Dairy Farmers Receiving Early Payments

The dairy farmer-owners of Associated Milk Producers Incorporated are getting a financial boost. Payments, normally mailed out in December, are being mailed ahead of schedule to help dairy farmers weather difficult economic times. Members are receiving 2.1-million dollars in past earnings from the cooperative.

Rice Lake, Wisconsin Dairy Farmer and AMPI chairman Paul Toft announced the board’s vote to move up payments normally made in December. Toft said, - AMPI has long been recognized for its timely equity revolvements. We’re living up to our reputation, he said. The June payout is a portion of the projected equity payments AMPI members will receive in 2009.

AMPI’s earnings come from adding value to every hundredweight of milk produced by its dairy farmer-owners. Member milk is manufactured into a complete line of packaged dairy products, including the cooperative’s award-winning cheeses. The cooperative packages dairy products under hundreds of leading labels to fulfill orders from retail, food service and food ingredient customers.

Light on Immigration Bill Flickers to Life

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says passing a comprehensive immigration bill this session is one of his top priorities. His other two priorities are health care and energy. Reid’s comments seemed to give new life to the immigration issue. But, Congress and the White House are preoccupied with a packed legislative calendar and immigration reform looks unlikely to pass this year.

Senator Charles Schumer plans to draft and introduce a new immigration measure later this year. That could result in Congressional movement on the issue.

In the meantime, the White House will host a meeting of key lawmakers and advocacy groups to discuss immigration. The administration continues to say that Obama wants to - start the debate this year, - but the President has not asked for a bill to sign in 2009.

Interior Department Establishes Youth Corps

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has signed a Secretarial Order establishing an Office of Youth in Natural Resources at the Department of the Interior. The office will coordinate present and future youth initiatives, the signature program of which will be a 21st Century Youth Conservation Corps. The corps will be modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps that provided 3-million men with jobs in the 1930s. By comparison, the 21st Century Youth Conservation Corps will include women as well as men and strive for greater diversity.

The Secretary said the Interior Department expects the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to result in the employment of an additional 5-thousand young people by this summer. In making the announcement Salazar said, - President Obama and I believe that during tough economic times, a new national youth program is needed to provide jobs, outdoor experiences and career opportunities for young people –especially women, minorities, tribal and other underserved youth.

The program will engage thousands of young men and women in all states and territories, from diverse backgrounds, including tribal and underserved populations and those who have little opportunity to experience the outdoors.

Leaders Balk at Obama Request for H1N1 Vaccine Funding

Early last week President Obama asked Congress for authority to spend up to an additional 9-billion dollars for an H1N1 flu vaccine. 3-billion of those funds would come from the Project BioShield Special Reserve Fund. The leaders of a bipartisan commission on weapons of mass destruction say the action would - weaken the nation's preparedness for terrorism.

In a letter to the President, the commission’s chairman, former Senator Bob Graham and vice chairmen, former Senator James Talent, said - using BioShield funds for flu preparedness will severely diminish the nation's efforts to prepare for Weapons of Mass Destruction events and will leave the nation less, not more, prepared. The Commission leaders said the H1N1 influenza virus poses a public health threat that merits its own funding.

The commission's opposition followed other criticism of the administration's flu vaccine funding plans. Congressional Republicans attacked the White House's request for authority to use 3.1 billion dollars in discretionary stimulus funds. Kenneth Baer, spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget said, - except in extraordinary circumstances, BioShield funds will not be accessed.

Veal Industry Changing to Group Housing

In May 2007, the American Veal Association’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to adopt a resolution calling for all U.S. veal farms to transition to group housing systems by December 31, 2017. A survey of the veal industry conducted in April 2009 found that 34.8 percent of veal calves currently going to market are raised in group housing. The AVA calls this progress - ahead of schedule.

Dr. Drew Vermeire, a calf nutritionist and chairman of the industry committee which oversees U.S. veal care and quality farming standards, says - veal farmers are now embracing research proven, science-based animal husbandry guidelines on how to provide high quality individual care to calves raised in group pen facilities. Vermeire reports - some farmers adopted group housing early and moved to this system entirely while others are phasing in as they experience good results.

