News Update

News Update
Sept. 21, 2007

Panama Accepts U.S. Cattle Imports

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today announced that consistent with international standards, Panama is allowing the importation of U.S. cattle of all ages.

According to APHIS, Panama stopped allowing the importation of live U.S. cattle after bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was detected in an imported Canadian cow in December 2003. Prior to that, however, Panama’s market for U.S. cattle exports had been quickly expanding, with the country’s 2003 importation of live U.S. cattle double what had been imported in the previous three years combined.

Early Registration Deadline for Employee Management Conference Nears

Organizers of the “Employee Management for Production Agriculture Conference” are encouraging prospective attendees to register by Sept. 26 in order to receive the discounted early registration rate.

The conference will be Oct. 11-12 in Kansas City, Mo. Its sponsors are Kansas State University (K-State) Research and Extension, the National Pork Board, and the National Cattleman’s Beef Association (NCBA).

Early registration is $150, due by Sept. 26, for the first two attendees from a business. The group rate for businesses sending three or more participants is $125 per person, if paid by Sept. 26. After that date, the full rate of $200 per person applies. The registration fee covers lunch on both days, refreshments at breaks and all conference materials.

The conference site will be the Kansas City (Mo.) Airport Marriott Hotel near Kansas City International Airport.

The sessions will be filled with such “how-to” information as working with diverse cultures in agricultural businesses, dealing with difficult times, and current legal issues, said K-State agricultural economist Sarah Fogleman.

Fogleman is a conference coordinator and a K-State Research and Extension specialist in employment management issues.

More information about the conference, including links to the hotel, is available at www.oznet.ksu.edu/employee or by contacting Fogleman at 620-431-1530.

Graze to Keep Grass Healthy, NU Professor Says

Bruce Anderson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) professor of agronomy, says to control pasture weeds, it is important to manage grazing to support healthy desirable plants than to weaken or remove unwanted weeds.

“While many weeds can provide satisfactory protein and energy for cattle when eaten, controlling weeds with heavy grazing pressure might not be healthy for the pasture,” Anderson states in a management article available at UNL’s http://beef.unl.edu/stories/200709210.shtml.

“Simply grazing or controlling weeds by spraying or cutting does little to prevent weeds from coming back again unless these other factors are changed to better support desirable plants,” he continues.

Instead, grazing should allow “sufficient leaf area to support rapid regrowth, allow good winterizing, and hold snow and rain moisture on the land rather than running off…”

Anderson says this allows pasture plants adequate time to recover between grazing periods. “For improvement to occur, controlling weeds is not enough,” he says. “Changing management to strengthen desired grasses and legumes also is essential.”

For the full article, visit http://beef.unl.edu/stories/200709210.shtml.

McDonald’s Tries RFID Orders

Thanks to an experimental trial being conducted by McDonald’s, customers in one part of a South Korean city can order their meals via cell phone.

According to an article reported by The Korea Times last week, the restaurant and SK Telecom initiated a new ordering system at a western Seoul branch using mobile phones and infrared sensors that allow customers to place orders at their table. The phone receives a message when the food is ready, according to the article.

Customers must first download a special program into their handsets. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader and a menu with corresponding built-in chips is available at each table, where, according to The Korea Times, customers can plug in their phones and point them at the desired menu item. Customers are then charged through their cell phones.

A McDonald’s Korea spokesperson said the company is monitoring the system, but it’s too early to discuss expanding it to other venues.

USDA Announces Funding for Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy Projects

Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development Thomas Dorr today announced that 345 proposals in 37 states have been selected to receive a total of $18.2 million for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

The grant and loan guarantee/grant combinations are being awarded through USDA's Section 9006 Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements program. It provides financial assistance to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to install renewable energy generation systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. Of the $18.2 million total, $13.4 million are grants and $4.8 million are guaranteed loans.

Funding of individual recipients will be contingent upon their meeting the conditions of the grant/loan guarantee agreement. A complete list of the selected recipients is posted on the USDA Rural Development web site at www.rurdev.usda.gov.

— compiled by Crystal Albers, associate editor, Angus Productions Inc.