Hogs - General

Agriculture in the Bull's-Eye: Raids Reportedly Resume on Farms, Meatpacking Plants

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 18:40:22 GMT

After President Donald Trump reportedly ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE ) to pause raids on farms and meatpacking plants last week, new reports say the administration is reversing course again. The on-again, off-again reports regarding ICE raids is sowing confusion for those who rely on immigrant labor and already causing labor shortages due to employees not showing up for work.

There was an update again late Friday, with President Trump saying he’s looking at new immigration policy steps that would allow farms to take responsibility for people they hire.

The Washington Post first reported Monday that ICE officials told leaders representing field offices across the country they must continue to conduct raids at worksite locations, which is a reversal from guidance issued just days earlier.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wouldn’t confirm the Washington Post’s report, but an agricultural association told Farm Journal the article is accurate based on their discussions with the administration.

Instead, DHS told us this:

“The president has been incredibly clear. There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts,” says DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safe guard public safety, national security and economic stability. These operations target illegal employment networks that undermine American workers, destabilize labor markets and expose critical infrastructure to exploitation.”

By Friday, there was another update. Reuters reported President Trump said he was looking at immigration policy steps that would allow farms to take responsibility for people they hire.

“We’re looking at doing something where, in the case of good, reputable farmers, they can take responsibility for the people that they hire and let them have responsibility, because we can’t put the farms out of business,” Trump told reporters. “And at the same time we don’t want to hurt people that aren’t criminals.”

According to Farm Journal’s Michelle Rook, the recent ICE raids are already creating absenteeism and labor shortages that could severally disrupt the U.S. food supply. Ag groups are again calling for immigration reform with hopes the issue will finally come to a head.

Ripple Effect of Immigration Crackdown

Joe Del Bosque, owner of Del Bosque Farms in Firebaugh, Calif., is experiencing the rollercoaster with labor, saying the shifting policy strikes fear in farmers and workers.

“There’s so much uncertainty as to what the administration’s going to do,” Del Bosque told Rook on AgriTalk this week.

Del Bosque says the raids on California produce farms are disrupting the harvest of perishable produce.

“They haven’t been really huge sweeps. They’re usually picking up a few people. But it creates a lot of fear, and people don’t show up to work. That’s just as bad as if they were taken away,” he says.

According to an exclusive report by Farm Journal’s The Packer , the ripple effect of Trump’s immigration crackdown on agriculture could be far-reaching — if the administration revives its focus on ag.

Kevin Kelly is the CEO of Emerald Packaging — the largest flexible packaging supplier to the leafy greens industry. Based in Union City, Calif., the company has been in the packaging business for 62 years. Kelly says the immigrant workforce in California is feeling uncertain and afraid.

“We’ve certainly heard folks aren’t turning up to work in the fields, and we’ve seen it in our facility. We verify everybody, so we know everybody in our facility is documented and can legally work in the United States,” Kelly tells Jennifer Strailey, editor of The Packer. “In our case, it’s brothers and sisters being deported, and other family members being afraid. Our employees are staying home to help their family members move, to take care of them or to take them to see an attorney — that kind of thing.”

Dairy operations in several states have also been raided recently. Dairy producers say they rely on immigrant labor to provide a stable year-round work force and to keep the U.S. food supply stable.

“We need these people to take care of our animals so we can produce food. Without animal care, we won’t have milk, cheese, butter — nothing,” Greg Moes, MoDak Dairy in Goodwin, S.D., told Rook.

The recent ICE arrests at Glenn Valley Foods of Omaha, Neb. have also led to absenteeism at meat processing plants.

“At the beginning of the Trump administration, we had this same worry with the crackdown — whether this was going to impact absenteeism and things like that,” says Brad Kooima, Kooima Kooima Varilek in Sioux Center, Iowa. “So, hopefully we can put that in our rearview mirror.”

By the Numbers: A Heavy Reliance on Immigrant Labor
The news this week of the Trump administration putting a pause on raids of farms and meat processors is welcome news for those in agriculture. From dairies and produce farms, to meatpacking plants across the U.S., these sectors rely heavily on immigrant labor.

Immigrant labor makes up a substantial portion of the meat processing workforce, with estimates ranging from 37% to over 50%. However, states like South Dakota and Nebraska have even higher concentrations of immigrant workers in meat processing — reaching 58% and 66%, according to the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute.

And a large portion of U.S. dairy farms rely on immigrant labor, with estimates indicating that over half of all dairy workers are immigrants. Specifically, these workers account for 51% of the total dairy workforce and are responsible for producing 79% of the U.S. milk supply.

Farmworker Justice estimates 70% of the produce industry’s farmworkers are immigrants. USDA’s estimates are lower — closer to 60%.

5 Options to Consider During Farmland Transitions

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 16:40:34 GMT

Transitions are hard. It doesn’t matter what the transition involves, the nature of moving from one thing to the next is complicated. Farmland may be one of the toughest, says Steve Bohr of Farm Financial Strategies in Lisbon, Iowa.

“Farmers often believe that what differentiates him or her is their ability to own the land,” Bohr explains. “And by God, you’re not taking it away from them. A lot of times, land ownership doesn’t transfer until death, and I’m OK with that. But we’ve got to drill down and figure out how that land is going to transition from one generation to the next.”

Over the years, he’s discovered there are three fundamental areas of concern in an estate and farm transition plan that each family should independently address — cost of administration, creditor protection, and transition plans for land and operating assets.

He shares five options to consider for the transition of land assets.

1. Give the land to the farmer.
The first option is to get the land transitioned to those who are farming it or have an affinity to own it, Bohr says. Each generation cannot afford to take a step back in equity and expect to compete in today’s marketplace.

“The clear problem with that is, how are we fair to the ones who aren’t interested in farming? Every family is different,” he says.

If your family is expecting to farm the same (or more) acres with a land base that has been divided across siblings, each generation will be in a weaker position to complete. How many times will your family have to pay for the same land? Which generation will eventually lose it due to no fault of their own (other than choosing to carry on the legacy)?

2. Divide the land equally.
An undivided ownership in real estate can cause great anxiety for the owners of the land who want to farm it or who want to continue to own it, he explains. There is a greater chance of peace if you divide the land, but also a greater chance it gets away from the family.

“Most people believe this is the answer,” Bohr says. “I don’t believe that, because the problem with dividing the land is that it’s a recipe for the land to get away from us. Whether it’s divorce, bankruptcy or poor planning.”

At some point in time, the more people involved, and the more independence those people have, the land’s going to get away from you. If it doesn’t, then it has to be divided again at the next generation. By the time you divide a farm two generations, the grandkids don’t have enough to be able to farm.

“We are dividing ourselves right out of the plat book,” Bohr says.

3. Deed land into a family trust.
Leaving the land in trust after death may be a wise option for families who cannot afford to get the land to one heir and who do not want to divide their land. There are solid reasons to leave the land in trust for management, including if one or more children have marital, money or addiction issues or if one or more children are independently wealthy.

Oftentimes, leaving land in trust gives a false sense of security that may be deferring the problem to the future.

“When we leave it in trust, we’re asking for big problems. Whenever that land comes out of trust, it can be very inflexible,” Bohr says.

4. Create a family land entity.
A land entity like a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or Family Limited Partnership (FLP) has become popular for a family where the first three options do not fit.

“I call this the boomerang plan because the rules in the operating agreement of the entity always bring the land back to the family,” he says.

Those entities will have rules, and within the entities, those rules will talk about lease options and purchase options at family pricing and terms, whatever that looks like. A vast majority of them are special use paid over a 30 -year contract so they can guarantee opportunity and affordability for family members.

5. Develop a hybrid plan.
There is not one plan that fits all families. That’s why a combination of multiple options sometimes works best for most families. A hybrid plan gives everybody an opportunity.

“Right now in succession planning, I think we have to give a huge amount of understanding to what will or won’t cash flow,” Bohr says. “What are the tax ramifications? What is the timing of the transition? And are we going to give an adequate opportunity to those who are going to be that next generation in our communities, paying taxes, going to churches, going to schools?”

Your Next Read: How an Iowa Family is Passing on the Farm from One Generation to the Next

Food: A Serious Quest at Olympics

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:49:14 GMT

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) — First, U.S. snowboarding star Chloe Kim tweeted about being “down for some ice cream” while competing in Pyeongchang, then about being “hangry” because she hadn’t finished her breakfast sandwich.

Clearly, food is a big deal for Olympians, and it’s usually much more complicated than ice cream and sandwiches: the very specific, highly calibrated fuel they put in their bodies — for energy, for health, for warmth, for a psychological and physiological edge — is an important part of what makes them excel.

Korean food is some of the world’s finest — savory, salty soups with fish so tender it falls off the bone; thick slabs of grilled pork and beef backed with spicy kimchi that many Korean grandmothers swear cures the common cold. But it’s very different from what many foreign Olympians are used to.

“What I recommend for athletes right now in competition mode is to be as safe as possible. This might happen once in a lifetime; you don’t want to blow it with just having an upset stomach because you’ve eaten something that’s different to what your body’s used to,” Susie Parker-Simmons, a sports dietitian for the U.S. Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said in an interview in Pyeongchang. “I say, as soon as the games is over, go at it; enjoy, be adventurous.”

FEEDING THE ATHLETES

The U.S. team has its own chefs and dietitians, as well as two “nutrition centers” here. And then there’s the food at two athletes villages, where nearly 3,000 athletes from 90 different countries — most of whom strictly follow unique food routines — get fed.

The goal is to provide lots of everything.

The two villages each have massive, 43,055-square-foot dining rooms where nearly 500 chefs and cooking assistants provide a combined 18,000 meals per day. Each dining room is open 24 hours a day and offers about 450 different types of food in buffets that include Western, Asian, Korean, Halal, Kosher, vegetarian and gluten-free dishes, David Kihyun Kwak, the director of food and beverage at the Pyeongchang Olympics, said in an interview.

To determine what to serve at Pyeongchang, Kwak’s team analyzed food data for the past five Olympics and also worked closely with other nations’ nutrition specialists.

The amount of raw ingredients used each day to feed the athletes is staggering: 1,540 pounds of beef, 992 pounds of eggs, 771 pounds of lamb, 440 pounds of bacon, 374 pounds of chicken, 220 pounds of rice, 7,495 pounds of fruits and vegetables, about 15,000 pieces of bread and 800 pizzas.

