News Update
Feb. 10, 2011

Summit to Secure Animal Agriculture's Future

Early registration is now open for the Animal Agriculture Alliance's annual Stakeholders Summit. Celebrate the 10th anniversary of this unique educational event by joining other food and feed industry leaders in Arlington, Va., May 5-6 to explore the theme: "United We Eat: Securing Animal Agriculture's Future."

Jason Shoultz, a founding member of the America's Heartland team, will serve as moderator for the event, facilitating discussion about the future of food production between speakers and attendees. Shoultz brings with him a deep understanding of the challenges facing food producers today.

"Jason's insight will help Summit attendees explore new ways to educate consumers about food production using television, radio and social media," Executive Vice President Kay Johnson Smith said. "These tools offer exciting ways for stakeholders to unite and protect consumer choice and farmers' right to feed us."

The 2011 Summit will focus on hot topics that have the potential to affect the future of animal agriculture in the United States, such as activism, the decline of agricultural literacy, and legislative action. Workshops will help attendees bridge the urban-rural divide using innovative communications strategies to educate consumers about modern farm practices.

The Summit also offers a unique opportunity for stakeholders from across the country to meet and network. View photos from last year's Summit here.

For a second year, the event will be at The Westin Arlington Gateway hotel. Attendees should book rooms in the "Animal Agriculture Alliance" block at the special rate of $239 by visiting the hotel's website or by calling 703-717-6200. Reservations must be made by April 16 to be guaranteed the discounted rate. Early registration for the one-and-a-half day conference is $325 for Alliance members and $375 for non-members. The Alliance is offering a special rate of $275 for those in government or academia. Registration can be completed online. On-site registration will not be available.

The 2011 Summit has been approved at 8 CEU credits for ARPAS members. Please access the new event website for more information about the Summit.

For questions and comments, please contact summit@animalagalliance.org or call 703-562-5160.

— News release by the Animal Agriculture Alliance.

Ag Policy Committee Discusses 2010 Farm Bill, Border Security

Farm Bill discussions in Washington, D.C., will likely kick off this summer, reported Kristina Butts, National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) executive director of legislative affairs, as she addressed the NCBA Ag Policy Committee Feb. 4 in Denver, Colo. Butts encouraged NCBA membership to share their input on provisions within the bill.

She shared that, on behalf of the cattle industry, NCBA is currently reviewing guiding principles in preparation for the Farm Bill discussion. Presently, NCBA's top priority is to eliminate or reduce the livestock title, provisions or directives in the next Farm Bill. Colin Woodall, NCBA vice president of government affairs, explained that the livestock title within previous farm bills is where issues such as country-of-origin labeling (COOL) and the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) were created.

"In our view, the Farm Bill is not meant for marketing issues," Woodall stated.

With specific regard to marketing, NCBA's stance is that farm policy that guarantees profit, restricts the operation of the competitive marketplace, or dictates who can or cannot own cattle should be discouraged.

Butts clarified that taking out the livestock title would not affect research and conservation programs that have traditionally been in the Farm Bill.

Additional NCBA priorities with regard to the Farm Bill include:

• Supporting a reduction of the federal deficit while assuring funding for Farm Bill priorities, without agriculture bearing a disproportionate share of the reductions;
• Minimizing direct federal involvement in agricultural production methods;
• Preserving the individual's right to manage land, water and other resources;
• Providing an opportunity to compete in foreign markets; and
• Supporting equitable funding for farm programs to ensure funding is not disproportionately reduced.

The committee also spent considerable time discussing an interim policy that was initially put forth at the 2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference by the Arizona Cattle Growers Association regarding border security. Discussion was conducted about the challenges and dangers border ranchers are facing in several border states. Arizona has formulated an 18-point "Restore Our Border" plan that they'd like to see the NCBA organization support as they seek legislative changes on this issue. (More information about the plan can be found at www.restoreourborder.org). A resolution was passed by voice vote to have NCBA support action in securing the international border from California to Florida.

Several expiring resolutions were renewed by the committee, including continuing NCBA's opposition to legislation preventing horse harvesting and/or processing, and opposing any abolishment of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) or combining NRCS under the Farm Service Agency (FSA).

NCBA members attending the committee meeting were also encouraged to contribute to the organization's PAC (political action committee) fund. Ag Policy Committee Chairman Tim Munns from Nevada emphasized that this funding is used on cattlemens' behalf to create awareness for ag policy issues.

