Friday 24 May 2013
May is Beef Month and I, for one, am ready. May is the month when people fire up their grills. May is the time when demand for those steaks and burgers snaps out of the winter doldrums with people venturing outside to take advantage of the renewal of spring. For those in agriculture, May also marks the beginning of a new growing season and the prospects of a renewed and hopefully more abundant feed supply. Here at ISU, record numbers of agricultural students will walk across the graduation stage, pack their bags and head off to a new life and career. May is a month of change and a month of new beginnings.
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At first glance, the life of the herd bull looks pretty easy. Work 2-3 months of the year and get the rest of the year for rest and relaxation. However, things aren’t quite that simple. The bull’s year should be thought of as three seasons: 1) Pre-breeding and conditioning for at least 2 months; 2) Breeding season for 2-3 months; and 3) Post breeding recovery for 4-8 months.
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It sprang to life selling patent medicines in post Civil War Atlanta, then grew into the quintessential American corporation selling soft drinks to the world. And so we ask…
What is the secret in Coca-Cola’s secret formula?
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If you want an objective view of energy, ask an economist, who can tell you what to expect to pay at the pump in the coming years, and why, as well as what to expect from medium- and long-term economic growth and what the real drivers will be. These are questions that are crucial to a pending decision by the US government over natural gas exports, and while we know where big oil stands versus its manufacturing rivals—it's the economist who can set things straight.
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Placements in feedlots during April totaled 1.75 million, 15 percent above 2012 and in line with analysts' expectations, which ranged from an increase of about 5 percent to 22 percent above last year's levels.
Net placements in March were 1.68 million head, USDA said Friday.
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OAK BROOK, Ill., May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Yesterday, McDonald's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.77 per share of common stock payable on June 17, 2013 to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 3, 2013.
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Scottsbluff City Council in Nebraska is due to discuss an application by Future Food Energy to build a meat processing plant in the town
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Last week wholesale beef prices hit $208.18 per hundredweight, the fourth record level in two weeks as pent-up demand from a delayed grilling season met concerns about future beef supplies. Analysts contacted by Meatingplace expect more records ahead
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Fans of Oscar Mayer and the brand’s “Grandpa Frank” TV ad character can create, direct and star in their own video commercials as the result of a unique collaboration with a mobile application called Montaj.
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National Hog Farmer has been following the developing story behind the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) multiple disclosures to anti-agriculture activist organizations of thousands of records including the personal information of agriculture producers.
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Thursday 23 May 2013
Minneapolis-based Bellisio Foods, the country's third-largest producer of frozen entrées, announced Wednesday it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Overhill Farms, which also makes prepared frozen foods.
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2011 is the most recent year for statistics on the growth of the organic industry worldwide, but here's an update.
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House of Raeford will close its turkey slaughter facility in Raeford, N.C., in July.
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Back in 2009, voters in Ohio created the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board. This board, after careful study by a diverse group of livestock representatives and consumers, established standards for Ohio livestock care that are being followed by producers.
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The world's largest retailer saw its profits grow by 1% in the first quarter, narrowly missed Wall St. predictions.
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US farmers may end up achieving record-fast corn plantings this week thanks to a break in the rains which have dramatically slowed sowings – seeding an area potentially twice the size of Austria.
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Among the health benefits of beef, a well-chewed steak is good for your teeth and gums, and one nutrient even protects tooth enamel and bones.
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The rise in prices for agricultural land slowed somewhat to start the year in parts of the U.S. Farm Belt, new reports showed, signaling a boom in land values might be moderating as commodity prices cool and incomes for farmers are expected to weaken.
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A new report from Technomic Inc.’s MenuMonitor service supported the notion gleaned from several new-product introductions and tests at major quick-service chains that breakfast sandwiches continue to rise in popularity.
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ConAgra Foods in Waterloo is the city's first plant facility to be named a Blue Zones Worksite.
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Macroeconomic trends are pushing the geographic center of the domestic cattle herd to the North and West, and with overcapacity in the traditional packer strongholds in the Southern Great Plains, the next year or so may see more plants shut down in that region, says Glynn Tonsor, assistant professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University.
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Less-than-ideal yet drier weather this week allowed U.S. farmers to begin catching up their corn planting pace that had fallen to a record low when the week began, an agricultural meteorologist said on Friday.
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Federal Reserve officials are deeply engaged in debating when to begin dialing back an $85 billion-a-month bond buying program, but don't appear near consensus on when to pull the trigger.
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US farmers may end up achieving record-fast corn plantings this week thanks to a break in the rains which have dramatically slowed sowings – seeding an area potentially twice the size of Austria.
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Kroger Co. is still shopping for acquisitions, but it’s pretty picky about what it buys.
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Total U.S. red meat and poultry production in 2014 is projected to be above 2013 as higher pork and poultry production more than offsets declines in beef production, according to USDA’s latest World Supply and Demand Estimates report.
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If you are not left wing by the age od 18 you have no balls, if you are not right wing by the age of 25 you have no brains.
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Gwaltney unveiled a redesigned logo and new packaging for its line of hot dogs, bologna, lunchmeats, sausage and bacon products — the first redesign in more than 20 years, according to the company.
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The organic food industry is likely to get a checkoff in the next farm bill.
