Pearce to Host Lesser Prairie Chicken Town Halls

Washington, DC (April 14, 2014)—Congressman Steve Pearce announced today that he would host town halls for local citizens to meet face-to-face with and ask questions of federal officials regarding the impact of the lesser prairie chicken listing. Representatives from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Land Management have been invited to attend. The town halls will be held on the following dates:

• April 14, 1 PM at the Lovington Chamber of Commerce, 201 S Main Ave
• April 15, 1 PM at the Roswell Chamber of Commerce, 131 W 2nd St
• April 16, 10 AM at the Portales Chamber of Commerce, 100 S Ave A

“I encourage all residents affected by the lesser prairie chicken listing to attend one of these town hall meetings,” Pearce said. “You have a right to ask government officials why they made the decisions they made. Their choices affect your right to farm your land, graze your cattle, or continue the energy boom that’s created so many good-paying jobs throughout Southeastern New Mexico. Federal officials owe New Mexicans an explanation for why their extraordinary cooperative efforts to preserve lesser prairie chicken habitat were not good enough.”

Late, Dry Spring Threatens Expansion

Wes Ishmael
Beef Online

When Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock marketing specialist, looks at the current U.S. drought map, he sees too much red and brown.

“According to the latest Drought Monitor, five states among the top 10 beef cattle states have the largest areas (percent of state area) of marginal drought conditions (D1 and D2 on the D0 to D4 scale), including Iowa (57%); Kansas (85%); Nebraska (61%); Oklahoma (54%); and Texas (39%),” Peel explains in his weekly market comments. “With the exception of Iowa, all of these states showed strong indications of herd expansion with significant increases in beef replacement heifers on Jan. 1… These four states accounted for 31% of the U.S. beef cowherd on Jan. 1, and the ability of these states to maintain herd expansion plans will likely determine the overall impact on the U.S. beef cow inventory in 2014.”

Unfortunately, Peel points out the current weather outlooks expect drought to persist into the summer from southwest Kansas to areas south and west. That includes western Oklahoma, West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, California and Oregon.

“These last six states accounted for nearly 8% of beef cows on Jan. 1, 2014,” Peel says. “An El Niño is forecast to develop this summer or fall, which will likely bring some relief to much of this region but perhaps not soon enough to avoid additional liquidation in the first half of 2014.”

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Conversely, other parts of the country anticipate improving moisture conditions, although forage has been delayed by the long, frigid winter.

“If current forecasts are realized, improved conditions in the central Great Plains and eastern Southern Plains may be enough to support limited beef cowherd expansion in 2014,” Peel says. “However, conditions in this region will likely either improve or deteriorate with typical warm and windy spring weather in the next few weeks. Forage and water supplies will tighten rapidly and soon without moisture. Failure to sustain herd expansion plans in the Central and Southern Plains will result in no growth or more herd liquidation for the entire country in 2014. The next few weeks will be critical in these states and has implications for the entire beef cattle industry.”

Say ‘adios’ to La Nada

Angela Bowman, Staff Writer | Updated: 04/09/2014

There’s a 70 percent chance El Niño will return to the United States this year, and early data suggests it could warming up to be a mighty one.
“We have above-normal temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean and that often precedes an El Niño because there’s a large volume of above-average water temperature below the surface of the ocean,” Anthony Barnston, chief forecaster for the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, told ABC News. “Volume often tends to come up to the surface; often, but not always.”
“That’s the uncertainty,” Barnston adds. “It’s more likely to rise than not.”
Barnston suggests El Niño will likely El Niño between April and June and last until the start of 2015.
Globally, the return of El Niño could make 2014 the warmest year on record, with billions of dollars in losses for food crops. It could also increase drought in Indonesia and ignite more wildfires in Australia.
Domestically, however, El Niño could bring a wetter-than-normal season on the West Coast and in the South. Though it would be welcomed relief from the current drought conditions plaguing these areas, it could also lead to flooding and mudslides.
Read, “2014 El Niño Warming Up to Be a Mighty One?”
The last big El Niño event was 1997-1998, which ended up causing $3 billion in agricultural damage. Read more here.
In early March, federal forecasters issued an “El Niño watch,” indicating a 50 percent chance El Niño would develop this summer or fall.

Two More Countries Lift BSE-Related Bans On U.S. Beef

Joe Schuele, U.S. Meat Export Federation
Beef Magazine Online


In March, two trading partners agreed to resume imports of U.S. beef for the first time since December 2003. Ecuador and Sri Lanka were among a handful of nations that had never reopened after the first U.S. case of BSE, but both are now accepting U.S. beef.
Ecuador offers strong potential for U.S. beef offal sales
Exports to Ecuador face very few restrictions, with muscle cuts and offal items from cattle of all ages now eligible.
“That’s a huge bonus in a market where we expect to export a significant volume of offal products,” says Cheyenne Dixon, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) technical services manager.
The only significant constraint involves beef derived from cattle imported from Canada, in which case the animal must be in the U.S. for 60 days prior to slaughter.
“We hope this restriction is temporary, and it is a point on which the U.S. and Ecuadorian governments continue to negotiate,” Dixon explains. “But products derived from all domestic cattle are eligible, as well as beef from cattle imported from Mexico.”
In addition to providing high-quality beef cuts for Ecuador’s hotel and restaurant sectors, USMEF expects U.S. exporters to find success with variety meat items such as beef tripe, livers and hearts. Two introductory seminars for Ecuadorian importers are planned later this month – one in the capital city of Quito and one in Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil.
According to the Global Trade Atlas, Ecuador imported 1,006 metric tons (mt) of beef last year at a value of $4.5 million – down about 10% from 2012. Chile was Ecuador’s leading beef supplier, followed by Uruguay.

