USDA Farm Service Agency officials told the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course that $258 million in livestock disaster payments had gone out in Texas as of Aug. 6, and urged ranchers to book appointments at county offices before program deadlines arrive.
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Agriculture
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Agriculture
Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course attendees hear optimistic views on industry future
More than 1,500 producers attended Texas A&M's 60th Beef Cattle Short Course. With US cattle inventory the smallest since the 1950s, speakers expect strong prices to hold through slow herd rebuilding, though Bill Mies warned retail beef could price itself into treat territory.
Agriculture
Texas crop, weather for Aug. 5, 2014
A Texas A&M AgriLife report: High Plains cotton ran from the first to the third week of bloom in early August, and agronomist Mark Kelley says soil and crop conditions beat the past three years, though dryland fields that have missed rain for weeks need some soon.
Agriculture
Many Asking if Cage-free Eggs Are More Humane After Deathly Fire
A predawn fire killed 65,000 hens at an Egg Innovations barn in Kosciusko County, Indiana, reviving attention to a National Fire Protection Association proposal to require sprinklers in farm animal housing. Mercy for Animals used it to question humane labeling.
Agriculture
Female has toothed organ to saw through fruit skin
Texas A&M AgriLife entomologist Erfan Vafaie warns growers about the spotted wing drosophila, whose saw-like ovipositor cuts into intact fruit to lay eggs. The larvae are harmless to eat, but the tears open fruit to other invaders. Berries, grapes, peaches and tomatoes are at risk.
Agriculture
High cattle prices, availability of replacement cows persist
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension economists report replacement cattle prices averaging 20 percent above a year ago, with young pairs and open cattle hard to find. Their FARM Assistance analysis used a 200-head South Texas herd to compare which replacement types return the most income.
Agriculture
Climate: Meat turns up the heat
Carnegie researchers estimated livestock greenhouse gas emissions for 237 countries over nearly half a century and found them up 51%, with beef cattle responsible for far more than other animals. Livestock methane and nitrous oxide make up about 9% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
Agriculture
South Texas study results show Brahman, crossbred influence receive higher premiums
A Texas A&M AgriLife Extension study of 123 lots at a Beeville commercial female sale found Brahman and British crossbred breeding cattle drew the highest prices in South Texas. Economist Levi Russell ties the premium to more calves and greater profit potential.
Agriculture
State Funds Research to Find Alternative, Less Toxic Tools to Grow Crops
California's Department of Pesticide Regulation awarded almost half a million dollars to three projects seeking less toxic alternatives to soil fumigants, including $298,472 to the California Strawberry Commission and $74,384 for work on pistachios.
Agriculture
National conference on agricultural waste and environmental quality seeks input
The “From Waste to Worth” conference on agricultural waste and environmental quality, set for March 30 to April 1, 2015, is taking abstracts, posters and workshop ideas from farmers and agribusinesses as well as scientists until Sept. 15, 2014. Equine waste gets special emphasis.
Agriculture
Pig Breed Serves as Ideal Model for Human Obesity Research
USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists report the Ossabaw pig works well as a model for human obesity research. Pigs fed a high-fat diet showed changes in lipid metabolites in liver, pancreas, brain and intestine, though some tissue changes did not show up in urine or plasma.
Agriculture
From Bad to Worse: Scientists Confirm Worms Are Eating Slug Bait
USDA scientists watching grass seed fields at night confirmed earthworms are taking the slug bait. Half the pellets vanished in under 2.5 days; worms ate 20 percent on the spot and hauled the rest into their burrows, preferring the cheaper metaldehyde and iron pellets.
Agriculture
Neonicotinoids again linked to collapse of honey bee colonies
A Harvard School of Public Health study in the Bulletin of Insectology found low doses of imidacloprid and clothianidin significantly harmed colonies over winter, worse in colder ones. Affected hives had pathogen levels much like surviving controls, pointing away from mites and parasites.
Agriculture
Online price basis tool for agricultural producers available from AgriLife Extension
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension has put a free tool at basis.tamu.edu listing price basis, the gap between local cash and futures prices, for corn, cotton, sorghum, soybeans and wheat by Texas district. Economist Mark Welch says futures prices may not reflect what a producer receives.
Agriculture
Disinfecting Honey Comb with Ozone
Rosalind James's ARS team reported that ozone at 215 to 430 ppm killed every life stage of the greater wax moth in honeycombs, and higher doses destroyed chalkbrood spores. A second paper looks at whether ozone can also cut pesticide levels in combs.
Agriculture
Flavor Secrets of Hass Avocados Probed
USDA plant physiologist David Obenland and UC-Riverside's Mary Lu Arpaia are measuring which of the 25 known aroma compounds in Hass avocados shape its flavor. The compounds could become markers for breeding new varieties or timing harvest and storage.
Agriculture
Another Weapon to Fight FMD
USDA researchers at Plum Island report that interferons can protect animals against foot-and-mouth disease immediately, covering the week a vaccine needs to take hold. Types I and II worked in pigs; a type III interferon protected cattle within a day.
Agriculture
Controversial Drug Used in Beef, Pork and Turkey Production
The Center for Food Safety and Animal Legal Defense Fund have sued the FDA for withholding records on ractopamine, a beta-agonist growth additive used in 80 percent of US pig and cattle operations yet banned in many countries. The agency produced 464 of about 100,000 pages, all already public.
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