Robert Pore's Ag Blog

This year may set records for tornadoes and tornado-related deaths. “We’re only halfway through the tornado season and we have already seen 111 tornado-related deaths, making this the deadliest tornado season since 1998,” said Greg Carbin, a meteorologist at NOAA's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.

“It is only the third time since the 1974 super tornado outbreak that there have been more than 100 tornado-related deaths during a single tornado season in the U.S.,” added Harold Brooks, a research meteorologist at NOAA's National Severe Storms Labratory also in Norman. “In 1998 and 1984 there were 132 and 122 tornado-related deaths, respectively — 2008 will likely equal or exceed that record.”

Recent years averaged about 1,200 tornadoes and 60 tornado-related deaths reported annually across the United States. Most tornadoes occur from late winter to mid-summer, mostly in the Southeast in the early part of the season, followed by the Midwestern and Plains states in the later part of the season.

So why has this tornado season been so active? Meteorologists at NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center say this winter's and early spring’s unusually turbulent weather may be to blame.

"The storm track over the last three months was very active across the Rockies and into the East Coast. This active storm track lends itself to more severe weather events, including tornadoes," said Carbin. “In previous years, major storms happened every week or so, but we have had a major storm system affecting some part of the U.S. every three to four days through early spring.”

“Another contributing factor is this year’s early start to the season. A total of 87 tornadoes struck the Tennessee valley and Midwest over a 24 hour period starting on Feb. 5, resulting in a total of 56 deaths,” said Carbin. “This storm ranks as number 15 in terms of the number of fatalities since 1950. February will likely turn out to be a record setting month once all the tornado reports have been verified.”

The strong start to the tornado season should serve as a reminder to us all that tornadoes can strike anywhere at any time. The best defense is to monitor the news and listen toNOAA Weather Radio All Hazards for the latest weather updates. Be prepared to move to safety if weather conditions become threatening.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

The answer to the looming fuel crisis in the 21st century may be found by thinking small, microscopic in fact. Microscopic organisms from bacteria and cyanobacteria, to fungi to microalgae, are biological factories that are proving to efficient sources of inexpensive, environmentally friendly biofuels that can serve as alternatives to oil, according to research presented at the 108th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Boston.

When it comes to alternative fuels, currently ethanol is king. Almost all ethanol produced in the United States is fermented from readily available sugars in corn. Ethanol from corn has also come under much criticism lately, accused of being responsible for rising food prices.

Researchers are looking at alternate biomasses as food for microorganisms to ferment into ethanol. The most attractive are known as lignocellulosic biomass and include wood residues (including sawmill and paper mill discards), municipal paper waste, agricultural residues (including sugarcane bagasse) and dedicated energy crops (like switchgrass). The problem is, unlike corn, the sugars necessary for fermentation are trapped inside the lignocellulose.

Govind Nadathur and his colleagues at the University of Puerto Rico have been looking at unusual ecosystems and unusual organisms to find enzymes to help extract these sugars.

"Wood falls into the ocean. It disappears. What's eating this biomass? We found mollusks that eat the wood, with the help of bacteria in their stomachs that produce enzymes that break down the cellulose. We found something similar in termites," says Nadathur. They plan on using these enzymes as a key step in a closed, integrated system that would not only produce ethanol, but would also produce sugar, molasses, hibiscus flowers and biodiesel with a minimum of waste.

It all starts with sugar cane and hibiscus flowers, grown on local lands. These produce not only the obvious products such as refined sugar, molasses (which is used to make rum) and flowers, but also a large amount of waste in the form of biomass. Using the enzymes in their library, Nadathur and his colleagues could break down the biomass to sugars and ferment them to ethanol, trapping the carbon dioxide that is produced during fermentation. They then would feed the carbon dioxide to microalgae in ponds that would produce a polymer that could be refined into biodiesel or jet fuel. The spent microalgae could then be harvested and used as fertilizer for the next round of sugar cane and hibiscus, thereby closing the cycle.

"There used to be a booming sugarcane industry in Puerto Rico, but in the mid-1990s it died. It could not survive economically. By creating a closed-loop system that utilizes the waste to create additional products and feeds back upon itself, suddenly growing sugar cane becomes economically feasible again," says Nadathur.

They are currently working with a company called Sustainable Agrobiotech of Puerto Rico to build a pilot program which they hope to have running by early 2009. Should the pilot program prove successful, there is plenty of adjacent farmland to upscale.

