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China releases stockpiled pork to cool price surge

China releases stockpiled pork to cool price surge

(Audio) "Chat with the Chancellor" with UNK Chancellor, Doug Kristensen - September 21, 2019

Brandon Benitz continues his “Chat with the Chancellor” series here in the Fall 2019 semester. He's once again joined by Doug Kristensen, the Chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Kearney. This week, we talk about UNK's census/headcount numbers and the credit hour production that effe...

South Korea reports more suspected swine fever cases

Agriculture States Face Off: Cornhuskers vs. Fighting Illini

NPPC Urges Administration to 'Break the Logjam on U.S. Pork Imports to Jamaica'

In a letter sent Friday, NPPC urged U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue to work with Jamaica for greater U.S. pork market access. "U.S. pork is exported to over 100 nations in any given year and the U.S. typically is the world's largest exporter of pork, but t...

Crops

Agriculture States Face Off: Cornhuskers vs. Fighting Illini

The Nebraska Cornhuskers are set to take on the Fighting Illini this Saturday in NCAA football. But, the two states compete on more than just the football field. In agricultural cash receipts, Nebraska ranks fourth in the nation, and Illinois ranks sixth. Nebraska operates 45 million acres of farmland. Illinois farms less than three-quarters of that at 27 million acres. Nebraska may be the home of the Cornhuskers, but Illinois does beat the state in corn production. Illinois ranks second in the nation, but Nebraska follows closely behind in third place. Watch Friday Five for more! Agricultural Cash Receipts: 4th - Nebraska ($21 billion) 6th- Illinois ($16 billion) Farmland Acres: 4th- Nebraska (45 million acres) 14th- Illinois (27 million acres) Corn Production: 2nd- Illinois (2.3 billion bushels) 3rd- Nebraska (1.7 billion bushels) Soybean Production 2nd - Illinois (547 million bushels) 4th- Nebraska (288 million bushels) Beef Cattle Inventory: 2nd- Nebraska (6.8 million head) 27th- Illinois (1.2 million head) Hogs and Pig Inventory: 4th - Illinois (2.1 billion lbs) 6th- Nebraska (1.3 billion lbs)

Big Iron Realty Friday's in the Field heads to Butler County

The field that has been hit by rain, hail, wind, lack of rain & heat was harvested for corn silage this week for Tuls Dairy. https://youtu.be/pM2TRWwvj2s

Fishing for Corn Yields Big - Friday Five (Sept. 20, 2019)

Fishing for corn yields big for the boys at Jackrabbit Seed / Kokes Ag Service! Jason Kokes and Steven Vellek with Jackrabbit Seed are fishing in Jim Kokes' flooded field, and they got quite the catch. (Hint: They didn't catch a fish.) PLUS - This week was full of celebrations, incluing National Cheeseburger Day, Double Cheeseburger Day and the anniversary of popcorn legend Orville Redenbacher's passing. Learn more in the latest edition of Friday Five, brought to you by the Nebraska Corn Board! Video:

