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May 4, 2011
· USDA plans to outsource seed research
· Salmonella fears prompts tomato recalls
· ADM profits reflect health of ag industry
· Dow wins EPA OK for 2,4,-D herbicide
· Cuban inventor turns trash into farm tools
USDA plans to outsource seed research
(Fox Business) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to start outsourcing research used in the review of new plant seeds to outside consultants and biotech companies seeking government approval.
The pilot program comes as the seed industry complains the agency is taking too long to approve new products it says are needed at a time of surging crop prices and growing world food demand. Opponents of genetically modified crops, however, contend the USDA shouldn't be looking to streamline a process that already isn't doing enough to detect possible dangers.
Under the two-year pilot, companies would agree to pay for a third-party contractor, chosen by the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, to conduct an environmental assessment of new products they want to commercialize. Companies also have the option of submitting their own research, which the USDA would use in developing its own assessment.
"This is very similar to what is done in a number of other agencies that have regulatory responsibility," said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a recent interview.
Biotech companies spend heavily on developing new seeds that can yield larger crops by making a plant resistant to a specific pest or tolerant of a certain herbicide. Before going to market, the USDA reviews a product to ensure it won't itself become a problem that potentially contaminates other fields or causes additional environmental problems. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also look at issues surrounding new seed proposals.
The USDA pilot program could speed up the review of genetically modified crops. It now takes seeds nearly seven times as long to win federal approval than it did when the first product was introduced in 1996, said Karen Batra, spokeswoman for the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a trade group that includes companies such as DuPont Co. (DD), Syngenta AG (SYT) and Monsanto Co. (MON), as well as academic institutions.
"Right now we've got 20-some products that are in the queue, waiting to be looked at," she said. "Some of these have been there for years."
Yet opponents of genetically modified crops feel not enough work is being done to protect the public. The issue for the USDA should not be the time it takes to assess a proposed new crop, but the quality of that review, said Bill Freese, science-policy analyst for The Center For Food Safety, a nonprofit environmental group critical of genetically modified products.
A large biotech company, which has already spent many millions of dollars to develop a genetically modified seed, isn't likely to provide environmental information that threatens its chance for commercialization, Freese said.
"It's another sign that (USDA) views this whole process as a rubber stamp," he added.
But the pilot program does not change USDA's role in final the assessment, Vilsack said, as every product will continue to be subject to USDA review and public comment.
Vilsack emphasized that the key shift in the program is to allow private consultants to conduct environmental assessments. That step will save the USDA money and speed up the regulatory process without reducing accountability or rigor. The FDA and EPA have similar programs, he said.
The program is in part a response President Obama's request to cut 5% from the USDA's budget, he added.
Opponents of biotech seeds have gone to court where they have won rulings that temporarily barred the planting of genetically modified alfalfa and sugar beets and ordered the USDA to conduct a more thorough assessment. Freese said the agency has never rejected the proposed commercialization of a biotech seed.
Vilsack said seed companies aren't going to put all the time and money into developing a product if they don't see a strong chance for approval.
"They're only going to go through the process if they think they have a legitimate reason for asking for (the agency) to regulate," Vilsack said.
Biotech companies already spend significant time and money reviewing their products, and it makes more sense for the USDA to use that information through the pilot program rather than starting from square one, said Batra, of the industry trade group.
"What we might actually see is a little bit more of a scrupulous look by USDA because they do in fact have more manpower and more time to really do the review," she said.
Batra added the program could make USDA approvals more "legally defensible" in the event of court challenges by anti-biotech groups.
Salmonella fears prompts tomato recalls
(Chicago
Tribune) – A
Six L's Packing Company Inc. said in a statement that no illnesses had been reported in connection to the recall as of April 29.
The Immokalee, Fla.-based company
says the recalled product was packed on April 11 under the Cherry Berry lot
code DW-H in clam shells or 20-pound cardboard containers. The tomatoes were
distributed to
The contamination was found by a U.S. Department of
Agriculture inspector at a
The tomatoes also were used in deli salads made by Tracy-based Taylor Farms Pacific Inc., which also recalled products Monday.
The salads were sold in plastic trays and at deli counters in Albertsons, Raley's, Safeway, Savemart, Sam's Club and Walmart stores across the West and some Midwestern states.
The affected states are
Customers are being asked to return the recalled products to the place of purchase for a refund.
Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, elderly people and those with weakened immune systems. Symptoms include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
Taylor Farms recall
(CNN) – Taylor Farms Pacific, Inc., a California-based food supplier for six retail chain stores, has announced the recall of grape tomatoes produced by a grower who said the vegetables might be contaminated with salmonella.
The recall applies to 29 brand-packaged salads sold at Albertson's, Raley's, Sam's Club, Savemart, Signature Cafe and Wal-Mart, the company said in a statement Monday. The affected products have expiration dates ranging from April 27 to May 9, according to the news release.
The recall applies to 13 states including
ADM profits reflect health of ag industry
(AP via The Washington Post) DECATUR, Ill. — Archer Daniels Midland’s net income rose 37 percent, the company said Tuesday, thanks to a healthy third quarter for oilseed and corn processing and agricultural services.
The company was forced to navigate volatile commodity prices
during the quarter, as well as unstable political climates from the Middle East
to
ADM posted earnings of $578 million, or 86 cents per share, for the three months ended March 31. That’s up from $421 million, or 65 cents per share, a year earlier. The performance met analysts’ expectations.
Revenue climbed 33 percent to $20.08 billion, easily topping Wall Street expectations for $16.88 billion.
The health of Archer Daniels Midland Co. provides a snapshot for agribusiness as a whole, because it operates in virtually every aspect of the business as both a buyer and seller of commodities.
