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A management review of the Cattlemen's Beef Board (CBB) by the Livestock, Poultry and Seed Program of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) verified that the Beef Board is operating within the provisions of the Beef Promotion and Research Act and Order and in line with all applicable Federal laws, regulations and policies.

"In our management review of CBB, we noted no reportable findings," declares the report from the AMS Compliance and Analysis Program staff, released last week. "Our review showed that CBB adhered to the AMS Guidelines for Oversight of Research and Promotion Programs, as well as its own policies."

The review was completed per USDA requirements that AMS conduct management reviews of all commodity boards every three years. For this review, USDA compliance and analysis staff were in CBB offices from July 15-19, 2013, during which time they met with senior management and examined support documents for various CBB activities.

"As secretary-treasurer of the Beef Board, I review finances of the Board on a monthly basis," said Jimmy Maxey, a cattle feeder in Fresno, Calif. "Having seen all of the policies and procedures at work in protecting our checkoff investments, I have confidence in the systems we have in place, so I can't say that I am surprised by the results. But I think these comprehensive reviews are critical to the transparency of checkoff operations to all producers and importers who pay the beef checkoff assessment."

Click here for the rest of this story and a link to the full management review. 

Weather May be Cold but Cattle and Beef Markets are Hot

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist writes in the latest Cow-Calf Newsletter:

The holiday season is not typically a time when markets make dramatic moves. However, fed cattle prices going into Christmas were just over $130/cwt. and emerged from New Year's at over $137/cwt. late last week. Fed cattle prices advanced the last week of December despite a fire that idled a Cargill plant that week and further reduced holiday-diminished slaughter schedules. Choice boxed beef prices have increased roughly $4/cwt. since before Christmas. The Choice-Select spread has also narrowed with Select increasing even more than Choice resulting in an effective average boxed beef price increase of about $6/cwt. For packers, the increase in boxed beef is not enough to compensate for the fed cattle price increase meaning that packer margins continue to be squeezed. In the last four weeks, both cattle slaughter and boxed beef production have been down roughly 4 percent. Carcass weights are close to year ago levels, with steer and heifers carcass weights down and cow carcass weights up due to high proportions of dairy cows in the cow slaughter total.

It will likely take another week or so to fully assess post-holiday beef markets. The massive winter storm affecting the eastern half of the country this week will have additional impacts on both beef supply and demand.  

Click here for more of Derrell's analysis.

Study Reveals Farmers' Confidence Slips, but Remains Positive 

Farmers are still optimistic about the overall state of the agriculture industry but slightly less than a year ago, according to the December 2013 DTN/The Progressive Farmer Agriculture and Agribusiness Confidence Index measuring current and future sentiment of the agriculture sector.

The composite Agriculture Confidence Index, which surveyed 500 randomly selected producers about their present and future situations, came in at 105.5, down from 109.1 in December 2012. A value of 100 is considered neutral. Higher numerical values indicate optimism, and values lower than 100 indicate pessimism.

The composite index is divided into two time frames, present conditions and future expectations. The farmers' rating for the present conditions was 123.5 and 93.6 for future expectations. In December 2012, the present situation index was 137.2 and future expectations index was 90.5, revealing a significant decline in present sentiments and moderate increase for the future outlook over the past 12 months. However, future expectations did fall from 96.2 in September.

Click here to read more.
 

Animal Health Companies Respond Positively to FDA Guidances on Antibiotic Use

The Food and Drug Administration today released a pair of guidances on the use of medically-important antibiotics in farm animals. Both have been in the works for more than a year and seek to slow the spread of microbial resistance to antibiotics used to treat humans. The guidance are voluntary, but the FDA has said it would make them mandatory if the livestock and poultry industries failed to conform. For the most part, animal drug companies support the policies and pledged they would undertake an open and collaborative approach with the FDA to implement them.

Kay Johnson Smith is the president and CEO of the Animal Agriculture Alliance. She spoke recently with me about this issue and some state-level proposals that might affect livestock producers. She says animal health companies are responding positively to the FDA guidances. 

"The animal health companies as well as the producer community has been very engaged in the process so they've been very active in talking with the FDA, USDA, and they have been supportive. They understand that they don't want to create any further concerns about the public health issues or antibiotic resistance. And this is a way to sort of show the confidence and the commitment the industry has to protecting public health."

You can hear more of our conversation on the latest Beef Buzz.  Click here to go there.

 

USDA to Provide Additional Support to Food Banks, Soup Kitchens, and Food Pantries

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture's intent to purchase up to $126.4 million worth of fruit and vegetable products, to be distributed to needy families under The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). The products to be purchased include tart cherries, processed apples, cranberries, fresh tomatoes, wild blueberries, and raisins. This purchase will expand efforts to provide high-quality, wholesome, domestically-produced foods to support low-income families in need of emergency food assistance.

"Food distribution programs are a vital part of our Nation's nutrition safety net, and today's food purchases will give communities additional means to help those in need," Vilsack said. "A comprehensive Farm Bill is absolutely critical to these efforts, and Congress should adequately support feeding programs for American families by passing a new Farm Bill as soon as possible."

Foods distributed through TEFAP are either purchased with funds appropriated specifically for TEFAP, or are procured through USDA's market support programs. The foods are provided to states for distribution to local agencies, such as food banks. These local agencies further distribute the food to organizations, such as food pantries and soup kitchens that provide communal meals or distribute foods directly to low-income families.

Please click here to read more.

Buyer Goals Determine Land Purchase Considerations

Job Springer writes in the lates Ag News and Views Newsletter of the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation:

When purchasing agricultural land, it is essential to define the overall goal of the acquisition. Some people buy for quality-of-life reasons. Sometimes land is purchased as an investment. Others purchase to generate a profit from agricultural practices.

With any of these goals, buyers should be aware of potential pitfalls. It is important to know if there are any liens, covenants, easements, dumps, property line disputes or endangered species on the property. Strongly consider purchasing title insurance; while it will not protect against all of these issues, it will protect from financial loss due to defects in title to the property. Any or all of these issues could result in future, sometimes costly, headaches. If one or more of these problems exist, it is important to understand potential economic and legal ramifications so an appropriate offer can be made.

You can read the rest of this story by Job Springer by clicking here. 

Canola College Set for February 13 in Enid 

The Great Plains Canola Association, Oklahoma State University, Kansas State University and partners from the canola industry are teaming up to conduct Canola College next month in Enid. The 2013 event attracted several hundred farmers- all wanting to learn how to better grow and harvest what is being considered the best rotational crop for hard red winter wheat ever developed for the southern Great Plains.

This will be the premier canola education/training event in the region in 2014. Anyone with an interest in canola will want to be part of this event where they will be able to share ideas and experiences with canola experts and more than 300 new and veteran canola producers and industry members.

The 2014 event will be held on Thursday, February 13 at the Garfield County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Enid.

Click here for a list of the speakers lined up for 2014- and details on free registration.