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Livestock

Calving Ease May Not Always Mean What You Think

QUESTION: I have six heifers that came from a calving-ease bull. I used a calving-ease bull to breed them, and so far, of the three that have calved, I've had to pull two. All of these heifers weigh around 1,100 pounds each. Should I expect more delivery problems with the remaining three? A second question concerns a heifer that has had two calves in a row born backwards. Could this be genetic or just a run of bad luck? ANSWER: The term "calving ease" is often thrown around without a full understanding of what it really means. This is complicated by the fact that different breeds have slightly different names for similar traits. Starting at the beginning, make sure you understand the "E" in Expected Progeny Difference (EPD). This is the best estimate, or expectation, for that trait. There is a second, often overlooked, part of an EPD that is very important: accuracy. Accuracy values (ACC) range from 0 to 1; the higher the ACC, the better it reflects the true genetic merit of an animal for a given trait. High accuracy for a Calving Ease Direct (CED) or Calving Ease Maternal (CEM) sire means you can have more confidence that the number will be a true reflection of how easily his calves are born. The most accurate EPDs today are Genomic Enhanced (GE), or GE-EPDs. This is trait-specific data for things like birth weight, calving ease, udder scores, weaning weight, yearling weight, rib eye area, marbling, etc. A GE-EPD is going to give you a better idea of what you can expect from an animal you are bringing into your breeding program, especially a young animal. Adding genomic data to a virgin bull, for example, is like having performance data on seven to 20 of his progeny (depending on trait) before he's ever sired one calf. With regard to calving ease, there are two numbers I pay close attention to. These numbers are calculated based on data from heifers. The first, the CED, is a percentage of first-calf heifers calving without assistance compared to the breed average. Higher numbers are better. If Bull A has a CED of 10, and Bull B has a CED of -2, you would expect 12% more of the heifers bred to Bull A would calve unassisted than Bull B. The second number I watch closely is the one for CEM. This is the difference in percentage of unassisted births of a sire's daughters (as first-calf heifers) compared to daughters of other bulls in the breed. Again, a higher number is desirable. Here's where EPDs get complicated. Specific-trait EPDs often work against each other. In this example, CEM has a negative genetic association with CED and a positive genetic relationship with growth and mature size. Unless you are just trying to get a live calf on the ground and are not concerned about retaining heifers or weaning weights, or other growth numbers, you have to look at both traits in sire and dam. In your case, the sire to these heifers may have had a very good CED EPD, but a bad CEM EPD. The heifers may simply be genetically prone to problems. To answer your question, you may well have problems in the remaining heifers. So keep them close, and watch them closer. As an alternative to specific traits, experts have made value judgements for particular end goals. When choosing animals, instead of looking at individual traits, we can consider multi-trait indexes from breed associations. In an index, traits are balanced to help producers achieve individual herd goals more easily, whether those are focused on growth and maternal traits, carcass values or a combination of all of the above. The American Angus Association calls its indexes "Value Indexes." The American Hereford Association has the "Profit Index." Other breed associations and some crossbreed groups have or are developing indexes as well, so check with those that apply.

China releases stockpiled pork to cool price surge

China's government is releasing pork from stockpiles to help cool surging prices ahead of Oct. 1 celebrations of the Communist Party's 70th anniversary in power. The price of pork, China's staple meat, has soared almost 50% from a year ago due to a devastating outbreak of African swine fever that killed or prompted authorities to destroy pigs. That has pushed up global pork prices as importers buy foreign supplies. A government agency that manages the stockpile of frozen pork said Wednesday it will auction off 10,000 tons. That is equivalent to less than 0.2% of China's 2018 monthly consumption of 4.7 million tons, which suggests the announcement was a signal to consumers and farmers of Beijing's determination to cool prices instead of an attempt to change supply levels. China produces and consumes two-thirds of the world's pork. The government keeps reserves of live pigs and frozen pork to guarantee adequate supplies. Details of the frozen pork reserve are secret but industry analysts estimate its size at up to 3 to 5 million metric tons. Industry analysts say the reserve probably is too small to have an impact on supplies in the market. The last release announced by the government was 9,600 tons in January. This month, authorities also announced an initiative to revive pork production with support to farmers including subsidies to rebuild pig herds and improve facilities. The Cabinet planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, promised Wednesday to take "control measures in a timely manner" to keep food prices steady ahead of the Oct. 1 celebrations. "We will take the lead in formulating plans and measures to ensure a stable supply of pigs," said an NDRC spokeswoman, Meng Wei. The price surge is a sour political note for the ruling party, which bases its claim to power in part on improved living standards over three decades of market-style economic reform. Pork output plunged as authorities destroyed herds and blocked shipments to stop African swine fever, which first was reported in August 2018 in China's northeast. African swine fever doesn't harm humans but is fatal and spreads quickly among pigs. August's rise in pork prices pushed food cost inflation to 3.2%, above the ruling party's official target of 3%. Smaller outbreaks also have been reported in South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Taiwan and Mongolia. Forecasts of the decline in this year's Chinese pork production range as high as 35%. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Chinese imports might rise 41%. The shortages have given a boost to American pork exports despite tariff hikes imposed by Beijing in a fight with Washington over trade and technology. U.S. pork sales to China rose 150% in June over a year earlier to 72 million pounds (33 million kilograms), according to the USDA. Chinese imports rose 26% in the first half of 2019 to 819,000 metric tons, according to USDA. The European Union supplied 62%, Canada 16% and American farmers 8%.