FOOD SAFETY

Most Olympic athletes don’t eat outside of the villages because of worries about the purity of ingredients, Kwak said. The United States did tests before the 2008 Beijing Olympics that found some local chicken contained enough steroids to trigger positive test results.

Experts examine ingredients closely for possible contamination that could threaten athletes’ health or disrupt doping tests. South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has sent more than a dozen food safety specialists to take ingredients samples to buses equipped with fast-testing laboratories to look for potential problems before the food even gets eaten.

HOME COOKING

Finland’s Riikka Valila, the oldest women’s ice hockey player in Olympic history at 44, likes the food options here but misses the “really good bread” back in Finland. She said some of her teammates on gluten-free diets have brought food from home.

The Americans shipped over 85 pallets, each about 6 feet tall and 3 feet deep and wide, filled with pastas, sauces, peanut butter, grains and plants like quinoa, and spices, Parker-Simmons said.

There’s food meant to help with performance and recovery, but there’s also “psychological food,” which Parker-Simmons explains like this: Say an athlete training her whole life for the Olympics fails. She takes it hard; she stops eating. This is when the dietitians will turn to something special — a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, maybe, or Cheez-Its.

Vincent Zhou, a U.S. figure skater, said he needs a lot of carbs, “before, between and after sessions,” to fend off fatigue. “It hasn’t been very difficult finding comfort food,” he said.

EATING FOR PERFORMANCE

The work to optimize nutrition can seem as thorough as the work to perfect the sports skills.

Dietitians have to regularly test cross-country skiers, for instance, who have the highest energy expenditure of any sport in the world, Parker-Simmons said. An average-sized woman will need 4,000 calories or more per day to train and compete; a typical man needs about 7,000 calories, she said. Ski jumpers, on the other hand, sometimes have to drop 10 kilograms below their natural body weight, while keeping up their muscle mass and energy.

FANS SPLIT ON KOREAN FOOD

Foreign fans, of course, have their own food worries and routines.

South Korean officials have tried to provide menus in English and other languages to thousands of local restaurants. And the Korea Tourist Organization has published a brochure, complete with a hotline in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese, that outlines “must eat” dishes and where to find them.

Some tourists embrace the exotic.

“I was impressed with the little fish, the eyes and everything,” Julie Thibaudeau, 53, from Quebec, said as she celebrated her son’s gold medal in mogul skiing in a local Pyeongchang restaurant. “I tried, and it was salty, but it was good. And after that I had a good glass of ... beer.”

Others play it safe. Very safe.

“We found Papa John’s (pizza) today, which was literally life-changing because ... we haven’t eaten a lot for the last few days,” Rachel Basford, 31, a teacher in Shanghai who’s from Kent, England, said while drinking in a fried chicken restaurant. “I’m not that adventurous when it comes to trying local foods. I just like to eat British food in various places around the world.”

Asked if she planned to try Korean food she said, with a laugh: “No. Absolutely not. We’re going to Seoul tomorrow so there’s the McDonald’s at Seoul Station, so that should be good.”

WILLPOWER IN THE DINING HALL

For the athletes, sheer abundance can be a danger.

When U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon got to Pyeongchang a coach told him about the last Winter Games in Sochi, when one of her athletes became very excited about all the food available even as his performance in training tanked.

The coach finally understood what was happening when the athlete donned his costume for the short program: “He’d been in the cafeteria the whole time; he’d gained seven pounds before the competition,” Rippon said with a laugh. “And my coach is sitting next to me, and he was like, ‘ha, ha, ha, ha,’ and he turned to me and said, ‘You’d better not get fat while you’re here.’”

Chloe Kim, by the way, finally got her ice cream — and a gold medal. She could be seen eating her treat while being swarmed by reporters.

Copyright, The Associated Press

Michigan Producers Find Success With Pasture-Raised Pork

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:29:33 GMT

For Nate and LouAnn Robinson, raising animals isn’t just a job.

“I love pigs, so you have to have passion wherever you farm,” says Nate Robinson, a farmer in Cass County, Mich., selling pasture-raised pork through their business, Jake’s Country Meats . He and his wife LouAnn have seen lots of changes since they started farming in the 1970s.

“Over time, things got bigger, and we didn’t,” says LouAnn. “We had a hard time competing outside with the direction that hog farming was taking at that time.”

She says they didn’t want to give up pasture-raised pork. That’s when they were approached about transitioning to antibiotic-free and decided to do it.

“It seems our herd health now is the best it’s ever been, and we administer no antibiotics for the last, I want to say, 10 years,” she says.

The move to antibiotic-free also forced the family to downsize their operation. “Your management is key if you’re antibiotic-free,” LouAnn says.

She says they found their size, but then the Robinsons also needed to find their customers. “We didn’t even know we had anything unique out here,” Nate says. “Finally someone said, ‘You know, we really like the taste of your pork, and we like how you’re doing things.’”

So, the family tried their hand at local farmers’ markets and found success. “We went from selling part of our herd to selling 100% of our herd through our customer base, without having to go out on the open market with any of our animals,” says LouAnn.

Big City Success for Backyard Business

In the last five years, demand for their product has skyrocketed and their backyard business now sends pork to customers in Chicago and Detroit. “I didn’t think it would grow this quickly,” admits Nate.

He and LouAnn say the thing that keeps customers coming back is the taste of their pork.

“It was good-tasting. It was fattier, but it had a lot of flavor, and people could identify with that,” says LouAnn. “A lot of people say, ‘This is the way pork used to taste.’”

The farm even tailors its products to Chicago flavors. “These are small ones,” explains LouAnn, while showing off a ham. “These go really well in Chicago. Smaller is better.”

Want more video news? Watch it on U.S. Farm Report.

Such success has brought challenges as well.

“We just don’t have enough bacon,” explains Nate. “We have another farmer in Missouri that designs our boars to give us a little bit more bacon on that belly.”

Easter Demand, Grilling Season

Bacon is a mainstay year-round, but during holidays, like Easter, it’s hams that fly off their truck. The National Pork Board says Easter ranks as the second biggest day for ham consumption, trailing Christmas. Since some cultures don’t want traditional hams, the Robinsons are venturing out to meet those food preferences, as well.

“What they said to us was ‘We want a unique ham,’ says Nate. “So, we had to go to a no-nitrate added ham, because they didn’t want that sodium nitrate. So, through trial and error, we’ve hit a home run with it.”

Hams are in high demand now, but in a month, it will switch to the items people can put on the grill. While the Robinsons can’t always keep up with the surge in demand, conventional pork producers are facing near-record pork supplies in cold storage.

“It’s a wet blanket,” says Pro Farmer Editor Brian Grete. “A lot of poultry, a lot of pork, a lot of beef, but what we’ve seen is pork has fared the best of those three and is kind of winning at the meat case, at this point. We’ll see how that transitions as we move into grilling season here.”

Grete says the good news is China could start buying more U.S. pork to help chew through some of that hefty supply, and that boost in demand could help pork prices in the coming months.

“I think we’ve seen the bulk of the run-up here in these spring and summer month contracts,” explains Grete. “I do think that maybe we have a little bit more, but you have to hedge when you have an opportunity to lock in profits, and for almost every single hog producer out there right now, prices are at a profitable level.”

Hog prices rose to a 9-month high and pork bellies are seeing double-digit gains in a matter of months.

Sustainable Pricing

For the Robinsons, the supply and demand situation doesn’t matter: Their prices for their pasture-raised pork stay the same. “We do not go by the open market price at all,” says LouAnn. “We know what our costs are, we set our price, and therefore, our customer isn’t always on this roller coaster with pricing.”

She says they call it their sustainability factor; pork is priced based on what it takes to keep this family farm profitable. But what keeps this family going?

“It’s the desire for the next generation to continue on,” says Nate.

And with the seventh generation already on the farm, and the eighth by their dad’s side, the Robinsons want to fuel a passion that lasts for eight more generations to come.

Assembling a Manure Spill Response Kit

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:30:09 GMT

By: Erin Cortus, Assistant Professor & Environmental Quality Engineer, SDSU Extension

Manure spills can occur during the storage, transportation and application of manure. Advanced planning can minimize the impacts of a manure-related emergency. Part of this preparation includes assembling a manure spill response kit to have ready and accessible on the farm when needed, especially while pumping and applying manure.

The kit should include:

A copy of the farm’s emergency response plan, if it has one, including emergency numbers and a site map;
Hay or straw bales that could be used to block a culvert or build a berm or diversion;
T-posts to support plywood or bale stacks;
14-inch diameter PVC pipe in both 3-foot and 2-foot sections to be used to cover tile inlets;
Several 6-mil plastic sheets of approximately 12-foot x 25-foot lengths that could be applied to tile inlets or other sensitive areas with duct tape;
At least one sheet of 4-foot x 4-foot plywood that could be used to block culverts. Round the plywood on one end to fit the curve of the ditch;
Pliers, vice grips, fencing pliers, channel lock pliers, hammers, utility knife, hand saw, hatchet, post driver;
1 roll duct tape;
Baling wire; and
Sand shovels.

At the minimum, a mini-kit can be kept in the truck or tractor. The mini-kit should contain a sand shovel, duct tape, utility knife and 6-mil plastic sheets.

The steps for responding to a manure spill are outlined in the article Dealing with a Manure Spill .

Anaerobic Digester Generates Energy, Reduces Odors

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:27:38 GMT

A flame flares from a torch near a greenhouse. It’s not there for light; it’s biogas from the anaerobic digester within the greenhouse.

The University of Missouri has built a small-scale anaerobic digestion system to produce biogas from pig manure.

“What we want to do is improve and fully utilize all the biogas for energy production,” says Teng Lim, MU associate extension professor of agricultural systems management. The burning torch is part of a system to flare off excess biogas.

Funded by the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, the anaerobic digester consists of three tanks. Manure from the hog barn is stored and mixed in one tank. The other two tanks are where the anaerobic digestion takes place. Bacteria break down the manure in these warm and oxygen-free tanks, creating biogas.

Biogas from manure can be used to generate electricity and heat water. With some further treatment, it can also be stored as a compressed natural gas for heating or even vehicle fuel.

Lim says a larger digester could supply a farm’s energy needs and even provide power to be sold to the grid to provide electricity to the community.

