NEWSLINE

Web-based calculator helps
control animal-housing energy
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns in November unveiled a Web-based energy-awareness tool designed to help agricultural producers reduce energy costs related to animal housing. The "Energy Estimator for Animal Housing" evaluates the energy use and costs associated with heating, lighting and ventilating poultry, swine and dairy housing. This is the fourth energy estimator tool USDA has developed as part of its overall energy strategy to reduce the impacts of high energy costs and to help develop long-term solutions for producers.

"A good analysis of the use and costs for heating, lighting and ventilating animal housing contributes to a comprehensive picture of how energy is used on the farm or ranch," Johanns said. "This tool can result in significant energy and cost savings for producers if they take the appropriate actions."

Producers with animal-feeding operations can save up to $250 million annually nationwide by regularly maintaining their ventilation and heating systems and using more energy-efficient fixtures and equipment. Individual producers may realize up to 50 percent savings in energy use by maintaining their ventilation and heating equipment regularly.

The energy estimator has three components—one each for poultry, swine and dairy—that operate independently. Producers should use the estimator for guidance rather than as a sole source for decisionmaking. It evaluates alternatives based on producer input, but does not offer site-specific recommendations. It does not estimate the cost of implementing recommended practices.

USDA recommends that producers take their animal housing energy analysis to their local USDA Service Center, Cooperative Extension office or rural electric cooperative for more field-specific assistance. For additional information, visit: http://ahat.sc.egov.usda.gov.

TFC: Animal health ‘in the bag’
Taking its inspiration from ice cream packaging, Tennessee Farmers Cooperative (TFC) has produced and distributed 50,000 insulated bags as part of a campaign to help ensure that animal health products are safely transported from the co-op to the farm. The bags, which are padded and insulated to protect products from light, heat and cold, are being given to farmers when they purchase livestock vaccines and other animal health items requiring refrigeration at co-op stores throughout TFC’s statewide system.

For years, beef-production experts have been preaching the importance of the proper handling of animal health products that require refrigeration. If the medicine gets too cold or warm, its effectiveness can be compromised. The results are huge, industry-wide losses due to vaccine replacement, added veterinary costs and unnecessary tissue damage.

“The beauty of the bag is that it really kills three birds with one stone,” says John Houston, manager of TFC’s Animal Health Department, who coordinated production of the bags. “It is insulated to keep products requiring refrigeration at the proper temperature; it is made of a reflective material that prevents sunlight from reaching the product, which can decrease its effectiveness; and, perhaps most importantly, it has Beef Quality Assurance [BQA] vaccination guidelines printed on the outside.”

Houston says these guidelines—which include a diagram illustrating the proper injection sites and recommendations on needle size, vaccine and antibiotic storage, and syringe use—will go a long way toward reducing monetary losses attributed to the tissue damage that often results from improper vaccinations.

The idea for the bag originated with Dr. Clyde Lane, a University of Tennessee professor of animal science and state coordinator of Tennessee’s BQA program, who says he was inspired by seeing a customer purchase a gallon of ice cream at a grocery store checkout lane.

PCCA’s Darneille to lead
International Cotton Association
Plains Cotton Cooperative Association (PCCA) President and CEO Wally Darneille was elected president of the International Cotton Association (ICA) during its annual meeting in Liverpool, England. He is the first American to serve in that position.

“Wally’s term as ICA president in 2006-07 comes at an important time for PCCA and our members,” says PCCA Chairman Eddie Smith, a cotton producer from Floydada, Texas. “His service to the organization will increase the visibility of PCCA and our members’ cotton throughout the world textile industry at a time when the volume of our export sales continues to increase.”

Formerly known as the Liverpool Cotton Association and established more than 160 years ago, ICA represents almost all cotton growing and consuming countries.

Darneille was elected to ICA’s board of directors in 1997 and served as chairman of its rules committee before becoming first vice president in December 2005. About two-thirds of the world’s cotton exports are traded under ICA rules and arbitration, which date back to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, when Liverpool and Manchester were the center of the world’s cotton trade. The rules provide a framework for contracting and for the resolution of disputes.

ICA also provides testing services and conducts seminars in Liverpool and throughout the world regarding trade rules, practices and new developments.

Record sales year for
Accelerated Genetics
Accelerated Genetics Co-op set new sales records in 2006, with sales of $37.4 million, up $3.3 million above the prior year’s record results. At the same time, the cooperative reports that its balance sheet grew in strength and cash-flow improved, allowing the co-op to pay off remaining debt early in the fiscal year.

Semen unit sales exceeded 4 million units, a 7-percent jump. Beef sales also set a record, with domestic sales growth of nearly 16 percent. In addition, farmproduct sales remained strong at $8.6 million.

