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According to a recent Congressional Budget Office report, the increased use of ethanol is responsible for a rise in food prices of approximately 10 to 15 percent. Why? We're turning corn into fuel — a highly inefficient one, at that — instead of food. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy points out that "mixing food and fuel markets for political reasons has done American consumers no discernable good, while producing measurable harm." However, perhaps summing up the issue most succinctly is Mark J. Perry, professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan-Flint: Anytime you have Paul Krugman agreeing...

This spring we wanted chicken manure spread on the pastures because it is incredibly rich in nutrients, the best “natural” fertilizer known to man, and quite inexpensive, comparatively speaking. So I asked one of my truck driver friends, who cleans out houses for Sanderson Farms affiliates, to bring me several dump truck loads. “No can do, because they aren’t having it done, this year,” quoth he. How odd. I mulled that over off and on for months, and today I got the answer. The greenies are at it again! THIS time they are claiming that litter (sawdust and, ah, processed...

HR 2749 is being rushed through Congress, and the house may look to suspend the rules and fast track the bill at Obama’s request. Just what can we expect from this legislation? A lot more of the following: Dick Peixoto planted hedges of fennel and flowering cilantro around his organic vegetable fields in the Pajaro Valley near Watsonville to harbor beneficial insects, an alternative to pesticides. He has since ripped out such plants in the name of food safety, because his big customers demand sterile buffers around his crops. No vegetation. No water. No wildlife of any kind. “I was...

KANSAS CITY, Mo., July 21, 2009 – The Missouri National Guard’s agribusiness team in Afghanistan will get a touch of home when Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals and Fox Sports Network honor them during the Royals’ Aug. 8 game with the Oakland A’s at Kauffman Stadium here. Members of the Missouri National Guard agribusiness development team show off the Kansas City Royals baseball gear sent by the Royals and Fox Sports Network in preparation for an Aug. 8 game at which the Royals and Fox Sports Network will honor them. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

JALALABAD AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, July 6, 2009 – The Tennessee National Guard’s agribusiness development team is up and running as the first of its kind in Afghanistan’s Paktia and Paktika provinces. Army Col. Jim D. Moore, commander of the Tennessee Agribusiness Development Team, visits with village elders in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktia province to evaluate a proposed project site, June 1, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Todd Steffen  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Team officials said their primary mission is to set the stage for the success of the teams that come after them. The Tennessee team includes security force...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, June 22, 2009 – Representatives from Zinzee and Turkman villages, along with staff members from Al Bironi University, journeyed here June 13 for a day of activity that had them buzzing with questions. A member of the Task Force Warrior agriculture development team points out the behavior of bees during training on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, June 13, 2009. U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Lory Stevens  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Staff Sgt. Erik Singsaas, intelligence sergeant of the Tennessee National Guard's Task Force Warrior agriculture development team, provided classroom and hands-on training about bee...

JALALABAD AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, May 8, 2009 – An agribusiness development team from the Kansas National Guard unfurled its colors in Afghanistan’s Laghman province May 3 and began its work of jump-starting the agricultural economy. A ceremony to mark the arrival of the Kansas Agribusiness Development Team takes place in the Mehtar Lam district of Afghanistan’s Laghman province, May 3, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Luke Atherton  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Before the unit arrived in northeastern Afghanistan, an ADT from Missouri was the only one operating in the Nuristan, Nangarhar, Kunar and Laghman provinces, also known...

RALEIGH North Carolina's meat industries are battling a bill the Humane Society of the United States and its vegan president say is meant to protect puppies, warning instead that it is the first step toward ending meat eating as we know it. The Humane Society has made North Carolina a top priority in the fight for tougher animal welfare laws, for the first time deploying a lobbyist to work a full session of the state legislature. Agribusiness groups predict a repeat of the tighter farm animal laws that California approved last year in a Humane Society-backed voter referendum. That measure...

FORWARD OPERATING WARRIOR, KIRKUK, Iraq, March 23, 2009 – The food that finds its way onto the tables of Iraqi residents has its origins somewhere, and Team Borlaug researchers are on a mission to see where that journey begins. They traced some of the food’s origins to a local animal processing plant and market March 18 here in Kirkuk. The team is on a nearly six-month tour of northern Iraq to study the agriculture and offer guidance on how it can be improved. "Our mission is to assess agriculture in Multinational Division North's area and provide recommendations to the command...

