" I heard it through the AgLine"

May 25, 2011

 

 

·        US pledges to lead fight to end global hunger

·        Georgia farmers brace for new immigration law

·        Deere announces another investment in China

·        Seed firm Ceres files for IPO of up to $100M

·        USDA offers online tool to locate ‘food deserts’

 

 

US pledges to lead fight to end global hunger

 

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States pledged Tuesday to help lead the fight to end food scarcity in the developing world, warning that the threat of famine can lead to political instability.

 

"Hunger keeps economies stagnant, consigns and traps people in poverty," said Rajiv Shah, head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

 

"Food riots and the threat of famine upset the stability of countries, cities and regions," Shah said in a speech opening a forum on agricultural development in Washington.

 

"We know how to solve this problem. The real challenge we face is to maintain the political will and focus, and build coalitions... and I think if we can do that together, we can end hunger," Shah said.

 

The youthful head of the US development agency was speaking at a day-long international forum where a leading think-tank, the Chicago Council, released a series of reports urging the United States to keep investing in farming in developing countries.

 

If it doesn't, other countries will step in to fill the void, the Chicago Council said.

 

"US public agricultural institutions have the world's strongest track record of success in achieving food security and poverty alleviation, in large part by delivering new technologies and market infrastructure for use by farmers and private-sector input suppliers and product marketers," the Chicago Council said in one of the reports.

 

"Other countries that seek to influence agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere often bring a very different agenda, such as European countries opposed to biotechnology, or Chinese efforts to influence sub-Saharan governments and control natural resources," it said.

 

"If the US fails to sustain leadership in global agricultural development, the result could be a significant setback in the struggle against hunger and poverty."

 

The report was released along with a report card grading progress made since 2009 in changing policies to consolidate the United States as a leader in global agricultural development.

 

The United States got average marks for its leadership on ensuring global food security: a 'B' for efforts to increase support for rural and agricultural infrastructure, and 'B minuses' for agricultural research, extension and education.

 

The USAID won the highest mark on the report card -- a B-plus -- for making improvements that have strengthened agricultural development assistance, including the "dramatic increase in agriculture-focused staff" at the agency, "impressive" collaborations with other US government agencies and public-private partnerships.

 

But dragging the overall grade down was a "D" -- one mark above failing -- for not improving US policies the report authors say has stalled global agricultural development.

 

"There are US regulations that significantly impair the government?s ability to support a more stable and prosperous international environment," the report said, listing five key areas -- including how food aid is administered and the use of corn as fuel instead of food -- that are ripe for reform.

 

The "policies serve only a narrow domestic political purpose," the report says, adding that improving on them would "be in the overall US national interest."

 

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Georgia farmers brace for new immigration law

 

(npr) – Georgia is putting in place a new law aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants, and many across the state are nervous. Businesses fear an economic boycott, the Latino community fears police officers will abuse their new powers, and farmers in South Georgia fear the law will hurt them dramatically.

 

Georgia is known for its peaches and Vidalia onions, the state vegetable. The specialty crop is produced in just a few counties in the rural southeast part of the state, where the soil is just right.

 

Aries Haygood with M&T Farms watches a crew of about 50 migrant workers as they hand pick the golden onions in groups of three or four.

 

"Right now they're just coming in through the field," he says. "They're grabbing the onions out and just clipping the tops and roots getting them prepared to bring to the packing house."

 

It's a labor-intensive process that machines just can't do because they'd bruise the delicate crop — a $140 million-a-year industry.

 

This farm has 500 acres of onions with some 80,000 plants per acre, so Haygood relies heavily on migrant workers for help.

 

"Our biggest fear is that because of the way the bill could be structured we won't be able to find enough workers to do the work that we need done in a short amount of time," he says.

 

'Livelihood On The Line'

 

Just a few miles east, R.T. Stanley Jr. has been growing Vidalia onions since the 1970s. He's also troubled by the immigration law, which he says is already affecting his workers.

 

"If they're scared they'll go to other states instead of Georgia because we have this new law," he says. "And I'm worried about that."

