Food Safety Bill Passes House

The U.S. House of Representatives passed sweeping changes to the nation's food safety system late Thursday afternoon by a vote of 283-142. The vote came one day after Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK), Ranking Member on the House Ag Committee, led a charge to defeat the measure. Wednesday afternoon, H.R. 2479, the Food Safety Enhancement act of 2009, failed to win passage by the U.S. House of Representatives. The legislation will increase funding and give more authority to the Food and Drug Administration to police food safety. The vote Wednesday was 280 to 150. A two-thirds super majority was necessary for passage.

Under the legislation, the FDA will be able to order food recalls; require the agency to inspect food facilities more often; and would give FDA authority to set production and record-keeping standards to prevent contamination and more easily trace outbreaks. Food facilities would be required to register and pay an annual 500 dollar fee.

Before the vote, Representative Frank Lucas of Oklahoma said the bill would – lead to huge regulatory burdens on our nation’s farmers and ranchers and it would contribute little to the goal of safer food. He offered an amendment to force half of the funds collected by FDA to be invested in inspections.

The Senate is expected to wait until fall to consider similar legislation. That is when Representative Louise Slaughter will begin to push her antibiotics legislation in the House.

Legislation Would Encourage Local Wind Investments

Legislation has been introduced that would make it easier for farms and small-business owners to invest in wind energy. The Wind Energy Promotion Act - introduced by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson and fellow Minnesota Representative Tim Walz - would expand the eligibility of those who can receive benefits from the Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit. This legislation would not limit the ability of the current beneficiaries of the PTCs to continue receiving them.

PTCs are only useful to corporations and to individuals with large amounts of taxable investment income. As a result - most wind energy investments today are made by foreign multi-national companies and not by groups of Americans who want to join together to produce renewable energy.

The Wind Energy Promotion Act would amend the tax code to allow up to 40-thousand dollars of the PTC to be used against ordinary income. This passive loss exemption is similar to a 25-thousand dollar passive loss exemption that currently exists to encourage investments in oil and gas development and real estate.

U.S. Sorghum Again Going to Mexico

Once a robust market for U.S. sorghum - the U.S. Grains Council says Mexico is back. During the past three months - Mexico has purchased 22-million dollars worth of U.S. sorghum. U.S. Grains Council Senior Director Chris Corry says these sales would not have happened without the investments of Council members.

Starting in April - special funding from the Council’s sorghum members allowed a series of teams of Mexican importers and buyers to travel to the United States for a firsthand look at U.S. sorghum production and transportation. That opened the door - and since then 89-thousand tons of U.S. sorghum has been shipped to Yucatan, Mexico. And the purchase of another 31-thousand tons could be made through November.

Arturo Basulto - purchasing manager for feed grains and oilseeds at Inter Industrial in Yucatan - says the Council has provided the connections to grain farmers, agribusiness representatives and the field specialists needed to improve our operations. Basulto adds that this information and assistance is not always available.

Research Betters Ethanol Production

Agricultural Research Service scientists have developed a new yeast that makes ethanol from both five-carbon and six-carbon sugars without needing oxygen. ARS molecular biologist Stephen Hughes developed the strain to grow on xylose - a five-carbon plant sugar. Hughes works at the ARS National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois.

Producers already make grain ethanol by using yeast to ferment six-carbon plant sugars like glucose. But cost-effective production of cellulosic ethanol will require using both six-carbon and five-carbon sugars in the process. The importance of this research is that in industrial ethanol production - it's difficult to control oxygen levels as yeasts ferment sugars into ethanol. The new yeast strain would help alleviate this problem.

The process makes available glucose that might have been otherwise used by the yeast to grow and reproduce is now available for fermentation - and the rate of ethanol conversion increases.

Senators Question Livestock Indemnity Program

A coalition of eight U.S. Senators have signed a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in which they question if several new rules of the Livestock Indemnity Program will actually help farmers and ranchers if their herds incur losses from harsh weather. The letter was sent by Senators Chuck Grassley, Tom Harkin, Mike Johanns, Ben Nelson, Pat Roberts, Sam Brownback, Tim Johnson and John Thune.

The Senators specifically addressed the need to come up with a more precise methodology to calculate death losses for non-adult beef animals and the necessity to set a payment rate utilizing values corresponding to the time when the livestock were lost - such as monthly or quarterly price points.

Cheatgrass Good at Reproduction

Cheatgrass is a real problem. Especially in the vast rangelands of the American West. Cheatgrass is a weedy invader that looks something like a scraggly wheat plant. This fast-growing intruder crowds out native plants that cattle or wildlife could otherwise eat. And, because it burns hot and fast, cheatgrass boosts the wildfire hazard.

ARS researchers at the Exotic and Invasive Weeds Research Unit in Reno, Nevada have been looking at how the plant fertilizes, or pollinates, its tiny flowers. The scientists found that, contrary to the generally held opinion, cheatgrass is exclusively self-pollinating.

Cross-pollination is a plus for cheatgrass and here’s why. The exchange of pollen among individual cheatgrass plants can yield offspring with a genetic base that's broader, or more diverse, than that of either of the parents. A broader genetic base may give the new generations a greater ability to adapt to a wider range of environments and stresses than plants that only self-pollinate.

Turning Feather Meal Into Biodiesel

Scientists continue to prove that you can turn almost anything into an energy source. Researchers at the University of Nevada in Reno have developed a new and environmentally friendly process for developing biodiesel from commercial feather meal. Based on the amount of feather meal produced by the poultry industry, it is estimated the process could create up to 200 million gallons of biodiesel in the United States annually and 593.2 million gallons annually worldwide.

The process extracts fat by boiling feather meal and then transesterifing the fat into biodiesel using potassium hydroxide and methanol. The Researchers, Mano Misra and Susanta Mohapatra, say analysis confirms the biodiesel - is of good quality and comparable to other biodiesels made from other common feedstocks.

Administration Backs Brazil Tariff

The riff over the Administration’s stance on the tariff on Brazilian ethanol may have come to an end. In a statement, the Obama administration says it has no plans to change the current policy. The policy came into question when Thomas Shannon, the President’s nominee for Ambassador to Brazil, called removal of the tariff - beneficial. The Administration says - it has no plans to change it. The Obama Administration says it is - committed - to developing our domestic biofuels industry and to help the international market for biofuels grow.

The CEO of Growth Energy applauded the Administration for reinforcing its commitment to homegrown ethanol. Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis said - keeping the tariff on Brazilian ethanol will ensure the development of a domestic renewable fuel industry, which creates green collar jobs, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, strengthens our national security, and improves the environment.