FOB WARRIOR — The food that finds its way on to the tables of Kirkuk City residents has to start somewhere. Researchers from Team Borlaug wanted to see where the journey began, and they found some of those origins at one of the city’s animal processing plants and markets, March 18. Team Borlaug is taking a nearly six-month tour of northern Iraq to study the agriculture and offer guidance on how it can be improved. “Our mission is to assess agriculture in Multi-National Division – North’s area and provide recommendations to the command regarding project development and how to get...

CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind., Feb. 12, 2009 – Civilian experts in economic growth who serve in the National Guard now can bring their select skills from the heartland to the front lines. Army Col. Brian Copes, fourth from left, 1-19th Agribusiness Development Team commander, participates in a mock groundbreaking ceremony on a snowy day at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, a sub-installation of Camp Atterbury, Ind. The ceremony is part of the team’s preparation to deploy to Afghanistan’s Khowst province, Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Robert G. Cooper III  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. National Guardsmen from seven...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2009 – The members of agricultural development teams in Afghanistan are living examples of the symbol of the National Guard: a Minuteman with a musket in one hand and the other hand resting on a plow. As Army Secretary Pete Geren, right, looks on, Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn, director of the Army National Guard, speaks at a Pentagon news conference on the mission of the Guard's agricultural development teams, Jan. 22, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jon Soucy  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Secretary Pete Geren and Army National Guard Chief Lt....

A jury sentenced a Lakeview man to 10 years in prison for growing nearly 7,500 marijuana plants. Andrew Stever, 40, was sentenced on Monday after a three-day trial in the Federal District Court in Medford.Ten years is the mandatory minimum sentence for anyone convicted of growing 1,000 or more pot plants. In July 2007, officers from several local, state and federal agencies found 7,459 plants growing on Stever's Lakeview property, which bordered Forest Service land. Two men fled the scene, leaving behind personal property and three firearms, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Portland. Physical evidence and testimony linked...

SHINDAND AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, July 3, 2008 – U.S. special operations warriors serving in western Afghanistan’s volatile Herat province have a unique security-enhancing capability in their own backyard, and it involves neither bullets nor bombs. An Afghan beekeeping student demonstrates the honey-extraction skills his instructor taught him, as his fellow students look on. The Shindand Agricultural Experiment Station provides farmers in the Shindand district of Afghanistan’s Herat province with agricultural education and employment. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Anna Perry, Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Afghanistan  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The Shindand Agricultural Experiment Station, located within...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Students of the Village of Hope in Hawr Rajab began cleaning irrigation canals in the area June 26, in an effort to improve the flow of fresh water to nearby farms. The Village of Hope is a program which teaches construction skills to former members of the Sons of Iraq. The new skills help them transition to other productive jobs in their community. Airmen of the 577th Expeditionary Redhorse Squadron teach classes of about 50 students at a time at a training facility at Patrol Base Stone in Hawr Rajab. Village of Hope students were...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAHMUDIYAH — A series of four greenhouses in Mahmudiyah officially opened in a ribbon cutting ceremony, June 28. “The greenhouses are definitely a dominant feature in the area; there is nothing else around them, and they can be seen well into the distance,” said Capt. Benjamin Neusse, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, Civil Military Operations officer. “Hopefully it gives people the impression that progress is being made along agricultural lines.” The four greenhouses are more than 500 square meters each, and use agriculture refill plastic sheets on the outside. The sheets convert ultraviolet rays into heat...

LAGHMAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan, June 16, 2008 – Provincial reconstruction teams are engaged daily in large-scale projects in Afghanistan, building roads, bridges, schools and medical facilities to help the Afghan government develop its infrastructure. They also contribute small ideas that have the potential for large-scale impact. Air Force Staff Sgt. Tim Bayes, engineering noncommissioned officer in charge for the provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan’s Laghman province, demonstrates how to use a spreader he designed and built for use by Afghan farmers. Bayes is deployed from Naval Construction Training Center, Gulfport, Miss. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. James Law,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Monday vowed to aid small farmers by targeting agricultural tariffs and subsidies doled out to agribusiness. "If I am elected president, I will seek an end to all agricultural tariffs, and to all farm subsidies that are not based on clear need. I will veto any bill containing special-interest favors and corporate welfare in any form," McCain said in remarks prepared for delivery to the National Restaurant Association in Chicago. McCain, an Arizona senator, said one of the biggest obstacles to opening up foreign markets to American farmers is found in...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, May 8, 2008 – When soldiers of 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, began inspecting chicken coops in Hawr Rajab, Iraq, in December, they found munitions caches and bomb-making materials instead of poultry. A young Iraqi unpacks chicks in Hawr Rajab, Iraq, May 6, 2009. Funds from the Baghdad-7 Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team allowed his family to refurbish its chicken coop. Deliveries of chicks and feed are intended to restore once-thriving chicken farms that were devastated by recent insurgent violence. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. David Turner, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division   (Click...

