Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:04:00 GMT
More than 4,800 dairy cows at
risk of carrying tuberculosis are being slaughtered this week in central California, where nearly 16,000 cattle in the country’s largest milk-producing region have been quarantined, federal officials said.
Undersecretary of Agriculture Bruce Knight met privately with local dairy operators Tuesday along with the state veterinarian and other industry officials monitoring three new cases of TB recently discovered in Fresno County dairies.
Federal and state agriculture officials were still tightlipped about the identities and locations of the three dairies where cows tested positive for the disease, which can be transmitted to humans and other mammals through the air or through drinking unpasteurized milk from an infected cow.
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Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:30:00 GMT
The May end-of-month
dry whey stocks increased 46% over May ‘07. This continues the trend of higher year-over-year stocks.
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Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:05:00 GMT
Despite the recent flooding in the Midwest, U.S. farmers expect to harvest nearly 79 million acres of corn and more than 72 million acres of soybeans in 2008, according to the
Acreage report
released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
The report shows U.S. farmers planted 87.3 million acres of corn in 2008, down 7 percent from last year’s 93.6 million acres, but still the second largest area since 1946. Of that area, growers expect to harvest 78.9 million acres for grain, down 9 percent from 2007 but still the second largest area since 1944. For soybeans, 2008 planted area is estimated at 74.5 million acres, the third largest on record and up 17 percent from last year. Of the planted area, farmers expect to harvest 72.1 million acres, up 15 percent from last year.
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Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:18:00 GMT
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is taking several steps to assess the impact on the 2008 crop acreage from the impact of the extraordinary rainfall and flooding in the Midwest. NASS will release the 2008 Acreage report as scheduled on June 30 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. However, NASS collected most of the acreage data during the first two weeks of June, before the majority of the flooding occurred.
In the Acreage report, NASS will use standard procedures to estimate planted area. But in an effort to more accurately determine how much of the planted area will actually be harvested for grain, NASS will re-interview producers during the week of June 23 in affected areas of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. This will provide additional information about producers’ harvesting intentions for corn, soybeans and sorghum.
However, because some producers might be difficult to contact or still could be assessing their options, NASS will conduct a more extensive update of planted and harvested acreage in July in the impacted areas. This information along with data normally collected from across the country during this time will be reflected in the August 12 Crop Production report.
For more information about USDA’s response and efforts in the Midwest, go to www.usda.gov/safety .
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Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:00:00 GMT
The U SDA issued a
tentative final decision to
amend the Class III and Class IV product price formulas in all Federal milk marketing orders. The decision was based
on the record of the first session of a public hearing held in Strongsville, Ohio on February 26- March 2, 2007, a
second session of a public hearing held in Indianapolis, Ind., on April 9-13, 2007, and a third session of a public
hearing held in Pittsburgh, Pa., on July 9-11, 2007.
The decision would amend the make allowances for cheese, butter, NFDM and dry whey. Specifically, this decision would adopt the following make allowances: cheese - $0.2003 per pound; butter -
$0.1715 per pound; NFDM - $0.1678 per pound; and dry whey - $0.1991 per pound. This decision also proposes to
increase the butterfat yield factor of the butterfat price formula from 1.20 to 1.211.
A complete copy of the Federal Registry record can be obtained by clicking
here.
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Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:58:00 GMT
May milk production in the 23 major States was 15.4 bil. lbs. , up 3.4% from May 2007.
Prod./cow in the 23 major States averaged 1,816 lbs.,
25 lbs above May 2007.
The number of
milk cows on farms in the 23 major States was 8.46 mil. head, 162,000 head more than May 2007, and 12,000 head more than April 2008.
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Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:25:00 GMT
Corn prices reached another record Monday,
closing in on $8 a bushel, as devastating Midwest floods raised fears of a sharply smaller U.S. corn crop and another spike in world food prices.
Other commodities traded mostly higher, with gold, silver, copper and wheat futures all climbing. Crude oil surged to a record near $140 a barrel and then fell in volatile trading.
Corn prices have shot up 11 percent in the last week as floodwaters continue to ravage the Midwest, swallowing corn fields just before the crucial growing season. The U.S. government will report June 30 on how many acres have been lost to flooding, but a survey in Farm Futures magazine estimated that flooding could claim 3.3 million acres – or nearly 4 percent of the expected crop.
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Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:50:00 GMT
Commodity prices continued to
rise on Thursday, with the price of corn remaining
above $7 a bushel. Soybeans also moved higher. Wheat, which rose on Wednesday, fell on
Thursday.
Corn prices, which have been hitting new highs for a week, are reacting to six weeks of heavy
rains and cool weather in the Midwest. That prevented planting in some areas, leading some
farmers to abandon the crop in the last few days. It is still raining.
The bad weather comes as supplies of corn, wheat and other staples are already tight thanks to
soaring global demand.
The higher commodity prices are likely to add to a worldwide inflationary picture that seems to
worsen by the day. Prices of many grocery items in the United States have been rising briskly,
with some goods like eggs and milk — produced from animals fed with corn — up by 13 to 30
percent in the past year.
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Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:14:00 GMT
Keeping the heat under food prices, the Agriculture Department
trimmed its one-month-old forecast of the U.S. corn harvest by 3.2% because of a rain-delayed planting season in parts of the Midwest.
The USDA said in a flurry of monthly crop-related reports released Tuesday that it expects U.S. farmers to harvest 11.7 billion bushels of corn this year, based on early June conditions.
Since May, when the department forecast a 12.1-billion-bushel crop, heavy and persistent rain across Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Indiana have prevented many farmers from getting all of their crops into the ground. Most Midwestern farmers try to finish planting by mid-May so their crops reach full maturity before autumn temperatures could kill the plants.
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Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:49:00 GMT
The remaining ‘08
corn futures contracts and the Jul ‘08-Jul ‘09 contracts finished higher today with the May and Jul 2009 contracts closing at more than $7.00 . The July ‘09 corn futures settled at $7.092/bushel.
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