USDA Organic Regulations Topic Of Feb. 21 BIRD-IN-HAND (Lancaster Co.) Effective Feb. 21, the USDA organic rule will be the law of the land. It is vitally im portant that organic farmers and those considering organic certifi cation understand how to work under the new regulations as soon as possible. After the new law goes into ef fect, there is an 18-month phase in period. That’s not a lot of time, especially for livestock farmers and food processors. Pennsylvania Certified Organ ic (PCO) will hold a training on the new regulations at its South east Regional Meeting on Feb. 21, in Bird-in-Hand. The presen tation will be conducted by Leslie Zuck, executive director of PCO, along with PCO staff, industry experts and organic inspectors. Topics will cover procedures for organic certification of crops and livestock, processing and han dling operation and materials al lowed for organic production. Specific requirements will be discussed and participants will be encouraged to ask questions pertinent to their operations. For example, once a dairy herd is converted to organic, all replace ment animals must be certified Cargill Animal Nutrition Tech Update 3 cargili Animal Nutrition Bringing Your Dairy into Focus Come join us for this informative meeting on some of today’s hot topics in dairy nutrition management. A hot lurfotvwill be provided and tours of our ultra-modern feed mill facility will be included. Saturday March 24,2001 Tours will start at 9:30 AM and continue throughout the day. Speakers from 10:30 - 2:30 PM. Located at Route 422 and North 16th street in Lebanon Stateof-the Art 1,000 Cow Facility Free Stall Barn and Milking Parlor King Construction 601 Overly Grove Rd., New Holland., PA 17557 (717) 354-4740 • Phil Van Lieu (Home ) (717) 259-9077 organic. This is a change from current standards and may raise questions about the source of dairy heifers. Another change requires that all young dairy stock be man aged organically from before birth (last trimester of gestation). Outdoor access will be discussed, as it i required for all animals, in cluding poultry. The new regulations impose more restrictions on compost production. Organic producers must now work with a new ma terial list known as “The Nation al List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances.” A copy of the new regulations and the National List will be handed out at the meet ing. Other Talks Focus On Crop Rotations, Tillage Practices, GMO Contamination PCO is delighted to host Mary-Howell and Klaas Martens again this year as guest speaks at the meeting In addition to show ing their slide presentation and talking about real-life organic farming successes, Mary-Howell will delve into the trials and tri bulations of protecting our or ganic farms from GMO contami nation. Pastured Topic* ♦ Newborn Calf Management - Bob HostetUer, Milk Products, Inc. « Johnes Disease Risk Management - Dr. Charles Brad, Cargill Animal Nutrition. , a*- > r* * v Klaas and Mary-Howell farm about 1,100 acres of soybeans, com, small grains, red kidney beans, and processing sweet corn in the Finger Lakes area of New York. They also have a rapidly growing organic animal feed business. Developing viable mar kets for organic crops is an on going project. By paying careful attention to soil fertility management and various cultural weed control ap- COLUMBUS, Ohio - A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report recently released increased the soybean carryout by 25 million bushels, fooling the grain trade that expected in creased export volume related to Europe’s concerns over “mad” cow disease. “It looks like the report ham mered the soybean market again,” said agricultural econo mist Allan Lines, Ohio State Uni versity. “ From the point of view Ne«; Breakthroughs in Transition Cow Nutrition ■ Or. Rick Canfield, CargiD Animal Nutrition. Register to win Black & Decker cordless power tools. Reservations required. See your Cargill Representative for details or call 1-800-613-4459 proaches, they are able to achieve very good weed control, high yields, and consistent good quali ty crops. Well-planned crop rota tion breaks many weed and pest cycles, and helps maintain high soil fertility with a minimal need for purchased amendments. The use of blind tillage imple ments, such as a coil tine harrow and a rotary hoe, effectively con trol many weeds before crop emergence, and a tractor equipped with both front and OSU Ag Economist: Beans Take Hit in USDA Report of the report, it did just the oppo site of what the market thought soybeans would do.” USDA expects a 345-million-bushel carryout, an increase from 320 million bushels projected in its January report. Both numbers were a lot higher than the pre-report trade guesses for a 295-million-bushel car ryout, Lines said. The report upended the trade expectations for increased soy meal exports to Europe in re- Dairy Focus • Dairy Facilities * Large or Small, Contact King Construction For Design and Construction Free Stall Milking Center We Build in PA, MD, DE, NJ & NY Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 3,2001-A27 Meeting back mounted cultivators is used to clean any remaining weeds from row middles. They have “how to” slides showing these in novative tillage practices and customized equipment. For additional information: Pennsylvania Certified Organic, 1919 Gen. Potter Hwy., Suite 1, Centre Hall, PA 16828; phone: (814) 364-1344; fax (814) 364-4431; e-mail PaOrganic @aol.com; http://home town.aol.com/paorganic. consumption has dropped by 30 percent and with that, there is less demand for our bean meal,” Lines said. “When you start slaughtering all those potentially diseased cattle, as they have been doing recently, there aren’t a heck of a lot of cows left to feed.” Other developments on the in ternational scene also gave a pes simistic outlook for U.S. bean ex ports, Lines said. Soyoil exports took a hit as Southeast Asian palm oil producers geared up production. In South America, a record soybean crop is expected. “Those combined factors just don’t spell anything good for our exports,” Lines said. For corn, the carryout news wasn’t good, but at least it wasn’t as devastating as it was for soy beans, Lines said. USD A project ed a 1.891-billion-bushel car ryout, which was above the trade estimate of 1.85 billion bushels. However both numbers “went in the same direction” since USDA’s January projection for a 1.806-billion-bushel carryout. Lines said. “Corn hurt a little bit, but not like the beans,” Lines said. “The trade was expecting that kind of thing.” sponse to those coun tries’ recent bans on using meat and bone meal in ani mal feeds as a precaution against mad cow disease. However, Europe’s beef de mand has plummeted anyway, thus reduc ing the need for soymeal as an alter native feed for live stock. “Across western Eu rope, meat Lines attributed the increased corn carryout to competition from Argentina and China, both of which can draw on either high production or existing stocks to fill the world’s orders. Another issue might be that some Asian buyers might be wary of U.S. corn supplies that were found to be con taminated with the ge netically modified Star Link corn not ap proved for human con sumption, Lines said. On the domestic front, though, ethanol production is increas ing as “new plants are coming on stream," to meet the demand for an alternative to the MBTE gasoline addi tive that was found to be harmful to water supplies, Lines said. Lines said the report doesn’t contain any thing drastic enough to force U.S. farmers to change their plant ing plans for spring. USD A will be releas ing its 2001 prospec tive plantings report on March 30. As for marketing strategies, Lines ad vises, “Be in a protec tive environment on beans.” Think about forward contracting soybeans for late win ter or March and then take advantage of a generous loan deficien cy payment at harvest,
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