Members of the SoI provide security and help distribute supplies to farmers in Busayefi, April 26. Multi-National Division - Center uses CERP funds for projects like this to improve communities and show citizens how to work with their local governments. (Courtesy photo) FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — U.S. Soldiers delivered seeds and plastic to farmers in the town of Busayefi recently, in an effort to revitalize agriculture in the area 10 kilometers southeast of Baghdad.Members of the 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, attached to 2nd BCT, 3rd Inf. Div., delivered 180 kilograms of...

BAGHDAD, April 28, 2008 – Chicken farmers in Mahmudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, received the jumpstart their industry needed with the arrival of 45,000 eggs, each ready for hatching. Army Capt. Benjamin Neusse, a civil military operations officer with 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, speaks with workers in the Mahmudiyah, Iraq, chicken hatchery, April 21, 2008. Photo by Army Pvt. Christopher McKenna, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. One of many economic projects initiated by Task Force Marne, revitalizing the region’s ailing poultry industry ranks as a top priority. Such initiatives...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA — Access to water, availability of equipment, training and reclaimed lands were among topics discussed in an agricultural meeting in Wasit, April 23. Brig. Gen. Edward Cardon, the Multi-National Division - Center deputy commanding general for support, met with Wasit director general of agriculture members and 20 local farmers to address issues and start the process of linking the local, provincial and national government. “This is the first step in the right direction,” said Sheikh Jamal Batik, member of the Council of Representatives. Farmers from Wasit, which was once a major agricultural area in Iraq, are...

Residents unload fertilizer bags, April 10, at the Zambraniyah community center. Soldiers of Company B, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, delivered 180 bags of fertilizer to the center. DoD photo. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Zambraniyah farmers got much-needed assistance for their crops recently with a delivery from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. “Today we conducted a fertilizer distro for the farmers of Zambraniyah and I think this is something that definitely will continue helping to establish the foundation for economic growth in our sector,� said Capt. Cesar Santiago, a...

KARBALA — Boosting agribusiness, tourism and private investment by way of social venture capital were the top issues discussed at a March 12 meeting at Iraqi Police Headquarters in Karbala. Iraqi government officials, local businessmen, Multi-National Division - Center leaders and provincial reconstruction team members participated in the meeting. Security in Karbala is steadily improving, said Karbala provincial governor Aqil al-Khazali, as evidenced by the millions of pilgrims who safely commemorated Ashura in the holy city. “Karbala is ready for investment,” al-Khazali said. Brig. Gen. Edward Cardon, MND-C deputy commander for support, agreed safety has improved and Iraqis are doing...

Washington - -- As Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton toured the land denouncing special interests, giveaways to the rich, home foreclosures, job losses and a middle-class squeeze, back in Washington House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats met behind closed doors on a plan to raise taxes and cut food stamp money to protect billions of dollars for agribusiness, a sector of the economy that is booming. The negotiators agreed Tuesday to find $10 billion in extra money in a last-ditch effort to save the farm bill, once seen as an opportunity to reform commodity programs and...

LINCOLN, Neb. - A straw poll conducted at Husker Harvest Days shows the Nebraska farmers and ranchers who voted support Fred Thompson and Barack Obama for president. The unscientific poll was administered to 552 people at the Nebraska Farm Bureau event this week in Grand Island. Of the 387 who voted Republican, 36% picked Thompson, 16% picked Sen. John McCain of Arizona and 15% picked Rudy Giuliani. Of the 165 votes cast by Democrats, 35% were for Obama, the U.S. senator from Illinois, 31% were for Sen. Hilary Clinton of New York and 16% were for John Edwards.

Many people may consider the Humane Society of the United States a pussycat. But with 10 million donors and a $120 million budget, it is becoming a tiger among Washington's interest groups. Just ask Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) and Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.). Actually, make that former governor and then-representative. The Humane Society targeted both in last year's elections after Ehrlich supported bear hunting and Pombo supported commercial whaling and trapping in wildlife refuges. The society also spent lavishly to help pass an initiative in Arizona, fought by agribusiness, that bans inhumane factory farming. And it...

In my previous vanities Part I I described my progression into the Condition of Crunchy Conservative.. In Part II, I laid out some musings on “where I think we’re going, and how we got into this handbasket.” In this piece, I elaborate a bit more on the themes of the second piece, and offer some suggestions for how to recover from the predicament. To recap, I pointed out that the state of health of the “average” US citizen is nowhere near as good as it used to be. A number of factors are involved, including aging; relative lack of exercise;...

