NASDA News - August 25, 2010

USDA Confirms Citrus Disease in Texas and Louisiana
Published: August 25, 2010

Search Continues for Senator Lincoln's Disaster Assistance Funds
Published: August 25, 2010

There is still much debate surrounding Sen. Blanche Lincoln's (D-AR) request for $1.5 billion in disaster relief assistance for farmers across the U.S., including her home state of Arkansas.  Opponents say that the funds simply do not exist to provide the assistance ad hoc.  They say  that the matter of disaster assistance was addressed in the 2008 Farm Bill with the establishment of the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE), which requires a farmer to purchase crop insurance to be eligible to receive disaster relief payments.  Southern farmers, most of whom did not purchase crop insurance - particularly rice and cotton farmers - say the high premiums outweigh the benefits received. 
 
The White House is being accused of providing the funding in order to boost Sen. Lincoln's reelection prospects in Arkansas, where she faces a stiff challenge.  The Office of Management of the Budget indicates the administration is still looking for the money and the Senate Agriculture Committee says they are "hopeful to announce the funds before the end of the month."  (Contact: Brad McKinney)

 

Fast Growing Salmon: FDA Food Labeling Requirements and FDA Food Safety Considerations
Published: August 25, 2010

FDA has scheduled a public hearing for September 21, 2010 in Rockville, Maryland " ... regarding the labeling of food derived from AquAdvantage Salmon, a genetically engineered Atlantic salmon. The purpose of the hearing is for FDA to explain the relevant legal principles for food labeling and to solicit information and views from interested persons on the application of these principles to the labeling of food derived from AquAdvantage Salmon ..."  (Contact: Bob Ehart)

EPA, Bayer Agree to Phase out Aldicarb
Published: August 25, 2010

USDA to Extend the Allowance for Synthetic Methionine in Organic Poultry Production
Published: August 25, 2010

In response to a recommendation submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), the USDA has published an interim rule with a request for comments amending the Department's National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances.  The interim rule revises the annotation of the substance, Methionine, on the National List to extend its use in organic poultry production until October 1, 2012.  The interim rule  becomes effective October 1, 2010 and allows synthetic Methionine to continue to be used at the following maximum levels per ton of feed: Laying chickens-4 pounds; broiler chickens-5 pounds; turkeys and all other poultry-6 pounds.

On April 29, 2010, the NOSB also recommended to extend the allowance for synthetic Methionine beyond October 1, 2012, to October 1, 2015, and decrease the maximum level of synthetic Methionine permitted per ton of feed ration to the following levels: 2 pounds for laying and broiler chickens, and 3 pounds for turkeys and all other poultry. The NOSB further recommended that consideration of synthetic Methionine after its anticipated October 1, 2015 expiration should take place through the Board's sunset review process rather than through the petition process. The Secretary intends to incorporate the NOSB's recommended reductions in allowable levels in a subsequent rulemaking to address the allowance for synthetic Methionine for the period between October 1, 2012, and October 15, 2015.  (Contact: Amy Mann)

ND: Goehring to Lead Trade Mission to Cuba
Published: August 25, 2010

GOEHRING TO LEAD TRADE MISSION TO CUBA

BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring will lead a five-member trade group to Cuba in September.

“We will emphasize dry edible peas and dry beans, staples of the Cuban diet, as well as dried distillers grains for livestock feed,” said Goehring, who recently returned from meeting Cuban officials in Washington to discuss the delegation’s agenda and goals for the trade mission. “We also hope to finalize the documents needed for the export of North Dakota potatoes to Cuba.”

Past exports to Cuba have included dry beans, pasta, dry peas, semolina and wheat.

Goehring said the delegation will mostly deal directly with Alimport, the Cuban government agency responsible for making all food purchases for the country.

“We will confer with many other officials, including the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, the Cuban Veterinary Institute and the Ministry of Plant Health,” he said. “We will also meet with the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, America’s de facto embassy in Cuba.”

In addition to Goehring, the trade group will include Randy Schneider, North Dakota Ethanol Producers Association; Ken Bertsch, director of the North Dakota State Seed Department; Dave Nelson, state entomologist with the North Dakota Department of Agriculture (NDDA), and Stephanie Sinner, NDDA marketing specialist.

The group leaves Sept. 22 and returns Sept. 25.

This is the eighth trade mission organized by NDDA.

NJ: NJDA Offers Options for Addressing Dairy Farm Crisis
Published: August 25, 2010

(TRENTON) – The New Jersey Department of Agriculture today offered options for a “framework” to help keep dairy farmers on their farms and milking cows amid the recent severe pricing crisis, and to help bring long-term economic stability to the dairy industry from the farm to the table.