The digested manure is a good fertilizer, and the process produces significantly less odor than traditional means of dealing with pig manure.

“There is still going to be odor,” Lim says, “but it’s going to be much lower and with less fluctuation than the raw manure.”

Lim says industry leaders and scientists believe anaerobic digesters will play a major role on farms in the future, both to mitigate odor and to generate renewable energy. But the price tag is a major obstacle. In a commercial setting, the digester would be 100 times larger than the one at the MU swine farm. The cost can run hundreds of thousands dollars. Currently, fewer than 20 hog farms in the U.S. have anaerobic digesters.

MU researchers are using the scaled-down digester to find ways to make digesters more affordable and easier to manage. The team has been working closely with industry experts from Martin Machinery, a Missouri company that specializes in biogas generators and control systems. They are also using it as an education tool to show producers the potential and what it takes to process the manure, and to train people how to properly run systems like this.

Source: University of Missouri

Video Monitoring Adds Another Layer of Security for Animal Welfare

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:30:48 GMT

New technology is an important tool in food safety, and now it’s being used to measure animal well-being. Tyson Foods says it will be using video surveillance to help improve efforts to monitor bird welfare . The company currently employs a team of animal well-being specialists across all its beef, pork, and poultry operations as part of its commitment to sustainable food production.

In August 2016, Tyson fired 10 workers after an animal rights group released a secretly recorded video showing workers swinging chickens around by their legs and wings. A year later, the company terminated a farmer’s contract after another group videoed workers breaking birds’ necks by standing on their heads. Rather than allowing similar instances to occur in the future, Tyson will be recording its operations itself, keeping an eye on the daily proceedings of its processing plants and contract farms.

In a similar vein this past year, Hormel Foods hired third party auditors to review its hog farms after animal rights videos showed overcrowded conditions and a worker slamming a pig to the floor. As video monitoring is implemented in the poultry industry, it could spread to other animal production systems to combat the ever-growing amount of footage being circulated by animal rights groups.

How the Process Will Work

Tyson has installed third-party remote video auditing (RVA) systems to monitor live bird handling in 33 of its poultry plants. These RVA systems have been equipped using Arrowsight, a company that provides RVA technology and data analytics services for monitoring manufacturing settings, including livestock production facilities. Trained auditors from Arrowsight analyze footage from Tyson’s chicken plants, providing feedback for improving management on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Similar RVA systems will be used for evaluating the on-farm catching of birds prior to transporting them to processing facilities.

In addition to video monitoring, Tyson also intends to launch controlled atmosphere stunning methods in two of its poultry processing plants, and will be researching changes to chicken house lighting and enrichment that could further improve bird welfare.

Tyson is not the first to test out RVA auditing, as Cargill pioneered the program in its beef-harvest facilities back in 2008. But as more companies embrace new technology, production standards for farmers and ranchers could start to follow this trend as well.

China to Treat More Animal Waste to Help Clear Rural Pollution

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:30:48 GMT

China plans to treat more waste from livestock breeding to improve its rural environment and reduce agriculture pollution in the world’s top pork producer.

Pollution from the country’s livestock breeding is becoming an “outstanding issue” after years of steady development of the sector to ensure meat, eggs and dairy supply, according to a summary of remarks by Vice Premier Wang Yang at a conference on Tuesday. China will increase treatment of animal wastes, encourage more use of bio-gas in the countryside and expand large-size scale farms which are able to treat the waste, he said.

China is tackling soil pollution as part of its nationwide agriculture reforms, with its top legislative body considering tougher penalties for those who pollute water and prohibiting the building of homes or schools in areas with contaminated soil. The country has dealt with problems including cases where crops have been grown in areas contaminated with cadmium. China has more than half of the world’s pigs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Farmers favor using chemical fertilizers, which save time and costs, over organic fertilizer, Yu Kangzhen, vice agriculture minister, told a press conference on June 14. That’s seen about 40 percent of China’s 3.8 billion tons of annual animal waste left untreated and unutilized, he said. China is aiming to increase the use of animal waste as fertilizer for fruit, tea and vegetables by as much as 50 percent by 2020.

Some local governments are closing down more pig farms or banning breeding due to pollution concerns, which may threaten supply, said Yu. China’s central government will offer financial support to 500 counties and 200,000 large farms for waste treatment facilities, he said.

Mighty Earth Attacks Crop Farmers to Advance Anti-Meat Agenda

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:48:49 GMT

A report last week from Mighty Earth , a campaign of the Center for International Policy , took a break from criticizing farmers and ranchers that raise livestock for meat, and instead turned their attention to the meat companies and feed suppliers (ie. crop farmers), asking them to provide “pollution-free” feed.

In “ Mystery Meat II: The Industry Behind the Quiet Destruction of the American Heartland, ” Mighty Earth says “Demand for feed crops is driving widespread water contamination across the country, destroying America’s last native prairies, and releasing potent greenhouse gases.” The report claims excess fertilizer and manure washes off fields, contaminating local drinking water and creating algae blooms that cause Dead Zones in the Gulf of Mexico.

While the agricultural industry does have an impact on these issues (see here and here ), the report does little to quantify agriculture’s contribution to the problem versus other industries.

The article calls out Tyson Foods, charging “America’s largest meat company” is in the “regions suffering the worst environmental impacts from industrial meat and feed production—from grassland clearing in Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas, to manure and fertilizer pollution pouring into waterways from the Heartland down to the Gulf states.”

In a written statement to Farm Journal Media, Tyson responded “We share this group’s concern about the environment but disagree with its misleading characterization of our company. Tyson Foods is not in the business of raising the crops and we own very few livestock farms. Instead, we depend on thousands of independent farmers to raise our chickens or sell us their cattle or hogs. We work closely with our partners from farm-to-fork to identify and deploy new technologies designed to better protect the environment, our workforce, and the communities we serve.”

In an article by the Des Moines Register, Mark Peterson, a farmer near Stanton who has reviewed the report, said it may be impossible to produce “pollution-free feed.” … But farmers can adopt conservation practices — such as no-till or conservation tillage, cover crops, buffers and grass waterways — that reduce nutrient losses.

The negative characterizations of the agriculture industry in the report is a long list. However, it failed to include the fact that crop and livestock production is regulated and monitored by USDA’s Food and Drug Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency. Nor did it mention that many farmers and ranchers participate in quality assurance programs to document animal health and environmentally friendly practices. Tyson discloses its environmental efforts on its website.

Livestock feed is just one use of grain products grown in the U.S. In this chart from USDA, shows the growing market for biofuels, as well as consumer food and industrial uses. Source: USDA

When Your Plate Is Too Full: Tips to Delegate and Manage the Workload

Thu, 20 May 2021 15:30:32 GMT

Do you ever feel overwhelmed, overloaded, scattered?

“Generally, pandemic or not, leaders feel at least a little bit this way all the time,” says Marlene Eick, a leadership coach and consultant from Wooster, Ohio. “The question is, is this ok? And if not, what can we do about it?”

Eick says delegating is helpful to any leader and can help solve those feelings of being overwhelmed, overloaded and scattered.

Why Don’t We Delegate?
Three obstacles stand in the way of leaders delegating tasks, Eick explains.

1. You think you’re the only person who can do it.
This is a tough one, especially if you are a business owner, she says. People often struggle with the idea that someone else could have as much passion as they have for the business.

“If we are leaders in our field, we’ve likely gotten to this place of leadership by being a person who does things. You’ve probably worked independently, too. Now you’re at this place where you’ve got all kinds of things on your plate,” Eick says. “Even though you have a team of people, assistants, contractors, industry partners, etc., and could be delegating some of this work, you might still be operating from that mindset of ‘I have to be the one to do this.’”

2. You haven’t identified and trained anyone else.
Training people to do parts of your job requires focused investment and time. Simply put, it takes a lot of work. In the short-term, that may be true, but Eick says in the long-term, that investment will pay off.

“Take the time right now to identify who on our team could do the job,” she says. “If we identify that person and train them, we know that saves us time. But this can definitely be an obstacle if we haven’t done that yet.”

3. You haven’t created a process for delegation.
Once you’ve shifted your mindset to accept someone else could do some of this work and you’ve identified and trained that person, you need to have a process in place to shift work to them at appropriate times.

Challenges may include not having a standing meeting with someone on your team or poor regular channels of communication to share tasks with someone, she says.

How Can We Get More Off Our Plate?
Taking more off your plate starts with shifting your mindset and asking the hard questions, Eick says.

1. What can someone else do?
Take an inventory of everything that is on your plate. Consider what tasks could be shared or outsourced to someone else. Eick says it is important to consider your personal tasks, too.

“We can often lighten the load of all the things we have to do by thinking what about what we can delegate in our personal life to make space for those professional tasks or projects we have going on,” she says.

2. Who can do it?
Eick says determining who could take on some of your tasks is an important question – but not an excuse to get out of doing things in your job description. Based on the tasks at hand, who are you looking for? Someone who has entry-level skills? A high schooler? A new college graduate? Or do you need a skilled and talented contractor to come in and help with a project?

“Being very clear about what you need is critical,” she says. “And make sure you train or instruct them accordingly.”

3. How can you get work to them?
Determine a process that will allow you to share tasks easily. Some ideas to consider are a daily e-mail, a morning phone call or a Slack channel for discussions.

“Find the right way to regularly communicate because no one can read your mind,” Eick says. “They want to help you, but they can’t know what you need unless you are communicating that to them.”

Delegating tasks starts with one tiny step forward, she says. It also requires a willingness to share the workload.

“No matter where we are in our careers, if no one before us had ever thought, ‘I’m not the only person who could do this,’ none of us would have gotten an opportunity,” Eick says.

Read More:

When You Are Waist-Deep in Alligators

Plan Big, Execute Small

Reader Responds to Mental Health Struggles in Agriculture

FAQs on COVID-19 Vaccination with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:55:55 GMT

To answer common questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, U.S. Surgeon General vice admiral Dr. Vivek Murthy joined AgriTalk on May 4. This was the same day President Joe Biden shared the goal for 70% of adults in America to have had at least one shot of the vaccine by July 4.

“The progress report is good,” Murthy says. “We have made tremendous progress in vaccinating the country to date. If you look at people above the age of 65, we’ve gotten at least one dose of the vaccine into more than 80%, which is pretty extraordinary. And we have about 70% of our seniors who are now fully vaccinated.”

