McCain proposes to end safeguards on catfish imports

MBJ: Catfish industry ’stunned’ by McCain proposal


WASHNGTON — A proposal by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to repeal a law making all catfish safer for American consumers ignores numerous findings of banned substances in imported catfish products and favors inadequate food safety requirements, according to Catfish Farmers of America.

“It is stunning that Sen. McCain has chosen to protect importers and Vietnamese farmers over the health and safety of American citizens,” said Butch Wilson, newly elected president of the Catfish Farmers of America.

The U.S. Congress voted to move catfish inspections and regulation from the FDA to USDA as part of the 2008 Farm Bill.

A bill proposed by McCain and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) would repeal the 2008 regulation.
 


In a statement announcing the bill, McCain alleged the “Food and Drug Administration hasn’t reported any safety or health problems with the Vietnamese imports.”

That is wrong, according to the CFA. The FDA has found in imported catfish from Vietnam and other nations potentially dangerous chemicals or drugs that are banned by the United States in farm-raised catfish, according to the FDA.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported last month a major criminal case of mislabeling and hazardous contaminants found in Vietnamese frozen catfish fillets imported by a seafood import company in McCain’s home state of Arizona, the CFA says.

Breaking: Gill to run for Ag Commish

The Flora Harvester has learned that Joel Gill, Mayor of Pickens and two time opponent of Congressman Gregg Harper has filed to run for the job of Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner. Despite living outside of District Three, the Democrat twice ran and lost to Harper before winning the Mayor's office in Pickens.

This brings to four the number of people running for the open post of Ag Commissioner. Current Commissioner Lester Spell has announced he will not seek re-election. Others in the race include State Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Representative Dannie Reed, and Max Phillips.

Monsanto corn breeding facility up and running in Flora.



Mayor Les Childress, Ag Commissioner Lester Spell, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Congressman Gregg Harper, and Representative Phillip Gunn were on hand to welcome the new Monsanto facility to Flora.

 Elected officials from across the state joined Flora in welcoming Monsanto to the Flora Industrial Park on Tuesday January 11. The $2.4 million facility further boosts the company’s investment in the South and is a reflection of Monsanto’s commitment to continue delivering new high-performing products to southern farmers.

Flora Mayor Leslie Childress welcomes officials
from across Madison County and Mississippi to Flora.

The 26,000-square-foot corn breeding station will employ approximately 10 full-time and up to 50 seasonal workers. Corn production in the southern region has been growing in the last several years, and the new site’s research focus will be on using the latest breeding techniques to develop higher-yielding corn hybrids with greater resistance to disease and other environmental stresses, specifically adapted to the region.

The site will complement Monsanto’s global breeding program and become part of a network of more than 50 corn breeding locations around the world. Southern farmers also will benefit from the genetic diversity of Monsanto’s global germplasm pool.

Monsanto currently has 3 technology research sites in Mississippi – Scott, Leland, and Winterville – focused on delivering cotton and soy varieties and traits to meet the needs of southern farmers.

The announcement comes two years after the town lost out to a site in Kansas to be the new location for a Department of Homeland Security Bio lab. Flora's Industrial Park currently has only one tenant, Primos Hunting Calls, locating there in May of 2002.

Obama and the Black Farmer: Something for Nothing.

Obama Wants $1.25 B to Compensate up to 66,000 African American Farmers for USDA Discrimination in 1981-96; Census Says African American Farmers Peaked at 33,000 in Those Years


President Barack Obama is requesting $1.15 billion from Congress—to add to a $100-million earmark he pushed through Congress in 2008 when he was a senator—to create a $1.25 billion federal fund to settle discrimination claims by what the Justice Department says is 66,000 African Americans who “farmed or attempted to farm” and were allegedly the victims of discrimination committed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) during the period from Jan. 1, 1981 to Dec. 31, 1996.

During that 16-year period, however, the number of African American farm operators in the United States peaked at 33,000 in 1982, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 1992, says the Census Bureau, the number of African American farmers had fallen as low as 19,000. (There were 2.24 million total farmers in the United States in 1982 and 1.93 million in 1992.)

A "farm operator," according to the Census, is "a person who operates a farm, either doing the work or making day-to-day decisions." Farm operators include both individuals who own farms and who rent them.


