International Team, USDA Sequence Bread Wheat's Large and Complex Genome 

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is one of the "big three" globally important crops, accounting for 20% of the calories consumed by people. Fully 35% of the world's 7 billion people depend on this staple for survival. Now an international team of scientists, including participants from the USDA, has completed the first comprehensive analysis of its full genome. 

"By unlocking the genetic secrets of wheat, this study and others like it give us the molecular tools necessary to improve wheat traits and allow our farmers to produce yields sufficient to feed growing populations in the United States and overseas," said Catherine Woteki, USDA's Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics.   

To put the huge size of the bread wheat genome into context, its constituent number of paired DNA bases, or nucleotides, totals 17,000,000,000 base-pairs (17 Gb). This is about five times the amount of DNA in the human genome. However, as much as 80% of the bread wheat genome consists of repetitive sequences. Because of the way genomes are usually sequenced - by stitching together hundreds of millions or billions of tiny fractions of a full genome -- the bread wheat genome's size makes it very hard to determine which part of the genome any particular sequence has come from, and whether it is a unique or repeat sequence.

To tackle this challenge, scientists used "next-generation" sequencing techniques, in which the DNA is broken up randomly into numerous small segments and assembled into longer sequence "reads" by identifying the overlapping ends. The sequence "reads" generated for bread wheat were then compared to those from the known sequences of a diverse range of grasses, including rice and barley.

"These results should have an significant impact on breeding efforts and further research studies of the wheat genomes and  those of its wild relatives," said Dr. W. Richard McCombie of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.   

You can read more about the project and find a link to the full study by clicking here.

To read more about the USDA's participation in the project, click here.

Ethanol Industry Groups Claim Chain Restaurants Serving Up RFS Scare Tactics 

The Renewable Fuels Association claims the fast food industry is playing fast and loose with the facts when it comes to the impact of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on food prices. Bob Dinneen, president of the RFA, says that, in both a study released this morning and in a Wall Street Journal guest opinion piece, the National Council of Chain Restaurants managed to avoid any discussion of what really drives food prices-energy costs.

"Clearly, Big Food and Big Oil are on the defensive. They lost in their bid for a waiver of the RFS, so now they are resorting to super-sized myths about the impact of the RFS on food prices. Every reasonable analysis of the factors influencing food prices has concluded that the cost of diesel fuel, gasoline, and other energy inputs is the major driver. This study conveniently avoids that issue," said Dinneen, President of the Renewable Fuels Association. "The bottom line is the RFS is working. Renewable fuels have already displaced 10% of annual gasoline demand and dramatically lowered fuel costs for all Americans."

"The true culprit behind rising food prices is the cost of energy, and in particular oil," said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy. "Only 14 percent of the price of food is attributable to the cost of the commodity, while the rest can be attributed to energy costs and marketing. The processing, packaging, wrapping, storage, refrigeration and transportation costs are the true drivers in price increases. They are all energy intensive - it takes a lot to bring food from the farm to the table. And that does not include the countless dollars used to market a product." 

Click here to read more of this story.

 

Can Skyrocketing Land Prices Hold?

In his latest column for the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, Daryll E. Ray examines the possibility of a farm land bubble developing due to high commodity prices.

In recent weeks we have seen a flurry of reports of record or near-record cropland prices across the corn belt: 

• On Thursday, October 25, 2012, an 80.47 tract of land in Iowa sold for $21,900/acre. Earlier in that week, another parcel of prime Iowa farmland sold for $19,100/acre.

• In Nebraska, 1,855 acres were sold on November 8, 2012 for $15.13 million or an average of $8,156.33/acre with some parcels selling in excess of $11,000/acre.

• North Dakota saw an 80-acre parcel of sugar beet and potato farmland going for $800,000 or $10,000 an acre; it too was sold on November 8.

"'Any time you have an asset that doubles in value over a decade, there is cause for concern about how sustainable that growth is,' said Richard A. Brown, chief economist at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation."

You can read more of Daryll Ray's analysis by clicking here.
 

