News Update
January 24, 2014
FCS Financial Announces
2014 Scholarship Program
To encourage and support higher education for relatives of FCS Financial members, FCS Financial will again offer up to 35 scholarships valued at $1,000 each. The scholarship deadline is March 1 and recipients will be notified in April.
Nearly $325,000 has been distributed through the FCS Financial Scholarship Program since it was established by the FCS Financial Board of Directors in 2004. To qualify, applicants must be a graduating senior at a Missouri high school, a child or grandchild of an FCS Financial member, and attain a 2.5 or higher GPA, an ACT score of at least 26 or rank in the top 20% of their senior class. The scholarship applicants are then judged on leadership roles, work experience, community involvement and essays by a non-partisan committee. One recipient is selected from qualified applicants at each FCS Financial branch office. Up to 12 at-large recipients are also selected from all qualified applicants.
Apply online at www.myfcsfinancial.com. Click on Scholarships at the top of the web page. Relatives of FCS Financial board members or employees are not eligible.
National Ag Day Essay Contest Deadline Approaching
The Agriculture Council of America (ACA) calls on ninth- to 12th-grade students to submit an original, 450-word essay or a two-minute video essay about the importance of agriculture. This year’s theme is “Agriculture: 365 Sunrises and 7 Billion Mouths to Feed” and the deadline is January 31. The ACA asks teachers and parents to encourage student participation.
The theme presents an opportunity for students to tell the true story of agriculture and remind American citizens that agriculture is a part of all of us. Entrants may choose to either write an essay and/or create a video focusing on how today’s growers are overcoming challenges to sustain the amount of food needed to provide everyone in the world an adequate and nutritious diet.
“CHS enthusiastically supports rural youth and is proud to showcase their ideas,” says Annette Degnan, Agriculture Council of America board member and marketing communications director, CHS Inc., one of this year’s essay-contest sponsors. “The essay and video contests provide an engaging platform for their voices, vision and dreams to be shared with a broader audience.”
The national written essay winner receives a $1,000 prize and round-trip ticket to Washington, D.C., for recognition during the Celebration of Ag Dinner March 25 at Whitten Patio at the USDA. During dinner, the winner will have the opportunity to read the winning essay as well as join with industry representatives, members of Congress, federal agency representatives, media and other friends in a festive ag celebration. The video essay winner wins a $1,000 prize, and the winning video will play during the Celebration of Ag Dinner.
For more information, please view the National Ag Day page here.
An Inside Look at Beef Processing
Ever wonder what happens between delivering a beef animal to a meat processing plant and eating a juicy steak or hamburger?
Tours are hard for companies to accommodate due to safety of visitors, animals and workers. Most plants simply do not have extra space for visitors to safely view what is happening at each step. A video showing the process and inside of a beef packing plant is available from the American Meat Institute’s Glass Walls Project. The video is narrated by Temple Grandin, world-renowned expert on animal handling and humane slaughter. Farmers, truck drivers and meat-plant employees handle animals with care. Humane animal handing and slaughter are required by the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS).
The video focuses on the slaughter process and includes the use of a captive bolt stunner that instantly makes the animal unconscious and insensitive to pain. Animals are bled, and hides and internal organs are removed. Additionally, carcasses are split and interventions such as carcass washing occur to improve food safety. Carcasses are cooled for 24 to 48 hours and then cut into wholesale primal and subprimal cuts to be sold.
Grandin’s research has been very influential in improving animal handling and facilities at beef processing plants. Processing plants that take animal handling seriously regularly train and monitor their employees about proper handling techniques. These improvements have added benefits of improved meat quality, including decreased bruises and reduced chance of dark cutters.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Advanced Planning Can Help Growers,
Producers Be Better Prepared for Emergencies
Extensive winter storms, power outages, traumatic farm injuries, tornados and fires are just some of the kinds of conditions that can lead growers and producers to need assistance from emergency first responders, a safety expert with the Ohio State University (OSU) College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences said.
Advanced planning by farmers as to what steps they can take in the event of such emergencies or similar events can help to lessen the potential for extensive damage or injuries, said Kent McGuire, an OSU Extension agricultural health and safety specialist.
With the increased potential hazards on farms, it’s a good idea for farmers and producers to have some kind of emergency-management plan in place, he said. One way to be prepared, McGuire said, is to ask the local fire department to visit your farm operation to get familiar with the overall layout of the farm and to better understand the potential problems that may arise when responding to an emergency.
“This will give them the opportunity to identify any potential hazards during an emergency response and provide feedback on emergency planning,” McGuire said. “Having an emergency plan for a farm put together in advance before the moment of an emergency will help you be more effective in how you respond and will also help keep the rest of the people on the farm out of harm’s way.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
Annual Spring Ranch Management University Set for April 7-11
It may be three months before the next Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Ranch Management University, but it is already 25% full, said Larry Redmon, AgriLife Extension state forage specialist in College Station.
The Ranch Management University is an intensive five-day event that targets new or inexperienced ranchers and landowners. It takes place each spring and fall, with the next one scheduled April 7-11 at the G. Rollie White Visitor’s Center, 7707 Raymond Stotzer Parkway, on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station.
Registration is $500 and attendance is limited to the first 40 people enrolled. To register online and for more information, go to http://agriliferegister.tamu.edu and enter “ranch management” into the search window.
The course is taught by AgriLife Extension specialists at College Station.
David Anderson, economist, will kick the educational event off with Planning for Profit and come back later with Marketing Livestock: Cow-calf? Stockers? Feedlot?
Throughout the course, Redmon will present weed and brush management, hay sampling, sprayer calibration, hay production and forage nutritive value, forage establishment, importance of stocking rate, alternatives to hay for winter feeding, and forage species for Texas.
Jason Cleere, beef cattle specialist, will teach genetic strategies for profitable beef production, non-traditional production strategies, body condition scores in beef cattle, nutrient requirements and supplementation of beef cattle. He also will present an animal handling demonstration at the Texas A&M University Beef Center.
Meals and break refreshments are covered by the registration fee, as well as customized flash drives containing more than 100 publications covering ranch resource management.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal’s Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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