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Texas Agriculture Archive

November 17, 2006

State and federal investigators have narrowed their focus to the ranch, where wild boars trampled fences that had hemmed in a spinach field. Samples taken from the wild pig, as well as from stream water and cattle on the ranch, tested positive for the same strain of E. Coli implicated in the outbreak, according to officials.
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; Oct. 27, 2006

Arkansas on track for record cotton crop
Arkansas cotton producers are on track to produce a record crop, which one agronomist says is "unbelievable" given the crop's rocky start. Many cotton producing states, such as Texas, have endured severe drought conditions which may limit harvest this year.

The Agriculture Department estimates Arkansas will produce a record 2.6 million 480-pound bales this season.

If that estimate is realized, it will be an 18.2 percent increase over last year. If the state does reach the USDA's expectations, it will be the second-largest U.S. cotton producer, behind Texas.
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; Nov. 3, 2006

Columbia and Peru welcome U.S. beef
Columbia and Peru recently lifted long-standing bans on U.S. beef, which they instituted due to the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the U.S. in 2003.

Prior to the discovery of BSE, the U.S. shipped roughly $4 million worth of beef products to Columbia and Peru. With the reopening of these markets, U.S. beef regains two-thirds of its market access in South America.
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; Nov. 6, 2006

Doha trade talks must include cotton reform
African nations' push to reform U.S. and European cotton subsidies will succeed only if the stalled Doha round of trade negotiations are revived and produce a deal, a World Trade Organization official said recently.

Officials from the four African nations were in Washington recently urging rich countries to halt trade-distorting subsidies.

"National income has been reduced; small farmers' income has dropped significantly due to subsidies from the United States, Europe and Turkey," Choguel Kokala Maiga, Mali's trade minister said.
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; Nov. 1, 2006

Texas ethanol plant energized by manure
Panda Ethanol Inc. recently announced its intentions to build a 100 million gallon-per-year ethanol pant near the city of Muleshoe in Bailey County. When completed, the facility will refine approximately 28 million bushels of corn into ethanol each year. The ethanol produced from the facility is expected to displace 2.6 million barrels of imported oil a year.

The Muleshoe facility is unique because it will generate the steam used in the ethanol manufacturing process by gasifying more than 1 billion pounds of cattle manure a year. Once complete, it will reportedly be one of the most fuel-efficient ethanol refineries in the nation.
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; Nov. 3, 2006

Farmers hold on to ethanol plant
Farmer-owned and operated ethanol plants are receiving attention and even hefty offers from Wall Street bankers noticing the potential for significant profits. For example, farmers in Malta Bend, Mo., which has a population of around 250, joined together with other local communities to raise money for a $60 million ethanol plant three years ago. When ethanol prices reached $4 a gallon this summer, farmers saw their efforts paying off.

Now farms are citing buyout offers as high as $275 million. These offers are not few and far between, they happen just about every week from an array of investors. For the farmers, particularly those who borrowed part of their investment, a sale could have meant a profit of as much as 10 times what they put in. However, farmers are holding strong, despite a recent drop in ethanol prices.
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; Nov. 2, 2006

U.S. utilized grape production increases
Utilized grape production for 2005 totaled 7.83 million tons, up 26 percent from the 2004 crop.

The California crop, which accounts for 89 percent of the 2005 U.S. utilized grape production, is up 24 percent from the previous year. Also for California, wine type production increased 35 percent, while raisin type and table type production both rose 13 percent from 2004.

Utilized production increased from 2004 in all grapes estimating states except Arizona, Arkansas and Texas.
Source: USDA; NASS; Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts, 2005 Summary; 2006

Editorial: Senate should ignore horse slaughter
A Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial published recently comes out squarely on the side of groups, including Farm Bureau, that have worked to stop passage of legislation that would ban horse slaughter in the U.S.

According to the paper, such legislation is misguided and the Senate "should put this nag of a bill out to pasture." The editorial notes "Horses grow old; they can't fend for themselves, and there simply aren't enough old horse homes to see all of them through their last days."
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; Nov. 3, 2006

Coal to natural gas facility in the works
The first ever coal to natural gas facility is scheduled to be built in Indiana.

The plant, which is scheduled to come online in 2011, would create 300 new jobs for Indiana's coal industry, 125 permanent jobs at the plant, as well as about 1,000 construction jobs for four years beginning in 2008. The plant should also benefit consumers by reducing natural gas prices by 22 percent, less than the average price of natural gas delivered to Indiana over the past three years.

The project is being developed by Indiana Gasification, LLC, and will include a methanation process to produce pipeline quality substitute natural gas (SNG), which has an identical molecular structure to that of natural gas. It would produce 40 billion cubic feet of pipeline quality SNG annually, which is enough to supply 15 to 20 percent of Indiana's residential and commercial gas demand. Its use is projected to save customers more than $3.7 billion over the next 30 years versus the price of conventional natural gas, according to a study by Carnegie-Mellon University faculty.
Source: AFBF; Policy Links: Nov. 3, 2006

Kansas livestock auction part of animal I.D. study
Animal identification is on the minds of most ranchers concerned about what they can do to increase their profitability through tracking efforts, while maintaining confidentiality and responding efficiently.

Pratt Livestock Auction, located in Pratt, Kan., was among the first to be part of a federal animal tracking pilot project involving 15 of the state's auction markets. The project is funded by a $441,000 grant given to the Kansas Animal Health Department and Kansas State University by the U.S. Agriculture Department this spring. The grant also will be used to study the efficiency of different radio frequency ear tags and the cost of an animal identification system for livestock markets.

The federal agency awarded a total of $3 million to states to conduct field trials of different tracking systems.
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; Nov. 2, 2006

USDA plans mandatory livestock reporting system
The Agriculture Department announced it is developing a new regulation for Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR). This new regulation must be issued prior to the resumption of the program on a mandatory basis. The statutory authority of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 ended in September 2005. At that time, USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service requested each packer that was required to report under the act voluntarily submit market information, reports MeatNews.

Due to the high percentage of voluntary participation by the packers, USDA has continued to publish most reports, except for imported boxed lamb cuts and slaughter cow reports. USDA thanked the packers that have continued to participate in LMR on a voluntary basis, and requested their continued cooperation until the regulatory authority for LMR is re-established by publishing new regulations.
Source: AFBF; Executive Newswatch; Nov. 6, 2006