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A publication of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture STAPLES, NORTLEY WIN TOP STATE AG RACES INCUMBENTS WIN COMMISSIONER RACES JUDGE AND COMBS WIN RACES DEMOCRATS WIN MAJORITY IN HOUSE & SENATE NEW LEADERS FOR AGRICULTURE COMMITTEES OUTLOOK UNCERTAIN FOR LAME DUCK SESSION State News--KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE HIRES NEW FOOD SAFETY MANAGER What's New on the NASDA Website
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STAPLES, NORTLEY WIN TOP STATE AG RACES Texas voters elected Todd Staples to head the Texas Department of Agriculture last week; Bill Northey was elected Iowa's agriculture secretary. Staples grew up and worked as a youth on his family farm--a commercial cow-calf operation. He was active in the Future Farmers of America in high school participating at all levels and was elected to serve as a state vice-president of the Texas FFA in 1981 to 1982. He graduated from Texas A&M with honors in 1984 with a degree in agricultural economics. Upon graduation, Staples returned home to Palestine and helped his family start a retail plant nursery and landscaping business--Staples Greenhouse. On a place of his own, Staples began a cow-calf operation with his father, which they still operate today. His real estate brokerage and appraisal business includes farms and ranches, and he is also a partner in a registered Brangus venture with Bennett Brangus of Tennessee Colony. Staples served in the Texas House and Senate from 1995 to the present. Bill Northey is a 46-year-old corn and soybean farmer from Spirit Lake, Iowa. He returned to Spirit Lake to farm with his grandfather, Sid Northey, after graduating from Iowa State University in 1981 with a degree in agricultural business. He received a masters in business administration in 2004. Northey served as the 1995-96 president of the National Corn Growers Association and as chairman 1996 to 1997. He served as vice president, as chairman of the Government Relations Committee, the Market Development Committee, and the Ethanol Sub-Committee. He served as representative to the Renewable Fuels Association, to the American Sugar Alliance, and the U.S. Feed Grains Council. In 1997, he was selected for the Commission on 21st Century Production Agriculture, a group charged with making recommendations for a 2002 farm bill. He was appointed by Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) to the 11-member commission. Northey currently is a Dickinson County Soil and Water Conservation District commissioner. The district has been active pursuing water quality in the Iowa Great Lake Watershed which includes Spirit Lake and East and West Okoboji. He also is a member of the Bennett Roundtable of the Farm Foundation. He has served on Keystone Dialogues on Biotechnology and Trends in Agriculture, on the Pew Foundation Committee for Food and Biotechnology, and on the Wallace Institute Project Advisory Committee. (Contact: Rick Kirchhoff) INCUMBENTS WIN COMMISSIONER RACES North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, and South Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers all won their reelection races November 7. Weathers was appointed to fill the agriculture commissioner seat by Governor Mark Sanford and ran for the first time to keep the post. (Contact: Rick Kirchhoff) JUDGE AND COMBS WIN RACES Both Iowa Agriculture Secretary Patty Judge and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs were elected to new state offices November 7. Lt. Governor-elect Judge ran on the Democratic ticket with Governor-elect Chet Culver. Combs was elected Texas state comptroller after serving for eight years as agriculture commissioner. Both Combs and Judge were the first women elected Iowa's and Texas' top agriculture officials. (Contact: Rick Kirchhoff) DEMOCRATS WIN MAJORITY IN HOUSE & SENATE Democrats won a majority of seats in both the House and Senate during the November 7 midterm elections. It is the first time Democrats have held the majority in Congress since the Republicans took power twelve years ago. In the days after the election, President George W. Bush held meetings with Democratic leaders and both parties pledged to work together in a bipartisan way for all Americans. Political observers do not expect this to be easy. When the 110th Congress convenes in January, the political makeup in the House is expected to be about 229 Democratic seats and 196 Republican seats. There are still a few outstanding races so the final ratio remains uncertain. The Democratic election win means that current Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will become the House Speaker and the first woman to hold that position. In the Senate, Democrats captured the majority after several close election races. The new political makeup in the Senate will be 51 Democratic seats and 49 Republican seats. (Although there are two Independent candidates who won election, they have indicated they will caucus with the Democrats.) (Contact: Charlie Ingram) NEW LEADERS FOR AGRICULTURE COMMITTEES There will be new leaders for the House and Senate Agriculture Committees when the 110th Congress convenes in January. Although there will be some changes in the makeup of the committee membership, no major shakeups are expected. There will be a geographic shift from the current southern leadership to the Midwest. In the House, current ranking member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) will take over the chairmanship from current Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.). Peterson has indicated that he will reorganize the current five subcommittees and the news media has reported the new chairman wants more oversight of USDA programs and activities. In the Senate, ranking member Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is expected to take over the chairmanship from current committee chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). Chambliss is expected to remain on the panel as the ranking member. (Contact: Charlie Ingram) OUTLOOK UNCERTAIN FOR LAME DUCK SESSION The schedule and length of the post-election lame duck session of Congress remains uncertain, but lawmakers are preparing a long list of "must-do" legislative items. Lawmakers in both the House and Senate are returning to work on November 13. The top legislative priority for lawmakers will be to pass the ten outstanding FY07 appropriations bills, which includes the FY07 agriculture spending bill. Early this week, the House and Senate are expected to pass another continuing budget resolution funding federal agencies and programs through December 8. The current interim funding measure expires November 17. It is not clear how many individual appropriations bills may be approved during the lame duck session or whether they will be wrapped up in an omnibus spending measure. In addition to the FY07 appropriations bills, lawmakers are expected to pass a Vietnam trade bill this week before President Bush attends an Asian Economic Summit. Congressional Republicans have said other legislative priorities are a package of tax relief extensions and offshore energy production. Democratic leaders have indicated that a minimum wage increase might be considered during the lame duck session as well. (Contact: Charlie Ingram) STATE NEWS KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE HIRES NEW FOOD SAFETY MANAGER Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Adrian Polansky has announced that Dr. Rebecca Pfannenstiel has been hired to manage the department's meat and poultry inspection and retail food inspection programs. "Dr. Pfannenstiel has a solid history in food safety inspection, having worked for USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service in one of the nation's largest beef processing facilities," Polansky said. "Her experience and expertise will be invaluable to our food safety programs, and I'm glad to have her on board." Pfannenstiel is a licensed veterinarian who graduated from Kansas State University. She previously worked as a supervisory veterinary medical officer for USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service in a federally inspected beef processing plant in Grand Island, Nebraska. "I welcome the opportunity to return to my home state and to work for the Kansas Department of Agriculture in this important food safety role," Pfannenstiel said. "I take food safety very seriously, and I will see to it that the department continues to earn the public's trust in the safety and integrity of our food supply." The Kansas Department of Agriculture's retail food inspection program is responsible for licensing and inspecting grocery stores, restaurants in grocery stores, food processors and manufacturers, food wholesalers and warehouses, convenience stores and farmers' markets. The meat and poultry inspection program ensures the safety and wholesomeness of meat and poultry items produced in processing plants not under federal inspection. (Contact: Lisa Taylor, 785/296-2653) DART MEETINGS BUILD TROUBLESHOOTING SKILLS REPRODUCTIVE AND RISK MANAGEMENT TIPS SHARED The Center for Dairy Excellence held its fall round of meetings for the Dairy Advocacy and Resource Team (DART) across Pennsylvania in October. The meetings were held to provide agribusiness professionals an opportunity to network with others in the industry and to gain resources and skills to help the producers they serve through their professions. Leading this round were Dr. Michael O'Connor, a dairy professor at Penn State University, and David Dowler, Crawford County extension educator. O'Connor shared ideas for troubleshooting reproduction problems on dairy herds, using actual dairy herd data to identify common problems. He told participants that all dairy herds should strive for a goal of a 20-percent pregnancy rate and said that heat detection and submission rate for insemination are the two most common factors affecting pregnancy rates. When troubleshooting pregnancy rates, O'Connor encouraged participants to focus on factors that have a high impact on pregnancy rates within herds. "These can include the accuracy and efficiency of heat detection, the submission rate for insemination, transition cow management, early lactation nutrition, handling of semen, and cow comfort and conditioning," he said. O'Connor suggested every herd establish a voluntary waiting period so cows receive the first insemination on a timely basis, identifying a benchmark for first insemination from 75 to 80 days. Dowler shared the training modules that he and a group of Penn State and industry instructors have been using to help producers understand and utilize their risk management options. Dowler provided information from a series of dairy herds to participants and had them develop a risk management plan for each dairy. "The most important thing to remember is that producers need to protect both their income and costs in this highly-volatile industry," he said. "They should consider milk price contracting to protect their income, and look at contracting grains, using crop insurance and evaluating other options for protecting their costs." For more information on O'Connor's and Dowler's presentations, including their PowerPoint slides, log onto http://www.centerfordairyexcellence.org (Click on Education' and DART') or contact the Center at 717/346-0846. The next round of DART meetings will be held in January, and all agribusiness professionals serving dairy producers in Pennsylvania are encouraged to attend. (Contact: Jayne Sebright, 717/259-6496) |