South Korea reports more suspected swine fever cases

South Korea said Friday that it is investigating more suspected cases of African swine fever in farms near its border with North Korea, as fears grow over the spread of the illness that has decimated pig herds across Asia. South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Gyeonggi provincial government said officials are testing samples of three dead pigs from two farms in Paju, a city where the country's first case of the disease was confirmed Monday. Test results were expected to come out Friday night. The two Paju farms, which raise more than 7,000 pigs combined, were also within 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of a farm in the nearby town of Yeoncheon, where a second case of the disease was confirmed Tuesday, said Park Byeong-hong, an agriculture ministry official. "We dispatched quarantine officials to the farms to prevent the movement of people, animals and vehicles and to disinfect facilities," Park said in a news conference in Sejong City. "If the cases are confirmed as African swine fever, we will immediately conduct quarantine measures required under our standard procedure, such as urgent culling operations." African swine fever is harmless to humans but highly contagious and fatal for pigs as there is no known cure. It has decimated herds in China and other Asian countries. South Korea has stepped up efforts to contain the disease, which may have crossed from North Korea, where an outbreak was reported near its border with China in late May. South Korean workers had culled some 10,400 pigs at border area farms as of Friday morning and were in process of killing and burying about 5,000 more, the agriculture ministry said. The ministry said quarantine officials were testing blood from pigs at some 100 farms within 10 kilometers (6 miles) of the infected farms in Paju and Yeoncheon, and that samples from 56 farms had come back negative. About 6,300 farms in South Korea raise more than 11 million pigs. South Korean officials have said the next three weeks would be crucial for fighting the outbreak, considering the disease's incubation periods. Officials have stepped up efforts to disinfect farms and vehicles. They imposed temporary bans on farms near the border from transporting their pigs to other areas and began inspections of some 200 slaughter houses, feed factories and artificial insemination facilities that deal with large numbers of pig farms across the country. More traps and nets will be installed to capture wild boars that roam in and out of North Korea, which some experts see as a potential source of the outbreak in South Korea. South Korea's Defense Ministry has dispatched soldiers to support quarantine efforts and monitor areas along a river that flows through the border between the Koreas, searching for wild boars that may swim across from the North. "It's crucial to strictly restrict the movement of people, cars and animals and also prevent (pigs) from contact with wild boars," Park said. North Korea in recent months has virtually scrapped all diplomatic activity and cooperation with South Korea amid a standstill in nuclear negotiations with the United States, complicating efforts at preventing the North Korean outbreak from spreading to areas near the border. South Korea's Unification Ministry, which deals with affairs with the North, said Friday that Pyongyang is continuing to ignore Seoul's calls for joint quarantine efforts to fight the disease.

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Technology

K-State releases three new wheat varieties

The Kansas State University recently released three new wheat varieties, which are available to Certified seed growers this fall and will be available to farmers in fall 2020. The new releases include two hard red winter wheat varieties - KS Western Star and KS Dallas - and one hard white wheat, KS Silverado. They were all developed at the K-State Agricultural Research Center in Hays, Kan. The wheat breeding program at Kansas State University, with locations in Manhattan and Hays, receives funding from the Kansas Wheat Commission through the two-cent wheat checkoff. Thanks to wheat breeding programs like the one at K-State, producers have ever-improving options of wheat varieties to plant. Whether it's improved resistance or increased yields, wheat breeders are creating varieties that meet producers' changing needs. KS Western Star KS Western Star was named after the Western Star Milling Company in Salina, Kan. It is adapted to central and western Kansas, eastern Colorado, northwest Oklahoma and southwest Nebraska. KS Western Star is a medium maturity and medium tall statured variety. It had greater yields than any other hard red winter wheat varieties in the KIN tests in 2017 and 2018. On average over the two years, it yielded more than any common check varieties, including Joe. KS Western Star has resistances to stripe rust, leaf rust and soilborne mosaic virus. It has very good straw strength and grain shattering resistance along with good milling and baking qualities. KS Western Star has good pre-harvest sprouting resistance. KS Western Star has very good drought tolerance and high yield potential. While it is susceptible to Hessian fly and wheat streak mosaic virus, it has wheat curl mite resistance and intermediate resistance to Triticum mosaic virus. KS Dallas KS Dallas was named after retired plant pathologist Dr. Dallas Seifers, who worked at the K-State Agricultural Research Center in Hays and helped to develop the WSM2 gene found in the varieties KS Dallas and Joe. It is adapted to the western half of Kansas, eastern Colorado, northwest Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle and southwest Nebraska. KS Dallas is a medium maturity and medium height variety. It performed well in western Kansas in 2017 and 2018. KS Dallas has a strong disease package with wheat streak mosaic virus resistance up to 70°F, which is three degrees higher than those resistant varieties with WSM2, such as Joe and Oakley CL. It has moderate resistance to stripe rust and good resistance to leaf rust and stem rust. It is susceptible to soilborne mosaic virus and moderately susceptible to Hessian fly. It has good shattering resistance and pre-harvest sprouting resistance. Its straw strength is about average, which is similar to T158. KS Dallas has good milling and baking qualities. In general, it has good flour yield, high water absorption and good mixing tolerance. KS Silverado KS Silverado is a hard white wheat with medium-early maturity and medium-short height. It is adapted to central and western Kansas. It has very good pre-harvest sprouting resistance. Its shattering resistance is moderate, which is similar to Joe. Its straw strength is very good. KS Silverado showed resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus in inoculated tests in the growth chamber at 64°F. It has moderate to intermediate resistance to stripe and stem rusts, and wheat blast. It is resistant to leaf rust, Hessian fly, and soilborne mosaic virus. It is moderately susceptible to Fusarium head blight, barley yellow dwarf virus and powdery mildew. Preliminary data showed that it has intermediate resistance to Triticum mosaic virus. Whether you are looking for high grain yield, rust resistance, heat and drought tolerance, resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus or milling and baking quality, Kansas State University's wheat breeding program has a variety for you. These three new varieties will be available to Kansas wheat farmers in fall 2020 through Kansas Wheat Alliance associates. Visit kswheatalliance.org for more information on these and other wheat variety options.

