Good Morning.
Brunchers, rejoice. There's a new item on the menu to pig out on in some parts of Texas: wild boar.
As feral hogs continue to wreak havoc on the region—as they've done for centuries at this point—some prominent chefs have decided to make the most of the situation.
Wild boar summer sausage, boar boudin inside a klobasnek pastry, and wild boar with carrot puree have all made their way to menus recently. (Sourced locally, of course.)
Texas: combining fine dining and going hog wild since '23.
Stories:
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Step Off Our Checkoff
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Save the whales Ammonia
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Herbicide Regs Get Ready
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Proposed funding cuts to checkoff programs: It’s what’s for dinner.
So(y), what are we talking about: Recently, a proposed amendment by Indiana Congresswoman Victoria Spartz has ruffled the feathers of some commodity checkoff groups.
The congresswoman proposed an amendment that says none of the funds made available by the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2024 (which funds USDA) should go toward commodity checkoff programs.
Flabbers are gasted: Groups like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), American Soybean Association, National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), and National Milk Producers Federation are firing back, letting Spartz know none of the funds go toward checkoff programs to begin with.
Soundbite: "The amendment that was offered by Rep. Spartz would seek to prevent any federal funds from being used to implement federal commodity checkoff programs. But the strange thing about that is that no federal funds are used to implement federal commodity checkoff programs. They are funded by contributions to those programs from producers throughout the country that pay in." — Ethan Lane, Vice President of Government Affairs with the NCBA
Checkoff sound off: Checkoff programs fund efforts to research commodities for food safety and nutrition, strengthen consumer demand of those products, and help farmers and ranchers stay in business. According to NPPC, pork producers overwhelmingly support checkoff programs. Beef producers, too.
All bark, might bite: Spartz’s take is there is a need for more transparency in the farm bill for checkoff programs, indicating big salaries for the boards of directors.
For transparency’s sake: Here are the financials found easily on the Beef Checkoff’s website. And the ones for soybeans and pork.
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→Route trouble. A Russian drone attack took down Ukrainian grain warehouses on the Danube River, a critical export route, just days after the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal.
→ Veto incoming? The House funding measure for the USDA and FDA might get the "no" stamp from President Biden because of disagreements about budget cuts.
→ Hurt herd numbers. According to the USDA, the U.S. cattle inventory is currently at its lowest in a decade after a 3% decrease from last July.
→ Stimulating the market. A UK-based plant biostimulant manufacturer is expanding into North America by partnering with Excel Holdings.
→ Mooore questions. Beef operation inspectors will need to fill out a new questionnaire about antibiotic usage, in an effort to verify "raised without antibiotics" claims.
→ This land is (not) your land. Potential buyers from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea wouldn’t be able to purchase U.S. farmland according to a measure passed by the Senate this week.
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BrianBrownImages by Getty Images Pro
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Breaking news from Bion: The livestock waste treatment company’s Fair Oaks, Indiana, demonstration and optimization facility is up and running!
The proof is in the pudding data: Data collected from Fair Oaks is the missing piece for designing systems to handle waste from 15K cattle. And with a little luck, this information will help Bion work on sustainable beef projects with Dakota Valley Growers, Olson Feeders, and Ribbonwire Ranch.
Beast startup mode: The facility will operate in startup mode for about a week just to be sure everything is g2g. Bion’s model uses ARS, and no, we’re not talking about an automated response system. Its Ammonia Recovery System "captures, stabilizes, and upcycles ammonia nitrogen" into organic, low-carbon fertilizers.
While startup mode should only last for a week—with liquids running through the system to check the pressure and figure out the baseline—the following three to four weeks should be smooth sailing in steady state. During this time, digestate will be processed. Digestate is "manure residual after methane has been extracted through anaerobic digestion."
Weeks 4-12 should supply Bion with the data it needs for existing economic models.
Fast fact: Bion’s best estimation is that 80% of nitrogen in livestock manure is lost into the environment via ammonia evaporation—making it a pollutant.
Enter ARS, which should recover 85% of ammonia from the digestate.
Soundbite: "We are eager for startup at Fair Oaks, so that we can demonstrate our core technology at commercial scale and move forward with project development and financing, and continue building relationships with strategic partners in the beef and food services industries." – Bion CEO, Bill O’Neill
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It’s officially fair season! County and state fairs are the perfect blend of ag showcase and funnel cake-fueled fun that defines the end of summer for many U.S. families.
Do you know which state and county have the largest fairs?
Answer at the bottom of the email.
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The EPA is playing catchup on its Endangered Species Act (ESA) obligations. A new proposed herbicide strategy hopes to put the agency’s foot on the gas.
The multi-chemical, multi-species set of regulations is designed to protect 900+ endangered and threatened species from herbicides—specifically, agricultural weed killers. The current consultation process with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is slow and not-so-steady: currently, less than 5% of required consultations are complete.
Herbicide hope: The new strategy is designed to make consultations speedy. Mitigation of potential impacts could begin before the consultations are done. And proposed mitigations could be ready-made for farmers and pesticide applicators to put in place.
Protection principles: The EPA used a few guiding principles to grow its strategy. They’re focused on routes of exposure, minimizing effect on non-target listed species, and creating easy-to-use mitigation measures. The EPA’s also leaving the door open to other future measures.
Soundbite: "This strategy reflects one of our biggest steps to support farmers and other herbicide users with tools for managing weeds, while accelerating EPA’s ability to protect many endangered species that live near agricultural areas." — Jake Li, deputy assistant director of pesticide programs at the EPA
Where this goes: The EPA is looking for comments ahead of a Sept 22 deadline.
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The largest state fair is the Texas State Fair, which boasts 2.25M visitors. Los Angeles County has the largest county fair—with a whopping 1.3M visitors.
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Written & Edited by Sheridan Wimmer, Amelia VanLandegen, Kelsey Faivre, Jen Hill and Ashley Scoby
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