State, Federal Officials Seek Insight on Fresh Produce Processing, Handling

HARRISBURG, Pa., April 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Pennsylvania produce growers and food processors are invited to share their input on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s new produce handling rule at a May 13 listening session in Harrisburg, Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding said today.

The session will be held from 9 a.m. – noon at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center.

“As leaders in producing a variety of agricultural products, Pennsylvania produce growers and food processors are in position to offer valuable insight in national food safety discussions,” said Redding. “It is important that our industry take advantage of the opportunity to help shape federal policy regarding production and processing activities.

“By hosting this listening session, Pennsylvania continues to be a leader in the production of a safe, abundant food supply.”

Redding, state Health Secretary Everette James and FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods Michael R. Taylor will attend to hear concerns and answer questions. The listening session will also feature presentations by produce industry professionals.

The listening session is intended to ensure Pennsylvania’s agriculture and food production sectors and public health partners keep pace with changing federal regulations.

“Locally grown produce is an essential component of a healthy diet, but outbreaks have shown it can also be a source for food borne illness,” said James. “It’s important for Pennsylvania farmers to provide the FDA with input to ensure that new food safety regulations protect their businesses and the public health.”

Redding and James co-chair the Governor’s Food Safety Council, a unique group of agriculture, health and emergency management professionals convened by Governor Rendell in 2009. The council advises the Governor on developing and implementing food safety, defense protocols and best practices in the state.

The listening session is open to the public and registration is requested. To register, contact Jared Grissinger at 717-705-9513 or jgrissinge@state.pa.us

Media contacts:

Nicole L. C. Bucher, Agriculture; 717-787-5085; Claudine Battisti, Health; 717-787-1783

http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us

New testing regulations may end small-scale meat production — and keep the market safe for the big boys

By Sara Breselor

That wailing you hear in the distance is the sound of small meat processors begging the USDA for mercy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service recently proposed a set of new regulations that will require all meat processors to submit their products to a new series of tests, a procedure that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for even a modestly scaled operation, enough to cripple many small processors.

What worries fans of small farms and locally produced food is that the closing of small processors will mean the closing of small farms. Slaughter and processing is the biggest challenge for small-scale meat; they’re operations simply too costly and complex for farms to handle themselves. As it is, farmers have few options for meat processing without selling their animals to massive feedlot-meat operations, and without that piece of the puzzle, many farmers may quit. Why is the USDA considering the new testing regime? Some producers wonder if the machinations of Big Food are in play.

“The new testing would just ensure that the current processes, which are based on scientific consensus, are working,” according to Dustin VandeHoer of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. But, he adds that it’s not clear why they’re being mandated: “It doesn’t appear that it’s in response to any specific situation. They’re just kind of reinterpreting the existing rules.’” And he’s unsure that the new tests are necessary. “We haven’t had problems with food safety, especially with the smaller plants,” he says. “We should never become complacent, but I think we can reach a point where [small meat processors] can still be allowed to operate and food can be safe. I don’t know that we need to be taking this path that’s going to put small plants out of business.” (Repeated attempts by Salon to solicit comments from the USDA were unsuccessful.)

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Contact: Office of Communications 202-720-4623

Latest National Resource Inventory for Non-Federal Lands shows significant reduction in soil erosion on cropland and dramatic increase in developed acreage

WASHINGTON, April 27, 2010 – Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan today announced that soil erosion on cropland declined by more than 40 percent during the past 25 years, while more than one-third of all development of U.S. land occurred during the same period. The information was contained in the latest National Resource Inventory (NRI) for Non-Federal Lands, which was released at an event marking the 75th Anniversary of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the agency charged with ensuring private lands are conserved, restored, and more resilient to environmental challenges.

“The NRI results are significant because they provide a scientifically-based snapshot of the nation’s natural resources and the ability to track trends in natural resource use and condition,” Merrigan said. “The NRI provides a wealth of information that can be used by agricultural and environmental policymakers to make informed decisions about the nation’s natural resources.”

Key findings from the 2007 NRI include:

* Total cropland erosion (sheet, rill and wind) declined by about 43 percent, from more than 3.06 billion tons per year in 1982 to about 1.72 billion tons per year in 2007. The reduction reflects NRCS’s emphasis on working with producers and landowners to reduce erosion. Most of the soil erosion reductions occurred between 1987 and 1997.

* Cropland acreage declined from 420 million acres in 1982 to 357 million acres in 2007, a 15 percent decrease. About half of this reduction is reflected in enrollments of environmental sensitive cropland in USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program.

* About 40 million acres of land were newly developed between 1982 and 2007, bringing the national total to about 111 million acres. More development occurred in the Southeast than in any other region. For the NRI, developed land includes rural transportation corridors such as roads and railroads as well as urban and built-up areas which include residential, industrial, commercial and other land uses. The findings on development are important because development isolates tracts of former farmland, which degrades wildlife habitat and makes agricultural production inefficient.

* There were 325 million acres of prime farmland in 2007, compared to 339 million acres in 1982. The acreage of prime farmland converted to other uses such as development during the 25-year period is greater than the combined area of Vermont and New Hampshire and almost as large as West Virginia.

* The total area of developed land in all states, except Alaska and Hawaii, is approximately equal to the combined surface area of Illinois, Iowa and Michigan. Land that was newly developed between 1982 and 2007 covered an area slightly larger than Iowa. The largest increase in development was 10.7 million acres between 1992 and 1997.

