" I heard it through the AgLine"

February 18, 2010

 

 

·        Texas challenging EPA on greenhouse gas

·        Florida tomato growers to boost worker pay

·        John Deere reports hefty jump in 1Q profit

·        Nutrient ‘mining machine’ found in plants

·        FFA finding a new niche among urban kids

 

 

Texas challenging EPA on greenhouse gas

 

(AP via INO.com) – Texas became the first state to challenge the federal government's finding that greenhouse gases are dangerous to people, claiming this week that the ruling is based on flawed science and would wreck the state's economy.

 

The EPA in December issued an "endangerment" finding about carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, setting the stage for future rules restricting such emissions.

 

Texas _ which leads the nation in greenhouse gas emissions and is frequently at odds with the EPA _ is asking a federal appeals court to review the endangerment finding. The state also asked the EPA to reconsider it.

 

"The EPA's misguided plan paints a big target on the backs of Texas agriculture and energy producers and the hundreds of thousands of Texans they employ," Gov. Rick Perry said. "This legal action is being taken to protect the Texas economy and the jobs that go with it, as well as defend Texas' freedom to continue our successful environmental strategies free from federal overreach."

 

Al Armendariz, the EPA's regional director over Texas, said the agency is confident the finding will withstand any legal action. He also said the move isn't surprising considering Texas' pattern of opposition to the EPA.

 

"Texas, which contributes up to 35 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted by industrial sources in the United States, should be leading the way in this effort," he said. "Instead, Texas officials are attempting to slow progress with unnecessary litigation."

 

EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said it's the first legal challenge by a state, though industry groups have also challenged it.

 

Texas says the EPA's research should be discounted because it was conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore in 2007 for its work on climate change but has since been embarrassed by errors and irregularities in its reports.

 

"With billions of dollars at stake, EPA outsourced the scientific basis for its greenhouse gas regulation to a scandal-plagued international organization that cannot be considered objective or trustworthy," said Attorney General Greg Abbott.

 

Many climate scientists disagree with such assessments. Gerald North, a Texas A&M University scientist who headed a 2006 National Academy Study on climate change and works with the IPCC, said only a handful of scientists truly understand the data and almost all of them agree it's solid.

 

Tuesday's legal action was met with swift criticism from Texas environmental activists who've long felt Perry's decisions are based on his ties to the heavy industry groups that support him. Texas has more oil refineries, chemical plants and coal-fired power plants than any other state, leading the U.S. in industrial pollution.

 

"Not only is it legally unsound, it puts Texas on the side of the 1950s economy, against the clean energy economy of the future," said Jim Marston, Texas regional director of the Environmental Defense Fund.

 

Perry, Abbott and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples appeared at the Austin announcement, saying the state has a strong record of improving air quality by cutting emissions without federal intervention. They said the state's crucial energy and agriculture industries would be hit hard by greenhouse gas limits, costing jobs and raising energy prices.

 

"I believe the EPA endangerment finding is fundamentally flawed, and I have serious problems with the process underlying EPA's action and the harmful implications it will have on the lives of Texans and the Texas economy," said Buddy Garcia, one of the three Texas Commission on Environmental Quality commissioners.

 

The endangerment finding classified six greenhouse gases as pollutants that threaten health: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. The finding allowed the EPA to for the first time to make rules restrict greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court declared in 2007 that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are pollutants that the EPA could regulate if found to endanger public health. The Bush administration never acted on the court order.

 

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Florida tomato growers to boost worker pay

 

(tampabay.com) – Florida's tomato growers have decided to do their part to pass on increased wages to the migrant workers who pick the tomatoes.

 

The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange on Tuesday announced a new program that will allow for the implementation of higher wage deals reached in recent years by companies like Burger King, Subway, McDonald's and Whole Foods.

 

It puts to an end a stand-off that has been going on for more than three years.

 

"This is an opportunity to partner with our customers and meet their social accountability needs," said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, which represents about 75 percent of all tomatoes grown in Florida.

 

While the restaurant chains and retailers had reached agreements with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to allow for higher wages, those increases had never been implemented because the growers refused to participate. Most of the money has been sitting in bank escrow accounts.

 

The growers argued for years, including at congressional hearings, that a third party couldn't legally dictate the terms of its workers' employment. They threatened fines against any members who participated. And they complained there was no way to track who picks tomatoes that ultimately end up on a Burger King Whopper or a Subway sandwich.

 

Now, the growers have finally come up with another solution. Each restaurant or retail chain will decide on a weekly "supplemental wage" payment to be made to the grower based on the amount of Florida tomatoes it purchased. The payment will also include an additional 15 percent for administrative, insurance and payroll tax expenses.

