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Ongoing News and Information
Most Americans Support Existing Biotech Labeling
The International Food Information Council 2012 “Consumer Perceptions of Food Technology & Sustainability” survey shows that Americans remain highly supportive of existing federal rules for labeling foods produced through biotechnology and very few cite biotechnology as an information need on the food label.
According to the survey, satisfaction with current food labels remains high, despite extensive coverage of biotech labeling and modern food production issues in traditional and social media. Seventy-six percent of consumers could not think of any additional information (other than what is already required) that they wish to see on food labels. Of the 24 percent who wanted more information, 36 percent wanted information related to nutritional content; 19 percent wanted more information about ingredients; and 18 percent wanted more food safety related information, such as possible allergens. Only 3 percent of the 24 percent subset (or about five people and less than 1 percent of all surveyed) wanted more information about biotechnology. In addition, 87 percent of Americans say they have not taken any action out of concern about biotechnology.
When consumers were presented with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s current labeling policy for foods produced using biotechnology, which calls for labeling only when the food’s nutritional content or its composition is changed, or when a potential safety issue is identified, 66 percent of respondents indicated their support for the policy.
At what cost the disconnect between agriculture and the
public?
by Hembree Brandon
At a recent national meeting of state departments of agriculture, “there was a lot of talk about tough times in agriculture” — budget cuts for farm programs and research, USDA office closings and consolidations, rising costs of inputs, increasingly onerous regulations, says John Campbell, director of Mississippi’s Bureau of Plant Industry.
“But in the next breath,” he says of the conference headlined by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, “they were talking about our growing world population and how, by 2050, there will be 9 billion people on the planet who will need to be fed and clothed by agriculture.”
And says Campbell, who later spoke at the annual meeting of the Mississippi Agricultural Consultants Association at Mississippi State University, there was much discussion by the officials about the increasing disconnect between boots-on-the-ground agriculture, the consumer public, and those who write farm programs, enact rules and regulations, and devise budgets.
“Among issues that resonated most with those in attendance,” he says, “are the constantly proliferating regulations affecting agriculture and the costs of complying with those regulations, and a consumer public that is increasingly unaware of how its food and fiber are produced or the role that farmers play in that production.
“Most citizens today are three generations removed from the farm — they don’t know where their food comes from, and they don’t understand the importance of agriculture and agricultural research, or why money needs to be spent to maintain our agricultural infrastructure.
“There was an article recently that got national attention about the most useless college degrees. Agriculture was ranked No. 1, animal science was No. 4., and horticulture was No. 5. (See the complete listing at http://education.yahoo.net/articles/most_useless_degrees.htm)
“Somehow,” Campbell says, “we’ve got to bridge this gap and make the public understand that money must be put forth in our industry to get the research and products we need to make farmers profitable. Land area isn’t going to increase — in fact, to feed those 9 billion people, we’re going to have to produce even more on the same or fewer acres.”
At the same time, he notes, fewer young people are choosing agriculture as a profession. “The average age of the American farmer now is 59, and the cost of entry for new farmers is high.”
In his own agency, Campbell says, there has been about a 20 percent staff reduction over the past 18 months due to retirements. “These people took 150 years of institutional knowledge with them; the plant pest division took the biggest hit, with 70 years of experience lost.”
Farmers plan 2012 crops; peanut acreage to triple
by Associated Press
Published: April 2,2012
ACROSS MISSISSIPPI — Farmers in Mississippi, where an Oklahoma peanut processor proposes to set up two buying and drying warehouses in time for this year’s crop, plan to triple their peanut acreage, the National Agricultural Statistics Service says.
It’s the largest planned percentage increase of any state, but still, well, peanuts compared to the 570,000 acres planned in Georgia, where 475,000 acres were planted last year.
Mississippi’s plans for 50,000 acres — up from 15,000 last year — would put it sixth among the 10 peanut-producing states. Together, they all plan to add 281,400 acres of peanuts to last year’s 1.1 million, for a 25 percent increase.
Last year’s crop was hurt by hot weather in states like Texas and Georgia, and some farmers switched to more profitable crops such as corn and cotton. The resulting shortage sent peanut butter prices up 30 percent or more.
Weather and economic changes during the planting season can change plans. But if Mississippi farmers put in the 50,000 acres they plan to, it would be the highest total since 1943, according to NASS statisticians in Washington.
The Clint Williams Co.’s plans for buying points and drying stations in Clarksdale and Greenwood also played a big part in Mississippi’s increase, said Serial Kenerson, deputy director of the NASS field office in Jackson, Miss.
He said the state’s record high was 58,000 acres in 1942, but in the 1950s fewer than 10,000 acres were planted each year. Because totals were so low, the agency stopped getting planting estimates in 1981 and didn’t resume until 2005.
Farmers estimate they planted 48,000 acres of winter wheat in the fall, up 33 percent from the previous year. That compares to a 3 percent national increase, to 41.7 million acres.
Sorghum producers said they put in 80,000 acres, up 54 percent from last year. Nationally, there was a 9 percent increase to 5.95 million planted acres.
Cotton producers intend to plant 580,000 acres this year, down 8 percent from the previous year. Nationally, planned acreage is down 11 percent, to 13.2 million acres.
The largest decrease is in rice. Farmers told the U.S. Department of Agriculture agency that they plan to sow 135,000 acres in rice — down 16 percent from last year’s total.
Planned Mississippi and national acreage reported to NASS and changes from last year include:
—Soybeans, 1.75 million, down 4 percent; nationally 73.9 million acres, down 1 percent.
—Corn, 900,000 acres, up 11 percent; nationally 95.9 million, up 4 percent.
—Rice, 135,000 acres, down 16 percent from last year and potentially the lowest total in Mississippi since 1977. Nationally, 2.56 million, down 5 percent.
—Sweet potatoes, 23,000 acres, down 4 percent; nationally 133,400 acres, down 1 percent.
Corn Acreage is Big News in USDA Planting Report
There are still many sharp turns and bumps in the road between now and fall harvest, but a crop report issued Friday by the Agriculture Department indicates that farmers in the United States are preparing to plant 95.9 million acres of corn, one of the largest crops in history, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. That number was much higher than grain industry analysts had expected.
“The prospective planting number of 95.9 million acres for corn really blew pre-report expectations out of the roof,” said John Anderson, an AFBF economist.
As unexpectedly high as the corn number was, Anderson said the soybean planting estimate was far lower than analysts had expected, coming in at 73.9 million acres.
According to Anderson, if realized, this year’s corn planting would be the largest acreage since 97.2 million acres were planted in 1937. To put that into perspective, the harvested corn grain yield in 1937 was 28.9 bushels per acre, ultimately leading to approximately 2.5 billion bushels of corn that year. This year’s planting and a trend yield of 164 bushels per acre could result in a final U.S. corn yield of around 14.4 billion bushels.
Anderson said that the most recent modern era production year that comes close to this year’s corn planting outlook was 2007, when 93.5 million acres were planted. At 95.9 million acres expected this year, corn plantings would be up 4 percent from last year. Expected soybean plantings, at 73.9 million acres, are projected to be down 1 percent from last year.