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Applegate Farms has reduced the amount of packaging in its organic bacon items by 37 percent. The 37 percent reduction in plastic is due to reduced packaging size and packaging weight.
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Smithfield Foods Inc. named the Milan, Missouri, plant in its Farmland subsidiary as the third hog plant the company will convert to slaughtering only hogs that have been fed ractopamine-free feed rations as part of its effort to serve export markets where the additive is banned.
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Smithfield Foods will weather challenging market fundamentals on a path to long-term earnings growth, a Wall Street analyst said following a presentation by company Chief Executive C. Larry Pope to investors.
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A House Energy and Power Subcommittee hearing Thursday was supposed to focus on the EPA's proposed 2014 budget, but Republicans on the committee used the occasion to also make connections between EPA and the current scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service's treatment of conservative groups.
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A voice vote in the U.S. House Agriculture Committee this week amended the House version of the farm bill to prohibit states from enacting laws that place conditions on the means of production for agricultural goods that are sold within its own borders but are produced in other states.
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President Obama fired acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller on Wednesday, two days after claiming it was an "independent" agency.
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Consumers bought beef, pork and poultry less frequently in 2012 than they did in 2007, fewer people are willing to pay a premium for branded product than they were before the Great Recession hit, and those who are willing to pay more are placing a premium on taste.
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High-speed traders are using a hidden facet of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's CME +0.03% computer system to trade on the direction of the futures market before other investors get the same information.
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The Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates (ROFDA) here, a cooperative of independent food wholesalers, announced it is adopting track-and-trace technology from ReposiTrak, owned jointly by international food safety consultant Leavitt Partners and retail technology provider Park City Group, Salt Lake City.
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Tyson Foods has created an independent Farm Animal Well-Being Advisory Panel for its FarmCheck program, the company announced Thursday.
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The Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (FSIS) enforcement policies do not deter swine slaughter plants from becoming repeat violators of the Federal Meat Inspection Act, according to a new report by the Office of the Inspector General.
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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT), the world’s largest retailer, reported on Thursday morning $3.78 billion in profit, or $1.14 a share, in its first quarter ending in April, versus $3.74 billion in profit, or $1.09 a share in the same period last year.
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Whole Foods Markets, in celebration of Animal Welfare Week, is launching a program that will help consumers connect the flavor of meat products with the way they are raised. And Smithfield, the world’s leading producer of pork, is reportedly moving to eliminate ractopamine, a controversial chemical from up to 50% of its hogs.
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Wednesday 22 May 2013
Farmland values in the U.S. Plains states rose 20 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, with acreage commanding record prices because of red-hot demand for cropland in the world's biggest food exporter, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said on Wednesday.
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Chuck Storm of Mitchell, one of the shareholders in a new 5,000-head sow farm near Mount Vernon, S.D., said at an open house earlier this month that the model used in the operation is simply “modern pork production.”
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Wendy’s has a 99-cent problem, but it is not the complaint commonly heard in quick service that the brand’s value menu has too big a share of its sales.
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Ohio State University's agricultural research arm has spun out its first company into the related BioHio Research Park to produce diagnostic tools and vaccines that fight poultry and livestock diseases.
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Premium Standard Farms, a unit of Smithfield Foods’ hog production subsidiary, Murphy-Brown, announced it has changed its name to Murphy-Brown of Missouri, LLC, effective immediately.
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Omtron USA, which was being sued by chicken farmers prior to the company’s bankruptcy filing, has now turned the tables and filed a suit against the farmers.
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THE US DEPARTMENT of Agriculture (USDA) is forecasting a record global wheat crop this year, with a rise in plantings across the globe, but this bearish news had not brought back wheat prices in the past week.
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The AgGag lwas have bugger all to do with food safety you arsehole Seth
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Here are five nutrients that are very important for brain function and are only found in animal foods like meat, fish and eggs.
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Corn planting is substantially behind schedule but a good-weather window is opening, which is keeping prices lower.
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Burger King on Thursday will unveil its 2013 summer menu plans, highlighted by a new, limited-time BK Rib Sandwich, which is boneless like McRib — has a tangy sauce and comes with sweet bread and butter pickles. It will be sold nationally beginning May 21.
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Omaha-based ConAgra Foods will continue its effort to scale back the sodium in its products despite recent studies that challenge current government guidelines for a low-sodium diet.
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Plumrose USA has notified 100 workers at its deli meat slicing facility in Booneville, Miss., that they are losing their jobs. The remaining 320 workers will continue operations at the plant, Plumrose Chief Operating Officer Mike Rozzano confirmed to Meatingplace.
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Record-large U.S. corn and soybean crops will end three years of punishingly tight domestic supplies, the government said on Friday in a report that offered the brightest outlook in years for world food supplies.
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Some restaurant operators are scaling back expansion plans because of uncertainty about the expense of insuring employees under the new federal health-care law.
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Smithfield Foods Inc, the world's largest pork producer, said on Tuesday it will soon raise half of its hogs on feed that does not contain the additive ractopamine, a lean muscle promoting drug that has been banned in China and Russia.
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An influential government panel said there is no evidence that very low-salt diets prevent heart disease, calling into question current national dietary guidelines on sodium intake.
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