NRI provides scientifically-based, statistically accurate estimates of natural resource status, conditions and trends on non-federal U.S. land-private, tribal and trust lands as well as land controlled by state and local governments. The data are suitable for national, regional and statewide analyses and are comparable across the time period 1982 – 2007. NRCS conducts the inventory in cooperation with Iowa State University’s Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology, a respected scientific partner.

The NRI will assist USDA in its efforts to complete its Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act (RCA) appraisal. RCA guides future USDA soil, water and related resource conservation activities on non-federal lands, while considering both the long and short-term needs of the nation. USDA is scheduled to complete the RCA appraisal by January 2011.

For additional information about NRI, please visit www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/nri.

NRCS is celebrating 75 years helping people help the land in 2010. Since 1935, the NRCS conservation delivery system has advanced a unique partnership with state and local governments and private landowners delivering conservation based on specific, local conservation needs, while accommodating state and national interests. President Franklin Roosevelt created the agency on this day in 1935 to help farmers and ranchers overcome the devastating effects of drought, especially in the Midwest and Northern Plains regions.

During the depths of the economic crisis last year, the prices for many goods held steady or even dropped. But on American farms, the picture was far different, as farmers watched the price they paid for seeds skyrocket. Corn seed prices rose 32 percent; soybean seeds were up 24 percent.

Such price increases for seeds — the most important purchase a farmer makes each year — are part of an unprecedented climb that began more than a decade ago, stemming from the advent of genetically engineered crops and the rapid concentration in the seed industry that accompanied it.

The price increases have not only irritated many farmers, they have caught the attention of the Obama administration. The Justice Department began an antitrust investigation of the seed industry last year, with an apparent focus on Monsanto, which controls much of the market for the expensive bioengineered traits that make crops resistant to insect pests and herbicides.

The investigation is just one facet of a push by the Obama administration to take a closer look at competition — or the lack thereof — in agriculture, from the dairy industry to livestock to commodity crops, like corn and soybeans.

On Friday, as the spring planting season approaches, Eric H. Holder Jr., the attorney general, and Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, will speak at the first of a series of public meetings aimed at letting farmers and industry executives voice their ideas. The meeting, in Ankeny, Iowa, will include a session on the seed industry.

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America’s Cattle Farmers and Ranchers Highlight 40 Ways They Protect the Environment in Honor of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day

DENVER, April 15 /PRNewswire/ — When your office is the great outdoors and your commute is on horseback, preserving and protecting the Earth is part of the job description. This Earth Day, America’s 1 million cattle farmers and ranchers are being recognized as having one of the greenest jobs.

In a new national survey of American beef eaters, cattle ranchers and farmers were selected as the third greenest profession from a diverse list of jobs, with park rangers topping the list. This survey was conducted by IPSOS Public Affairs for The Beef Checkoff Program.

Read the Full Article HERE

By Jeff Caldwell; Agriculture.com Multimedia Editor

It’s no secret that the average farmer is getting up in years. As the farming population ages, the issue of farm succession is becoming a bigger concern for the younger generation making its mark on the agriculture industry, a recent poll finds.

The latest Farm and Rural Life Poll, conducted annually by Extension sociologists at Iowa State University, indicates concerns are growing surrounding the passage of farms to the next generation. In the 2008 poll, 42% of farmers responding said they were planning on retiring in the next 5 years, and among those, 56% said they had identified a successor, according to J. Gordon Arbuckle, Jr., leader of a team of ISU Extension sociologists administering the poll.

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From: http://www.agofthemiddle.org

Over 80% of farmland in the U.S. is managed by farmers whose operations fall between small-scale direct markets and large, consolidated firms. These farmers are increasingly left out of our food system. If present trends continue, these farms, together with the social and environmental benefits they provide, will likely disappear in the next decade or two. The “public good” that these farms have provided in the form of land stewardship and community social capital will disappear with them.

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The Lesters opened their business in 2005 and quickly established themselves as a neighborhood fixture. But in early 2008, everything changed. Commodity crop prices went haywire, sending the cost of flour soaring. “It was catastrophic,” Ben said. The Lesters decided that basing their products on an ingredient produced thousands of miles away in the Midwest no longer made good business sense, and they began to ask what it would take to source grain from local growers.

Two years later, an estimated 10 percent of the grains they use are locally grown, a number they hope to increase over time. In the meantime, the Lesters have poured their energies into a related endeavor: organizing the region’s first grain CSA, which in 2009 had approximately 115 members, with a waiting list to match. Last October, Ben and Adrie installed an electric mill in their bakery; now, a day rarely passes without a member stopping by to say hello and grind some grain into flour. The Lesters offer a remarkable example of the creative, community-focused thinking that has driven the local foods movement for the past decade, and they are not alone. From Maine and Vermont to New York and Pennsylvania, a growing number of farmers, bakers, brewers, distillers, and food educators are working to create a regional grain network throughout the Northeast.

To read the entire article, go to: http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/03/the-breadbasket-of-america-new-england/37830/

USDA’s and the U.S. Department of Justice’s first-ever joint public workshop on competition and regulatory issues in the agriculture industry appears to have struck a nerve.

The workshop, which some dismissed in advance as a “dog and pony” show, attracted nearly 800 participants, many of them farmers who came from as far away as Alabama and Washington state for a chance to speak.

It also drew a fair number of public relations types and other staff members for some of the entities that could have reason to be concerned if the Obama administration decides to broaden its antitrust activities into the seed and meat processing industries.

Attorney General Eric Holder, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and other Department of Justice and USDA officials who attended the workshop, which was held at a community college in Ankeny, Iowa, were noncommittal about future actions by the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, which is headed by Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney…

To read the entire article go to: http://southeastfarmpress.com/news/antitrust-suits-0322/