The options address the growing number of farmers selling off their herds because the prices they receive for their milk does not cover the cost of production. This and other issues affecting dairy economics will be the subject of public work sessions with farmers and the entire dairy industry in the coming weeks.

The options range from pushing for federal market order reform to shifting a slice of money through the dairy marketing chain toward the farmers to cover the difference between the state average cost of production and the prices farmers need to continue operations.

“The milk price the farmer has received has been exceedingly low for the past two years, and we haven’t always seen that translate into lower prices to the consumer,” said New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher. “These frameworks examine the ways in which we might direct more of the dairy dollar to New Jersey’s farmers so that they can remain in the business of providing a locally produced supply of fresh, wholesome milk to our residents and our schoolchildren.”

Beyond a locally produced supply of milk, Secretary Fisher said, the benefits of keeping dairy farms in business include maintaining productive farm operations and open space, which staves off further development and the increased municipal and school costs and taxes that go with it.

“In the 1960s, New Jersey had more than 3,500 dairy farms,” said Secretary Fisher. “Today we have 87, mainly because the percentage of the ‘dairy dollar’ the farmer has received went from above 50 percent to as low as 25 percent. The correlation couldn’t be clearer. We must do what we can to retain those dairy farms that are left in New Jersey. They are an important part of our agricultural landscape and a contributor to having a range of locally produced, wholesome foods that come from the Garden State.”

The options will be opened to the industry and public during a series of informal work sessions to learn the level of commitment to local production within the segments of the marketing chain and to encourage alternatives and revisions to the options identified. The full schedule of these sessions will be posted on the Department’s website.
The schedule as currently known is:

• Thursday, August 26, at the Rutgers Extension Office in Augusta, Sussex County
• Friday, August 27, at the Health and Agriculture Building, Trenton
• Thursday, September 2, at the Rutgers Extension Office in Woodstown, Salem County
• Tuesday, September 14, at the Rutgers EcoComplex in Columbus, Burlington County

All of the work sessions will begin at 10 a.m. and continue until 3 p.m., or later if necessary to hear from all those present who wish to speak. To see the proposed framework in its entirety, please visit www.nj.gov/agriculture/pdf/frameworkoptions .pdf.

OR: Tansy Ragwort Re-emerges in Oregon, but Still Controllable
Published: August 25, 2010

Tansy ragwort re-emerges in Oregon, but still controllable
Biocontrol should keep the noxious weed in check
By Oregon Department of Agriculture

Farmers and ranchers in Western Oregon this summer are noticing patches of the telltale bright yellow flowers of tansy ragwort- a noxious weed once the scourge of the 1970s. But the experts at the Oregon Department of Agriculture say it’s no cause for alarm as successful biological control agents should keep the plant from making an unwelcome comeback to prior levels.

The equation is simple- as the tansy ragwort population grows, so do the populations of flea beetles and cinnabar moths that feed off the weed. It’s all part of a natural cycle, and ODA’s Noxious Weed Control Program believes the good insects will maintain the upper hand.

In the last couple of weeks, ODA has been receiving calls from landowners or their neighbors  anxious about the return of tansy ragwort, now in a very visible stage. The outbreaks are spotty and localized. Still, many Oregonians remember the bad old days when tansy was so invasive in Western Oregon that cattle and horse owners reported more than $4 million in losses each year as their animals grazed on infected pastures. Too often, the leaves of tansy grew among the grasses consumed by livestock in the spring, leading to sickness and death.

At this point in the growing season, the tansy flowers are in bloom and the weed is tall enough for animals to generally avoid by eating around it.

“The late spring and early summer rain has led to a resurgence in some areas,” says ODA entomologist Eric Coombs. “It’s counterintuitive to just let it go right now, but the whole premise of biological control is to allow the insects present to naturally build up on their own.”

Coombs has personally visited many of the sites where tansy has popped up this year and has found the good bugs- the biocontrol agents that help kill the weedy plant- present in all cases. This comes after intensive efforts years ago to release insects in infested areas where the flea beetle and cinnabar moth are now established as part of the natural environment. Due to the cool, wet spring, cinnabar moth populations are very low this year. However, the flea beetles are still active.

“I think we’ve done our job, now it’s time to wait and let the insects to their job,” says Coombs. “It’s all a natural cycle. We will get these flare-ups of tansy ragwort that will move around from field to field depending on factors like the weather or how the field is used. It might be another year or two before the insects build up in numbers again and knock the weed back down. It would take three to five years if the natural enemies had to be reintroduced.”