The company reported higher operating profit across its segments. Its corn processing division includes its network of ethanol plants, while its agricultural services unit includes grain trading.
Archer Daniels does not break out its ethanol results, but said its profit climbed $99 million to $158 million for its bioproducts division, which includes ethanol and food additives like lysine.
Operating profit in the agricultural services segment rose $6 million to $171 million amid volatile commodity
markets, regional instability in the Middle East and North Africa and
David Driscoll of Citi Investment Research said in a client note that he was expecting a strong quarter from the division because of the low level of global grain supplies. He predicted a much higher agricultural services profit of $400 million.
“This is the biggest surprise of the quarter and it will likely generate the most questions on its forward implications,” he wrote.
Shares of Archer Daniels Midland dropped $1.83, or 5 percent, to $35.17 in morning trading. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $24.22 to $38.02.
Operating profit for the sweeteners and starches unit was
basically flat at $46 million as increased average selling prices and volumes
were mostly offset by higher net corn costs. The company said sweetener export
demand remained strong, while
Chairman and CEO Patricia Woertz
said that the
Dow wins EPA OK for 2,4,-D herbicide
(Wire Services)
The herbicide solution for Enlist is centered on the innovative choline salt of 2,4-D. The new 2,4-D choline is a quaternary ammonium salt, which is different from 2,4-D amine or ester formulations. This technology retains the positive attributes of traditional 2,4-D products, such as the same weed control efficacy and favorable environmental profile, while providing growers new advantages for the management of resistant and hard-to-control weeds.
“This is an important approval for the Enlist Weed Control System as we continue to lead the way in bringing forward answers for farmers’ weed control issues,” said Daniel Kittle, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Development at Dow AgroSciences. “We are committed to addressing some of the planet’s most significant challenges by delivering game-changing technology to advance agriculture.”
The Enlist Weed Control System will help growers manage the trend of increasing prevalence of difficult-to-control weeds including glyphosate-resistant species. Enlist will be the first new tool to build on and improve the glyphosate tolerant cropping system and provide control of problematic weeds like waterhemp, an aggressive yield-robbing weed found in many corn and soybean growing areas. Waterhemp has been documented as glyphosate resistant and was recently documented as resistant to the HPPD mode of action.
In addition to exceptional weed control provided by the new 2,4-D choline, Colex-D Technology will provide a suite of beneficial attributes. These will include reduced volatility, minimized potential for drift, decreased odor, plus improved handling and tank mixing characteristics.
Dow AgroSciences is developing the Enlist™ Weed Control System to offer exceptional weed control by partnering with and improving existing glyphosate-tolerant cropping systems, which are known for flexibility, convenience and value. Enlist will incorporate a combination of herbicides, traits in elite genetics, and stewardship programs that will help farmers continue to advance modern farming.
About Dow AgroSciences
Dow AgroSciences, based in
™Enlist and Colex- D are trademarks of Dow AgroSciences LLC.
Cuban inventor turns trash into farm tools
GUIRA DE MELENA,
The man, Yolando Perez Baez, is showing off his latest invention, a spindly, spider-like piece of equipment that sprays pesticide along six rows of crops, instead of the one row he could dose using his usual backpack fumigator.
With the backpack, Perez says he would have to walk five miles and take six hours to finish the field. The new equipment allows him to do it in one hour and walk less than a mile.
In other words, it fits right in with Castro's quest to cut budget-draining food imports by making Cuban agriculture more efficient and productive.
More than five decades of revolution, and the necessity and isolation that have accompanied it, have made Cubans both skilled at improvisation and a little eccentric, none more so than Perez, 47.
Using parts scrounged from local trash dumps he jokingly calls his "warehouse," Perez has pieced together primitive equipment to spray pesticides, start balky irrigation machinery and speed the harvest of potatoes.
He even wears a hat of his own creation that protects his face from the sun, but looks like a cross between a Chinese peasant hat and something a space alien would wear.
These are not high-tech creations, but, like much else in
His motor starter is a study in elegant simplicity and addresses a serious need in a country where major equipment tends to be antiquated and often in need of parts that are costly and hard to get.
BROKEN MOTORS
"Eighty percent of the motors here, in this municipality at least, don't have batteries, don't have starters. It's the first thing to break and you have to buy them in hard currency, which is very difficult," Perez said.
So, Perez, an agronomist engineer who wears the stained work clothes of a man that spends a lot of time in the workshop, developed what looks like a small oil rig equipped with a heavy weight.
The weight, tied to a rope that is wrapped around the engine crankshaft, is lifted up by the rig and dropped. The fall pulls the rope and cranks the engine to life.
He has sold eight of the apparatuses for the equivalent of just over $100 each.
One of his customers, Jorge Suarez, praised the machine after it started a massive diesel engine for his irrigation system. As water poured out of a pipe into his cabbage field, he said, "If we don't invent what we invent, then we would be in bad shape. Look, if this man doesn't invent this, I don't know (what we would do)."
Necessity is said to be the mother of invention, but Perez said it was something slightly different.
"The main thing is to be faced with the problem," he said.
Perez works at the "First of May" agricultural
cooperative in Guira de Melena,
which is about 35 miles west of
Under reforms by Castro, farmers are making good money, said coop president Jose Miguel Gonzalez said, but only spend it on new equipment when they are convinced it works. The jury was still out on Perez' new fumigator, he said.
Not to worry, said Perez. He has other machines in the
works, including a revolving sprinkler system, and, in the end, each invention
is just another small step toward a better
With "a little that I put here, and another little bit that another Cuban puts there, the economy grows," he said. "The small things have to be noted because sometimes they appear insignificant, but together they are a lot."
End Transmission