Calendar
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July 28-30 |
CFB Secretaries Conference, Waco |
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Aug. 2 |
District 10 YF&R Meeting, San Antonio |
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Aug. 4-7 |
TFB AgLead VIII Meeting, Chicago |
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Aug. 4 |
District 3 Policy Development Meeting, Archer City |
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Aug. 5 |
District 6 Policy Development Meeting, San Angelo |
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Aug. 5 |
District 7 Policy Development Meeting, Comanche |
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Aug. 7 |
District 10 Policy Development Meeting, Lytle |
Planned seed price hike prompts questions
News of a seed company’s plan to hike fees for use of its technologies during a time of historically high farm input costs recently prompted Farm Bureau leaders to action.
In a letter dated July 15, American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman of Texas grilled Monsanto President and CEO Hugh Grant on the company’s plan to increase prices.
"The American Farm Bureau Federation is deeply concerned to hear that Monsanto will again be dramatically increasing prices for its corn and soybean seed technologies in 2009," Stallman wrote. "Since the introduction of biotechnology in agriculture 12 years ago, farmers have seen soybean seed prices in the U.S. triple, while corn seed prices have more than doubled.
"On top of these significant historical price increases, this year Monsanto is planning some of the highest single-year price increases in the history of the technology. Despite the fact that many producers saw the price of RoundUp double last year, prices are expected to rise yet again this year," he said.
The cost increases couldn’t have come at a worse time, said George Caldwell, Texas Farm Bureau’s row crop specialist. In addition to seed and herbicide price increases, farmers are also paying more for everything else—fertilizers have doubled in the last year, and most importantly, fuel has never cost more.
"With corn and soybean prices at record highs, the temptation certainly exists for branded input manufacturers to increase prices," Stallman said. "While we hope the favorable prices we are now enjoying for most commodities continue, history has shown it is not likely to be the case long-term. Commodity prices will decrease, and given recent input cost increases, the break-even commodity price for farmers is rising by the day."
To add to growers’ frustrations, farmers in other parts of the world continue to pay little or nothing for the same technologies used by U.S. producers, Stallman said.
"Soybean seed prices have increased almost $30 per acre in the U.S. over the past decade, and most of this increase is attributable to increased trait costs," he said. "Brazilian farmers are being charged approximately $3 per acre for the exact same technology, and Argentine farmers are paying nothing at all."
Stallman also voiced concerns about increasing resistance to RoundUp traits around the country, as well as increasingly fewer choices in seed choice options for farmers.
Hurricane Dolly slams South Texas
With 100-plus mph winds and storm swells in excess of five feet, Hurricane Dolly slammed the South Texas coastline last week, dumping a foot of rain on some areas as she inched her way up the Rio Grande. Dolly was rated a Category 2 storm when she struck Brownsville midday Wednesday.
President Bush on July 24 declared a major disaster in Texas, meaning federal funding will be available for the following counties: Aransas, Bexar, Brooks, Calhoun, Cameron, Hidalgo, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Starr, Victoria and Willacy.
Federal funding will also be available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials say damage surveys have been requested and will be conducted as soon as the situation allows it.
Gov. Rick Perry made a similar declaration on the state level earlier in the week so that disaster resources could be funneled to the area if needed. As of Thursday, downed power lines, structure damages and rising flood waters were a major concern to those living along the border.
Emergency officials planned to begin assessing the damage on July 24. The busiest part of the Atlantic hurricane season is usually in August and September. So far this year, there have been four named storms, two of which became hurricanes. Federal forecasters predict a total of 12 to 16 named storms and six to nine hurricanes this season.
AFBF: CRP ruling a big win for farmers, ranchers
Texas ranchers claimed a major win on July 24 when a federal judge in Seattle, Wash., ruled to conditionally allow haying and grazing on Conservation Reserve Program acreage, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. Those provisions were part of the Critical Feed Use program announced in May by the Agriculture Department.