 

Stanley says experienced workers can earn as much as $200 a day. He says he's tried to hire locals to do the job — working in the fields eight hours or more clipping, bending and lifting in the oppressive Georgia heat.

 

"They just don't want to do this hard work. And they'll tell you right quick," he says. "I have 'em to come out and work for two hours and they said, 'I'm not doing this. It's too hard.' "

 

For Stanley, finding workers is already tough enough and he says the new restrictions are likely to make it worse.

 

"I got my livelihood on the line," he says. "If I don't harvest these onions, I'll lose my farm."

 

Some farmers do use the federal government's temporary worker program known as H-2A, but they say the system has problems — including red tape and processing delays.

 

The new Georgia law, patterned after the Arizona law currently being challenged in court, requires that all businesses with more than 10 employees use the federal E-Verify system to confirm workers' eligibility.

 

Onion growers say they know there's pressure on politicians to do something about illegal immigration, but they're not sure this is the answer.

 

Joel Salgado, a crew foreman from Mexico, is here legally and has been harvesting onions for about 15 years. "The people have to go back to Mexico, you know. They don't want to risk any more over here," he says. "They no gonna find work. ... I know a lot of families that went back already."

 

Law Faces Challenges

 

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal knows there's opposition to the new law, including legal challenges and the threat of an economic boycott. But he says the new law is the right thing to do.

 

"Let me reiterate something important that sometimes gets lost," he said, as he signed the bill May 13. "Illegal immigration is already illegal in the state of Georgia."

 

Deal says nearly half a million illegal immigrants are estimated to live in Georgia — and they cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year. State Rep. Matt Ramsey is the bill's sponsor.

 

"It's not just an immigration issue," Ramsey says. "It's a school issue. It's a transportation issue. It's a health care issue. "

 

As the law is phased in over the next couple of years, farmers in South Georgia suggest agriculture workers could be treated differently from others — but Ramsey says that won't work.

 

"I don't think we need to start picking winners and losers in the statute and treating industries different," he says. "Particularly in this time of 10 percent unemployment."

 

But back in Vidalia, Haygood says if farmers can't get enough workers, they may have to stop producing crops like onions and peaches.

 

"We've invested our time and our effort into growing our companies and then all of a sudden something like this could put this industry out of business, overnight."

 

It's unclear exactly what will happen as Georgia begins implementing its new law. Farmers will have to comply — and higher labor and processing costs could mean higher prices for consumers.

 

About The Law

 

Georgia's immigration law takes effect July 1.

 

The law sets up new regulations for hiring workers and gives broader powers to police to arrest illegal immigrants. It also increases the penalty for people using fake identification to get a job and requires most employers to use the federal E-Verify system to ensure a person is eligible to work.

 

Those who apply for public benefits, including food stamps and public housing, will now have to provide IDs to prove they are legal U.S. citizens.

 

The law affects all employers, but farmers say they will feel it the most because they employ hundreds of migrant workers.

 

Some opponents of the law say it has already affected businesses that cater to Latino residents, and Atlanta business leaders worry a threatened boycott will hurt the economy.

 

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Deere announces another investment in China

 

MOLINE, Ill. (AP) -- Deere & Co. will spend $60 million to build a new engine manufacturing plant in China for its agricultural, construction and forestry equipment.

 

Deere's new engine plant will be near several of the Moline, Ill., company's other facilities in Tianjin, China.

 

Tuesday's engine plant announcement is the second investment in China that Deere has announced in the past week. Last Wednesday, Deere said it would spend $80 million on a new equipment manufacturing plant in northeast China.

 

The new engine plant will be Deere's sixth worldwide. The others are strategically located in America, Argentina, France, India and Mexico. Deere says the new engine plant could start production in late 2013.

 

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Seed firm Ceres files for IPO of up to $100M

 

(AP via Yahoo! Finance) NEW YORK (AP) -- Seed maker Ceres Inc. filed to go public Monday with an initial public offering of up to $100 million.

