" I heard it through the AgLine"

October 31, 2011

 

 

·       Feds tighten belt cutting ag reports

·       GPS group slams LightSquared plan

·       Growing pumpkins for fun, not profit

·       Giant pumpkins are very BIG in Oregon

·       Gypsies, graveyards and mysterious plants

 

 

Feds tighten belt cutting ag reports

 

(The Associated Press) PIERRE, S.D. — When farmers need to check honey prices so they can decide whether to sell, there’s been a report for that. And when catfish and sheep farmers want to check production in their industries, there’ve been reports for that, too.

 

The U.S. Agriculture Department has kept tabs for decades on a wide range of agricultural industries that generate billions of dollars for the U.S. economy. But that’s about to change, as the agency eliminates some reports and reduces the frequency of others to save millions of dollars in tight budget times.

 

The reports influence the price and supply of many products that end up on American dinner plates. Without them, some farmers say they’ll be left guessing how much to produce and when to sell. Food processors and traders also will have less information when making decisions about buying and selling.

 

South Dakota farmer Richard Adee said he used the annual honey and bee report to decide when to sell his honey. If the February report indicated a large supply nationwide, he’d sell before prices dropped. If the supply was short, he’d hold on to the honey and wait for prices to go up.

 

“It’s really going to limit us to information for making future plans,” said Adee, one of the nation’s largest honey producers. “It’s not good. It’s not good we’re losing that.”

 

Adee Honey Farms, based in Bruce, S.D, provide bees that pollinate crops and produce honey in the Midwest, California and Washington. Adee said he knows something must be done to deal with the federal deficit, but “they’re beating up on agriculture.”

 

A spokeswoman for the USDA division that produces the reports said it didn’t want to cut them but it had to do something to save money. Eliminating or reducing the frequency of 14 crop and livestock reports will save the National Agricultural Statistics Service about $10 million, Sue duPont said. NASS’s $156 million budget was cut in the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 and more reductions are expected this year as Congress and the White House aim to trim federal spending.

 

The agency based its choices on the reports’ impact on markets and use by other programs that provide assistance to farmers, along with the availability of information from other sources, DuPont said.

 

“It was just tough decisions,” she said.

 

Roger Barlow, executive vice president of Catfish Farmers of America, said the annual report on his industry tells his organization’s 800 members how many millions of tons of catfish are being produced in how many acres of water, how much is being held by processors and what prices are being paid. The information determines prices and guides farmers as they decide to expand or cut back production, he said.

 

“Lots of decisions are made upon this,” Barlow said. “This information is used on a daily basis.”

 

Mississippi is the leading catfish producer according to the latest and last report. But the farmers, who are mostly located in the South, hope NASS with reconsider its decision to dump the report.

 

“I guess we’re just scratching a hole in our head trying to figure out how we’re going to continue with what we feel is extremely important,” Barlow said.

 

Most of the information in the reports being cut will still be included in the agricultural census, which is conducted once every five years. The one released in 2013 will reflect the state of farming in 2012.

 

But the lack of annual reports “kind of limits what we have as far as information for making decisions on a year-to-year basis,” said Shane Ellis, a livestock economist at Iowa State University.

 

Farmers in some industries may turn to trade organizations to collect information previously reported by NASS, while those in smaller ones, such as honey and catfish, might be able to get by without the data, he said.

 

“It’s just the nature of the niche marketing in how it tends to be more of a market where everybody knows everybody else. ... They have a good idea of where everything is going,” Ellis said.

 

He speculated on the logic behind NASS’s decisions. For example, the agency is cutting its July report on the cattle industry but will keep a similar one in January. Ellis said the agency probably eliminated its sheep and goat report because sheep numbers haven’t changed much in recent years.

 

But Steve Clements, who raises sheep near Philip, S.D., said the report would be particularly valuable right now because there’s a short supply of breeding ewes and no one is sure where sheep being shipped from drought-stricken Texas are ending up.

 

“The ones that don’t affect you, you don’t think they need to do, I guess,” he said.

 

Return to Top

 

 

GPS group slams LightSquared plan

 

IDG News Service - The Coalition to Save Our GPS challenged LightSquared's forecasts that the FCC will be able to resolve the controversy over the company's planned cellular network by the end of this year, using a conference call with reporters last week to slam the startup's business plan and technical claims.

