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Texas Agriculture Archive
April 21, 2006
The Agriculture Department has completed compiling the verbal and written comments presented during the 2005 National Farm Bill Forum listening tour organized by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.
"The effort to categorize the comments, while ensuring every opinion is represented, led to the development of 41 general subject areas. These formed the basis for the 41 summary papers," a USDA news release notes.
"A total of 52 farm bill forums were held with Johanns "hosting" 21 of them. Besides comments from persons speaking at each forum, the summary of opinion compiled includes submissions through the USDA website and by mail.
In total, more than 4,000 opinions were processed for the final compilation/summary.
Gehl exits farm
equipment market
Gehl Company announced recently that it is discontinuing production and distribution of
agricultural implements.
The company will continue to build industrial material handling equipment such as skid loaders and compact excavators.
The West Bend, Wis.-based company noted that a large base for their agricultural equipment over the years has been dairy farmers.
"Many of our small diary farmer customers have either retired or sold their operations to
larger producers. Consequently, the customer base for our agricultural implement line has declined
dramatically," said William Gehl, chief executive officer and company chairman.
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; April 5, 2006
The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) says 25 petroleum terminals have agreed to load pre-blended biodiesel onto tanker trucks.
This means distributors can eliminate the additional cost and inconvenience of making two stops to obtain the biodiesel and petroleum diesel, and then buying blending equipment.
NBB says it's a growing trend that will rapidly increase integration of
biodiesel into the existing petroleum infrastructure, boosting usage.
Source: Doane's Agricultural Report; April 7, 2006; Vol. 69, No. 14-1
WTO has "failed to deliver" and the U.S. should bow out, according to the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Bill Thomas (R-Calif.).
Thomas said the Bush administration should stop wasting time on the Doha round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks and focus resources on negotiating bilateral trade agreements.
"The U.S. and the European Union have irreconcilable differences" in agricultural trade and they should "part ways," he said.
Thomas' committee has jurisdiction over trade legislation in the House, and he
said it will be extremely difficult to get the president's Trade Promotion Authority
renewed.
Source: Doane's Agricultural Report; April 7, 2006; Vol. 69, No. 14-1
Five white pigs born in November at the University of Missouri contain genes that make them produce omega-3 fatty acids in their muscles.
The cloning of these pigs with changes to their meat's nutritional value is being called groundbreaking. They are the first livestock to be cloned and genetically modified to produce omega-3 fatty acids. Consumption of omega-3 fatty acids, which are primarily found in fish, is attributed with helping lower cholesterol and heart disease.
The pigs are the result of work led by scientists at Harvard Medical School, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of Missouri. Huge opposition to allowing genetically modified livestock products on the market is being mustered by some anti-biotech organizations, and years of additional genetics work will be required before government agencies can allow such products on the market.
At the moment, there are no answers to whether eating modified pork will translate into the same health effects as eating fish. If the omega-3 positives transfer, the researchers see doing such things as developing cows that produce omega-3 fatty acid milk and chickens that lay extremely high omega-3 content eggs.
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; March 29, 2006
Horse owners: Vaccinate
now against West Nile
State agriculture departments in areas where West Nile virus has been in the past are warning horse owners to vaccinate their horses before the mosquito season is full blown.
A booster shot is recommended for those horses that have previously been vaccinated.
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; April 6, 2006
Russia closer to joining WTO
United States Trade Representative Rob Portman issued a statement recently saying progress is being made for Russia to accede to the World Trade Organization. He said it is in the best interest of the U.S. and other countries of the world to have Russia "in the rules-based WTO systems."
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; March 30, 2006