 

The company, based in Thousand Oaks, Calif., didn't say when it expected its shares to start trading or at what price it hoped to sell its stock, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

 

Monsanto Co., the world's biggest seed company, owns a 6.4 percent stake in Ceres. Private equity and venture capital firms are other major stockholders, including Warburg Pincus and Oxford Bioscience Partners.

 

Ceres is still developing its products, which it says are currently being sold mainly to customers who are field-testing them. The company wants to develop genetically engineered crops that would be converted into ethanol and other biofuels.

 

Ceres says its largest market opportunity at the moment is in Brazil, but the Brazilian government has not yet approved its crops. The company says it expects to receive the needed government registration during the last three months of this year.

 

Ceres has posted net losses almost every year since it was founded in 1996. It says it expects to continue to post net losses for at least the next several years as it ramps up spending on research and develops new products.

 

In the six months ended in February 2011, revenue was minimal -- $3.3 million. The vast majority of the company's revenue comes from government grants and collaboration agreements. Product sales were just $9,000.

 

Ceres posted a net loss of $11.3 million in the same time period.

 

The company expects to use funds from the IPO for research, seed production and sales and other business needs.

 

Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital are managing the IPO.

 

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USDA offers online tool to locate ‘food deserts’

 

(USDA-ARS) WASHINGTON, May 2, 2011 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today introduced an Internet-based mapping tool that pinpoints the location of "food deserts" around the country and provides data on population characteristics of census tracts where residents have limited access to affordable and nutritious foods.

 

The online Food Desert Locator, developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS), is a tool that can be used to assist efforts to expand the availability of nutritious food in food deserts, or low-income communities that lack ready access to healthy food. Expanding the availability of nutritious food is part of First Lady Michele Obama's Let's Move! initiative to address the epidemic of childhood obesity.

 

"This new Food Desert Locator will help policy makers, community planners, researchers, and other professionals identify communities where public-private intervention can help make fresh, healthy, and affordable food more readily available to residents," said Vilsack. "With this and other Web tools, USDA is continuing to support federal government efforts to present complex sets of data in creative, accessible online formats."

 

A food desert is a low-income census tract where either a substantial number or share of residents has low access to a supermarket or large grocery store. "Low income" tracts are defined as those where at least 20 percent of the people have income at or below the federal poverty levels for family size, or where median family income for the tract is at or below 80 percent of the surrounding area's median family income. Tracts qualify as "low access" tracts if at least 500 persons or 33 percent of their population live more than a mile from a supermarket or large grocery store (for rural census tracts, the distance is more than 10 miles). This definition was developed by a working group comprised of members from the departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services, and USDA, which is partnering to expand the availability of nutritious food.

 

Under these income and food access criteria, about 10 percent of the 65,000 census tracts in the United States meet the definition of a food desert. These food desert tracts contain 13.5 million people with low access to sources of healthful food. The majority of this population—82 percent—live in urban areas.

 

Users of the Web-based product can view a map of the United States that highlights and identifies census tracts that qualify as food deserts. Users can scan the map and zoom into an area or use the search feature to find a specific location. Users can create maps showing food desert census tracts. They can also view and download statistics on population characteristics of a selected tract—e.g., the percentage and number of people that are low income and have low access to large grocery outlets, or the number of "low-access" households without a car.

 

In Cook County, Ill., for example, which includes Chicago, 39 census tracts are food desert tracts. These tracts contain over 81,000 people with low access to a supermarket, including over 26,000 children under the age of 18. With the Locator, users can zoom in and view street names and other features of these and other food desert census tracts.

 

The Food Desert Locator comes on the heels of an earlier Web mapping tool documenting indicators of food access, which was also developed by ERS: the recently updated Food Environment Atlas. That product, unveiled by the First Lady at the launch of her Let's Move! initiative last year, presents a broad set of statistics on food choices, health and well-being, and community characteristics. It includes indicators of food access, but does not define or identify food deserts. The Atlas presents data at the county level, while the new Food Desert Locator data are at the census tract level, covering smaller subdivisions whose general population characteristics are often relatively homogeneous.

 

The Food Desert Locator is on the Web at www.ers.usda.gov/data/fooddesert

 

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