USDA Price Reporting Fix Good
News For The Cattle Industry
WASHINGTON, D.C. A
United States Department of Ag
riculture report, released Mon
day, proposes changes that will
increase the amount of price re
porting information disseminated
and is expected to improve the
reporting program overall, the
National Cattlemen’s Beef Asso
ciation (NCSA) said.
Chuck Lambert, NCBA Chief
Economist, said “NCBA is
pleased that USDA responded to
industry concerns about the
limited amount of information
being released and adopted cattle
Vegetative Mulch Reduces Pesticide,
WASHINGTON, D.C. As a
mulch in- vegetable production,
the cover crop hairy vetch greatly
reduces pesticide runoff and soil
erosion, making it an excellent al
ternative to plastic mulch often
used by vegetable growers.
This finding was presented re
cently by Agricultural Research
Service scientist Pamela Rice
during a USDA meeting of the
American Chemical Society in
San Diego, Calif. Rice is with the
ARS Soil and Water Manage
ment Research Unit, based at the
University of Minnesota at St.
Paul.
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producers’ recommendations for
change.
The USDA mandatory price
reporting system went into effect
on April 2,2001 with a restrictive
guideline which prevented USDA
from releasing pricing data if less
than three packing companies re
port it, or if any one company
represented more than 60 percent
of any line of report to USDA.
“NCBA applauds Secretary
Veneman for her quick response
and equitable solution,” said
NCBA President Lynn Cornwell,
a cattle rancher from Glasgow,
Soil Losses In Runoff
Vegetable growers now often
use plastic (polyethylene) mulch
to maintain soil moisture and
control weeds. When it rains,
however, the plastic increases
surface runoff because 50-75 per
cent of the field is covered with
plastic that will not allow rain to
penetrate into the soil. The runoff
contains eroded soil and agricul
tural chemicals that may have
potential harmful effects on or
ganisms in nearby streams and
rivers.
In a three-year collaborative
study. Rice and co-workers at the
Montana. “This new proposed
system will allow greater access
to pricing information.”
The USDA report, from an in
ternal price reporting review
team appointed by Secretary Ve
ncman in mid-May, covers a
number of aspects of the price re
porting system.
Additional industry recom
mendations are being reviewed
and considered. Price repenting
information is a valuable tool in
price discovery and is used, by
cattle producers, for making im
portant business decisions.
Environmental Quality Lab and
the Sustainable Agricultural Sys
tems Lab at the Henry A. Wall
ace Beltsville Agricultural Re
search Center, Beltsville, Md.,
have developed a more sustain
able vegetable production system
that uses hairy vetch, a vegetative
mulch. ARS has demonstrated
that hairy vetch is economical
and can effectively control weeds.
The study compared runoff
and soil erosion from field plots
using vegetative and plastic
mulch. Fields with plastic mulch
lost two to four times more water
and up to 10 times more sedi
ment than the plots using hairy
vetch mulch.
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NPPC Board App roves Plans
For 2002 World Pork Expo
DES MOINES, lowa Plans
for the 2002 World Pork Expo
were approved at the National
Pork Producers Council Board of
Directors meeting June 7.
The 2002 World Pork Expo is
scheduled for June 6-8 in Des
Moines, lowa. Hie NPPC board
of directors named a task force to
evaluate ways to enhance the
15-year-old event.
NPPC President Barb De
term an, a pork producer from
Early, lowa, will lead the team to
evaluate all aspects of hosting
World Pork Expo, including bio
security - particularly ways to
safeguard against the spread of
Foreign Animal Diseases, educa
tional opportunities to offer and
identifying ways to deliver in
formation to pork producers.
“Expo is a great opportunity
for pork producers to gather and
access the latest information they
need on their farms,” Dcterman
said.
At an NPPC Board of Direc
tors meeting in April, the deci
sion was made to cancel the 2001
World Pork Expo in an effort to
be proactive in preventing the in
troduction of Foot-and-Mouth
Disease to the United States. The
disease, which has devastated ag
riculture in Europe this year, has
not been in the United States
since 1929.
“We did not want to take any
risk of a possible outbreak poten
tially spread through the hosting
of World Pork Expo, an event at
tended by pork producers and
pork industry leaders from
around the world,” Determan
said.
“We have seen tremendous
devastation in countries around
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the world from Foot-and-Mouth
Disease outbreaks. In Great Brit
ain, 3.2 million animals have
been destroyed. Farmers’ futures
are in doubt and the tourism in
dustry has been crushed finan
cially due to travel restrictions.”
Part of the information that
could have been shared at expo is
being mailed directly to pork pro
ducers. The World Pork Expo
2001 Official Souvenir Program
and Directory will be mailed to
pork producers.
The 104-page magazine in
cludes information about check
off-funded programs that would
have been highlighted at expo
and how to find more informa
tion about educational opportu
nities.
Pennsylvania Winter
Wheat Production
Down 26 Percent
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) Winter wheat production
in Pennsylvania is forecast at
7.68 million bushels, down 26
percent from last year’s produc
tion of 10.34 million bushels.
Farmers expect to harvest
160,000 acres with an average
yield of 48 bushels per acre.
U.S. winter wheat production
is forecast at 1.32 billion bushels,
down two percent from May 1,
and 15 percent below 2,000 to the
lowest level since 1978. Based on
conditions as of June 1, the U.S.
yield is forecast at 41.2 bushels
per acre. This is down 0.6 bushel
from the last forecast. Producers
expect to harvest 32.09 million
acres, down from 35.02 million
acres a year ago.
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