The goal is to always ensure excellent individual care to calves raised in groups while producing wholesome and tender quality meat that veal consumers expect and enjoy. Research continues among industry scientists and at universities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe to help manage calf group behavior, nutritional needs, and to refine various group housing systems to improve calf well-being.

Ag Economist Updates Producers at World Pork Expo

Leading Ag Economist Glenn Grimes gave pork producers at World Pork Expo an update on pork production economics - saying hog producers face at least another year of financial loses. He says the hog industry needs a cutback of five to ten-percent in the country’s sow herd to boost hog prices. Grimes told producers they aren’t getting the hog price increase they normally do this time of year - attributing some of that to the non-swine flu that has impacted consumer demand for pork.

This is making it rough on producers who have to downsize the hog herd and – according to Grimes – break-even prices for this summer will probably be in the low 50-dollar per hundredweight range. He says hog producers would be in better shape if corn would be two-dollars per bushel instead of four.

Grimes says the U.S. hog industry has to downsize. Producers hoped prices could get to around 80-dollars per hundredweight by now - but the market isn’t going above 60 - with the June futures price contract closing down on Wednesday at roughly 57-dollars in trading. But Grimes does believe the industry will be looking at financial recovery in a year and hopes hog prices will be profitable at that time.

Sow Buyout Program Announced

An independent group of U.S. hog producers has organized a sow buyout program aimed at helping producers get out of the hog business. This move is said to be in response to low hog prices and high production costs. The program will begin taking bids by June 15th.

The group’s chairman is Chuck Wirtz, a producer from Whittemore, Iowa. Wirtz says producers will pay 20 dollars per sow they own to join the Producer Retirement Program. The funds would be used to buy and slaughter sows from hog producers who want to exit the business.

The program will reduce the U.S. hog herd and, as a result, boost hog prices.

Lucas Speaks Out on H.R. 2454

In a written editorial, House Ranking Member Frank Lucas has addressed the Waxman-Markey bill (H.R. 2454), or the Cap & Trade Bill. In his document Lucas emphasized the devastating economic impact this legislation will have on production agriculture and rural economies. From higher energy costs to lost jobs to higher food prices, cap-and-trade, Lucas said, - promises to cap our incomes, our livelihoods, and our standard of living, while it trades away American jobs and opportunities.

Lucas stressed how important it is for Congress to allow the legislative process to work by holding hearings and having a markup. Lucas said the Waxman-Markey bill will have a - monumental impact - on our economy. He added, - we must take time to fully understand this impact because it will be far-reaching and felt for generations to come.

Although agriculture will be significantly impacted by this legislation, Lucas pointed out this bill - largely ignores our farmers and ranchers. Its more than 11-hundred pages long do not specifically recognize the role agriculture can play in providing carbon offsets, and, Lucas adds, it does not provide a meaningful way for farmers to participate in carbon credit programs.

It's been announced the House Ag Committee will hold a public hearing on the measure this week. It's scheduled for Thursday at one o'clock Central time.

More Support for Agriculture’s Role in Sequestration

Worldwatch Institute has co-published a report that shows innovations in food production and land use, if scaled up now, could reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to roughly 25 percent of global fossil fuel emissions. Co-published by Ecoagriculture Partners, the report suggests that as the price of carbon rises with new caps on emissions and expanding markets for carbon offsets, the contribution of land-based, or “terrestrial,” carbon to climate change mitigation efforts could increase even further.

Industrial carbon capture and sequestration technologies, which remain unproven and will not be ready for implementation for many years, promise only to sequester greenhouse gases that have yet to be released into the atmosphere. However, say the report’s authors, agricultural and other land use management practices are the only innovations available today to sequester greenhouse gases that are already in the atmosphere by pulling in carbon dioxide through photosynthesis to grow and sustain more plants.

Worldwatch believes that mobilizing agricultural carbon sequestration is an essential tool in the effort to reduce the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases to the 350 parts-per-million level that many scientists argue we must achieve to stem climate change.