Read More: Obama Wants $1.25 B to Compensate up to 66,000 African American Farmers for USDA Discrimination in 1981-96; Census Says African American Farmers Peaked at 33,000 in Those Years

Mosquito-Eating Fish From Mississippi To Reach Haiti Today

Operating Blessing International, a humanitarian organization, is putting to use a brilliant natural method to cut down the excessive mosquito breeding in the earthquake struck Haiti. Around 2000 tiny mosquito-eating fishes named Gambusia is being been transported from a north Mississippi fish hatchery to Haiti with a hope to reduce mosquito breeding. The fishes will play a major role in Operation Blessing International relief project and are scheduled to reach Haiti today.

The Operation Blessing International along with the Haiti Department of Agriculture have planned to put the fishes into mosquito-infested water around the country. Gambusia, is known of having the capacity of eating in mosquito eggs and larvae many more times than its body weight. They have acted as natural mosquito “deterrents” in many other countries and this is not for the first time that the Operation Blessing International is using Gambusia to fight excessive mosquito breeding. The OBI officials used the minnows for the same purpose in New Orleans after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The minnows were moved from Tchula’s Thompson Fish Hatchery to the Yazoo County airport near Yazoo City. From there the fishes were scheduled to be loaded into an Operation Blessing International plane and transported to Florida and then to Haiti on Saturday. The Operation Blessing International is hopeful that its present Haiti project will help the situation in Haiti where malaria still continues to reign as an epidemic. The organization has come forward with this long-term project to combat the problem. The unleashing of the mosquitoes is a part of the organization’s “Teach A Nation To Fish” project under which it also plans to run a micro-enterprise tilapia farming project.

Dry, hot weather withering crops in the field

According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service in Mississippi, there were 5.6 days suitable for fieldwork for the week ending Aug. 1, and record-breaking heat has caused the conditions of Mississippi’s crops to further decline.

AgFax reports scattered showers helped producers who were lucky enough to receive them, but non-irrigated plants are withering in the field.

The rainless weather has caused fields to mature sooner than usual, and farmers have already begun harvesting corn.

Soil moisture was rated 16 percent very short, 39 percent short, 35 adequate, and 10 percent surplus.

MBJ

Seeds of Discontent: Monsanto defends genetic modification practices

AT DERRINALLUM, in Victoria, Australia, prosperity comes courtesy of a nearby volcano called Mount Elephant. Over the past 10,000 years, its spent lava has weathered into a rich brown topsoil. But John Sheehan is one of a rapidly growing number of Victorian farmers for whom such riches of the earth are not enough. This year, he and others like him plan to enhance their natural resources with modern technology.

Seed-drilling machinery on the Derrinallum property Sheehan manages works day and night across the flat crop-land to inject the soil with with science. It is the season to plant grains such as wheat and canola and - for the first time this year - an estimated 20 per cent of the canola crop in Victoria will come from one of the most sophisticated levels of scientific endeavour: genetic modification.

But despite the huge uptake by Victorian farmers, this might be the last year Sheehan uses the controversial technology. For him, the outcome has not matched the promise.

Although GM canola has been planted since 1995 in Canada - where it was developed - many other countries, including Australia, had a moratorium on planting the crop due to public disquiet about perceived dangers.

The list of concerns was long, ranging from unease about the possible allergic effects of new untested proteins on humans, to worries the plants could affect other crops and transfer their genetically modified characteristics to weeds.

In the first year after Victoria and New South Wales dropped the moratorium in late 2007, support for the technology was tentative, but plantings have rocketed since. This season, sales of GM canola seed across the country have more than doubled compared with last year. And Victoria farmers appear to be the nation's most enthusiastic, with by far the largest plantings of the three states in which the technology is allowed.

Monsanto is the US-based chemical and biotechnology company that holds the patents on all GM canola grown in this country. It expects 40,000 hectares to be planted in Victoria this year, up from less than 28,000 last year. Nationally, the area cultivated for this type of crop is expected to more than double to 89,000 hectares, thanks to Western Australia dropping its moratorium following the election of the Barnett Liberal government.