As you may recall, in my last vanity, ”Confessions of a Crunchy Con, or, You Can't Judge a Conservative by his Birkenstocks”, I discussed how I became a “crunchy con”—someone who endorses certain cultural and lifestyle values which have traditionally been associated with the left. In this piece, I follow up with some thoughts about health and lifestyle issues, with application to American society at large. Taking fish oil supplements, despite my misgivings, and finding how successful it was at rejuvenating me, was a real eye-opener. In fact, it got me thinking not just of my own health, but the...

Watch video of the festivalWatch an interview with a date palm farmer Farmers exhibited different varieties of dates at a date palm festival in Baqubah. Date palms are a vital crop in the heavily agricultural region. They are also a traditional staple in Iraqis' diet. Department of Defense photo. Residents of Baqubah celebrated a local staple on Monday - a “date festival” placed the town’s focus on a banner harvest from the area’s date palm trees. Situated alongside a river in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, Baqubah has for centuries been a center of agriculture and commerce. Though rich...

The House of Representatives recently passed funding for a new federal mandate that threatens to put thousands of small farmers and ranchers out of business. The National Animal Identification System, known as NAIS, is an expensive and unnecessary federal program that requires owners of livestock– cattle, dairy, poultry, and even horses– to tag animals with electronic tracking devices. The intrusive monitoring system amounts to nothing more than a tax on livestock owners, allowing the federal government access to detailed information about their private property. In typical Washington-speak, NAIS is “voluntary”—provided USDA bureaucrats are satisfied with the level of cooperation. Trust...

JALLOWAL, India Within days, the monsoon will arrive in India. If generous, it will lend another year of survival to hundreds of millions of villagers. ...But now a country that long struggled to feed itself is making preparations to feed the world. Multinational companies from Wal-Mart to Rothschild Group to PepsiCo are wagering that India could parlay its tropical climate and the latent energies of hundreds of millions of farm dwellers into a position as an agribusiness powerhouse, exporting fruits and vegetables, spices, flowers, wine, ice cream, poultry, shrimp, fish and even pasta. "To my mind, this opportunity of agriculture...

See for example this thread first. It seems we're awash in corn and by-products from night until morn In all that we chew and now for our cars, too! No wonder I treat it with scorn!

Full html version here: http://www.breederville.com/auction/forumtopic.php?topic=54&boardid=1 PDF Version for download here: http://www.agribusinessaccountability.org/pdfs/289_USDA%20Inc..pdf HOW AGRIBUSINESS HAS HIJACKED REGULATORY POLICYAT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE This paper was conceived by the ORGANIZATION FOR COMPETITIVE MARKETS www.competitivemarkets.com It was commissioned by a working group of the AGRIBUSINESS ACCOUNTABILITY INITIATIVE www.agribusinessaccountability.org Each working group member had responsibilities for different case studies.The organizations listed do not necessarily endorse every detail of every case study. However, all collaborating organizations subscribe to the thesis that “revolving door” industry appointments at USDA constitute a problem that must be addressed. The following working group members helped research and edit the...

Archer Daniels Midland Co. said fiscal second-quarter earnings soared 68 percent to $221 million, or 34 cents a share, on improved performance in all of its major business segments, handily beating Wall Street's expectations. The agribusiness giant said that without a one-time charge of 3 cents a share for asset abandonment, ADM would have earned 37 cents a share for the latest quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call were looking for earnings before charges of 27 cents a share. Revenues for the quarter totaled $9.2 billion, up 18 percent. In other earnings news: GATX Corp., which leases airplanes and...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.U.S. farmers had better prepare for major changes in their nearly new farm subsidies. The agricultural chairman of the World Trade Organization (WTO) recently made the first international attempt in a decade to rewrite the world´s farm subsidy rules—and it would radically cut farm subsidies for both U.S. and European farmers. However, the new rules drafted by Stuart Harbinson of Hong Kong would also sharply increase U.S. farmers´ opportunities for exports to Asian cities full of people with rising incomes and a desire for better diets. According to Feedstuffs magazine, Harbinson´s new...

HAVANA (AP) - Signaling he's serious about bringing American business back to communist Cuba, President Fidel Castro has signed more than $17 million in contracts to buy food from the United States. Castro signed the deals at a food fair attended by numerous U.S. food producers, so far the only type of American company allowed to do business with the communist country. Cuban officials hope the contracts Thursday will lead to more exceptions to the longstanding U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. To illustrate that, Castro spent much of the day at the exhibition, where he strolled past displays of Gerber...