Sri Lanka's tourism push offers potential for U.S. beef products
Located off the southeastern coast of India, Sri Lanka was plagued by civil war and ongoing political conflict until 2009. The country was also devastated by a deadly tsunami in 2004. But recently, Sri Lankans have enjoyed a much more peaceful existence, which has led to economic growth and a revitalized tourism sector.
“Sri Lanka has ambitious plans to make it onto the ‘A list’ of Asian tourist destinations, in line with Bali (Indonesia) and several locations in Thailand,” says Joel Haggard, USMEF senior vice president for the Asia Pacific.
Haggard also notes that the capital city of Colombo, which has a greater-metropolitan population of approximately 1.5 million people, has several modern supermarket chains that currently rely mostly on domestic products.
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“Sri Lanka’s retail sector is expanding rapidly and there are certainly growth opportunities there for U.S. beef,” Haggard says.
Recently a group of veterinary officials from Sri Lanka’s Central Department of Animal Production and Health received an in-depth look at the U.S. beef industry as part of the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service’s Cochran Fellowship Program. Tiskumarage Aruni Tiskumara, DVM, who headed the delegation, expressed confidence in the safety and quality of U.S. beef.
“We had good exposure to all of the systems the U.S. beef industry has adopted,” she explains. “We are quite satisfied with the processing regulations and with the biosecurity aspects as well.”
Tiskumara noted that the “negligible risk” designation for BSE from the World Organization for Animal Health, which the U.S. received in May 2013, was a key factor in Sri Lanka’s decision to reopen the market.
“Until the U.S. achieved negligible risk status, we were not interested in U.S. beef,” she said. “But now that you have the negligible risk designation, technically there is no reason why we should not import beef from the U.S.A.”
Sri Lanka is also open to U.S. beef from cattle of all ages. Last year, Sri Lanka imported 74 mt of beef – mostly from Australia – valued at about $400,000.
Markets that remain closed to U.S. beef due to BSE include China, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Morocco, Israel and South Africa. Saudi Arabia reopened to U.S. beef in 2004, but suspended imports after a BSE case was detected in California in April 2012.
Joe Schuele is communications director for the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

States File Suit Against FWS for Lesser Prairie Chicken ESA Designation

Janell Baum for Beef Producer
BEEF ONLINE

Kansas and North Dakota are the latest states to join a three-state lawsuit brought by Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt challenging the process by which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided to list the lesser prairie chicken as threatened.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt formally filed papers for Kansas to join the suit last week; North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has also joined.
Schmidt says the suit challenges the use of a process often called "sue and settle," by which private interest groups can sue federal agencies and then enter into consent decrees that compel the agencies the take certain actions.
One of those so-called "citizen suits" led to the federal court order that ultimately forced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make the March 27 decision that listed the lesser prairie chicken as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, Schmidt claims.

To read more about the lawsuit, click here.

Sign-up date for farmer and rancher disaster assistance programs

USDA | Updated: 04/07/2014

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that farmers and ranchers can sign-up for disaster assistance programs, reestablished and strengthened by the 2014 Farm Bill, beginning Tuesday, April 15, 2014. Quick implementation of the programs has been a top priority for USDA.
"These programs will provide long-awaited disaster relief for many livestock producers who have endured significant financial hardship from weather-related disasters while the programs were expired and awaiting Congressional action," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "President Obama and I prioritized the implementation of these disaster assistance programs now that the Farm Bill has restored and strengthened them."
The Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) and the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) will provide payments to eligible producers for livestock deaths and grazing losses that have occurred since the expiration of the livestock disaster assistance programs in 2011, and including calendar years 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Enrollment also begins on April 15 for producers with losses covered by the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) and the Tree Assistance Program (TAP).

• LIP provides compensation to eligible livestock producers that have suffered livestock death losses in excess of normal mortality due to adverse weather. Eligible livestock includes beef cattle, dairy cattle, bison, poultry, sheep, swine, horses, and other livestock as determined by the Secretary.
• LFP provides compensation to eligible livestock producers that have suffered grazing losses due to drought or fire on publicly managed land. An eligible livestock producer must own, cash lease, or be a contract grower of eligible livestock during the 60 calendar days before the beginning date of the qualifying drought or fire in a county that is rated by the U.S. Drought Monitor as D2, D3, or D4.
• ELAP provides emergency assistance to eligible producers of livestock, honeybees and farm-raised fish that have losses due to disease, adverse weather, or other conditions, such as blizzards and wildfires, as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture.
• TAP provides financial assistance to qualifying orchardists and nursery tree growers to replant or rehabilitate eligible trees, bushes and vines damaged by natural disasters.

USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) employees have worked exceptionally hard over the past two months to ensure eligible farmers and ranchers would be able to enroll to receive disaster relief on April 15.
To expedite applications, all producers who experienced losses are encouraged to collect records documenting these losses in preparation for the enrollment in these disaster assistance programs. Information on the types of records necessary can be provided by local FSA county offices. Producers also are encouraged to contact their county office ahead of time to schedule an appointment.
For more information, producers may review the 2014 Farm Bill Fact Sheet, ELAP and TAP fact sheets online, or visit any local FSA office or USDA Service Center.

Establishing Native Grass