But even with those 150 million people who have had at least one shot, Murthy says the country needs to have another 100 million shots administered in the next 60 days to reach the president’s next goal by July 4.

You can listen to the full interview with Murthy here:

On the segment, Murthy answered several commonly asked questions about the COVID-19 vaccine:

Do we have enough supply?

“Here in America, we have done a good job of bolstering our supply. So we do have more and more vaccine available for those who want it. And we also, very importantly, have more places where you can get a vaccine.”

What is being done to increase access to the vaccine?

“There are over 40,000 pharmacies in the country that now have vaccine to offer. We have community vaccination sites, we have community health centers where we’ve actually directly delivered vaccine from the federal government and we’ve got more primary care doctors who are getting vaccine direct-ly in their offices so they can give it to patients. The President and the administration will be providing more direct funding and support to rural health clinics to support outreach as well as direct allocation of vaccine to rural health clinics so they can directly vaccinate their own patients.”

How is access being improved specifically to rural America?

“We know rural areas are different from urban areas, people are more spread out, it’s not always as easy to travel to one location that’s close to everyone to get a vaccine. So we’ve got to work through some of those logistical barriers, which is why the funding for the rural health clinics and for these mobile units is so important. But we also know everyone looked gets information from different sources. We’re a big country. Not everyone listens to the same news station, radio station and that means we’ve got to do more work in getting information out, and particularly through people’s doctors, which is the reason behind one of the projects we launched. From my office and other offices in the government it’s something called COVID-19 Community Core, where we bring together doctors, nurses, faith leaders, local business leaders and others to get the accurate information they know they and their communities want and to be able to share that with them.

In addition to people trusting the doctors and nurses who take care of them, we know about 50% of people say they would take the advice of a family member or friend when it comes to making a decision on the vaccine. What that means is even if you don’t have a medical degree or a nursing degree, you can still be a vital force in helping people understand the vaccines we have for COVID-19 are a way to protect them against COVID and a way, ultimately, for us to help turn this pandemic around.”

Why are people hesitant to get the vaccine?

“We’ve seen a lot of news stories about people being hesitant to get the vaccine. But what we’re finding actually is people who haven’t gotten vaccinated yet it’s a combination of a few things. Some people have questions, which are important to answer. We want people to get answers from reliable sources, like their doctors or their nurses who take care of them. But we also know some people are wondering if it’s really that important for them to get vaccinated. Maybe they’re young and healthy, and they think, ‘Hey, I’m not at high risk of a bad outcome, do I really need to get this vaccine?’, or maybe they’re working two or three jobs and don’t have transportation to get to a vaccine center.

We’re trying to work on all three fronts to make sure we’re working closely with doctors and nurses around the country, as well as pastors and other faith leaders, to help get information to their com-munities. But we’re also trying to improve the number of access points so it’s easier and easier hope-fully over the weeks ahead for people to get vaccines in their pharmacy, in their doctor’s office or in their neighborhoods.”

Should people who have had COVID-19 get vaccinated?

“The answer is yes. And here’s why. It turns out the immunity you get from a natural infection is actually not as robust. It’s not as strong as the protection you get from the vaccine. So you’re more likely to be at risk for reinfection. That’s why we’re asking everyone to get vaccinated regardless of their prior infection.”

What if people still have questions?

“I always say our health is personal to us. And if you have questions, you absolutely have a right to get those questions answered because ultimately, it’s your health. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind about the vaccine.

Recognize 90% of doctors in this country have either gotten the vaccine or are planning to get it as soon as possible. That tells you about the faith the medical profession has in the vaccine.
Keep in mind these vaccines, even though it seems like they were developed on a quick timeframe, the technology behind them has been in development for decades.
We are lucky enough to see the culmination of that research, and these vaccines have been studied rigorously in clinical trials and what we’ve seen with nearly 150 million people having received at least one dose of the vaccine is this side effect profile remains really strong in terms of safety. The effectiveness remains extraordinarily strong and high as well. That’s what you want to see — high effectiveness and very low risk in any vaccine you take.
I know many people are worried about the side effects of the vaccine. But first of all, the vast majority of people don’t have side effects from this vaccine. Those who do tend to experience one to two days of flu-like symptoms, meaning fatigue, maybe a low-grade fever and a body ache, but that lasts for about a day or two. Then it goes away, and they feel pretty good. Afterward what you’re left with is protection from the vaccine.

“It’s certainly a blessing to be able to serve the country, especially at a time like this during this pandemic crisis. I’m eager to do everything I can to help,” Murthy says.

What Does Food and Fuel Demand Look Like Post-COVID?

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 19:09:14 GMT

As it appears summer consumer behaviors are more normal in 2021 than in 2020, ag economist Michael Swanson from Wells Fargo joined AgriTalk to share his insights for what an ag economy looks like post-COVID.

Regarding restaurants vs. eating at home, Swanson is surprised how quickly the population is spending its food dollar away from home.

“We saw the April numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis at $55 billion–that’s kind of their annualized number–and that’s only a billion off the record right before COVID hit. So I’m predicting right now that even when we see the May and June numbers, now that California and New York are opening up again, we’re going to see record spending away from home,” he says. “That shows there’s a pent up demand for having somebody else cook and clean up.”

Listen to the full interview here:

Swanson sees the strength in the supermarket sector softening for two reasons: the increased consumption at restaurants as well as people still eating through the stocked up goods in their pantries and freezers.

“We were talking to sugar people just yesterday,” he says. “And it’s like how many extra 5-pound bags of sugar are sitting in somebody’s pantry right now that they thought it’d be used baking but they didn’t. There’s a lot of canned, dried and frozen goods that are probably gonna have to work their way through.”

While the restaurant industry appears to be on the rebound as a whole, there are some sectors that continue to struggle.

“Quick service restaurants–they’re not back at 100%, because a lot of people still are working from their office. And when people work from their office, they aren’t stopping to get a breakfast sandwich on their way to work. So there’s a lot of nuance about where we eat,” Swanson says.

And as summer travel season approaches, Swanson says there will be a lot more people on the road this year compared with last year.

Gasoline and ethanol consumption will be up in the short-term, but he is predicting a long-term trend toward electrification of the vehicle fleet.

“We saw the rollout of the Ford 150 Lightning and that battery technology. That’s what we’re looking at over the horizon and saying, ‘Well, how much demand destruction going forward will we see?’”

He says it’ll take fleet turnover to bring great change to gasoline consumption, and he says two factors will drive that adoption—federal policy and battery technologies. For example, he says 10 years ago battery powered vehicles had $50,000 in just the batteries. Today, the cost may be $12,000.

“There are 275 million private vehicles on the road today, and they typically have about a 14-year service life,” he explains. “So we add about 17 million vehicles per year; that was kind of the run rate. So it’s going to take a long time, if we go to 4 million or 5 million electric vehicles, that means another 11 million or 12 million gasoline powered vehicles.”

Greta Thunberg Aims to Change How Food Is Produced

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 19:02:56 GMT

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has set her sights on changing how the world produces and consumes food in order to counteract a trio of threats: carbon emissions, disease outbreaks and animal suffering.

In a video posted on Twitter on Saturday, Thunberg said the environmental impact of farming as well as disease outbreaks such as COVID-19, which is believed to have originated from animals, would be reduced by changing how food was produced.

“Our relationship with nature is broken. But relationships can change,” Thunberg said in the video marking the International Day of Biological Diversity.

A focus on agriculture and linking the climate crisis to health pandemics is a new angle for Thunberg who has typically focused her ire on policy-makers and carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

“The climate crisis, ecological crisis and health crisis, they are all interlinked,” she said.

Thunberg said the spillover of diseases from animals to humans was caused by farming methods, adding that a move to a plant-based diet could save up to 8 billion tonnes of CO2 each year.

The World Health Organization has said the coronavirus was probably transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, while scientists say 60% of the infectious human diseases that emerged from 1990 to 2004 came from animals.

Meanwhile, demand for alternatives to regular meat is surging worldwide due to concerns about health, animal welfare and the environment.

More than two dozen firms are testing lab-grown fish, beef and chicken, hoping to break into an unproven segment of the alternative meat market, which Barclays estimates could be worth $140 billion by 2029.

The Global Center on Adaptation, which works to accelerate climate resilience, said in January climate change could depress global food production by up to 30%, while rising seas and more intense storms could force hundreds of millions of people in coastal cities out of their homes.

(Reporting by Colm Fulton; Editing by Alison Williams)

Non-Profit Focuses On Mental Health Needs Across Rural America

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 01:03:13 GMT

Rural Minds™ launches with a mission to serve as the informed voice for mental health in rural America, and to provide mental health information and resources. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit will also convey the importance of overcoming the stigma around mental health challenges.

Rates for depression are higher in rural America than in urban areas, and suicide rates among people living in rural counties are 25 percent higher than those in major metropolitan areas. Addressing mental illness is a significant challenge in rural America due to unique barriers that include twenty percent fewer primary care providers than in cities, in addition to:

A lack of psychiatrists in 65 percent of rural counties;
A lack of psychiatric nurse practitioners in 81 percent of rural counties; and
A lack of access to broadband internet at home (four times more likely than it is for urban residents).

“Rural Minds is being launched to help rural Americans obtain greater access to mental health information and resources, while providing opportunities to help those affected through shared stories of lived experiences with mental illness,” said Jeff Winton, Rural Minds founder and chairman. “We hope to put an end to the suffering, silence and stigma that surrounds mental illness in rural communities where the need is so great.”

Growing up on his family’s multi-generational dairy farm in upstate New York, Winton was aware of local residents struggling with mental illness in silence, but it did not hit home until his 28-year-old nephew, Brooks, died by suicide nearly a decade ago. This shattering news became an eye-opener to the prevalence of mental illness in rural communities, and a call-to-action.

“While my mother, Elaine, was urged by some members of our small farming community to keep silent about the cause of Brooks’ death, she insisted our family talk about what happened,” said Winton. “For this reason, I delivered a very honest eulogy at his funeral that prompted some of those in attendance to open up about their struggles with depression and mental illness in their own families.”

Talking with his friends and neighbors about their mental health and suicide experiences cemented the need for an organization focused on the unique challenges faced by rural families. “The organization we are launching now, Rural Minds, is a tribute to my nephew, my mother, and to all the people who have or are currently struggling with mental illness in rural areas across the country,” Winton added.