David Tribe is a Melbourne University scientist and an energetic advocate for GM technology. He also runs a blog called GMO Pundit that has devoted considerable energy to confronting GM opponents. In conjunction with American academic Bruce Chassy, Tribe has launched a detailed attack on one of America's most high-profile GM critics, Jeffrey Smith, whose book Seeds of Deception has been a best seller.

The book, which takes particular aim at Monsanto, claims the company has historically combined some of the most toxic products ever sold with misleading reports, pressure tactics on opponents and collusion with friendly government scientists.

It asserts the company and its competitors now race to genetically engineer and patent the world's food supply, which Smith says profoundly threatens our health, environment, and economy.

Tribe believes that such claims, while popular, are easily debunked and have never been subjected to scientific peer review.

He believes that in the long term, genetically modified organisms will better suit the needs of agriculture, and are the only way to feed an increasing global population amid the uncertainties thrown up by climate change.

''Many of the opponents of GM take that position because they simply dislike large companies, but they are not facing the problem that our agriculture system will need to feed billions more people.

''If global warming is the greatest moral challenge of our time, then we have to confront it. Many of the opponents [of GM] have a fundamentalist ideological vision of the world, and over history fundamentalist ideologies have killed millions of people.''

Sheehan could be seen to be a similar enthusiast. He planted the first crop as soon as the moratorium was lifted and this is the third year in which he has used the seed known as Monsanto's Roundup Ready. Its characteristic is a modification to allow it to survive being sprayed by the herbicide glyphosate, which Monsanto markets under the Roundup brand.

Despite the claims of increased yields from GM proponents, Sheehan has recorded no such increase. What he has noticed is a much higher cost of using GM canola than using TT varieties. Roundup Ready canola costs $25 a kilogram, whereas TT costs about $4 - although this is modified by the amount needed to be planted.

''With TT you have to plant about five kilos to the hectare whereas with Roundup Ready and Clearfield, you only have to plant three.

''But the real problem with Roundup Ready is the very limited window allowed for weed spraying. You can only spray the plants when they have between two and six leaves … There are times when you might need to spray if weeds develop when the plants have 12 leaves, but if you do that you really knock them around. This [limitation] has really taken the gloss off GM.''

Read more at The Age

Corn farmers enjoy nice weather, increased acreage

Mississippi’s 2010 corn crop is off to a promising start after recent sunny skies and favorable soil conditions gave farmers a chance to plant and manage their fields.

“The nice weather during the past week has allowed a tremendous amount of field work to get done, particularly in North Mississippi where farmers can finally begin planting corn,” said grain crops agronomist Erick Larson of the Mississippi State University Extension Service. “This was the first good weather that many farmers have had in a while.”

Corn planting is rapidly concluding in many areas of the state where rainfall has been light for a few weeks. Young corn plants are growing quickly in response to warm weather, and growers are applying fertilizer and preparing for the next phase of production.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts Mississippi will be one of eight states to increase corn acreage in 2010. The planting intentions report estimate for the state corn crop is 800,000 acres.

Mississippi Business Journal

Fox 40 Video of Monsanto Groundbreaking at Flora Industrial Park

Fox 40 Video of Monsanto Groundbreaking at Flora Industrial Park

State, County and Flora officials join Monsanto to break ground on $2.4 million facility at Flora Industrial Park

Corn Breeding Facility To Focus on New Beneficial Products For Southern Farmers

Rain showers didn't dampen the spirits of Flora and Madison County officials today as they join state officials to welcome Monsanto to the Flora Industrial Park. Monsanto plans to open a new corn breeding station in Flora and groundbreaking ceremonies for the new facility will be held this afternoon. The $2.4 million facility further boosts the company’s investment in the South and is a reflection of Monsanto’s commitment to continue delivering new high-performing products to southern farmers.

The 26,000-square-foot corn breeding station will employ approximately 10 full-time and up to 50 seasonal workers. Corn production in the southern region has been growing in the last several years, and the new site’s research focus will be on using the latest breeding techniques to develop higher-yielding corn hybrids with greater resistance to disease and other environmental stresses, specifically adapted to the region.

The site will complement Monsanto’s global breeding program and become part of a network of more than 50 corn breeding locations around the world. Southern farmers also will benefit from the genetic diversity of Monsanto’s global germplasm pool.