Tansy ragwort has the distinction of being the only weed for which a Governor’s Task Force was created, leading to a control program housed in ODA that has made effective use of biological control.

“Since the mid-1980s, there has been an estimated $5 million annual benefit from the biological control of tansy ragwort throughout Western Oregon,” says Coombs. “All in all, for every dollar spent in our biocontrol program, the public gets about $13 back in benefits due to the impact of reuniting a noxious weed with its natural enemies.”

The cinnabar moth eats the leaves of tansy ragwort. With the flea beetle working on the roots and ragwort seed fly eating the seeds, the fearsome threesome has worked wonders. It has been almost too good. Much of the weed has been destroyed over the last 25 or so years that there hasn’t been enough tansy to maintain high populations of the bugs. The result this summer has been a sporadic but definite reappearance of the poisonous weed. While ODA would prefer a complete eradication of tansy, realistically, it is not in the biocontrol agent’s best interests to eat up every last plant.

“As long as we can suppress the weed below an economically damaging level, we’ll be satisfied,” says Tim Butler, supervisor of the Weed Control Program.

Tansy ragwort contains poisonous alkaloids that can kill livestock if ingested. Three decades ago, when much of Western Oregon was covered with the weed, cattle and horses were dropping in alarming numbers. Oregon doesn’t appear to be returning to that scenario despite this year’s resurgence of tansy. ODA will be working with Oregon State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory to see if any documented cases of tansy poisoning of livestock are reported. The last documented case goes back to 1995.

ODA officials continue to say as long as livestock are not dying due to the poisoning, the insects are doing their job at controlling tansy- even though there have been some very noticeable flare-ups. Patiently waiting for the established biological control agents to build up is still the best course of action. That’s not easy for some farmers and ranchers, and it doesn’t mean there is nothing they can do in the meantime to help.

“If they can maintain good pasture management techniques- fertilization, prevention of overgrazing,  and irrigation to help maintain the competitive advantage of desirable plants species- that all plays a key role in minimizing soil disturbances that lead to emergence of tansy ragwort from the seed bank in the soil,” says Butler.

In addition to overgrazing, factors leading to the resurgence of tansy include construction, logging, fires, floods, and other events or practices in which the soil is disturbed.

Pulling or mowing are always available options, but the latter only leads to the weed growing back stronger and heartier next year. Herbicides can be used to control tansy ragwort but need to be applied in early spring before the stalks are formed or late fall after some re-growth of seedlings and rosettes.

Until then, the best advice is to practice patience and wait for the good bugs to beat the bad weeds.

For more information, contact Tim Butler at (503) 986-4621.

That's professor Troxler
Published: August 25, 2010

NM: Department of Agriculture Gears up for Opening Its New "State-of-the-Art" Veterinary Diagnostic Services Laboratory
Published: August 25, 2010

New Mexico Department of Agriculture's (NMDA) Veterinary Diagnostic Services (VDS) Laboratory will soon have a new place to call home.  The VDS lab will now be housed in the newly built New Mexico Scientific Laboratory located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“The administration offices of VDS with its high-tech lab will occupy the lower level of the new five-story facility,” said NMDA Director/Secretary Miley Gonzalez.  “This is an exciting time because now our highly qualified staff will be better equipped to address virtually any veterinary emergency that may arise.  This new lab is really impressive.”

The $89 million facility, which is set to officially open in September 2010, will also house the New Mexico Department of Health Scientific Laboratory Division and the Office of the Medical Investigator.  “A shared space only makes sense because approximately 60 percent of all diseases of humans are zoonotic, meaning they also infect and affect animals, so having a multi-agency laboratory that addresses both animal and human health issues is the ultimate approach. Plus we are making the best use of all our resources.  Our new facility will be modeled by other states," said Dr. Flint Taylor, VDS division director. 
 
The primary function of VDS is the diagnosis of disease in New Mexico livestock and in companion animals.  "For the livestock producers or pet owners who are dealing with losses of animals, this type of facility and agency is of immense value,” added Dr. Taylor.  “Our VDS staff has always provided the best service, but now with the lab’s leading edge technology, accurate and reliable diagnostic information will be available in an even timelier manner.”

The new VDS lab will also include a quarantine environment used in a situation where an animal is suspected of having a dangerously contagious disease.  "We hope we don't ever have to use this area because it could mean we have a serious situation on our hands, but it's nice to know we are ready if we are ever faced with such an issue.  This is an area we don't currently have in our existing lab," said Noreen Jaramillo, NMDA public information officer.
 
The VDS laboratory and its staff also assist in the diagnosis of disease in wildlife, zoo animals, and laboratory animals.