“I am pleased that this new organization is working to bring together individuals, grassroots organizations, nonprofits in the mental health space, and corporations who have a stake in the wellness of rural America,” said Jeff Ditzenberger, founder of TUGS (Talking, Understanding, Growing, Supporting), a support group and Facebook page to help others by sharing mental illness lived experience. “Knowing that an organization like Rural Minds now exists to help people in rural America receive the mental health services that are so desperately need is hopeful news for everyone impacted.”

Jason Medows, founder of Ag State of Mind, said the effort to shine a light on underserved Americans who are feeding the nation is important to the health of the entire nation.

“It is gratifying to know that this team has pulled together the concept, vision and mission for Rural Minds,” Medows said. “The silent suffering and stigma must end. This is exactly what the farm families and rural residents need, now more than ever.”

Rural MindsTM is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit with a mission to serve as the informed voice on mental health in rural America, and to provide mental health information and resources. Our vision is a rural America where there’s no more suffering, silence, or stigma around mental illness. Find more information at www.RuralMinds.org .

Ordinary to Outrageous: Top 10 Agricultural Seizures of 2021

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 20:42:12 GMT

It’s no surprise pork products made the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Top 10 Agriculture Seizures of 2021 list more than once. Keeping deadly diseases of plants and animals out of the U.S. is a high priority for CBP, especially as the deadly African swine fever (ASF) virus moves closer to the U.S.

In the past year alone, CBP issued 73,917 emergency action notifications for restricted and prohibited plant and animal products entering the U.S., the agency reports . In addition, CBP conducted 630,150 positive passenger inspections and issued 7,190 civil penalties and/or violations to the traveling public for failing to declare prohibited agriculture items.

Here are the Top 10 agricultural finds of 2021 from throughout the U.S.:

1. Papaya-Hidden Marijuana

In February, CBP officers at the commercial facility at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry seized more than 12,000 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $27 million found commingled within a shipment of papayas. A CBP narcotic detector dog immediately alerted to the shipment during a second inspection, and officers discovered 873 wrapped packages of marijuana.

2. Avian Eggs

In April, CBP ag specialists at the port of Memphis, Tenn., inspected a shipment from China on its way to New York City manifested as “The Scarf” and found that the shipment actually contained 750 unfertilized avian eggs. According to USDA, China is currently affected with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and Newcastle Disease, both of which are highly contagious and fatal to the U.S. poultry industry and various avian wildlife. The eggs were not accompanied by any documentation detailing the genus or species, nor was there any indication of their purpose, so they were destroyed.

3. Giant Land Snails and a ¼ Pound of Beef

CBP ag specialists working at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston intercepted 15 live giant land snails from a passenger’s luggage in early July. The passenger was traveling from Nigeria and initially only declared dried beef, but later amended her declaration to include live snails. During an examination of the passenger’s luggage, agriculture specialists found three plastic zip-closed bags containing the live snails with fresh leaves and about a quarter pound of beef. The snails were turned over to USDA, who identified the snails as giant land snails, also known as banana rasp snails.

4. Pork Sausages

In August, CBP agriculture specialists assigned to the Boston Logan International Airport encountered a 35-year-old female arriving from Santiago, Dominican Republic. During a baggage examination, 11 kilograms of pork sausages were discovered. Just a month prior, Dominican Republic officials confirmed the presence of African swine fever, a highly contagious disease of feral and domestic swine. The pork sausages at the Boston airport were removed and turned over to a USDA hauler for destruction.

(Farm Journal)

Ag specialists uncovered 320 pounds of pork bologna and 30 pounds of turkey ham at the Paso Del Norte Border Crossing. Photo by U.S. CBP.

5. A Bunch of Bologna

CBP ag specialists assigned to the Paso Del Norte Border Crossing seized 320 pounds of pork bologna and 30 pounds of turkey ham in August. The meat was discovered during an inspection and had been hidden under blankets, under the seats, center console and inside a duffel bag. The individual was issued a $1,000 civil penalty, and the products were confiscated.

6. Botulinum and E.coli DNA Plasmids

A traveler arriving from Japan “reluctantly declared” he was in possession of Botulinum and E. coli DNA plasmids intended for research in September, CBP reports. An inspection revealed 27 vials of the biological material. The traveler lacked the required documents, including the official statement attesting to the non-infectiousness of the material, required by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). After reviewing the samples, CDC agreed that more information was needed to determine admissibility. The traveler withdrew his application for admission to the U.S. and returned to his country with the biological materials.

7. Butterfly Larvae

Also in September, CBP agriculture specialists at the Port of Gulfport discovered a butterfly larvae pest, informally known as the Saunders 1850, while inspecting a shipment container of pineapples from Costa Rica. Due to the potential impact to U.S. agriculture, the shipment of pineapples, worth $15,000, was destroyed. According to USDA, this was the first time this species had been discovered in the United States.

8. Primate Arms, Dry Fish, Cooked Snails, Cow Skin and What?

In October, CBP’s agriculture team in Minneapolis discovered six large bags containing clothing, two primate arms, dry fish, cooked snails, plant material, cow skin, bushmeat and eru plant material. After notifying the CDC, the team seized the primate arms and bushmeat and destroyed them according to USDA protocol. The seeds were submitted to USDA for identification and the passenger was informed of human-health concerns with handling and consuming bushmeat, including the potential transmission of ebola and monkeypox viruses.

(Farm Journal)

A total of 47 roosters and hens were found wrapped in stockings inside a purse, and underneath the seats, floor mats, inside the glove compartment and trunk of a vehicle at the Laredo Port of Entry. Photo by U.S. CBP.

9. Live Poultry

CBP officers at the Laredo Port of Entry intercepted a l arge clutch of live poultry hidden throughout a vehicle back in November. A total of 47 roosters and hens were found wrapped in stockings inside a purse, and underneath the seats, floor mats, inside the glove compartment and trunk of a vehicle in the SENTRI lane. A $500 penalty was issued to the driver for attempting to import prohibited agriculture items while being a SENTRI card holder. The SENTRI card was turned in to the SENTRI Enrollment Center, the vehicle was seized by CBP under 19 USC 1595, and the live poultry were seized and transferred to USDA’s Veterinary Services.

10. Fresh Peppers

In December, CBP ag specialists in Newark encountered a shipment of fresh peppers from Guatemala. During document review, the provided phytosanitary certificate, which must be used to facilitate importer plants and plant products, was blurry, and an original certificate could not be found. It was later discovered that the certification was fraudulent, which can alter the options for phytosanitary actions that must be taken to prevent the entry of plant pests, prohibited plant products, or animal products capable of introducing foreign animal diseases.

In an attempt to ease the process for travelers needing to declare agriculture and biological products prior to arriving at an airport in the U.S., CBP has moved the declaration process to the CBP One mobile application, which will give travelers more transparency throughout the request process, including real-time status updates by way of pushed notifications, which can also be sent to a group email, CBP reports. Travelers can also upload documents such as accompanying permits, certificates or statements of non-infectiousness for CBP review prior to arrival. Learn more here .

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

The Chickens That Didn’t Cross the Road in Laredo

$53 million in narcotics found in truck carrying Mexican cauliflower

Federal Agents Prevent Smuggled Animal Products from Entering the U.S.

K-9 “Kody” Sniffs Out Prohibited Sausages at Newark Airport

U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepts meth in strawberries

CBP Ag Specialists Block Bologna at Border Crossing

Texas Tornado Destroys Ag Shop, But Doesn’t Stop FFA Members From Helping Community

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 16:31:02 GMT

A line of storms snaked through north and central Texas on Monday, resulting in several tornadoes along the Interstate 35 corridor. About 60 miles northwest of Fort Worth, an F3 tornado touched down outside of Jacksboro at 3:45 p.m., ripping buildings to shreds, including the local high school, elementary school and ag shop.

“I felt so helpless,” says Kevin Thomas, ag teacher at Jacksboro Independent School District.

Thomas had left school to pick up his truck and trailer at his farm about 12 miles away when the tornado hit.

“I knew it hit my ag shop and there was nothing I could do,” he says. “Two co-teachers and 20 students were in the ag shop practicing for judging contests. All I could do was pray that nothing happened to them. Yes, they were capable, but my nature is to take care of things and when I couldn’t ...”

The Jacksboro High School’s ag shop was torn apart in the tornado that produced 150-mph winds, says ag teacher Kevin Thomas. Video by Kevin Thomas.

Braced for Impact

The tornado ripped off the roof the ag shop and the high school gym. The elementary school also took a major hit with 200 kids inside waiting for buses to arrive.
It’s a miracle no one was seriously injured or killed, Thomas says. Survey teams have confirmed 10 tornadoes hit the area, which might increase as the National Weather Service continues to investigate damage.

“We just didn’t have much warning,” Thomas says. “It developed quickly and was on us so fast.”

Despite the devastation this town of 4,000 experienced, Thomas says he’s grateful. All of his students that stayed after school to practice for FFA contests were safe and none of the elementary school kids or their families were hurt.

A look inside the high school gym at Jacksboro after the tornado struck. Video provided by Kevin Thomas.

The school district has relatively new buildings specially designed and geared for tornadoes, he says.

“Every building has tornado hallways built along concrete structures with emergency gates that slide in place like a bunker. We do drills to prepare us for moments like this,” Thomas adds.

Unfortunately, the ag shop wasn’t quite as equipped, and his co-teachers had to hunker down in the bathrooms with all their students. Once the storm passed and Thomas made it back to the school around 4:15 p.m., his FFA students jumped in his truck, and they headed out into their community to help people one house at a time. They passed out waters and Gatorades and comforted elderly members of their community standing outside their homes in shock.

“There were no emergency workers in sight. We had to drag trees out of roadways and there were power lines down everywhere,” he says. “I brought in my skid steer and helped move trees off houses, living rooms, etc. I just wanted to help give people a little peace of mind. We just talked and worked alongside each other and our FFA kids helped every step of the way.”

(Farm Journal)

FFA members pitch in and help with clean-up after the tornado. Photo by Kevin Thomas.

A Desire to Help

To his knowledge, this is the first tornado to hit their community, or at least since he moved there in the mid-1980s.

“We’ve been through some really rough times as a community, but never a storm like this. With all the turmoil in the world, food and fuel prices, politics, I just looked up yesterday and saw good in people,” Thomas says. “No judgment. Nothing but a desire to help. When things get tough, we lay our differences aside and focus on one mission, one goal. It was about being a good human and helping your neighbor.”