Another promising biofuel is hydrogen. Already many car manufacturers are producing hydrogen concept cars and pilot programs using hydrogen-powered buses already are gaining acceptance in Los Angeles, with Burbank announcing the addition of a hydrogen-powered bus to its fleet in the summer of 2008. As more buses come online, there will be a greater need for hydrogen. Unfortunately, current chemical manufacturing processes for hydrogen are not that efficient or use fossil fuels as a source.

Sergei Markov of Austin Peay State University has developed a prototype bioreactor that uses the purple bacterium Rubrivivax gelatinosus to produce enough hydrogen to power a small motor.

"Certain purple bacteria, which usually grow in the mud of various ponds and lakes, have the ability to convert water and carbon monoxide into hydrogen gas (note: only a certain set could use CO). The problem was how to effectively supply each bacterial cell in a liquid bacterial soup with gaseous carbon monoxide," says Markov.

The answer was attaching the bacteria to numerous tiny hollow fibers inside an artificial kidney cartridge. Water and gasses can freely diffuse through the fibers, but bacteria, due to their large size, cannot. The hydrogen gas from a small fifty milliliter "artificial kidney bioreactor" has been directly injected into fuel cells and has produced enough electricity to power small motors and lamps. The only drawback is that carbon monoxide is not readily available , but Markov says it can be easily produced from biomass using a specific thermochemical process. There are also other bacteria that produce carbon monoxide.

One researcher and her lab, though, are investigating what could perhaps be considered the holy grail of hydrogen production: pure hydrogen from only water and sunlight, with a little bacterial help. Pin Ching Maness of the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado, is researching cyanobacteria that harness the power of the sun to break the bonds in water, separating the hydrogen from the oxygen. There is a problem. One of the hydrogenase enzymes the cyanobacteria uses in this process is sensitive to O2, which makes sustained hydrogen production extremely difficult.

Luckily a certain purple bacterium use a similar hydrogenase, but one that is tolerant to O2. Maness and her colleagues have identified the genes that the purple bacterium uses to produce the tolerant hydrogenase. They have also identified the genes a particular model cyanobacterium uses to produce the sensitive hydrogenase and have knocked it out. They are currently in the process of cloning the genes for the tolerant enzyme into the model cyanobacterium. The next step is to verify that the genes have been successfully incorporated into the genome and are expressed. Over the next few years additional research will need to be done to ensure all the requirements are there for the construction of an active hydrogenase enzyme.

Four California women decided in 2005 to make up a word. They used it to start a movement. Less than three years later, the Oxford University Press selected the women’s coinage – “locavore” – as its Word of the Year. This almost guaranteed its surprise entry into the slow-to-change world of dictionaries.

At first, “locavore” was part of a challenge for San Francisco residents to alter their eating habits for a month. They were to try being a “local-vore” – to only eat foods grown within 100 miles of home.

“An increasing number of Americans already were going to farmers markets because fresh-picked produce has more nutrients, as well as better taste. But, just hearing the reasons for the locavore challenge brought a quiet revolution across the nation. People started reevaluating where all their food comes from,” said Jana Beckman, coordinator of the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

Fruits and vegetables start to break down as soon as they’re picked, losing both flavor compounds and nutrition content. Everything from texture to color also starts to degrade, said Ted Carey, Kansas State University horticulturist.

How fast produce actually goes bad can depend on species, variety and storage conditions. Even with the best storage, the time can range from many months to just a few days, said Carey, who is based at the university’s Olathe, Kan. horticultural crops and forestry center.

“Plant breeders are always working to develop varieties that do a better job of retaining quality through days of shipping, handling and storage,” he said. “They’ve made some great strides. Still, you’re usually better off buying produce picked locally this morning, rather than somewhere else a week ago.”

Beckman said, “Besides, there’s something really reassuring about buying food that’s been grown by someone you’ve come to know and trust on a personal level.”

Local Farmers Set the Stage

A nationwide move among fruit and vegetable growers was already in progress by the time locavores appeared on the scene.

With a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for example, the Kansas City Growing Growers program got started in 2003. Its leaders were university experts and local farmers who wanted to expand the number of market farmers in the Kansas City area “foodshed” (again, within 100 miles). The program also offered workshops to help the area’s existing growers improve their organic and/or sustainable production practices.

