A study conducted by researchers from USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says airports may want to consider converting to alternative fuels where it is both economically and environmentally beneficial. In introducing the research results, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said – such efforts may be particularly beneficial for rural economic development, as many rural airport properties contain expansive grasslands that potentially could be converted to biofuel crops or other renewable energy sources.

Converting airport grasslands to biofuel, solar or wind production not only provides more environmentally-sound alternative energy sources for our country, but may also increase revenue for airports and reduce the local abundance of potentially hazardous wildlife to aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration is committed to working with airports interested in pursuing the potential for changes in land use to support alternative energy production.

Once biofuel crops are identified for airport use that have low wildlife-strike risks compared to existing airport land covers, converting grasslands to these land uses could produce renewable energy and also provide airports with an additional source of revenue.

Courtesy: NAFB News

The 2012 Farm Bill Energy Title marker bill has been introduced in the Senate. Introduced by Senator Tom Harkin and co-sponsored by Senators Al Franken, Amy Klobuchar, and Kent Conrad, the bill would reauthorize and provide mandatory funding for programs such as the Rural Energy for America Program, Biomass Crop Assistance Program, and Biorefinery Assistance Program.

National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson says – by fully funding these crucial renewable energy programs, Congress will signal that it is serious about creating jobs in rural America and weaning America off of its addiction to foreign oil. Johnson says – we must continue developing the next generation of biofuels, and these programs are necessary to meet the Renewable Fuels Standard.

Johnson adds – this bill would help create stable policies to support agriculture and would help to give farmers an additional revenue stream through renewable energy.

Courtesy: NAFB News

South Dakota Senator John Thune has introduced the Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act, S. 2242, to abolish the federal estate tax, something agriculture has been working toward for decades. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President J.D. Alexander calls the tax – an unnecessary tax on small businesses and farm and ranch families across the country. The Senate bill is identical to H.R. 1259 introduced in the House by Representatives Kevin Brady of Texas.

According to Alexander, the death tax is detrimental to the farmers and ranchers who live off the land and run asset-rich, cash poor family-owned small businesses. He says – our priority is to keep families in agriculture and this tax works against that goal.

The appraised value of rural land is extremely inflated when compared to its agricultural value. Many cattle producers are forced to spend an enormous amount of money on attorneys or sell off land or parts of the operation to pay off tax liabilities. This takes more open space out of agriculture and usually puts it into the hands of urban developers.

Courtesy: NAFB News

Following USDA’s announcement that it would permit school food programs to purchase beef not containing Lean Finely Textured Beef, a nation-wide dialogue erupted.  Except the term Lean Finely Textured Beef has been replace with the term Pink Slime. In an effort to support the only manufacturer still producing the product, four state leaders have visited Beef Products, headquartered in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota.

On Monday the company said it is suspending operations at plants in Texas, Kansas and Iowa where it makes the low-cost beef ingredient from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts.

The bits are heated and spun to remove most of the fat, and the lean mix then is compressed into blocks and exposed to ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella. The result is a product, which has been used for years and meets federal food safety standards, that is as much as 97 percent lean beef. Critics call the product an unappetizing example of industrialized food production and dub it “pink slime.”

Courtesy: NAFB News

Wheat farmers, researchers, millers and bakers have delivered a message to lawmakers in Washington. There is no more to cut from federal funding for agriculture research. The industry’s annual fly-in was sponsored by the National Wheat Improvement Committee, a group of wheat scientists and stakeholders, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the North American Millers’ Association and the American Bakers Association.

The industry leaders are worried that funding for public research will be down as much as 12 percent next year. The Agricultural Research Service is expected to cut research funding by 30 percent, closing 12 labs. The American Association for the Advancement of Science reports that despite demonstrated return on investment of up to 32-dollars for every dollar invested, just 1.6 percent of the 142-billion annual federal investment in research goes to agriculture.

Public researchers undertake vital basic science. Public programs, particularly those that work in collaboration with land-grant universities, also focus on addressing local or regional problems. Bing Von Bergen, a wheat farmer from Moccasin, Montana, and NAWG’s first vice president, says – funding for research is an investment in the future of farming and the future of food.

USDA will accept applications for the next round of Biomass Crop Assistance Program Project Areas until April 23, 2012. USDA Farm Service Agency Administrator Bruce Nelson points out that – BCAP provides incentives to farmers and forest landowners to grow non-food crops to be processed into biofuels.  These are crops that can grow where other crops cannot.

This program provides farmers with new opportunities to diversify into more markets. But, because most energy crops are perennial and take time to mature before harvest, BCAP is designed so that sufficient quantities of feedstock will be available to meet future demand.

The BCAP Project Areas where these crops are grown will be selected from proposals producers or biomass facilities submit to FSA. Information about submitting a proposal can be found on thewww.grants.gov website.

Courtesy: NAFB News

Under pressure from animal rights activists and sensing a shift in consumer sentiment, several major pork producers have agreed to phase out gestation crates and switch to more open pens. Some of that change will come as U.S. pork producers build new barns and retrofit old ones to give hogs more space.  Many of those same producers point out that consumers opposed to keeping pregnant sows in tight cages can expect to pay for their clearer consciences with higher food prices.

Dennis Treacy, executive vice president and chief sustainability officer for Smithfield Foods, says major pork buyer McDonald’s Corporation recently announced its suppliers will have to stop using gestation pins as well. He says – that announcement was a tipping point in the debate about gestation stalls versus pens. Smithfield had converted 30 percent of its company-owned farms by the end of December and is on track to meet its goal of switching all of them by 2017.

Dave Warner, spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council says – putting open pens into existing barns cuts production because the buildings can’t hold as many sows. But building bigger barns to accommodate group pens is expensive, and smaller producers who can’t afford to retrofit existing barns could be forced out of business, further reducing supplies. On top of that add veterinary costs that can go up because sows tend to fight and sometimes injure each other.

Courtesy: NAFB News