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Jayson Lusk Discovers Major Misconception in What Consumers Know About Hormone Use in Animal Ag Production

The latest FOOD Demand Survey as produced by Dr. Jayson Lusk and his team in the Ag Economics Department in the Division of Agriculture at Oklahoma State University is out- and some interesting facts about what consumers believe in how animals are raised have surfaced.


According to Dr. Lusk in his blog on the latest survey, the major Ad Hoc question had to do with hormone use in meat production in the US.


Dr. Lusk writes "For the ad-hoc questions, we delved into consumers' beliefs about the use of added growth hormones in livestock and poultry production. 


"First, participants were asked: "What percentage of the following types of farm animals in the United States are given added hormones to promote growth and muscle development?". The average answers were 60% for beef, 54% for pork, and 55% for broiler chickens. These answers are quite wrong.


"Virtually all feedlot cattle in the US are given added growth hormones but NONE of the hogs or broiler chickens are given added hormones. Fewer than 2% of respondents knew this last fact. That is, 98% of respondents incorrectly think hormones are used in pork and chicken production. 


"What impacts might these false beliefs have? As it turns out, the impacts are non-trivial. For example, consumers' responses to our initial choice questions that are used to derive WTP for each of the meat cuts depend on consumers perceptions about the prevalence of hormone use. The larger the fraction of animals a consumer believes receives hormones, the less they're willing to pay for meat from that type of animal. Here's a quick analysis I ran asking the question: how would consumers' WTP change if they went from having the current average level of false beliefs to knowing the truth? 


"The "Willingness to Pay" for ground beef and steak would fall (because more cattle are given hormones than most people think) and WTP for pork and chicken would increase (because none of these animals are given added hormones despite the fact people think they are). What this suggests is that demand for pork and chicken is depressed by false beliefs.

Read more about consumer misconceptions and find a link to the latest FOOD Demand Survey.

EPA Proposes Increase in Renewable Fuel Levels

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Wednesday proposed increases in renewable fuel volume requirements across all types of biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. The proposed increases would boost renewable fuel production and provide for ambitious yet achievable growth.


"The Renewable Fuel Standards program is a success story that has driven biofuel production and use in the U.S. to levels higher than any other nation," said Janet McCabe, acting assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. "This administration is committed to keeping the RFS program on track, spurring continued growth in biofuel production and use, and achieving the climate and energy independence benefits that Congress envisioned from this program."


The proposed volumes would represent growth over historic levels:

- Total renewable fuel volumes would grow by nearly 700 million gallons between 2016 and 2017.

- Advanced renewable fuel - which requires 50 percent lifecycle carbon emissions reductions - would grow by nearly 400 million gallons between 2016 and 2017.

- The non-advanced or "conventional" fuels portion of total renewable fuels - which requires a minimum of 20 percent lifecycle carbon emissions reductions - would increase by 300 million gallons between 2016 and 2017 and achieve 99 percent of the Congressional target of 15 billion gallons.

- Biomass-based biodiesel - which must achieve at least 50 percent lifecycle emissions reductions - would grow by 100 million gallons between 2017 and 2018.

- Cellulosic biofuel - which requires 60 percent lifecycle carbon emissions reductions - would grow by 82 million gallons, or 35 percent, between 2016 and 2017.


The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set annual RFS volume requirements for four categories of biofuels. By displacing fossil fuels, biofuels help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help strengthen energy security. EPA is proposing to use the tools provided by Congress to adjust the standards below the statutory targets, but the steadily increasing volumes in the proposal continue to support Congress's intent to grow the volumes of these important fuels that are part of the nation's overall strategy to enhance energy security and address climate change. EPA implements the program in consultation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy. 


EPA will hold a public hearing on this proposal on June 9, 2016, in Kansas City, Mo. The period for public input and comment will open until July 11. 

Click here for a link to more information on the EPA's proposal.

National Agricultural Organizations React to EPA's Proposed Renewable Fuel Volume Requirements 

Superior Livestock's Danny Jones Hopes to Prove the Concept- Starting Next Week- with  FedCattleExchange.com

We are less than a week away from the first FedCattleExchange.com internet sale set for next Wednesday, May 25. Superior Livestock Auction is creating the electronic auction format to help expand the cash market for fed cattle in order to establish a better basis for formula pricing.


Superior Livestock Auction President Danny Jones says the first few sales will be pretty straightforward with the hopes of expanding to more options for buyers and sellers in the future. 


"In order for us to make this simple and to prove the concept that price discovery can work in the fed cattle arena, we are doing cash price for immediate delivery only to begin with," he says. "We do feel like that overtime this can be expanded beyond just immediate delivery and beyond just cash price to include future delivery, to include specialty programs, to include basis for a formula rather than just cash trade that gets reported into the plus or minus on formulas for futures."


While credentials are required to buy and sell cattle (go to the FedCattleExchange.com website for more information), Jones says there will be a "watch only" option for those interested in seeing how the auction works.


He says it will be different from what folks are used to when they watch a regular SLA sale.