For additional coverage of the 2011 Cattle Industry Convenction and NCBA Trade show, visit the newsroom at www.4cattlemen.com.

— By Kindra Gordon for Angus Productions Inc.

Opening Statement by Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson at Hearing to Discuss Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

"It is appropriate that Dodd-Frank is the topic of the Committee's first oversight hearing of the new Congress, and I would anticipate there will be several more. It is important that we get this right and that the CFTC remain on track to implement the law in a responsible manner and as Congress intended.

"Derivatives played a key role in the collapse of our financial markets. We had an over $600 trillion OTC derivatives market with no oversight, no transparency and with no regulation. As a consequence of this and many other factors, the American taxpayer ended up having to bail out large financial institutions like AIG when the financial system fell apart.

"Even before the financial crisis, nearly three years ago, this Committee was looking into these markets and we tried to address some of these issues in early 2009. Many of the provisions this Committee adopted with bipartisan support were ultimately included in the Dodd-Frank bill.

"Mandatory clearing of over-the-counter swaps and requiring major swap participants and swap dealers to back up their swap deals with additional capital should help ensure that taxpayer dollars will not be needed to rescue these large financial firms again and bring greater stability to the swaps marketplace.

"The Committee focused closely on ensuring that under these new rules end users could continue using derivatives to hedge the risks associated with their underlying business, whether it is energy exploration, manufacturing or other commercial activities. End users did not cause the financial crisis; they were the victims of it.

"We worked to see that mandatory clearing, mandatory trading, new capital and margin requirements, and other obligations fell upon the financial players responsible for the crisis and not upon commercial end users. Proper oversight by this Committee will ensure that our efforts are implemented by the regulators.

"The provisions of Dodd-Frank will also increase transparency to better arm end users when negotiating with the big banks. Commercial end users generally get the worse end of any swap deal because they simply do not have the same level of information on swap prices and terms as do their dealer counterparties. By requiring the big dealers to report and clear more of their swaps and move into more transparent marketplaces, commercial end users will be able to get a better picture of the swaps market and be better armed in their negotiations with these dealers.

"Unfortunately, there is still a lot of confusion and misinformation out there with regard to commercial end users. I hope this hearing gives us an opportunity to clear some of that up. Because if implemented properly, the derivative title of Dodd-Frank could prove to be a major benefit to commercial end users.

— News release by U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture.

Implementation of Dodd-Frank Should Preserve Risk Management Options for Farmers, Co-ops, NCFC Representative Testifies

As the Commodities Futures Trading Corp. (CFTC) implements provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act involving over the counter (OTC) derivatives, the Commission must ensure that farmer co-ops can continue to effectively manage risk and offer hedging tools to their farmer-owners, a representative of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC) said today.

The comments were made by Ed Gallagher, president of Dairy Risk Management Services, a division of Dairy Farmers of America, and vice president of risk management for Dairylea Cooperative, at a House Committee on Agriculture hearing looking at implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

"Due to market volatility in recent years, cooperatives are increasingly using OTC products to help them diversify their exposure by customizing their hedges," Gallagher testified. "In addition, OTC derivatives offer cooperatives the ability to provide specialized products to farmers and ranchers to help them better manage their risk and returns. A co-op can aggregate its owner-members small-volume hedges or forward contracts and offset that risk with a futures contract or by entering into another customized hedge via the swaps market."

For an example, Gallagher discussed the ways in which his co-op helps their dairy farmer members hedge against increases in feed prices. Without the co-op involvement, he emphasized, individual producers would be unable to mitigate this risk effectively.

"Many producers are not able to use the futures markets to hedge input risk because of the larger volumes underlying the relevant futures contracts," Gallagher said in his written testimony. "Furthermore, corn and soybean contracts do not trade on a monthly basis, while most of our members purchase feed on a monthly basis."

A wide variety of farmer co-ops, including those in the grain and livestock sectors, use OTC derivatives to offer similar products.

Gallagher closed his testimony by outlining the actions needed to ensure that producers continue to have access to these risk management tools through the co-ops that they own.

"NCFC believes that agricultural cooperatives should be treated as end users since they aggregate the commercial risk of individual farmer-members and are treated as such by the CFTC currently," he concluded. "In addition, we seek an exclusion of farmer cooperatives from the definition of a swap dealer and an exemption of farmer co-ops from mandatory clearing or margining."