Kansas Corn Farmers Featured in STEM Education Book

Kansas Corn has published a new educational book titled, “We Grow Corn—Raising corn on a Kansas family farm”. The book, with an accompanying video series, will be an important component of the Kansas Corn STEM program, which provides STEM-based lessons and classroom materials to K-12 teachers. In the 2018-19 school year, Kansas Corn STEM reached over 1,300 teachers, and more than 50,000 students. The addition of the “We Grow Corn” book and videos will expand the program’s impact on STEM learning in Kansas schools. Kansas Corn collaborated with northeast Kansas corn farmers Brad and Danyelle McCauley and their four children to show students how corn is grown. The book follows the McCauley family farm through the year with photographs, information and fun facts. Readers will also learn about irrigated corn on a page featuring the Steve Rome family farm in southwest Kansas. Eight online videos featuring Brad McCauley and Steve Rome accompany the book to give students a deeper look into farming. An online teacher resource page is also available. Farmers played a key role in the project, according to Kansas Corn Director of Education Sharon Thielen, PhD, who authored the book and led the project. “Farmers were involved in every step of creating this book and video series. We especially appreciate the help of the McCauley and Rome farm families who brought this project to life. Our goal was to make this an informative book about corn farming in Kansas while providing STEM learning opportunities,” Thielen said. “Working with Manhattan-based photographer and videographer Ray Martinez, we were able to capture stunning images that authentically depict a year on Kansas corn farms.” McCauley said his family participated in the project to support STEM education in Kansas schools. “This project was important to our family because it supports education in our schools by showing how we grow corn on our family farm,” Brad McCauley said. “Science and technology play a big role in growing corn and other crops in Kansas. That’s why corn farmers support this effort to support STEM learning in our Kansas classrooms.” The We Grow Corn book and video series is part of a larger offering of lessons and material for K-12 teachers. The hands-on lessons range from sprouting corn seeds and understanding soil and water needs for crops to making corn-based plastics and ethanol in challenging high school lab experiments. The book is available to Kansas teachers and a book will also be included in each teacher kit sent out this year through the Kansas Corn STEM program. Teachers can order lessons and materials for their grade level online at kansascornstem.com. A teacher guide, online access to the book, videos and photos are available at wegrowcorn.com The Kansas Corn STEM program is led by Kansas Corn staff and teachers across the state who write lessons and labs for use in Kansas classrooms. The program received national recognition with the “Reaching for Excellence” award from the National Corn Growers Association earlier this year. Teachers can learn more about Kansas Corn’s education program at kansascornstem.com and access online materials for the book and videos at wegrowcorn.com