"Don't expect what you've seen in a typical Superior Livestock video auction," he says. "There is no auctioneer; it's an electronic format that you can see the bids taking place and the cattle being sold."


Hear more about how the new FedCattleExchange.com will work during the latest Beef Buzz. 

Bayer Chases Monsanto in Latest Agribusiness Merger Move

 

It is the Corporate version of "Kiss and Tell."  Executives from Bayer AG have met with corporate leadership of Monsanto to talk about the German company buying the US Biotech giant.

After that meeting- Monsanto opened their corporate mouth first- responding to media reports about the meeting- saying in effect- we did not start this relationship- "In response to recent media reports, Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) disclosed that it has received an unsolicited, non-binding proposal from Bayer AG for a potential acquisition of Monsanto, subject to due diligence, regulatory approvals and other conditions. The Board of Directors of Monsanto is reviewing the proposal, in consultation with its financial and legal advisors. Monsanto will have no further comment until its Board of Directors has completed its review. There is no assurance that any transaction will be entered into or consummated, or on what terms."

With that "out there," Bayer quickly told their side of the story- "Bayer executives recently met with executives of Monsanto to privately discuss a negotiated acquisition of Monsanto Company.

"The proposed combination would reinforce Bayer as a global innovation-driven Life Science company with leadership positions in its core segments, and would create a leading integrated agriculture business.

"This statement follows Monsanto's announcement earlier today regarding a proposal from Bayer. A further statement will be made as appropriate."

Analysts believe that Monsanto is worth forty two to forty three billion dollars- and CNN Money indicates in a Thursday morning report of these discussions "While the companies did not disclose the offer's financial terms, Monsanto (MON) is likely to command a price that exceeds its current market value of $42 billion. Any deal would require regulatory approval."

Bloomberg goes more in depth into what they call the woes of Monsanto- saying that the company appears to be ripe for a takeover- click here to read their analysis of where the US Agribusiness Giant stands in this global merger dance.

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 Soil Scientist Jason Warren Offers the Dirt on Soil Health and Practices Like No Til and Cover Cropping

Finding the right crop rotation can be a key to successful no-till farming, and Dr. Jason Warren, assistant professor and soil and water conservation/management extension specialist at OSU, says cover crops are finding their way more and more into those rotations.


For a continuous wheat producer, Warren suggests planting a cover crop to graze.


"I'm not a big fan of planting sorghum sudan if I'm going to just plant wheat back into the standing material, but if I want to run cattle on it, I'm going to have sorghum sudan out there because that's a high forage-producing grass," he says. "But if I just want to grow nitrogen, then I'm going to grow cowpeas.


"And if I want a little bit of both, then I'll plant them both together."


Warren says farmers need to know that planting a minor broadleaf species with a grass, such as cowpeas and sorghum sudan, will reduce the tonnage of material produced because the tonnage comes from the grass. 


"If we want a big tonnage - sorghum sudan or something like pearl millet that's going to grow a lot of biomass," he says. "If you want smaller tonnage to just cover the ground, then you could go with like a German millet."


Warren says planting a summer cover crop can also have a positive effect on soil health.


"I grew up flipping dirt in western Oklahoma, and I look around at all these soils where we're flipping dirt, and they've been severely damaged. I mean we've plowed two feet into the soil in some cases from erosion," he says. "Where we're no-tilling it, we're seeing tremendous improvements in the organic matter and biological activity, and therefore, the productivity of those soils.


"And a lot of that productivity comes from our willingness to plant a summer crop."


Warren says the key to soil health is "finding a productive, economically viable rotation."


I talked with Dr. Warren during the Lahoma Wheat Field Day last week. Click here to learn more about choosing and integrating cover crops into a no-till rotation.

This N That- Cattle on Feed, Superior Sale and ITC Report on TPP

 
The May First Cattle on Feed report from USDA will be released tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 PM Central time- after the markets have closed for the weekend.  Rich Nelson and the folks at Allendale have provided us their pre report analysis about what they believe the report will be saying:

The next regular every other week Superior Video Livestock Sale is set for tomorrow morning- starting at 8 AM central time- to be seen on DISH Network channel 232 and on the internet at SuperiorClickToBid.Com.

The sale will include 28,000 head- featuring:
3,400 Holsteins and Jerseys
5,900 Yearling Steers
3,900 Yearling Heifers
5,800 Weaned Calves
8,100 Calves on Cows
900 Bred Stock

More details are available on the Superior Website by clicking here- or you can always call for more information at 1-800-422-2117.

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On Wednesday afternoon- the US International Trade Commission offered their ideas on the impact of the Pacific Rim Trade Deal- the Trans Pacific Partnership.  They see the US benefiting to the tune of billions of dollars if the deal is ratified.

US Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack likes what the ITC is saying- "Today's ITC report echoes what every major reputable study on TPP has now found, from the Petersen Institute to the American Farm Bureau Foundation, which is that TPP will provide strong benefits for the U.S. agriculture sector, with agricultural output set to be $10 billion higher per year by 2032 than it would without the agreement."

Click here for the complete statement from Secretary Vilsack- and a link to more details of the report from the ITC.

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