— Release by NCFC.

Two Small Farm Conferences Set for March

Farmers who want new ways to grow, sell and stay in business can find them at two events coming next month. The "Opening Doors to Success" Small Farm Conference and Trade Show runs March 11-12 at Wilmington College in southern Ohio. The "Living Your Small Farm Dream" Northeast Ohio Small Farm Conference and Trade Show takes place March 26 at the R.G. Drage Career Center in Massillon.

" 'Small' is relative, almost a mind-set," said Mike Hogan, one of the organizers and an Ohio State University (OSU) Extension educator in eastern Ohio. "It's hard to draw a line to say what's small and what isn't.

"The main focus either way is to help farm families identify ways to become more profitable and sustainable — economically, environmentally and socially."

Alternative enterprises, such as blueberries and freshwater shrimp, will be among the topics. So will alternative production systems — reduced tillage, grass-based livestock and others — and alternative marketing systems, including CSAs (community supported agriculture), farmer's markets and direct online selling.

The conferences, Hogan said, are designed for both small landowners looking to start an operation and for commercial farmers wanting to make theirs more profitable. Both are finding new opportunities, Hogan noted, thanks to peoples' interest in local foods and sustainability.

The Wilmington program offers 35-plus breakout sessions in all, Massillon 23, with keynote talks at both.

Complete details, including hours, topics and registration forms, are online at http://go.osu.edu/B2G for Wilmington and http://go.osu.edu/B2H for Massillon.

Registration for Wilmington costs $20 for March 11, $50 for March 12 or $60 for both days and is due by March 4. For Massillon, it's a flat $50 by March 18.

For more information, call 740-264-2212 or e-mail hogan.1@osu.edu.

Co-sponsoring the Wilmington conference are OSU Extension's Small Farm Program, Wilmington College, Farm Credit Services of Mid-America, and the following U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offices: Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and Rural Development (RD).

Teaming for the Massillon program are Extension's Small Farm Program, Farm Credit Services of Mid-America, and USDA's FSA, NRCS, NASS and RD offices.

— News release by Kurt Knebusch for OSU College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Extension Workshop in Capitan to Highlight Methods to Control, Eradicate Feral Hogs

Whether they originated as domesticated animals that turned wild over time or were brought into New Mexico as sport for hunters, feral pigs have grown to be a major problem for farmers and ranchers, destroying rangeland and attacking small livestock.

New Mexico State University (NMSU) Cooperative Extension Service in Lincoln County is offering the Southern New Mexico Feral Hog Symposium Feb. 18 in Capitan to help educate the public about the dangers feral hogs pose, and how to defend against the animals and their destructive ways.

The symposium is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will be at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds.

"Feral hogs are a major issue all over New Mexico and in Lincoln County," said Pete Gnatkowski, an Extension agricultural agent. "We are hoping that through this program, participants will become aware of the issues surrounding feral hogs, where they are, and what ways they might be able to exercise some kind of control. This will be a very interesting program."

Gnatkowski said feral hogs not only destroy rangeland and agricultural fields, but also tear up fences and roads. They are also known predators of small livestock and other animals, such as fawns and quail, and they carry many diseases of concern to livestock producers. The hogs tend to be more concentrated in areas near water, such as the Capitan Mountains.

During the workshop, Sam Smallidge, NMSU Extension wildlife specialist, will discuss the biology and history of wild pigs. Justin Stevenson, a USDA Wildlife Services biologist and feral hog coordinator, will talk about the impact of feral hogs, the diseases they carry, regulations and how to control the animals. Ron Jones, a USDA wildlife specialist, will offer participants eradication and control techniques.

In addition to these speakers, representatives from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, U.S. Forest Service and the New Mexico Livestock Board will be on hand to offer their views on feral hogs and answer any questions.

There will be time during the symposium for participants to visit with and ask questions of all the speakers.

There is no fee to attend the symposium. Snacks will be provided during the event, courtesy of the Upper Hondo Soil and Water Conservation District.

For more information about the feral hog workshop, call the Lincoln County Extension Office at 575-648-2311.

— Release by Audrey Olmsted for NMSU Cooperative Extension Service.

— Compiled by Linda Robbins, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.