Below freezing temperatures may have cost Florida farmers more than $450 million, according to a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. State officials estimate that 632,000 boxes of oranges along with 105,000 boxes of grapefruit and 984,000 boxes of tangerines were lost when temperatures dropped below freezing for 13 consecutive days in January. (Bloomberg Business Week) Read more.
A University of Missouri professor has created chicken from soybeans. Unlike other dining delicacies that may taste like chicken, this soy product feels, tastes and simulates the fibrous texture of a chicken breast.
In an effort to create jobs and spur economic development, more than 30 community leaders from across Virginia met last week on the Eastern Shore of the state to discuss and share ideas during a Jobs and Economic Roundtable.
Comments from farmers and ranchers have moved USDA to develop a new, flexible framework for an animal disease tracking system. The original system, which was dropped by the Obama administration due to industry criticism, assigned each animal a unique identification number that could be tracked in the event of a disease outbreak. Cost of tracking material and the extra work involved with reporting each animals’ movement caused farmers and ranchers some concern. The new framework, announced today by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, will encourage the use of lower-cost technology, be administered by the states and Tribal Nations, apply to animals moved in interstate commerce and be implemented transparently through federal regulations and the rulemaking process. Read the press release. (The New York Times, AgWeb.com).
More than 6,000 individuals representing all facets of the cattle industry came together in San Antonio for the 2010 Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Trade Show last week. The event is the largest of its kind in the cattle industry and includes the annual meetings of NCBA, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, American National CattleWomen, Cattle-Fax and the National Cattlemen’s Foundation.
Highlighting a U.S. focus on farming jobs to lure Afghans from the battlefield and curtail the opium trade, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stated that Afghans would rather farm than fight. The statement comes after a visit to Afghanistan last month where he met with farmers to discuss ways to help revive agriculture in the country. Vilsack said a major goal was to show farmers that high-value crops like grapes and pomegranates could be more profitable than growing opium poppies, which fuel the Taliban’s insurgency. (Reuters) Read more or view video of USDA experts in Afghanistan.
A new online directory connects food producers with buyers. Food Hub connects farmers with crops to sell to restaurant owners, caterers, grocery chains and other food producers. Supported by federal funds given to the Oregon and Washington State departments of agriculture, the Web site allows users to perform customized searches to find or offer products by farming method, location and other factors. (OregonLive.com) Learn more or visit the Web site.
A report released yesterday by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service shows that organic farms and ranches have higher average sales and production expenses than U.S. farms overall. The 2008 Organic Production Survey — which is the first wide-scale survey of organic producers — counted 14,540 organic farms and ranches that cover 4.1 million acres of land nationwide. Overall, sales in 2008 totaled $3.16 billion, including $1.94 billion in crop sales and $1.22 billion in livestock and poultry sales. Read the press release or review the report.
The USDA announced that it will be seeking comments on its new Biomass Crop Assistance Program designed to expand the use of dedicated non-food crops for renewable energy and biofuel production. “Advancing biomass and biofuel production holds the potential to create green jobs, which is one of the many ways the Obama administration is working to rebuild and revitalize rural America," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Comments will be accepted for 60 days after the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register. Read the press release.
The USDA has designated 83 counties in Michigan as primary natural disaster areas due to a series of disastrous weather conditions that occurred throughout 2009. Several counties in the adjacent states of Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin also qualify as natural disaster areas. Losses to field crops and specialty crops allow farmers in these areas to qualify for low interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency. Read more.