A drone’s view of the damage at Jacksboro Independent School District. Video provided by Kevin Thomas.

The cost of the damage is still unknown. The school farm is wiped out. A week ago, Jacksboro FFA would have lost all the kids’ show pigs for Houston.

“We are starting a new season this week focusing on career development events,” he says. “I can’t imagine what it would have been like if this would have happened last week.

You can’t help but think there’s a man upstairs after driving through the community and seeing all the damage. How did we all make it out of this with hardly a scratch?”

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Is ‘Tornado Alley’ Expanding East?

The Day Derecho Hit Our Farm

Derecho Forces Evacuation of 25,000 Pigs After Winds Rip Barns Apart

Champion Steer Sells For $1 Million in Houston

The Night the Fire Took the Farm

Speechless: The Call That Saved One Hog Producer’s Farm

Our Derecho Story: The Trees Saved Our Pigs

Gas Prices Crush Another Record, Prices Now On Track to Top $5 Soon

Thu, 02 Jun 2022 16:57:42 GMT

Gas prices crushed another record to start June, and experts say there’s no sign of a slowdown yet with $5 gas a strong possibility as the summer driving season pushes into high gear.

The new highest all-time record is now $4.67 a gallon. AAA reports seven states now average $5 a gallon or higher, which includes California and Illinois.

GasBuddy , which tracks real-time fuel prices at more than 140,000 gas stations in the U.S., Canada and Australia, has been following the recent run-up closely. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, spoke with AgWeb about why prices continue to climb after the Memorial Day weekend.

“It’s almost like every five minutes, I see the little live indicator tick up on our GasBuddy data. We are now at $4.70 and four-tenths. 15 minutes ago, we were at $4.70,” says De Haan. “We continue to actively climb here throughout the day. This is a culmination of a big jump in the wholesale price of gasoline that happened last week.”

De Haan says prices have jumped 52 cents in just a month. Prices are up $1.65 compared to a year ago. He says there are no signs of a slowdown anytime soon.

“I think gasoline could be headed the way of diesel potentially, at least nationally, the price of gasoline could eventually hit that $5 gallon mark,” says De Haan.

No Quick Fix

The soaring prices are led in part by strong demand as people ramp-up travel plans and a sluggish supply. The jump also comes after the European Union reached a deal to ban 90-percent of its Russian oil imports by the end of the year.

According to Farm Journal Washington Correspondent Jim Wiesemeyer, President Biden sees no quick fix on gas prices. Biden told reporters at the White House on Wednesday the U.S. has no immediate way to slash the price Americans are paying for gasoline and is considering other proposals such as trying to set a lower price for sale of Russian crude.

Wiesemeyer also reports Biden is likely to visit Saudi Arabia later this month as part of an international trip for NATO and Group of Seven meetings. He says Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members may boost oil output to offset a drop in Russian production, a move that could take some pressure off surging global inflation and pave the way for an ice-breaking visit to Riyadh by Biden.

Gas Prices and the Impact on Food/Meat Demand

Kansas State University agricultural economist Glynn Tonsor says while there’s not one strong indicator a recession is imminent, domestic meat demand hinges on whether the U.S. economy runs out of gas.

“Beef demand, in particular, historically, is tied to consumer incomes. If we have a recession, we would anticipate weaker beef demand and maybe protein demand overall, but particularly beef demand,” says Tonsor.

Tonsor says typically a recession isn’t defined until after the fact, but watching consumer confidence, as well as shopping habits, are both solid indicators of what’s to come.

“We’re on the road in the summer more, so we may not be done with those higher gas prices is the point,” adds Tonsor. “Yes, it does eat pocketbooks. All else equal, if one input and your budget goes up, that eats into your discretionary income for other categories. And we are watching that.”

Meet the Farm Kid Who Became the Youngest Green Beret on a Daring U.S. Military Mission

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 20:27:47 GMT

As a young Missouri farm kid, Terry Buckler knew he was about to be drafted for the war in Vietnam, so he went ahead and volunteered. Soon he found himself at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

“They put us all in a big room and brought in this special forces sergeant who was looking for volunteers for special forces,” Buckler says. “I didn’t know a lot about it, but I knew if I was going to Vietnam, I want to go with the best, and they are the best. So, I stuck my paw up and volunteered for the Green Beret .”
Buckler says the training is tough and the number who make it through is small.

“The old song that says, ‘One hundred men will test today, but only three win the Green Beret’ is pretty accurate,” Buckler says. “We jumped in into our training and there was about 60 or 70 of us. Only 40 graduated out of three classes.”

Terry Buckler’s story is this edition of the Farming the Countryside with Andrew McCrea :

While Buckler became a Green Beret, he was not initially sent to Vietnam. Operations in the country were winding down. When he finally did make the trip across the Pacific, his role was far different than almost any American who had previously fought in the country.

“I was probably the deepest and the youngest behind enemy lines in the Vietnam War,” Buckler says.

In 1970, along with 56 other Green Berets, Buckler went 300 miles behind enemy lines into North Vietnam to rescue 60 to 70 Americans at the Son Tay prisoner of war camp . Odds of survival were 50-50.
Buckler volunteered for the mission, but even after selection, he knew very little about the task at hand.

“We didn’t know what we were going to be doing,” he says. “We had trained for three months for this down at Eglin Air Force Base. We knew we were doing some type of rescue, but we didn’t know where, when or who.”

While in the U.S., the soldiers had trained for this mission without knowing where it was located. The group was transported to Southeast Asia and dropped off for three days at a CIA compound.

“We had over 170 rehearsals,” Buckler says. “The CIA and made a mockup of the compound, which was very accurate. We would go in and we weren’t actually training and just study the terrain where we were at. So, when we hit the ground, we would already have our idea where we’re at and where we’re headed.”

The soldiers set off for Son Tay.

“Our orders were taking no prisoners,” Buckler says. “We had three choppers that took us in. They estimated we had to be in control of the guards within a minute. There were three guard towers, and we took the guard towers out on the way in.”

As part of a two-man team, Buckler had to get to the camp communication building as quickly as they could.

“Just as we had got to that building, I heard on my headset, ‘No items.’ Items is the code word for POWs, so they did another search, making sure that no man was left behind,” he says.

Unfortunately, the POW camp’s 65 American captives had been moved to a different location four months prior.

“The good thing about the mission, was we proved that the United States could get into the back door of Hanoi — get in and get out and not lose any men,” Buckler says.

While the raid didn’t achieve its mission, it is still revered as a military success .

“Every raid since has been modeled after the Son Tay raid,” Buckler says. “The only major differences of the raids today versus the raid we did is the technology they have today is tremendous compared to what we had. We used World War two ski goggles to keep the sand out of our eyes when the chopper landed.”

The planning, the execution and the training that went into the raid all was superb, he says.

“Today when they do a raid on anybody, they take some of the information that they learned in Son Tay and apply it to their mission,” he says.

Buckler wrote a book about his experience: Who Will Go: Into the Son Tay POW Camp

Better Meetings in 8 Key Steps

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 20:03:06 GMT

Meetings are an inevitable element of business, but they can be a boon or a bore, depending on how they are run.

Management consultant Stephanie Vozza with Fast Company shared advice for more productive meetings that are worth their time:

Avoid mornings – Many people, especially in agriculture, identify as morning people. Whenever possible, don’t rob them of their most productive time of the day by making them sit in a meeting. Vozza suggested considering alternatives like an afternoon stand-up, or doing simple status updates via text or e-mail instead of a meeting.
Trim the attendance list – Inviting people unnecessarily can make meetings last longer and waste individuals’ time. Sometimes it may be possible to conduct meetings in segments, excusing attendees after the agenda topic that pertains to them has concluded.
Help everyone be prepared – It’s your role as the leader to communicate the purpose of the meeting in advance. Distribute supporting information to attendees within a reasonable timeframe, so they come to the meeting prepared to discuss and strategize.
Cut distractions – Our amazing attachment to electronic devices can quickly be the downfall of a productive meeting. Attendees who are on their phone or laptops aren’t fully engaged in the topic at hand. Be friendly but firm in your expectations of full attention.
Hit the ground running – Boring, casual beginnings can encourage latecomers and annoy those who value punctuality. Always start on time, and front-load important information that attendees will not want to miss.
Keep the topics tight – Long, complex agendas can frustrate and demoralize your team before the meeting even starts. Shorter, more focused meetings – even if they have to happen more frequently -- can help parse complex topics and generate real progress.
Stay on time – Keep an eye on the clock and wrap up at the promised time, even if that requires scheduling a follow-up meeting to finish the business at hand. Or at least offer the courtesy of asking if everyone is comfortable with staying a bit longer to finish up.
Put a ribbon around it – Every meeting should end with clearly defined decisions and next steps, who will do them, and when. Failure to do so can damage morale and motivation, and create cynicism and a negative attitude toward meetings and work.

“When leaders and attendees take the time to hold effective sessions, they can become less dreaded and even something everyone looks forward to,” Vozza advised.

4 Things to Do When Your Kids Come Home to Farm

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 18:56:54 GMT

Matt and Lisa Moreland hoped at least one of their sons would return to their farm based near Medford, Okla. What they didn’t anticipate was all three sons – James, Will and David – wanted to join the family business once they completed their college degrees.

“It put me back on my heels. I thought, ‘Wow, we’re going to have to find a way to grow,’” Matt recalls.

That was seven years ago. Here are four things Moreland says he has learned in the process.

1. DON’T SLICE YOUR “PIE” INTO SMALLER PIECES. Instead, make a bigger one. The Morelands have grown their operation to accommodate each son’s return.

With James, they added an Angus cowherd. Will has taken the lead on all things agronomic on the farm, which grows corn, soybeans, winter wheat and cotton. David runs the excavation/construction side of the operation.

Scaling up the faming enterprise as each son returned has enabled the Morelands to compensate them accordingly. “They also get an annual bonus and equity in the operation,” Matt says.

2. LET YOUR LEADERS LEAD. “I quickly learned as we’ve grown there’s only so much I can do. I can guide, but I can’t be a control freak,” Moreland says.

How that plays out: each son leads in their respective areas of expertise, and then he and the farm’s eight employees provide support as needed.