"The court recognized that this temporary USDA program will be of great benefit to farmers and ranchers in dealing with the increased costs of feeding livestock," said AFBF President Bob Stallman.
The program was designed by USDA to allow the use of CRP acreage for critical feed use. The program was challenged by a lawsuit from the National Wildlife Federation, claiming USDA did not follow proper procedure regarding an environmental assessment.
The judge issued a narrow permanent injunction to allow those producers with approved CRP contracts to continue operations through the program’s original Nov. 10 deadline. Farmers and ranchers who sent applications but have not received approvals will have their applications processed. If approved, those producers may hay until Sept. 30 or graze until Oct. 15.
Farmers and ranchers who have not yet sent applications may do so provided they submit in their application a statement explaining their reliance on the CFU program. The reliance statement should indicate whether the producer made investments or preparations of $4,500 or more and provide documentation. If the contract is approved, those producers also will be able to hay until Sept. 30 or graze until Oct. 15.
Prior to the July 24 ruling, AFBF and other ag groups filed two friend-of-the-court briefs on behalf of farmers and ranchers in the case.
The first brief provided details from 29 farmers and ranchers—including two operations here in Texas—on the management decisions and investments they made in preparation to take part in the program. Check out the next edition of Texas Agriculture to find out more about those affected in the Lone Star State.
The second brief addressed possible remedies that could be taken to consider the positions of the affected farmers and ranchers.
"We firmly believe our documentation of the good faith efforts and investments taken by farmers and ranchers to participate in a program, which was announced in May, weighed heavily in the judges deliberations," said AFBF General Counsel Julie Anna Potts. "That is why we were invited to present additional information before the judge and why the program was not thrown out on first consideration. Involvement from our members made a difference."
The critical feed use program was designed to give eligible farmers and ranchers permission for "special, one-time" hay and forage use of certain CRP acreage after the primary nesting season ends for grass-nesting birds. The program was developed with the goal of providing some relief for livestock producers by reducing record-high feed costs. According to USDA estimates, the initiative would generate around 18 million tons of hay, worth approximately $1.2 billion.
The critical feed use initiative is not related to emergency use of CRP land.
Learn about meat goats in Lubbock
Texas AgriLife Extension Service will conduct a meat goat management workshop from 8:30 a.m. until noon Aug. 18 at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center located three miles north of Lubbock International Airport on FM 1294.
The Lubbock area has about 2,000 head of breeding-age meat goat does, and the numbers are growing, said Robert Scott, AgriLife Extension agent in Lubbock County.
"We have a lot of small-acreage landowners who have 10 to 50 head," he said. "They are the ones we are trying to reach with this program, which targets new and veteran producers alike."
The workshop will cover several topics, including goat health, nutrition and management, as well as reproduction, marketing and selection of live animals.
Registration is $15 by Aug. 11. For more information, go to http://lubbock-tx.tamu.edu and click on Goat Management Workshop.
USDA pledges $4 million to study bee disappearances caused by CCD
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced July 17 that more than $4 million will be awarded to the University of Georgia to study the causes of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and other diseases affecting bee populations, whose pollination is valued at $15 billion annually to U.S. agriculture.
"Bees are an extremely valuable contributor to the overall productivity of American agriculture, but invasive pests, diseases and environmental stresses are putting U.S. bees at serious risk," Schafer said. "This research will help beekeepers meet the pollination demand for the nation’s food supply."
The Protection of Managed Bees Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP), funded through a four-year grant from USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), aims to improve the health of managed bee populations in agricultural systems.
The research will address genomics, breeding, pathology, immunology and applied ecology to explain the causes behind dwindling bee populations. Researchers will work closely with the extension community and other stakeholders to develop and implement mitigation strategies for CCD and other significant problems.
CCD became a matter of concern in the winter of 2006-2007 when an estimated 25 percent of the beekeepers in the United States reported major losses of adult bees from their hives.