 

The growers will divide the total money among the migrant workers on the payroll that week, giving each one a pro rata share based on the number of hours worked. The program goes into effect immediately.

 

"This program doesn't have any connection to who picked what," Brown said. "If a customer chooses to enhance the income of my workers, we're willing to pass those dollars along. This is a way that it can be done fairly and simply."

 

The growers have also agreed to regular audits to ensure that the amount of tomatoes purchased and the supplemental wages are accurately reported and allocated to workers. Growers also must follow a new code of conduct that includes a system for migrant workers to pursue complaints against their employers.

 

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John Deere reports hefty jump in 1Q profit

 

(AP via pjstar.com) MOLINE — Deere & Co. boosted its outlook for 2010 Wednesday after reporting a 19 percent jump in first-quarter profit, and the heavy equipment maker's shares spiked before the market opened.

 

Revenues tumbled 6 percent, yet the company said lower costs and better currency rates helped offset the "stubbornly weak" economy.

 

The maker of iconic green and yellow machinery said it earned $243.2 million, or 57 cents per share, during the quarter that ended Jan. 31. That's up 19 percent from $203.9 million, or 48 cents per share a year ago.

 

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected profits of 19 cents on average, but Deere beat even the highest profit prediction of 38 cents per share.

 

Deere shares gained 6.7 percent to sell for $57.40 in premarket trading Wednesday.

 

Deere, based in Moline, Ill., said its revenue fell to $4.8 billion from $5.1 billion a year ago, yet it still beat Wall Street expectations of $4.19 billion.

 

Partially offsetting the 6 percent revenue decline were costs for Deere, which declined 8 percent to $4.5 billion. And its lending unit generated $85.1 million net income in the quarter, nearly double the $46.8 million net income Deere generated from financial services a year ago.

 

Deere, the world's largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment, also makes construction and forestry equipment, such as backhoes, excavators, riding mowers and leaf blowers.

 

President and CEO Samuel Allen said Deere should be ready to respond well to a global economic recovery because of its focus on controlling costs.

 

"Results for the quarter reflected solid execution of our operating and marketing plans throughout the company and are especially gratifying in light of global economic conditions that remain stubbornly weak," Allen said.

 

Deere boosted its annual outlook above what it predicted in November. The company expects now sales to grow 6 percent to 8 percent with $1.3 billion in profit. Last fall, Deere officials predicted a $900 million profit in fiscal 2010.

 

Deere predicts that sales will increase 4 percent to 6 percent in its main agriculture and turf division. Sales in Deere's smaller construction and forestry unit are expected to increase by about 21 percent as dealers restock inventory and the global economy begins to recover.

 

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Nutrient ‘mining machine’ found in plants

 

(ScienceDaily.com) – Scientists from the John Innes Centre and the University of Oxford have discovered which genes control the specialized nutrient mining machine that develops on the surface of plant roots.

 

Root hairs develop on roots and burrow into the soil releasing acids and other scouring chemicals that crack open rocky minerals releasing valuable nutrients such as iron and phosphate that are necessary for plant growth.

 

It has long been known that when crops such as barley and wheat are grown on soils containing small amounts of phosphate, those plants with long hairs give higher yields than those with short hairs.

 

Similarly long-haired beans grown on nutrient poor tropical soils of Central America do much better than short haired varieties.

 

The mechanism that controls the growth of these nutrient excavating cells has eluded scientists until now. A group of UK-based scientists shed light on the mystery in a paper just published in Nature Genetics.

 

They discovered that a master regulatory gene called RSL4 acts like a switch; hair cells grow when the gene is turned on and growth stops when it is off.

 

When plants grow in conditions where there is insufficient phosphate they develop very long root hairs. This increases the amount of soil from which they can scavenge phosphate.

 

"When we discovered that RSL4 was a master regulator of hair growth we thought that perhaps the increased growth of root hairs in low phosphate soils might result from turning this gene on," says Professor Liam Dolan, leader of the JIC team that discovered RSL4.

 

Dolan and co-workers were right. Growing plants in phosphate-poor soils turned the gene on resulting in the growth of very long root hairs. This gene is therefore not only a key growth regulator but also a critical cog in the mechanism plants use to cope with a lack of nutrients.

 

Given the ability of RSL4 increase root hair growth this discovery has the potential to help breeders develop crops that can grow on poor soils.

 

Most soils in Australia, extensive regions of sub-Saharan Africa and 30 per cent of China are not productive because plants cannot extract sufficient phosphate and iron form these soils.