 

The next round of testing on LightSquared's proposed LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network will start next week at an Air Force base, said Jim Kirkland, vice president and general counsel of Trimble Navigation, who spoke for the Coalition to Save Our GPS on the call. Those tests are scheduled to be finished by Nov. 30, but further testing is likely to be needed, Kirkland said. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission wants the interference issue resolved before it will approve LightSquared's network.

 

Timing is important for LightSquared, which has promised to make its network reach 100 million U.S. residents by the end of 2012.

 

"The current testing is re-testing of narrowband devices with some additional ones added. We are very confident this will be done by November 30," LightSquared said Thursday in a statement attributed to Martin Harriman, vice president of ecosystem development and satellite business. Filters from Javad GNSS, a partner of LightSquared, are available for testing now and have shown good results in laboratory testing, he said.

 

The Coalition, which represents manufacturers and users of GPS (Global Positioning System), has been among the most vocal critics of LightSquared's plan to operate a national LTE network on 40,000 terrestrial base stations, using frequencies near to those used for GPS. Tests conducted earlier this year showed the network would knock out GPS for many devices, which scan a wide band of frequencies for weak signals from GPS satellites.

 

LightSquared has since said it will shift to frequencies farther from the GPS band, but critics say solving interference even there would be expensive and time-consuming. In this lower band, the danger appears to be to high-precision GPS devices such as those used for surveying, agriculture and aviation.

 

On Thursday, the group also downplayed LightSquared's recent claims of technical solutions to the interference problem in the new band it plans to use. Earlier this month, LightSquared joined with Javad GNSS to unveil a filter that it said could be easily added to many of the precision GPS receivers. The carrier also said Partron America has an appropriate filtering component, and on Thursday it announced that PCTel has developed an antenna that solves the interference problem.

 

The technical fixes LightSquared has announced are "prospective only" and would probably be harder and more expensive to implement than LightSquared has suggested, Kirkland said.

 

"You don't just screw the top off a survey machine and put a new filter in," Kirkland said.

 

How much a GPS fix might cost and who should pay for it have started to play a bigger part in the debate over LightSquared's network. LightSquared has said it already committed millions of dollars to changes to its own technology and will contribute up to $50 million to fix gear owned by federal agencies. On Thursday's call, Kirkland and a representative from the National Association of Manufacturers said businesses and agencies that use GPS shouldn't have to foot the bill for upgrades that they said could cost billions of dollars.

 

LightSquared said GPS vendors should be held responsible.

 

"The interference issues were caused by the GPS industry not filtering their devices appropriately, and we call on them to fund their share of the solution for the remaining high-precision devices through a standard recall," Jeff Carlisle, executive vice president for Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy, said in a statement released Thursday.

 

The Coalition said LightSquared will effectively receive a $10 billion windfall if it's allowed to use its spectrum for a full cellular network that can stand on its own. FCC decisions early in the past decade only allowed the frequencies to be used for a small network to supplement satellite service. If the FCC had handed over the spectrum for a full mobile network, it would have had to auction it off rather than give it for free to LightSquared's predecessor company, Kirkland said.

 

However, Kirkland said the industry group trusts that the FCC will not allow LightSquared to operate its network unless the interference problem is solved.

 

"We're taking the FCC at its word," Kirkland said.

 

Return to Top

 

 

Growing pumpkins for fun, not profit

 

(Los Angeles Times) – Pity folks carving faces on skinny old zucchini or trying to make watermelons look fearsome this Halloween.

 

There's a pumpkin shortage plaguing parts of the country this year, because of drought and storms in the Midwest and Northeastern states.

 

In California, the nation's No. 2 pumpkin state, fine weather has made for pumpkins aplenty. Still growers here aren't trying to make a killing, unless you count the fake blood at the haunted houses some have set up on their farms. With other crops, they'd be looking to export their bounty to cash in on higher prices. But that isn't — if you'll pardon the expression — how pumpkins roll.

 

There are no vast tracts of mechanically harvested fruit or frantic traders swapping pumpkin futures on global commodities exchanges. California pumpkin farms tend to be small, perhaps a few dozen acres at best, and are geared for producing jack-o'-lanterns rather than pie filling. Most Golden State pumpkins don't travel; the customers do — to roadside stands and pick-your-own patches.

 

At a time when the national conversation is focused on greed, pumpkins are an exception. They are a different kind of California gold.

 

"Pumpkins are really different," said Tom Turini, a farm advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension in Fresno. "We're not trying to feed the world pumpkins. It's more about tradition, family. It's farmers just having a little fun."

