement of the 2014 Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) biofuels blend mandate for gasoline refiners, the renewable fuels industry strongly denounced an Associated Press (AP) story this week accusing the Administration and ethanol producers of causing environmental damage.

 

The EPA announcement has been expected throughout the week, with livestock and poultry producers, allied with the petroleum industry, hoping for a drastic cut - to 2012 levels at least - for all biofuels, but especially for the corn ethanol.  The renewable fuels industry has lobbied hard for the last several weeks hoping to blunt a drastic reduction in the 2014 blend mandate, urging the White House to hold the blend rate at 2013 levels at least.  If that lobbying effort is unsuccessful, lawsuits will likely be filed challenging EPA authority to reduce the RFS mandate.

 

In a related development, 32 Senators sent a letter to the White House this week urging President Obama to allow "reasonable growth" for the biodiesel sector of the renewable fuels industry, setting the RFS for biodiesel at 1.7 billion gallons for 2014, roughly expected industry production.  To not increase the biodiesel RFS, they said, could lead to plant closures and thousands of jobs lost.

   

But the big ethanol news this week is an AP story (http://bigstory.ap.org/topic/ethanol) that ran nationally November 12, drawing immediate and strong rejection from corn growers, biofuels manufacturers and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

 

The story's headline tells the tale: "The secret, dirty cost of Obama's green power push." Vilsack called the story "unfortunate" and full of "lots of mistakes and half truths." He said his department tried to work with the AP reporters, but they were focused on land leaving the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) as evidence of acres going to corn and other feedstock crops for biofuels. "It's not fair to the industry not to take into consideration all the innovation in the industry," Vilsack said.

 

The Renewable Fuels Assn. (RFA) issued a fact sheet refuting several points in the story, and Tom Buis, president of Growth Energy, an ethanol association, said, "This so-called 'investigative report' is nothing more than a one-sided piece with explicit misinformation used in attempts to discredit the renewable fuels industry. The single take-away from this piece is that the authors need to get a fact-checker; even the simplest facts were misconstrued. The absence of rudimentary fact checking is truly astounding."

 

National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson said for the reporters to blame ethanol production for the reduction in CRP acres is wrong. "What it neglects to mention is that Congress reduced the CRP by roughly 7 million acres in the 2008 Farm Bill and is poised to reduce acreage by another 7-8 million acres," he said. The National Corn Growers Assn. (NCGA) said it is "discouraging that the Associated Press is following a political agenda."

 

FDA to hold November 21 FSMA Feed Rule Public Meeting in Maryland

 

The first of three FDA public meetings on the recently proposed performance standards rule for animal feed and pet food required by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) will be held November 21 at the Harvey W. Riley Federal Building, College Park, Maryland.  Presentations are expected from Michael Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine; Dr. Dan McChesney, FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) director of surveillance and compliance; Kim  Young, deputy director, CVM division of compliance, and Dr. Linda Tollefson, FDA associate commissioner, Office of Foods and Veterinary Medicine.  The agency will take public comments and questions throughout the meeting. The meeting will be at 8:30 a.m. and end at 2:30 a.m.  More information is available at www.fda.gov/fsma.

 
Obama Taps Treasury's Massad to be CFTC Chair; Aggies Ask for Ag Commissioner

U.S Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Timothy Massad is President Obama's nomination to be chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), replacing Gary Gensler who will step down at the end of the year.

 

In a related development, 19 national agriculture stakeholders in CFTC operations, including the American Feed Industry Assn. (AFIA) and the National Grain & Feed Assn. (NGFA), this week sent a letter to President Obama asking him to ensure future nominees to replace retiring commissioners will include at least one nominee who understands agricultural futures markets.  The letter was inspired by the announced departure of ag expert Commissioner Bart Chilton "in the not too distant future."

 

The Commodity Markets Oversight Coalition (CMOC), in which AFIA and NGFA are active as market end-user members, said of the Massad nomination, "...we hope that Mr. Massad will be as committed as Chairman Gensler to positive reforms that will ensure more stable, accountable and transparent commodity derivative markets free of fraud, manipulation and excessive speculation.  Unfortunately, we have not previously had the opportunity to work with Mr. Massad.  We hope to learn more about his views on these matters as the vetting process moves forward."

 

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D, OH) said he's concerned Massad may not be as "committed a regulator" as Gensler was, while several consumer groups are urging the Senate Agriculture Committee, which will consider the Massad nomination, to elicit commitments from him that he'll force strong rules and regulations under the agency's new Dodd-Frank Act authority.  

 

On the departure of Chilton and the need for an ag expert as a CFTC member, the national groups wrote, "Commissioner Chilton has an extensive agricultural background having worked on agricultural policy issues in the Senate and at USDA."  

 

"His departure leaves the agricultural industry without a commissioner with background in our market sector.  We believe it is critically important to nominate, and the Senate confirm, at least one of the vacant commissioner seats to an individual with a working understanding of agriculture futures markets and our industry," the letter said.

 

With Chilton's departure, there may be only two CFTC commissioners in place by year's end and work could stall. Obama has nominated J. Christopher Giancarlo to fill one of the Republican slots, but the Senate ag panel has not acted on the nomination. 

 
OSHA Sets New Program for Some Midwest Chemical Users

Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska are the targets of a new OSHA "local emphasis program" designed to set up programmed health inspections for industries using hazardous chemicals.  The program is focusing on companies which reported chemical releases to EPA, and is intended to provide education for company management and to strengthen protections for employees, OSHA said. 

A local emphasis program is a focused enforcement strategy OSHA uses at the regional or area level.  The chemicals reported to EPA as having been released include ammonia, barium, chromium and copper compounds, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen fluoride, lead and manganese compounds, N-hexane; styrene, sulfuric acid, and nitrate, vanadium and zinc compounds, according to a report in meatingplace.com, a meat industry e-newsletter.

 
December is Farm to Food Bank Month - Pushing for 200 Million Pounds of Food Annually by 2015

 

by Karen Ross, California Agriculture Secretary

  

It is believed that more than 49 million people are food insecure in our nation - one in every six Americans. In California, almost 4 million people are food insecure, which means they could not afford enough food at least once in the previous year. As you can imagine, the hardest hit demographic is low-income households with children. In a bountiful state like California, this is unacceptable.

 

That's why I'm asking farmers and ranchers to make a donation or a pledge during our annual Farm-to-Food Bank Month - December. More than 127 million pounds of food have been donated through this program to food banks so far this year, surpassing last year's donations. The food went directly to individuals and families in need. As impressive a feat as that is, we still have some distance to go before reaching our goal of 200 million pounds by 2015.

 

Farmers and ranchers should feel free to post a pledge here in the CDFA Planting Seeds Blog comments section and then contact Steve Linkhart of the California Association of Food Banks (CAFB) at 510-350-9916.

 

They are also invited to join me and the California State Board of Food and Agriculture as we hold CDFA's annual donation event on December 10, 2013 at California Emergency Foodlink in Sacramento. This event will be held from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at California Emergency Foodlink, 5800 Foodlink Street, Sacramento, CA 95828. This is a partnership with CAFB's Farm-to-Family Program, as well as Ag Against Hunger, Hidden Harvest, and the California Farm Bureau Federation's Young Farmers and Ranchers Program.

 

Feeding people is what Ag does, and we're already doing a lot for our neediest citizens. But there is much more hunger out there, and I hope our farmers and ranchers will join us as we work toward our ultimate goal of eliminating it altogether.