 

"Our hope is that in the future someone will be able to use this gene to develop cultivars which enhance yields on poor soils," says Professor Dolan. "This could have obvious benefits for developing world agriculture. Also as fertilizers become increasingly expensive we will need crops that are more efficient in nutrient uptake. This could have the added benefit of decreasing the amount of polluting phosphate that runs off into rivers and lakes."

 

"What excites me most about this research is that we set out to answer a fundamental question in biology -- how organisms control the size of their cells. In the end we discovered something that could have an important impact on world agriculture."

 

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FFA finding a new niche among urban kids

 

(USA Today) ST. LOUIS — Andre Hall lives in the city and has never plowed a field or fed a hog, but he proudly wears the blue jacket long associated with the organization once called Future Farmers of America.

 

Hall, 18, is among 30 high-school students who belong to the FFA chapter at Clyde C. Miller Career Academy here. FFA is part of the curriculum in the school's biotechnology "pathway" that's preparing him for a job in the agriculture industry.

 

"It's something a lot of people wouldn't expect for urban kids," says Hall, who has fallen in love with plants and last summer helped his family plant their first vegetable garden. He plans to become a horticulturist and is an intern at Monsanto, a St. Louis-based seed company.

 

Hall's favorite activity is working in the greenhouse that was built last year behind the school in a gritty neighborhood. "It's peaceful," he says. "I love learning how things work and ... then how to take care of them."

 

Founded in 1928, the National FFA Organization — it dropped "Future Farmers" from its name in 1988 — isn't just for farm kids anymore. About 34% of its more than 500,000 members live in cities or suburbs.

 

Values are universal

 

"We want to diversify our membership as well as the offerings of agricultural education beyond the farming image," says Larry Case, FFA's CEO. "The values that the FFA espouses are a good thing for youth anywhere."

 

FFA chapter President Stephanie Edwards' family was shocked when she said she was joining FFA. "They tease me about it," she says. "They don't understand that it's not about farming." Edwards, 18, plans to be a veterinarian.

 

At the Miller Academy, where students learn in classrooms and a lab about genetic engineering, seed germination and food biotechnology — fields where good jobs are available — the FFA is incorporated into classroom work and is an extracurricular activity. Students compete in agriculture sales contests, agronomy and poultry and also learn job-interview skills.

 

Other groups born in rural America are reaching into cities as family farms dwindle.

 

Many County Farm Bureaus have "Ag in the Classroom" programs in which farmers adopt urban classrooms. In Illinois, the Kankakee County Farm Bureau adopted a fourth-grade class at Chicago's Gray Elementary School. Farmers write to students about their work and visit the school, says bureau director Chad Miller.

 

Of the 6 million youths who participate in 4-H activities, just 12% live on farms. The organization's agriculture emphasis has changed, says Keith Nathaniel, 4-H youth development director in Los Angeles County, Calif., where there are 33 4-H clubs.

 

"For our own survival, we certainly had to broaden our appeal," Nathaniel says, "but we also realized that the things we did in the old days of 4-H ... also taught leadership and helped kids develop life skills."

 

At Clyde C. Miller Career Academy, FFA isn't just about learning science and attending state and national conventions. It gives students who need a head start the skills they need to succeed, Principal Stephen Warmack says.

 

A motivational tool

 

About 94% of the school's 720 students are African-American, and 65% qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. By 10th grade, students are enrolled in one of about a dozen pathways, including culinary arts, health services and hospitality.

 

Job training and membership in clubs — such as FFA and Future Business Leaders of America — keep them motivated, Warmack says. More than 80% of graduates go to college or technical schools.

 

Stephanie Mohr, an FFA alumna who teaches biotechnology classes and is adviser to the FFA chapter, says competitions, conventions, internships and projects such as an annual plant sale give students knowledge — and confidence. "It fosters a feeling that they belong," she says.

 

Dannette Connor-Ward, a Monsanto scientist and biology professor who works with the FFA chapter at Miller Academy, says that when students put on the FFA jacket, "you can see a change in attitude. It's a sense of pride."

 

That's how Amenta Christian-Robertson, 16, an aspiring chemical engineer, feels. "It's great to be part of something that's very big," she says. She has learned a lot, and FFA will look good on her résumé, she says, but "I joined for the jacket, too."

 

Amber Krafft, 16, says FFA is preparing her to study forensic science in college. "If you have an interest in something, you're going to put a lot of effort into it," she says.

 

When Cierra Fierce, 16, comes home from school wearing her FFA garb, her mom sometimes jokes, "Look at my farmer coming through the door," she says, "but I know she's proud of me." Fierce, a future veterinarian, says FFA makes her feel "like a real leader. I love it to death."

 

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