 

Near Half Moon Bay, growers have helped the coastal community about 30 miles south of San Francisco lay claim to the title of "World Pumpkin Capital." That might be a stretch considering that other pumpkin-centric cities, including Morton, Ill., and Circleville, Ohio, make similar boasts.

 

What's clear is that the fruit thrives in the region's warm days and cool nights. Tourists flock to the area in fall for the annual pumpkin festival and to visit pumpkin patches such as those operated by John Muller.

 

Muller first started planting pumpkins on the flower and vegetable farm founded by the parents of his wife, Eda. It was a way to bring in a little extra cash so that the family could keep farming year-round. Muller has his own way of pricing. A group of pint-size cousins recently lugged five pumpkins to his checkout table. Muller told the children that they could have the lot for 20 bucks.

 

"It all depends on how big the diamond earrings are, or how under-served the kids look," he said. "I don't really call the pumpkins business. I call it sharing. Our city neighbors are sharing resources to help keep us farming. We're sharing the sights and sounds of a farm, the season changing, the sky getting Indian-summer blue and the weather getting cuddly."

 

California's pumpkin crop totaled 186 million pounds last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The nation's top producer was Illinois, at 427.4 million pounds, much of which ended up as canned pie filling.

 

Illinois will easily retain its pumpkin crown this year, despite a dry summer. But a single pumpkin has already made 2011 a banner year for California. A homegrown specimen came in first at the annual Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Weigh-Off on Oct. 10.

 

That competition, to see who can grow the largest pumpkin, is frequently won by out-of-state contestants. But this year's winner was Leonardo Ureña, a Napa Valley grower whose pumpkin weighed in at 1,704 pounds, a state record.

 

Within days, his pumpkin was on a plane heading to the New York Botanical Garden to join the other winners of regional weigh-offs around North America. The overall champion and new world record holder — a 1,818.5-pound behemoth — came from Canada.

 

Still, Ureña, who immigrated from Jalisco, Mexico 26 years ago, was pleased just to be in such elite company. He recalled how tightly his oldest daughter hugged him after his win at Half Moon Bay.

 

"She said, 'Congratulations, Daddy.' And I'm crying because it got me right inside," he said.

 

After all, growing giant pumpkins is time-consuming. From April to October, Ureña spent more time with his pumpkins than with his family. Raising a pumpkin that weighs about as much as a Smart car requires hand-fertilizing blossoms, feeding the plant constantly and praying the fruit doesn't explode from growing too fast. The Napa County vineyard and farm where Ureña works lent him land. He went straight from his day job growing regular-size vegetables to caring for his towering pumpkins.

 

Ureña was recently named grower of the year by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, an international organization for growers of giant pumpkins, for raising a trio of specimens whose combined weight topped 5,000 pounds.

 

Competition is spirited, yet most Great Pumpkin aficionados trade seeds for free among themselves, even though a lone seed from a champion recently sold for $1,600.

 

"It's supposed to be a hobby, not about money," Ureña said. "To sell one of my pumpkin's seeds would be dishonorable to the pumpkin world."

 

Return to Top

 

 

Giant pumpkins are very BIG in Oregon

 

(OregonLive.com) – Thad Starr watched his pumped-up pumpkin get lowered onto the oversize scale at the annual Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off at Bauman's Farm in Gervais. The numbers rose from zero to 1,000 in seconds, swung back and forth and finally landed on a hefty 1,580.5 pounds, an Oregon record.

 

In a short six years, Starr has broken the record for biggest of the big Oregon pumpkins, the last time in 2008 with a 1,528-pound behemoth, and has won several other competitions, including the World Series of weigh-offs in Half Moon Bay, Calif. He admits to a competitive nature, a trait shared by his fellow hobbyists around the world.

 

"We're not just a bunch of hicks growing pumpkins," Starr says. "It's grown into a pretty sophisticated operation.

 

"It's a subculture that most people don't know about," says the stay-at-home dad, who won $9,000 for his pumpkin at the October 2011 weigh-in. "You won't find a grower who doesn't admit we're crazy. We tear out trees, dig up grass and turn our backyards into giant pumpkin patches. Our pastime is driving around looking for piles of manure to haul back."

 

The rewards from such devotion are pumpkin weights speeding toward 2,000 pounds, a goal that seemed a dream in 1996 when the first 1,000-pounder tipped the scales. This year the title for the world's heaviest pumpkin went to a Canadian, who trucked his winner to New York, where it weighed in at 1,818 pounds.

 

"Every few years, the weight has almost doubled," says Sandy Wheeler, president of the Oregon-based Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers. "I do think it will get to the ton mark."