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Ag Policy

US approves releasing non-native insect to control thistle

Federal officials have approved turning loose a non-native insect to feed on an invasive thistle that sprouts in everything from rangelands to vineyards to wilderness areas, mainly in the U.S. West. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday it will permit use of the weevil native to Europe and western Asia to control yellow starthistle, which is from the same areas. "Its flowers have inch-long spines that deter feeding by and cause injury to grazing animals and lower the utility of recreational lands," the agency said. There is little to no risk of the insect attacking native plants, the agency said. The weevils will initially be let loose in California, with additional releases in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and possibly Nevada. The agency said Wednesday it is accepting permit applications to process this fall so weevils could be released in the spring. "We're really excited about the release of this weevil," said Jeremey Varley of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture. Yellow starthistle "is not good to eat, and it's toxic to horses." The U.S. Agriculture Department said yellow starthistle entered California before 1860 and is now one of the state's worst pests. Idaho, Oregon and Washington also have heavy infestations of the thistle that's been found in 41 states. The plant is concentrated in southwestern Idaho with more plants found along the west side of the state, Varley said. Before Idaho could release weevils, he said, the state will have to grow enough of them to have a large enough population to put into the wild. How long that might take isn't clear. The University of Idaho, which has an agricultural college, would likely play a role in that effort. Experts say the weevil can reduce the spread of yellow starthistle where other methods, such as pesticides and physical removal of the plant, have failed. Yellow starthistle is an annual with a taproot. It spreads with seeds blown by the wind. The insect's larvae feed on the upper part of the plant's root for about two months before going into the pupa stage inside the plant. They emerge as adults in June and feed on the yellow starthistle leaves for several days before, experts believe, becoming dormant. The following spring, females feed for several weeks, then lay a few eggs on starthistle plants each day for several months before dying. The federal agency has released an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact to releasing the weevils. In 2009, it released a draft environmental assessment and spent the next decade testing to make sure releasing the weevils wouldn't have unintended consequences.

China releases stockpiled pork to cool price surge

Sen. Moran Priorities Included in FY2020 Ag Appropriations Bill

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – member of U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies – today applauded the Senate Appropriations Committee’s approval of the FY2020 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Included in this legislation is language from Sen. Moran that fully-funds the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan and provides the necessary resources for the USDA’s planned relocation of the Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to Kansas City. “From farmers and ranchers to researchers and veterinarians, this appropriations bill includes a number of measures to support agriculture across our state during an extremely tough time for the ag community,” said Sen. Moran. “I’m proud to have many Kansas priorities included in this legislation on issues relating to NBAF, USDA’s relocation of agencies to Kansas City, rural broadband and veterans in agriculture. I appreciate the Senate coming together in a bipartisan fashion to show our care, appreciation and support for our nation’s producers and all those who support this noble work.” This appropriations bill supports NBAF, the USDA’s relocation of ERS and NIFA, 2018 Farm Bill implementation, rural broadband deployment, agricultural research, conservation programs and food and drug safety. It also creates incentives for military veterans to enter careers in agriculture. Included in this legislation are several Sen. Moran-supported provisions: NBAF – Champions the completion of and fully-funds the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan and supports the workforce needs of this state-of-the-art facility with the inclusion of $3 million for workforce development, training and education. Relocation of ERS & NIFA – Provides the necessary resources for USDA’s planned relocation of the ERS and NIFA to the Kansas City region, a move that was announced in June. Agricultural Research – Increases investments in key agricultural research priorities important to Kansas farmers and ranchers, including research focused on wheat, sorghum and alfalfa. Farmer Mental Health – Includes funds for the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network to provide grants to extension services and nonprofit organizations that offer mental health and stress assistance programs to farmers, ranchers and others involved in agriculture. Rural Broadband – Continues investments in broadband to support deployment of this critical digital infrastructure across rural and underserved areas. Includes measures to ensure the coordination between the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in their work to expand broadband and prevent overbuilding. This bill also requires USDA to review the administration of its new pilot ReConnect broadband loan and grant program to ensure these significant federal investments are maximized and put to use in rural communities that need it most. International Food Assistance – Maintains the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, erected by former U.S. Senators Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and George McGovern (D-S.D.). This legislation also prioritizes Food for Peace initiatives which support the delivery of American-grown food to foreign countries experiencing chronic hunger crises. Veterans in Agriculture – Includes $5 million for a grant program established by Sen. Moran to help veterans transition into farming, ranching and other careers in agriculture.

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Markets

Rural Radio Network

Ag Calendar

Agriculture States Face Off: Cornhuskers vs. Fighting Illini

Big Iron Realty Friday's in the Field heads to Butler County

Fishing for Corn Yields Big - Friday Five (Sept. 20, 2019)

Calving Ease May Not Always Mean What You Think

China releases stockpiled pork to cool price surge

South Korea reports more suspected swine fever cases

K-State releases three new wheat varieties

Kansas Corn Farmers Featured in STEM Education Book

US approves releasing non-native insect to control thistle

China releases stockpiled pork to cool price surge

Sen. Moran Priorities Included in FY2020 Ag Appropriations Bill