Senators introduce bill to prevent transmission of FMD
U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) and U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) introduced legislation July 10 to prevent the importation of livestock from Argentina until the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) can certify that Argentina is free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). The Foot and Mouth Disease Prevention Act of 2008 was crafted after hearing from concerned farmers and ranchers about the safety of their livestock.
"Foot and Mouth Disease is a highly contagious and destructive disease, and we cannot risk the health of our livestock herds for questionable imports from Argentina," said Johnson, the author of the legislation. "Farmers and ranchers across South Dakota remain rightly concerned about the USDA's proposal. The bill introduced today will ensure Argentina is free of the disease before any livestock cross our borders."
"Keeping the American beef supply safe is paramount to the U.S. continuing to produce and sell the highest quality meat products in the world. The risks of importing live animals from countries with known cases of foot-and-mouth disease are not worth taking," said Enzi. "This bill would continue to keep American beef the safest in the world by maintaining the ban on live animals and fresh meat from Argentina, a country that is still in the progress of eradicating foot-and-mouth disease from its own herds."
Johnson and Enzi developed the legislation after hearing from their constituents concerned about the USDA's plan to allow cattle, sheep and swine and certain livestock product imports from a region within Argentina. Although the region itself is believed to be free of the disease, FMD is found in the surrounding regions and countries. The potential risk of airborne transmission and contamination remains high.
Judge halts cattle-grazing initiative opposed by conservationists
Seattle, Wash. - A federal judge in Seattle has put the brakes on an emergency federal program that would allow grazing and hay production on millions of acres of farmland nationwide that had been set aside for conservation.
The injunction ordered July 8 by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour could affect 24 million acres of conservation lands across the country, including fragile habitat in this state. And in Washington, it pits two struggling species against each other: independent cattle producers and sage grouse.
Coughenour ordered the temporary restraining order after a suit was filed by the National Wildlife Federation and six affiliates over the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) decision in May to allow grazing and hay production on land now protected under the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
The USDA initiative, called the Critical Feed Use program, was meant to help cattlemen suffering from high feed prices. It allows hay production and grazing on CRP land, to boost production of up to 18 million tons of cattle forage worth $1.2 billion, according to the department.
Meat producers are getting clobbered by hay costs that have shot up to as much as $200 a ton, up from $75 to $100 just three years ago. Hay is scarce because farmers are growing corn and wheat instead, to reap high prices.
There was also to be an added advantage for participants in the CRP: they could keep collecting CRP payments while they put their conservation lands into hay or grazing.
Direct, counter-cyclical payment signup underway in new farm bill
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said USDA's announcement that signup has begun in the 2008 Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment Program (DCP) helps deliver certainty for the crop year and the option of a timely advance payment. Contracts are available at USDA Service Centers and signup will continue until September 30, 2008. USDA's DCP readiness follows the June 12 availability of marketing assistance loan and loan deficiency payment (LDP) provisions, within three weeks of commodity title enactment.
Producers can fill out their 2008 DCP contract at any USDA Service Center. Producers can also sign-up online. They can choose payment options, assign crop shares and sign and submit their contracts from any computer with Internet access. They can also view and print submitted contract options.
USDA computes DCP payments using base acres and payment yields established for each farm. Eligible producers receive direct payments at rates established by statute regardless of market prices. For 2008, eligible producers may request to receive an advance payment of 22 percent of the direct payment for each commodity associated with the farm. USDA will issue advance direct payments as soon as practical after enrollment. Final direct payments will be issued after Oct. 1, 2008. Counter-cyclical payments vary depending on market prices, and are issued only when the effective price for a commodity is below its target price (which takes into account the direct payment rate, market price and loan rate).
Since 2002, USDA has issued approximately $40 billion in DCP payments to America's agricultural producers. Participants must submit the completed DCP contract by Sept. 30, 2008. Applications filed after this date will not be approved.
Montana Farm Bureau, Stockgrowers present brucellosis management plan
The Montana Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) and the Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) have begun to work with producers to develop a "hot spot" management pilot project as a solution to the brucellosis problem in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA). Montana, Wyoming and Idaho have all had domestic livestock infected from the wildlife brucellosis pool centered in Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Brucellosis not only affects livestock producers financially, as it causes abortions in cattle and causes the state to lose their brucellosis-free status, but the disease threatens wildlife welfare, because it also causes abortions in elk and bison. The plan is currently in the discussion stage and will continue to be refined with input from government officials and other interested parties such as wildlife groups and area producers. The MFBF and MSGA are working hard to generate broad-based support for the initiative.
John Youngberg, MFBF vice president of governmental relations, in a meeting this week with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in Washington, D.C., explained the plan. "A good management plan must focus on all infected animals, both domesticated livestock and wildlife," he said. "We need to effectively manage the potential of bison and elk to infect domesticated livestock as well as manage the disease so it doesn't further proliferate among wildlife populations. By taking wildlife into consideration, our proposal will not only keep markets open for our producers, but it will also ensure wildlife will benefit in a way that will ultimately eradicate this awful disease." APHIS is responsible for zoonotic disease control in the U.S.
Although millions of dollars were spent, much of it by the livestock industry, to eradicate the disease in Montana's cattle herd in the mid-1980s, the reservoir of disease is still resident in GYA wildlife populations that move in and out of the park and across state boundaries. Until the disease is eliminated in wildlife, it will continue to be a threat to both wildlife and domestic livestock.