 

 

Giant pumpkin boats race across the Lake at Tualatin CommonsThe 8th Annual West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta was held at the Lake at Tualatin Commons this past Saturday. Participants grow giant pumpkins, some heavier than 1000 pounds, then hollow them out and race them across the lake.Watch video

Wheeler joined the world of giant pumpkins by happenstance when, driving from the airport after picking up a friend, she saw a highway billboard advertising a weigh-off.

 

"On a whim, I said, 'Let's go check it out,'" she remembers. "It was a blast. We stayed all day, and I ended up buying a few seeds."

 

That spring she planted them. In the fall her first pumpkin hit the mark at 739 pounds. Right away, she learned that growing the big boys takes more than throwing a few seeds in the ground and watching them grow. Competitors spend hours every day tending their patch. Seeds need to be saved and germinated, vines trained and trimmed, plots weeded, plants fed, sprayed and watered -- up to 500 gallons a week. There's no vacation from this hobby.

 

"I'm out in the patch every day when I get home from work, literally out there till dark," says Wheeler, who turned out a 1,309-pound pumpkin this year. "I try to take one or two days off a week, but I probably spend 16 to 20 hours a week. Basically, it's a part-time job."

 

No matter how much work you do, though, there's no chance of a giant without the right seed.

 

"We're fanatics about our seed," says Starr, who steers potential prodigious pumpkineers to local clubs and the Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers website to find free seed. "We can track our genetics better than horse breeders."

 

Those pumpkin genetics go back to grower Howard Dill, a Nova Scotia farmer who spent 30 years selectively breeding giant pumpkins. He came up with Dill's Atlantic Giant -- and every world champion since has come from offspring of those seeds.

 

Dill reinvigorated giant-pumpkin competitions in 1978 by breaking a 75-year-old record set in 1903 by William Warnock, whose 403-pound oddity was then displayed at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. Dill's champion 438.5-pound pumpkin sounds wimpy next to the those grown today, but it was outlandish enough to gain a spot in "Ripley's Believe It or Not." Dill held the world record four years straight and landed in the Guinness World Records book in 1981 with a 493.5-pounder.

 

In addition to bragging rights, success can mean raking in a healthy crop of cash, and not just from competitions. Casinos, hotels, businesses and just regular people offer hundreds, even thousands, of dollars for the biggest pumpkins. Both Wheeler and Starr have been approached about selling theirs. Both have declined. Money isn't the point, they say.

 

"You spend six months with them," says Starr. "When it comes time to cut off the vine and weigh it, it's hard. I spend two hours every day with them, and I think about them 22 hours a day. I don't like to sell them. I'm not doing it for someone else."

 

Return to Top

 

 

Gypsies, graveyards and mysterious plants

 

(USDA-ARS) – A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist has confirmed the identity of a strange grass-like sedge discovered in a Mississippi graveyard, and believes the appearance of the potentially invasive plant is linked to the final resting places of several members of a royal Gypsy family.

 

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) botanist Charles Bryson was asked by Mississippi State University graduate student Lucas Majure to help classify a plant Majure had found in Rose Hill Cemetery in Meridian, Miss. Bryson works at the ARS Crop Production Systems Research Unit in Stoneville, Miss. ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency.

 

After several months of searching, Bryson identified the plant as blue sedge (Carex breviculmis), a native of Asia and Australia and previously unknown in North America. He also found it growing along railroad tracks, campgrounds used by transients, and in or around four cemeteries in Meridian, including Rose Hill Cemetery.

 

Visitors from all over the world come to Rose Hill Cemetery to pay their respects at the gravesite of Kelly Mitchell, the Queen of the Gypsies, who was buried there in 1915. Her husband and other family members were also laid to rest in the cemetery.

 

Given the plant's restricted and distinctive distribution in the region, Bryson thinks that global travelers introduced the sedge to Mississippi, possibly via seeds trapped in clothing or by leaving plants or soil at the gravesites of the Gypsy royalty. Then cemetery caretakers may have spread plant material from the first introduction site to the other cemeteries via contaminated clothing and lawn care equipment.

 

At two sites where it is now established, the plant exhibits weedy characteristics and reproduces and spreads profusely. To Bryson, these traits suggest that the Old World sedge could someday cause problems in U.S. lawn and turf systems, as well as in fruit and nut crop production.

 

Bryson and Majure published their findings in the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

 

Return to Top

 

 

End Transmission