“As the year progressed, challenges arose as a result of declining milk prices,” said Roger Ripley, president and CEO. “However, due to a strong start to the fiscal year, outstanding proofs in all breeds and excitement from developing technologies, we were able to maintain and finish another record year.”

Facility needs have been a priority as part of the cooperative’s long-range planning. During the past year, the coop’s main production laboratory, in Westby, Wis., was remodeled. Additionally, construction is underway on a semen warehouse and embryo lab, which will be adjacent to “The Palace,” where the co-op’s most popular bulls are housed.

“The need for a new warehouse and lab became evident during this year to accommodate the consistent growth we’ve been experiencing, as well as anticipated growth in this decade,” Ripley said.

Humboldt Creamery
launches organic milk
Humboldt Creamery is launching an organic line of milk. Creamery officials said the cool, coastal valleys where Humboldt Creamery’s dairy farms are located produce lush, fertile pastures where the cows are free to graze yearround in a natural environment ideal for organic milk production.

None of Humboldt Creamery’s member dairies use the growth hormone rBST, and more than half have gone completely organic. “All of our organic dairies have also been ‘Free-Farmed Certified’ by the American Humane Association,” Ralph Giannini, the dairy co-op’s sales manager, told the Eureka Reporter. “So organic milk not only gives peace of mind for our consumers, it also means ideal conditions for our dairy cows.”

Humboldt Creamery has been producing organic dairy products for years. The dairy cooperative is the nation’s leading producer of powered organic milk. Its new line of organic ice cream is already on grocery freezer shelves.

Nationally, consumers are embracing organic milk, the sale of which increased 25 percent last year, even as overall milk consumption decreased 8 percent.

Humboldt Creamery is a co-op of 62 member dairies originally formed in 1929.

Florida's Natural introduces
organic juice products
Florida's Natural Growers has launched "Earth's Own Organics" refrigerated juices. The line of blended, not-from-concentrate juices carries the USDA seal for organic products. The juices are packed using the co-op’s patented, one-liter-quick-chill process, which ensures a long shelf life with the freshest flavor.

"These blended flavors are the first not-from-concentrate refrigerated juices that are also organic with an extended shelf life," says Walt Lincer, vice president of sales and marketing. Organic products are the fastest growing category in retail grocery.

Flavors available include: orange/mango, orange/peach, apple/peach, apple/cranberry and a 15-percent not-from-concentrate premium lemonade.

Florida's Natural Growers is comprised of 12 grower organizations representing more than 1,100 individual growers with 60,000 acres of citrus in Florida. The Lake Wales processing facility employs over 700 people and can extract more than 10 million pounds of fruit every 24 hours in peak season.

Pilgrim's Pride to pay
$1.1 billion for Gold Kist
Atlanta-based Gold Kist has agreed to a $1.1 billion takeover by Pilgrim's Pride Corp., according to a December report in the Atlanta Constitution Journal. Gold Kist investors will get $21 a share, $1 per share more than an earlier offer, the companies announced. The deal will create the world's largest chicken company in terms of production, displacing Tyson Foods.

Pilgrim's Pride has said previously that it would not close facilities or lay workers off after a merger. Gold Kist's Chairman A.D. Frazier said in a news release announcing the deal that "after careful consideration" a special committee of independent directors as well as the whole board "determined that the Pilgrim's Pride enhanced offer is in the best interests of our shareholders, employees, growers and customers. We look forward to working with the Pilgrim's Pride board and management on a smooth integration, and we recommend that all stockholders embrace this transaction by tendering their shares."

Gold Kist was once America’s largest poultry co-op, prior to converting to an investor-owned corporation.

GROWMARK to market
BMI soy-based biodiesel
GROWMARK Inc. has signed an agreement to market the majority of the soy-based biodiesel to be manufactured by BioFuels Manufacturing Illinois (BMI) Inc.’s proposed Peoria, Ill., plant. BMI, a minority-owned company based in Normal, Ill., plans to construct a 45-million-gallon-per-year operation using soybean oil as its primary feedstock.

Capital costs for the facility, which are projected at $35 million, will be financed through equity and debt. Construction is scheduled to be completed in late 2007. At full capacity, BMI will be using the production from nearly 1 million acres of Illinois soybeans annually.

The proposed plant will be located on a 10-acre site in an industrial park just west of Peoria. Initial plans call for the plant to expand to 120 million gallons within five years. GROWMARK’s B100 biodiesel sales increased from 9 million gallons in 2005 to more than 13.5 million gallons in 2006. At a B2 equivalent, this represents nearly 700 million blended gallons.

