🥛 Pulling the Pasteurization Plug / 📝 Ag-Heavy Agenda for EPA / 🐷 China is So Ove r ASF

Happy Tuesday.

If you've been around here long, you know how we feel about bacon. So we're just going to leave this right here...

“One of the fun dynamics that we’ve seen over the pandemic is that bacon love grew amongst millennials, where 75% of millennial consumers are eating or preparing bacon, versus the 70% of the general population.” - Tara-Ann Dugan, National Pork Board

Today's news:
Australia One-Ups Pasteurization
New EPA Chief Has A Hefty Ag To-Do List
China Plays Whack-A-Mole on ASF

Scientists in the Land Down Under may soon be putting your morning glass of milk under a lot of pressure.

The rundown: Naturo, an Australia-based company, just received the go-ahead to begin processing milk using the Haelen technique--an “alternative treatment to pasteurization of raw milk."

The new method allows the milk to chillax under extreme pressure...killing harmful pathogens without turning up the heat.

To give you some context:

161˚F for 15 seconds: The industry standard for traditional milk pasteurization.
284˚F for 2 seconds: The industry standard for Ultra Heat Treatment (UHT) milk processing.

The best thing since sliced bread pasteurization: Naturo founder and CEO Jeff Hastings is calling Haelen “the biggest breakthrough in the global milk industry since pasteurization in 1864.”

Since it's not subjected to traditional heat treatment, researchers tout that the milk will have higher levels of B-vitamins and essential enzymes while maintaining its natural flavor.

Oh, and this: With Haelen killing more germs than pasteurization and UHT, the milk will stay fresh longer...like, way longer. It’ll stay delicious in the fridge for at least two months.

Where this goes: Naturo says Queenslanders can expect to get their first glasses of the “Wholey Milk Company” brand early this year, with plans to expand to the international market in 2022.

→ FMC gets airborne. The agrichemical company's venture arm invested in Scanit Technologies, a sensor startup that detects airborne pathogen spores before they attack crops.

→ WPX is back. After a 2019 cancellation for African Swine Fever and a 2020 pandemic no-go, the World Pork Expo will return to the Iowa State Fairgrounds this June.

→ Pouring on the genetic gas. Vytelle, a precision livestock startup, is ramping up its decision-support platform to accelerate genetics insights into cattle performance and health.

→ Mosaic chalks up a ‘W’: The fertilizer king won its countervailing duty case with the Department of Commerce against Morocco's and Russia's phosphate imports.

→ South Carolina’s agtech hub. The $314 million center will produce, co-pack, and distribute produce while also housing technical teams focused on blockchain and A.I. applications for the agrifood value chain.

→ It's been a long time comin'. Canada is one step closer to achieving 'negligible risk' status for bovine spongiform encephalopathy [BSE] after 14 years which opens market and trade channels for cattle and beef products.

→ Peanuts and price-fixing. ADM will pay out a $45 million settlement to peanut growers after a civil lawsuit brought forth by 12,000 producers accused the processor of collusion.

It’s official. The Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] has its new top dog.

North Carolina’s Michael Regan got the Senate nod last week, and he’s got a line out the office door of people who want his ear on ag-related issues.

With support from over 20 agricultural groups, including American Farm Bureau, National Corn Growers Association, National Pork Producers Council, and others, he’s been lauded as having ‘an established record of listening to all stakeholders, including farmers and ranchers.’

But the real work is just beginning.

Two big ag tasks await him: the Renewable Fuel Standard [RFS] updates and the EPA’s overall regulatory strategy.

The Biden Administration’s aggressive climate agenda puts Regan at the crosshairs of an RFS debate. Ag groups expect his support for biofuel requirements while refiners want him to ease the blending obligations due to the pandemic’s blow to travel and fuel demand.

On the regulatory front, pesticide registrations are a hot topic getting lots of buzz.

New House Agriculture Committee Chairman David Scott of Georgia noted the importance of those processes to ‘remain trusted and science-based.' At the same time, CropLife American CEO Chris Novak added it’s an ‘essential need for strong risk-based regulation.’

But not everyone is toasting the new EPA chief. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst voted ‘nay,’ and her gut instinct has her leery.

The quick rollback of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule and a goal to transition the federal fleet to electric vehicles has her concerned about what else may pop up on the EPA’s 2021 docket under President Biden's watch.

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China pork producers are playing a never-ending game of Whack-a-Mole with African Swine Fever [ASF].

Three years into the war against the global swine virus, the Asian nation faces new cases in its own backyard and in neighboring countries.

Where things stand… Since the start of 2021, six new outbreaks have been reported in the key pork-producing regions of Sichuan and Hubei. The relatively small clusters of positive cases are being chalked up to a seasonality bump and new strains.

The silver lining: The seasonal bump shouldn’t have a meaningful impact on supply, and the new strains are less harmful, though still highly transmissible.

But China is definitely feeling the sting.

Domestic hog prices have plummeted 19% since the beginning of the year. And while the USDA expects 14% growth of the Chinese herd this year, these ASF speed bumps could knock those efforts off track.

And about those neighbors…
Malaysia’s 3,000 cases this year put them on China’s blacklist as no imports of pigs or boars are being accepted.
Vietnam is also getting the stink eye after 2,000 ASF-positive pigs were found.
Russia’s rough Q4 2020 of ASF madness is finally under control after +500K pigs were culled.

What's ahead: With no commercial vaccine in sight and shakey market prices, it’s going to make for another interesting year for the China pork industry.