“Our focus on research and development is what makes Monsanto a leader in agricultural productivity,” said Ted Crosbie, global breeding lead for Monsanto. “Our new facility in Flora will help further strengthen our R&D capabilities, and also is a great opportunity for us to strengthen relationships and collaborations in the southern states.”

Monsanto currently has 3 technology research sites in Mississippi – Scott, Leland, and Winterville – focused on delivering cotton and soy varieties and traits to meet the needs of southern farmers.

“We have always found that growing our crops where farmers will be growing theirs is the best way to develop new products that best meet the needs of our customers,” Crosbie said. “Our existing facilities in Scott, Leland and Winterville help serve the farmers’ need for innovative, higher-yielding products in cotton and soy. With the new site in Flora, we plan to do the same in corn.”

Southeast Industrial Properties I, LLC, a joint venture between Jackson, MS-based Hines Investments, Inc. and Duckworth Realty, Inc., has been awarded the build-to-suit project by Monsanto. Peoples Construction Corp. is the General Contractor.

The announcement comes just over a year after the town lost out to a site in Kansas to be the new location for a Department of Homeland Security Bio lab. Flora's Industrial Park currently has only one tenant, Primos Hunting Calls, locating there in May of 2002.

Reports that HB 1282 to extend deer season has died in committee at the hands of Senator Tommy Gollott

The bill had the full support of MS Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks and would have featured and additional 3 full weeks of rifle hunting for the state's young hunters under the age of 16.


Ya'll Politics

BlueFire Ethanol Applies for DOE Loan Guarantee; Company Seeks to Secure Complete Funding for Fulton, MS Biorefinery

BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, Inc. has submitted an application for a $250 million dollar loan guarantee for the company's planned cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in Fulton, MS. The application, filed under the Department of Energy (DOE) Program DE-FOA-0000140, which provides federal loan guarantees for projects that employ innovative energy efficiency, renewable energy, and advanced transmission and distribution technologies, was submitted 15th of February, 2010 and serves as a phase one application in a two phase approval process.

The Fulton plant is already a recipient of an award of up to $88 million from the U.S. Department of Energy under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. If approved, the loan guarantee will secure the financing for the remainder of the costs to construct the facility, which will produce 19 million gallons of ethanol per year from woody biomass, mill residue, and other cellulosic waste.

"We are very optimistic that the DOE will consider the enormous benefits of BlueFire Ethanol's technology to convert cellulosic waste products into useable biofuels during this selection process," said Arnold Klann, CEO of BlueFire Ethanol. "Programs like the DOE loan guarantee enable first-of-its-kind technologies to come to fruiting and ultimately help ease the United States' dependence on fossil fuels like petroleum, which is oftentimes imported from hostile nations."

Currently, BlueFire Ethanol is focused on the development of two cellulosic ethanol facilities in Lancaster, CA and Fulton, MS.

Bozeman Scholars Announced

Recipients of the 2010 Dudley Bozeman Memorial Scholarships were Allen Smith and Justin Brown.

These $2000 awards were made possible by contributions in memory of Dudley Bozeman to the Mississippi Cattlemen's Foundation Endowment Fund.

Look out Farmers! The U.N. is calling for a Tax on Cow Farts

Livestock should be taxed to reduce the contribution made by their flatulence to greenhouse gas emissions, the United Nations said on Thursday in a report that will give fresh ammunition to campaigners against the preponderance of meat in the foodchain.

The novel suggestion by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation to use taxation comes as campaigners focus on the impact on climate change of emissions of methane from cattle, sheep and pigs.

“Market-based policies, such as taxes and fees for natural resource use, should cause [livestock] producers to internalise the costs of environmental damages,” the FAO said in its annual report, The State of Food and Agriculture .

“The sector is consuming a large share of the world’s resources and is contributing a significant portion of global greenhouse gases emissions,” the report adds.

The proposal, if supported by governments, could hit companies such as JBS of Brazil, the world’s largest meat producer, and large US-based businesses such as Tyson Foods, Cargill or Smithfield. Governments do not necessarily follow the FAO’s recommendations, but its views carry some weight, particularly among European policymakers.

Financial Times