“The GROWMARK system has been marketing renewable fuels for nearly 30 years, including biodiesel for the past six years,” says Shelly Kruse, GROWMARK Energy Division manager. “This venture reaffirms our commitment to renewable fuels, and helps ensure that we will have a reliable supply of quality biodiesel for our members and partners as we collectively work to meet the growing demand in the marketplace.”

Iowa, Minn., co-op elevators merging
Citing higher efficiency and positioning to meet future ethanol grain needs, two North Iowa-based cooperative elevators have merged into a new company called Progressive Ag Cooperative. According to a report in the Mason City Globe Gazette, Northwood Cooperative Elevator, with plants in Carpenter, Iowa, Glenville, Minn., London, Minn. and Myrtle, Minn., officially joined with Farmers Cooperative Co., which has plants in Manly and Grafton, Iowa. Northwood will be headquarters for the company.

Nearly 80 percent of the members approved the merger in a September vote. Osage Cooperative Elevator declined to be part of the merger, with shareholders turning back participation with less than 60 percent approval, according to the Globe Gazette.

The merger affects about 40 employees. No changes in staffing have been announced. The plants store and merchandise grain, offer agronomy services and manufacture fertilizer at the Glenville plant. The merger “helps us with efficiencies, as we face the growth of ethanol plants,” General Manager Warren Fisk said.

Lukiewski to lead Welch’s
Welch’s has named David J. Lukiewski to succeed Daniel P. Dillon (see related article, page 17) as its new president and chief executive officer. Lukiewski also succeeds Dillon as one of the two Welch’s executives on the 10-member Welch’s board.

Lukiewski joined Welch’s in 1995 as vice president of sales, a position he held until 2000 when he was named senior vice president of sales. In 2003 he was appointed senior vice president of global sales and marketing, the position he held before being named president and CEO. Lukiewski is the 13th president of Welch’s, the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of Concord and Niagara grape-based products. The company was founded by Dr. Thomas B. Welch in 1869.

During his tenure as senior vice president, Lukiewski led Welch’s corporate domestic sales and marketing and international organizations with responsibility for all customer and consumer activities. He helped to accelerate international market roll-outs in China, Mexico and the United Kingdom while introducing a number of new products and successfully refocusing the company’s marketing efforts on its core business: purple grape juice made from Concord grapes. Those efforts and others have led to a 40-percent increase in sales volume since Lukiewski joined the company in 1995.

Prior to joining Welch’s, Lukiewski held positions at Reckitt & Colman, a manufacturer and marketer of consumer products, and Johnson & Johnson, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.

He graduated from the University of Scranton (Pa.) with a B.A. degree and received his M.B.A. from the Kotz Graduate School of Management, now affiliated with St. Thomas University in St. Paul., Minn. He is a native of Scranton, Pa., and currently resides in Westford, Mass.

ITC finds dumping injures
U.S. lemon juice industry
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) voted unanimously in November to continue an investigation of dumping allegations, by ruling preliminarily that U.S. lemon juice producers have been materially injured by Argentine and Mexican imports. The decision was made in response to a petition filed in September by Sunkist Growers Inc. and supported by Ventura Processing, requesting that anti-dumping duties be levied to offset what some producers consider to be the unfair prices offered by Argentine and Mexican processors in the U.S. market the past three years.

“We are very pleased that all the commissioners voted to move forward with this investigation,” says Tim Lindgren, Sunkist president and CEO. “The U.S. has simply been flooded with unfairly priced juice in recent years, disrupting the market and making it very difficult to earn a reasonable return. A thorough investigation is warranted by both the Trade Commission and the Commerce Department.”

Both the ITC and the U.S. Dept. of Commerce will continue the investigation, with a preliminary determination of dumping scheduled for February 28. If affirmative, this decision may impose an anti-dumping tariff on imports from those countries, which should strengthen the bulk price for juice in the United States. Given the limited volume of lemon juice that is used in making beverages, any additional duty is very unlikely to be felt by the consumer at the checkout counter, but it will help domestic processing remain a viable user of domestic lemons, according to Sunkist.

USDA providing $210 million for
rural broadband, telecom

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner announced in late October that broadband and telecommunications loans of almost $210 million are being awarded to communications firms in four states. The funds, provided through two USDA Rural Development programs, will allow for the extension of new and improved telecommunications services to more than 40,000 residential and business subscribers.

"Providing state-of-the-art communications service in rural areas not only allows for improved access to educational services, it promotes the development of business ventures and increased job opportunities," said Conner. "This is part of the President's commitment to make quality communications services available to the residents of rural America."

These loans will be used to: USDA Rural Development’s telecommunications loan program—consisting of hardship, cost-of-money and guaranteed loans—finances voice telephone service. Since 1995, every telephone line this program has constructed has been capable of providing broadband service using digital subscriber loop (DSL) technology. Further information on rural programs is available at: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov.





January/February Table of Contents