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Reporting to you from Central Equatoria State, South Sudan Africa …
I have just returned from Morobo County, in the Central Equatoria state of South Sudan. It is in the Greenbelt, which is so named because of the usual rainfall, beginning in March and ending about October. As of this writing we are in the dry season, November through February.
Late last year, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-New York), ranking member of the House Rules Committee, hosted a briefing where farmers and successful businesses extolled the benefits of tapping into the growing domestic and international demand for antibiotic-free meat.
Slaughter is the author of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) legislation to ensure we preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics for the treatment of human disease.
She was joined by a panel made up of Steve Ells, chairman and CEO, Chipotle Grill; Stephen McDonnell, CEO, Applegate Farms; Russ Kremer, co-founder and president, Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative; and Paul Willis, manager and founder, Niman Ranch Pork Company, a network of more than 676 independent sustainable farms.
A Kansas dairy recently began a new milk marketing contract to exclusively sell all of its milk to Dannon.
During the first quarter of this year, McCarty Dairy, a fourth-generation, family-run operation in Kansas, will begin supplying all of its raw milk for Dannon’s Texas-based yogurt plant. The company operates two other U.S. yogurt processing plants in Utah and Ohio.
“We were looking for a like-minded customer that would promote growth and milk quality on our farm.
A Vermont Senate committee is considering a bill that would create a farm guest worker program to allow the estimated 1,500 to 2,000 immigrant workers on Vermont dairy farms.
The bill would create a state identification for the workers and a registry of those workers that would allow them to be eligible for state services.
The following excerpt is from Todd Janzen’s blog. Janzen is an attorney and partner at the law firm of Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP. http://janzenlaw.blogspot.com/
I thought it would be helpful to spend a few minutes looking back at the Top 5 Indiana ag stories from 2011:
1. Major CAFO ruling against the EPA.
In March, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decided National Pork Producers Council v. EPA. The case was a landmark decision affecting the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
2. Indiana implements animal care standards.
The Indiana Board of Animal Health (BOAH) adopted new animal care standards for Indiana farmers.
3. New confined feeding operation regulations.
November brought new regulations for confined feeding operations (CFOs) in Indiana. Among the many new provisions that are controversial are prohibitions against manure application on frozen or snow-covered ground.
4. Continued tension between EPA and American agriculture.
Nearly everyone by now has heard about the EPA’s involvement in the Chesapeake Bay area. But the EPA’s regulators were also busy outside of the bay area, imposing fines on Midwestern CAFOs.5. New child labor restrictions shock the ag community.
When the Department of Labor rolled out new proposed restrictions on child labor, it faced a firestorm of criticism from farmers and ag industry groups. PD
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We’re staying busy here at Progressive Dairyman. The magazine continues to grow, and we attribute that success to your loyal readership.
I often view a deadline to deliver our magazine to the printer every three weeks like I did a project deadline in grade school. This magazine is the result of our reporting over the past three weeks and often many of the articles have been in the works for much longer.
Whenever I see a squad car in the distance, my first reaction is usually to tap my brakes. Mainly, it’s because I’m speeding, but also because it’s a force of habit. And as much as I dread getting pulled over, I’m actually a pretty big fan of police officers.
Just like the majority of the people who respect and obey the laws of the land, I have no reason to fear or avoid the police. Their job is to enforce our laws and protect the people within their jurisdiction.
But what happens when they don’t or can’t?
On Nov. 3, Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry, held a public hearing to review the implementation of Phase II of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Watershed Implementation Plans (WIP) and their impact on states and rural communities.
The implementation of the TMDL is complex and far-reaching, affecting communities in six states and the District of Columbia. States are now in the second phase of a three-part process to limit discharge into the bay and several of them have raised concerns about the cost and the regulatory burden they face in meeting the new limits.
A radio sits in the crux of two pipelines at the top of the parlor. It’s mostly tipped to its side and tentatively secured by a piece of baling twine. Dust clogs the speakers and the quality of the reception changes every time a cow walks past it on her way to the freestalls.
Reporting to you from South Sudan, Africa …
I am in Yambio, the capital city of Western Equatoria state. South Sudan, the 54th country in Africa and the newest country of the world, is divided into 10 states. I am assigned to three of them: the three southern states of Eastern, Central and Western Equatoria.
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