“We meet as a group every Monday morning to look at what needs to be done in the week ahead, make assignments and then modify them as necessary,” he says.

Don’t underestimate the value of having clearly defined roles and accountability when children return to the farm, suggests Rena Striegel, president of Transition Point Business Advisors.

“Create a template to delegate responsibility and build in accountability to develop the next generation of leaders,” she advises.

3. CARVE OUT YOUR ROLE. Moreland functions as the managing partner in the operation, overseeing the cash flow for the farm as well as the big-picture direction for the operation. He also takes the lead on lender, landlord and Farm Service Agency (FSA) relationships.

4. HARNESS HELP FROM EXPERTS TO CREATE PLANS. “The investment of good counsel is minimal compared to the cost of mistakes,” says Kitt Tovar Jensen, staff attorney at the Iowa State University Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation.

Moreland knew, even with professional counsel, mistakes can be made. His solution: “Vet your plans with key individuals and organizations. For financial planning, you have to consider the accounting side of things as well as the legal components, and it can be challenging to understand what might work for the FSA, as well as for your accountant and even the IRS,” he says.

Some key questions Moreland asks of experts: What do you think of our plan? How can we make it better? What else should we do?

Take Control Of Your Succession Plan at the Top Producer Summit!

Date: Monday, January 23, 2023
Time: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Cost: $219

Use the topics and tools included in The DIRTT Project to jump-start the succession planning process for your operation whether you are just beginning or need to get on track.

Learn how to set goals for both the transitioning owners and the operation.
Learn how to create a plan to ensure that your heirs and successors are ready to lead and work effectively together.
Learn how to address family disharmony or handle communication with successors who do not get along.
Learn how to choose your professional team and hold them accountable for the work they will be doing for you.
Network with and learn from other farmers in transition.

Learn more and register now!

If you are in the process of succession planning, be sure to check out the tools Farm Journal offers. To learn more, visit FarmJournalLegacyProject.com

Malecha Enterprises: 8 Core Values Bridge the Dynamics of Family and Business

How to Create a Short-Term Operating Plan for Your Farm

How to Make a Successful Transition to the Next Generation

Who Gets What? Take This Important Estate Planning Step

Vilsack Lists USDA's 4 Policy Objectives for 2023

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 14:16:20 GMT

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has a history of making key announcements during visits, and that was the case during his appearance at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting in Puerto Rico.

Some of them include:

1. ERP Phase 2

Vilsack announced Phase 2 of the ERP, which will provide help to producers for production and quality losses of eligible crops, utilizing calculations of a producer’s decrease in gross revenue.

Those were about to be released months ago but were pulled back at the last minute due to lawmaker and farmer complaints. USDA eventually announced anyway.

USDA said in documentation on file at the Federal Register that using that approach will reflect the losses “without requiring the more extensive calculations and documentation required under previous programs” for disaster-related crop losses. USDA said this streamlines the aid to minimize the burden on producers and processing of applications by county FSA offices. Using that process also means it will address losses for a qualifying disaster event whether it happened before or after harvest.

ERP Phase 2 will be available for a decrease in gross revenue in 2020 or 2021, primarily to those with losses not covered by Federal Crop Insurance or the Noninsured Assistance Program (NAP).

The application period is Jan. 23-June 2. USDA has already paid out $7.31 billion under ERP Phase 1 as of Jan. 8, up from $7.28 billion the prior week, including $6.23 billion for non-specialty crops ($6.21 billion prior) and $1.09 billion for specialty crops ($1.08 billion prior). A total of $10 billion was earmarked for ERP.

USDA projects outlays for ERP Phase 2 payments will be $1.2 billion and will likely be pro-rated as USDA projects total gross outlays at $1.5 billion.

Phase 2 Reflection

Phase I was highly successful and it worked well. Phase 2 has tons of problems. Comparing schedule F in relevant years to past years doesn’t reflect losses. A farmer may have had to sell land or livestock when they didn’t want to. They may have sold a previous year’s crop in the year in question. These and other things skew the schedule F. There is also the issue of forcing farmers to share schedule F info with local FSA offices.

2. Pandemic Assistance Revenue Program (PARP)

Vilsack announced PARP payments for producers that suffered a 15% or greater decrease in allowable gross revenue for the 2020 calendar year compared with either 2018 or 2019. This effort, Vilsack said, aims to “fill in gaps” for losses covered by either Phase 1 or Phase 2 of ERP.

The payments will have a factor of 80% (90% for underserved farmers and ranchers) and will be reduced by 2020 ERP payments, and pandemic assistance under either the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) 1 or 2 and other pandemic aid.

Payments will be limited to $125,000 per person or entity and USDA may set a lower maximum payment amount per person if total payments exceed available funding and USDA expects that to be the case — PARP outlays are projected at $250 million with gross outlays pegged at $2.66 billion.

USDA also will expand payments under prior efforts such as CFAP 2 and others. The total payments USDA projects under the ERP Phase 2, PARP and expanded other programs is $1.82 billion with gross amounts at $4.54 billion.

3. U.S.-Made Fertilizer

USDA will seek public comment on 21 potentially viable projects totaling up to $88 million to boost U.S. fertilizer production via the first round of USDA’s Federal Production Expansion Program, a $500 million effort announced earlier this year.

The projects are in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. USDA is seeking comments through Feb. 8 on the environmental impacts of the projects.

4. Meat and Poultry Processing

Vilsack announced three projects in Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota which will expand independent meat and poultry processing capacity via the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program.

The projects total $12 million and are in addition to other recently announced efforts in the sector.

More on policy:

We Have ERP Phase II
Policy and Payments: What Producers Can Expect in 2023

6 Tips for Being a Mentor to a Young Farmer

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 20:19:13 GMT

At a certain point in your farming career, people will ask you for help and advice. This provides you the opportunity to give back, lift others up, provide value and feel good.

But mentoring doesn’t come natural to all of us. Plus, there are times when people ask but they either are not a good fit or maybe aren’t the type of person in which you want to invest.

Here are a few tips for evaluating a mentoring request.

1. ASSESS THE FIT. Is this a person you have the expertise and skills to help?

2. SET TIME PARAMETERS. If someone wants to have a phone call or take you to lunch, you are not obligated to donate your entire afternoon. Say, ‘Sure I have 30 minutes to talk with you.’ Then stick to the parameters. If needed, kindly stop the person when you need to go. They need to respect your time.

3. DETERMINE THE MENTEE’S WILLINGNESS. Does the mentee actually want guidance? Ask him or her if they are up for honest feedback. Like you, I get a lot of resumes from acquaintances’ kids looking for me to recommend them for a job or internship. But not all resumes are the caliber I can recommend to my colleagues. The best thing I can offer is kind suggestions for improvement. I’ve had people get mad, taking offense to the fact I won’t just “send it on.” These are parents and students who can’t accept feedback, and they are not likely to get ahead.

4. SET SOME GOALS. Ask the mentee what their goals are and what outcomes they seek. Are they ready to do something new or take a leap? There is no reason to listen to someone complain about their personal problems (if they are serious enough, you need to connect them with a counseling professional). If the mentee doesn’t keep it focused and productive, move on.

5. ENSURE APPRECIATION. Does the mentee show you genuine appreciation and respect for your time and talents? If they are late, constantly rescheduling or just mooching, it’s not a fit. Have you ever had someone in your house you can’t seem to get to go home no matter how many hints you drop? Or do you have a person who gobbles food or beer and never repays? It feels bad — and it enables. Your mentee should feel grateful for what you offer; if not, it’s not worth it for them.

6. DECIDE IF YOU CARE. No really, do you enjoy talking to the mentee? That’s the easy gut-check question. If you are having fun and learning something from your mentee, it’s probably a great relationship that could span a career. It can be hard to kindly tell someone no; however, I encourage you, for the mentee’s sake equally as much as your own, to evaluate carefully and offer your time thoughtfully.

Join Sarah Beth Aubrey at the 2023 Top Producer Summit in Nashville, Jan. 23-25. Register now!

Executive Women in Agriculture Focus
Tuesday, Jan. 24, Noon to 3:30 p.m.

12:00 p.m. to 12:15 p.m. – Open and Welcome, Sarah Beth Aubrey, ACT
12:30 p.m. – 1 p.m. –Keynote Presentation, Jackie Applegate, Bayer
1 p.m. – 1:20 p.m. – How to Start a Side Business, Sarah Beth Aubrey
1:20 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. – Break
1:30 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. – Female Farmer Panel: Jennie Schmidt, Maryland; Susan Weaver Ford, North Carolina
2:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. – How to Keep the Balls in the Air Panel: Mandi Kerr, Global Hemp Association
3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. – Facilitated Wrap Up, Group Fun, Sarah Beth Aubrey

Invest in Your Farm's Reputation with Social Media

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 17:43:48 GMT

From attracting landlords to honoring employees to sharing a behind-the-scene view of a modern farm, social media can be a vital tool for your operation.

Consider what passersby think when they see your headquarters or machinery on the highway. Do you want them to draw their own conclusions, or do you want to be the one telling the story?

Be Proactive

Fourth-generation farmer Leah Halverson can remember the exact moment she told her family they needed to get their operation, Black Gold Farms, on social media.

“My dad said, ‘But then everybody’s going to know what we’re doing!’” she recalls. “This led to what we call a drive by; we decided if you can drive by and see what we’re doing on the farm, then we should be able to talk about it.”

Have a Gameplan

Through her business, Ten Acre Marketing, Halverson and her team help growers communicate their farms’ stories through social media. The first steps, she says, are to define your goals, best tools and a plan for action. Halverson suggests a marketing plan checklist:

1. Ask yourself what you’re looking to achieve. Some examples include attracting employees or developing new buyer relationships.

2. Set an investment plan. This includes time, money and resources.

In 2012, Madeline Peterson, social media strategist at Peterson Farms in Loretto, Ky., and 2016 Top Producer of the Year winner, kickstarted her farm’s social presence with a similar checklist in mind.

“We’re most interested in creating meaningful content for the community while weaving in the narrative of Peterson Farms’ legacy that we want to leave behind,” Peterson says. “Sometimes it’s thought-provoking content, other days it’s feel-good content, such as a sunset.”

For years, Peterson has posted weekly on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. She recently joined TikTok since video content is becoming more relevant.

Power of a Brand

While these marketing stories are optional now, some, including Halverson, speculate telling your farm story will one day be essential.