Partial Corn Stover Removal Reduces Management Challenges

Corn residue increases proportionally with corn yields, creating management challenges for growers. To help address those, agronomists and scientists from DuPont Pioneer and DuPont Industrial Biosciences teamed up to conduct research on the impact of residue removal on the long-term agronomic and environmental integrity of fields. Stover is also evaluated for cellulosic ethanol production, which has benefits for both farmers and biofuel producers.

"In fields where partial stover removal is an option, a sustainable stover harvest program provides value to the grower without negatively impacting the health and productivity of the soil," says Andy Heggenstaller, DuPont Pioneer agronomy research manager for cellulosic ethanol. "There are three primary factors we examine with growers considering stover harvest, including field productivity level, crop management practices and erosion potential."

Individual field evaluation is necessary as stover removal is not an option for every field. In some highly productive systems, residue may even be excessive as a result of increased yields, improved stalk quality and reduced tillage practices. Highly productive, relatively flat, continuous corn fields are best suited for stover removal and tend to see the greatest agronomic benefits. In these fields, corn stover production generally exceeds the minimum amount needed to maintain soil health and productivity, making sustainable stover harvest a viable option.

You can read more by clicking here.

 

OSU Fact Sheet Tackles Management of Cows with Limited Forage Availability

In the latest edition of the Cow-Calf Newsletter, Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Emeritus Extension Animal Scientist, examines alternate feeding methods for cows and calves as the drought continues.

Most of the cow calf producers of the Midwest and Southwest are going into winter with very limited hay supplies and standing forage. As they search for alternative methods to keep the cows in adequate body condition this winter, some were planning on wheat pasture that so far has not received enough rain to grow. Therefore it has become time to look for Plan B (or C or D). Most of the alternatives after wheat pasture are not easy or inexpensive.   

Information that may provide guidelines for alternative winter feeding methods can be found in an Oklahoma State University Extension Fact Sheet: ANSI-3034 called "Management of Cows with Limited Forage Availability." In this fact sheet you will find:  

• Culling suggestions (if that has not already been done);
• Recommendations about how much hay is needed if it is to be purchased;
• Limit-feeding grain with limited forage available
• Suggested complete diets for cows fed in drylot
• Limit energy concentrate feeding management tips
• Limit feeding of hay

NPPC Says Junk Science Used to Scare Pork Consumers

On the day the U.S. Food and Drug Administration suspended a company's production because of salmonella-tainted organic peanut butter, the advocacy group Consumers Union published an article - in its magazine Consumer Reports - designed to scare consumers into purchasing only organic pork by using junk science against pork from conventionally raised hogs, says the president of the National Pork Producers Council.

"Consumers Union resorted to sensationalism because the 'science' it used wouldn't stand up to even elementary scrutiny," said R.C. Hunt, a pork producer from Wilson, N.C., and president of the NPPC. "It's another attempt by that advocacy group to push a social agenda that is not based on science and one that, if successful, would take choice away from consumers."

NPPC and scientists such as Dr. Scott Hurd, former U.S. Department of Agriculture deputy undersecretary for food safety, strongly criticized Consumers Union for attempting to link antibiotics use in food animals with antibiotic resistance in humans and for ignoring more than 15 years of data from federal public health agencies, showing significant reductions in bacteria on meat.  

You can read more by clicking here.

U.S. Beef Industry Leaders Expected to Attend Alltech's Global Beef 500

While December is often a popular time to attend statewide cattlemen's conventions, many of today's leaders in the beef industry are making a round-trip to Lexington, Ky., to explore the latest advances in nutritional technologies and share ideas for keeping their operations efficient, profitable and sustainable. Alltech's fifth annual Global Beef 500 will take place December 4 to 6 and is expected to draw more than 500 beef producers.

Steve Van Dyke, who owns a cow/calf operation near Brookings, SD, attended Global 500 last year for the first time and would like to attend again.

"The Global 500 was different from other beef events I've attended because it offers a worldwide perspective on beef production, beef sustainability and beef quality improvement," said Van Dyke. "Alltech's Global 500 provides information to people in all phases of beef production, but always in an insightful way."   

This year's agenda seeks to once again offer some insight on topics such as branding beef, social media, employee training, decreasing carbon footprints and mycotoxins as well as many presentations that will address the core theme for the event, the EPS principle- Efficiency, Profitability and Sustainability.

Click here for more details and registration information.