“I don’t think you should be worried about getting asked about your operation’s practices, but I think you should be expecting that it’ll be part of your checklist each year in the future,” she says. “If that time comes, we have to make sure we have messaging and branding in place, and that we’re following through with it.”

The bottom line, according to Halverson and Peterson: Don’t be bashful in learning new skills and promoting your operation — it just might pay off.

More on social media:

Young Farmer Makes History, Uses Video Games and YouTube to Buy $1.8M Land
Tell Your Unique Farming Story Without Getting Lost in the Science

Packer Insight — Chef'd and Other Meal Kits at Retail

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 07:46:08 GMT

Produce Retailer editor Pamela Riemenschneider and staff writer Ashley Nickle discuss the revamped meal kits from Chef’d and other products now in stores -- and the all-important questions of where to merchandise them.

MORE: Shelf life improvement sparks rapid retail growth for Chef’d

MORE: Pamela’s Kitchen: Chef’d Meal Kits

8 Tips to Help You Navigate National FFA Convention and Expo

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 14:06:54 GMT

How is FFA growing the next generation of leaders who will change the world? For many young people, growth occurs during the National FFA Convention & Expo. FFA members and advisors from all over the country will be gathering in Indianapolis, Ind., for the 95th National FFA Convention & Expo on Oct. 26-29.

“No matter where you are in FFA, you’ll find inspiration and direction to become a leader and influencer, ready to make an impact. During this event, find out who you are, who you want to become and how you can change how the world grows,” the organization said on its website.

Here are a few tips from National FFA to help make your convention experience a positive one.

1. Avoid the registration lines with three easy steps.
For chapter advisors who haven’t completed ALL steps of the registration process, expect unusually long lines at the Indiana Convention Center, Hall A. Those steps include:
1. Add attendee names for every registration purchased.
2. Assign agenda activities to each attendee’s name.
3. Ensure all attendees have completed their Health, Safety and Event Participation and Code of Conduct e-waiver.
These steps should be completed before you travel to Indianapolis. Links and instructions are available in the registration confirmation email. If an attendee doesn’t have a waiver accurately completed, they will not receive a badge to enter the event. Remember: An attendee under 18 MUST have their e-waiver signed by a parent or guardian.

2. See something, say something.
Let someone know if an FFA member or guest is behaving inappropriately or not living up to the Code of Ethics. Throughout convention, there will be signs with a QR Code that can be scanned to report bullying, harassment, bias or other misconduct. Click here for more information. Once you access the page, use code FFAEvent.

3. Download the guidebook app.
Find your way around #FFA22 with our guidebook app! Check out everything you can see and do at convention with this free app!

4. Know the entry policies
All convention participants are subject to airport-style searches at venue entries. This applies to all convention venues, including Indiana Convention Center, Lucas Oil Stadium, Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Indiana State Fairgrounds. For safety reasons, prohibited items include but are not limited to:
• Knives (all types and all sizes)
• Weapons of any kind, including chains, knives, firearms and spiked jewelry
• Alcohol, drugs, illegal substances or any paraphernalia associated with drug use
• Laser pens/pointers of any type
• Outside food or drinks
• Oversized bags
• Pepper spray/Mace
• Any other item deemed unacceptable by event/building management

5. Know the venue cashless policies.
All the concession stands at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indiana Convention Center, Indiana State Fairgrounds and Luas Oil Stadium are cashless. However, cash can be used at the FFA Shopping Mall and FFA Mega Store, located in Halls B-E at the Indiana Convention Center.

6. Park safely.
FFA works closely with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to promote safety and reduce preventable crimes. Help by following these guidelines:
• Always lock car or bus doors.
• Do not leave valuables visible inside cars or buses.
• A trunk is the safest place for valuables.
• Do not store an extra key under the car, fender, gas cap, etc.
• Only park in approved areas.

7. Use the established loading zones for buses.
Make sure to keep attendees safe by only using established loading zones for buses in Indianapolis:
• Indiana Convention Center: South curb lane of Maryland Street between Capitol Avenue and Meridian Street (one block west of ICC).
• Lucas Oil Stadium: West curb lane of Capitol Avenue from South Street to McCarty Street or east curb lane of Missouri Street from McCarty to South Street.
• FFA Concerts at Gainbridge Fieldhouse: Significant construction is ongoing around Gainbridge Fieldhouse. If you have purchased a bus parking spot, plan to walk to and from the concert from your bus. Other buses may drop off and pick up on South Street between Capitol Avenue and Pennsylvania.

8. Be a convention know-it-all.
The A to Z Guide is the best answer to your questions. Check it out in the mobile app or the convention website.

See the schedule here.

The 2023 National FFA Convention & Expo will take place Nov. 1-4, 2023.

Read More:

4 Ways FFA Shaped My Life for the Better

FFA Has-Been? No, Your Role Just Changes

12 Reasons Why We Need FFA More Than Ever

Ag Teachers: When Someone Believes in You

Senate and House Leaders Call for Farm Bill Extension

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 18:05:31 GMT

Rep. G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Ag Committee, continues to express optimism about the possibility of passing a new farm bill in December in the House of Representatives. But he acknowledges that an extension of the current farm bill would still be needed while the Senate and others complete their work on the farm bill, says Pro Farmer analyst Jim Wiesemeyer.

Thompson explained that even if they had passed a farm bill last September, a long-term extension would have been required because both the House and Senate versions need to be reconciled through a conference process. USDA will also need time to align its provisions with the emerging farm bill.

“Not many think the House will complete a new farm bill this calendar year,” Wiesemeyer says. “Thompson also identified key issues in the farm bill including finding funding to make changes to the farmer safety net, potentially addressing base acres and other changes that have been well known through the process so far — issues still without a consensus.”

In the Senate, Democratic Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow and Ranking Member Republican John Boozman are calling for an extension.

“Getting the farm bill done won’t be easy. It never is. But I am committed to doing so. Unfortunately, it looks like this will take longer than I would like,” Stabenow said. “Given the chaos in the House, I know we will need an extension. But let’s be clear, it would be equally irresponsible to take our focus off of a multi-year farm bill that provides stability and certainty for our farmers.”

House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member David Scott called to extend the 2018 farm bill last Friday to offer certainty and support to farmers, ranchers, and foresters as extremism within the House Republican Conference hobbles legislative efforts.

“While we continue the bipartisan effort on the House Agriculture Committee to craft a new farm bill, the extremism and cynicism that has taken hold of the broader House Republican Conference makes a five-year farm bill reauthorization by the year’s end increasingly unlikely. Therefore, I am calling on my colleagues to support a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill,’ Scott said. “A one-year extension is the responsible thing to do. It allows our farmers, ranchers, and foresters to operate with an element of certainty while we continue working on a bipartisan five-year farm bill.”

Read More:

Xylazine Bill Protects Veterinary Access to the Popular Sedative

U.S. Pork Productivity is a Blessing and a Curse, McCracken Says

Freight Rates Skyrocket

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 07:27:49 GMT

Transportation woes continue to haunt Northeast shippers as trucks remain hard to come by and freight rates skyrocket because of rising fuel costs and a scarcity of drivers.

“Trucks are at a premium right now,” said Tracie Levin, controller at M. Levin and Co. , in Philadelphia.

“It’s a major hindrance for our industry and anyone else that uses trucking, which is basically every industry out there,” she said.

Shippers can’t even buy trucks.

“We’ve been on wait lists to get more trucks, trailer and tractors,” she said. “You just cannot get those things these days.”

But Levin is optimistic that things will turn around. She said some relief is already in evidence.

“We’re slowly able to get things again in a semi timely manner,” she said.

East Coast shippers have been dealing with transportation issues, but there are trucks available, said Tom Beaver, director of sales and marketing for Sunny Valley International Inc. , in Glassboro, N.J.

“Obviously, the cost of brokering a truck, especially for our (less-than-load) business, has increased considerably, but the same is true for all of our competitors,” he said. “We’re adjusting to this ‘new normal,’ but the important thing is that we can get fruit loaded and out to our customers on time and in full.”

Transportation challenges are more prevalent during the winter than they are during the spring and summer for Vineland, N.J.-based The Freshwave Fruit & Produce and its growing operation, Consalo Family Farms , said Chelsea Consalo, executive vice president.

That’s because the company has more local deals during the warmer months.

During the winter, the firm must bring in products from outside growing areas, such as Mexico, and transport fruits and vegetables imported from offshore growing regions, such as Chile, from U.S. ports.

“We have more trucks on the road (in winter),” she said.

Transportation costs are a major concern.

“We’re managing to get the trucks,” Consalo said. “It is just more expensive.”

The Freshwave has added Nick Crisafulli, who recently completed an internship at Americold Logistics LLC, to its logistics staff to help arrange transportation.

Vineland-based Flaim Farms Inc . has its own fleet of trucks for local deliveries, said president Ryan Flaim.

But trying to find trucks for destinations that are farther out is challenging.

The company has good relationships with trucking firms, but rates are much higher than they have been in the past, Flaim said.

Finding transportation isn’t a problem, as long as you’re willing to pay exorbitant fees, said Joel Fierman, president of New York-based Joseph Fierman and Sons Inc .

“It’s really a pity when your cost for transportation pretty much is as high as your cost for goods,” he said.

He blamed the price spike on high fuel costs and a scarcity of drivers.

“It’s a terrible, terrible thing that this country is experiencing right now,” he said.

An added problem during the Christmas season was that many trucks were sidetracked delivering Christmas trees.

“It’s fast, easy money,” he said.

Filindo Colace, vice president of operations for Philadelphia-based Ryeco LLC , attributes the skyrocketing inflation rate the industry has experienced to high freight costs.

“Freight has been a premium for quite some time,” he said.

While seed prices and other costs have also gone up, he said high freight rates are 90% of the cause of inflation.

“Nothing in the industry has gone up at the same rate as freight has,” Colace said.

But he remains optimistic.

“We think the country is moving on,” he said. “We’re going to be as back-to-business as usual as possible in the first quarter of next year.”

He expected buying patterns to return to where they were in 2019.

“We hope the workforce returns to those levels, as well,” he said.

“If that’s the case, it will be our expectation that freight rates will start to lower because there are more truck drivers coming back into the workforce.”

Related articles:

Rising freight rates pose challenge

Distributors cope with rising freight costs