“The demand for locally grown and organically grown foods was increasing faster than the supply,” said Carey, who is the Growing Growers coordinator.

The rise of modern supermarkets almost wiped out farmers markets after World War II, he said.

But, interest in farm-fresh foods emerged again in the 1970s. In turn, the markets where farmers could offer their fruits and vegetables for sale began a comeback.

“Undoubtedly, one reason for that was taste – which remains the No. 1 reason people buy from local farmers,” Beckman said. “Back then, lots of folks could still remember eating tomatoes and corn, fresh from grandma’s rural garden. Nothing they could buy had ever tasted that good.”

The growth in farmers market numbers rose through the 1980s and beyond. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest “National Directory of Farmers Markets” (www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets) indicates that between 1994 and 2006 alone, the number of sites jumped 150 percent.

“Each new market, of course, is a sales outlet for a number of small-scale farmers,” Carey said. “In many places, the farmers also have expanded their product lines to include locally produced meats, bedding plants, honey, nuts, jellies, garden art – all kinds of things.”

The farmers began trying other marketing channels, too, such as selling direct to restaurants and school kitchens, he said. Some reopened roadside stands and U-pick operations. Others sold up-front shares to local residents who wanted a part of a farm’s expected harvests. In time, another buyer turned out to be local grocery stores, because their customers also wanted fresh, local produce.

Safe Food No Longer Guaranteed

Over the past 12 years, food-related fears became another reason for interest in local produce.

“Food safety became a big issue in the ‘90s,” Beckman said. “Tainted berry imports from Guatemala in 1996 and Mexico in ‘97 caused widescale health problems that got lots of news coverage.”

The Guatemala imports caused recurring and seriously debilitating diarrhea. The 1997 problem was hepatitis A, spread by tainted frozen strawberries sold mostly to the federal school lunch program.

“U.S. growers hadn’t been at fault,” Beckman said. “Even so, we had at least a 50 percent sales drop for U.S. strawberries shipped out of state. California’s strawberry industry was particularly hard-hit.

“People started wanting to know more about the farmer who grew their food – what the Japanese call ‘teikei’ or ‘putting a face to your food.’”

Kansas farmers even saw a sales increase in 2006, she said, following a national recall of spinach contaminated with E. coli. Spinach wasn’t available then on Kansas farms. It was the wrong time of year. Yet, shoppers acted as if what really mattered was their ability to buy food from a trusted local grower.

A different kind of impact developed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Almost overnight, Americans got interested in national food security. A North Carolina State University study first identified this result. The study also found that farmers were the only people that two-thirds of Americans thought they could trust then on the subject of food safety.

Americans’ new food-related worry came down to the potential for a deliberate or an accidental introduction of diseases, contaminates and/or crop-destroying pests.

“Fortunately, when I heard about the two suspected U.S. cases of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy or “mad cow disease”), each one just made me wonder whether I’d remembered to get out the meat to thaw for supper,” Beckman said.

She buys her family’s meat directly from a local farm and knows the producer who raises the beef. When first shopping for a supplier, she had asked the farmer about his production system. After that, Beckman visited his farm, too.

Locavores Fail Some, But Succeed More

In spite of Americans’ growing interests and concerns, San Francisco’s first locavore challenge failed as it succeeded.

Simply put: People cheated. Many found they just couldn’t do without such non-local items as coffee, chocolate, salt, pepper, baking soda and vanilla extract.

Even so, the month-long attempt became a highly popular annual event.

And, the idea quickly attracted imitators, as well as reporters and columnists who discussed the movement in terms of local foods’ taste and nutrition benefits. Online blogs developed. Related books hit the press. The movement itself became a Time magazine cover story.

By 2007, for example, Kansas City had its own “100-Mile Diet” recommendations and a September “Eat Local Challenge.” It had a host of Internet aids that now include a directory of local producers, harvest hotline and organic chef’s Web site.

Ben Zimmer, dictionary editor with the Oxford University Press, went on record as praising two more benefits that locavores soon realized: Fresh, local foods don’t come with preservatives. Their transportation from farm to table generally requires minimum fuel use, thus putting minimum carbon dioxide in the air.

"The word ’locavore’ shows how food lovers can enjoy what they eat while still appreciating the impact they have on the environment. It’s significant in that it brings together eating and ecology in a new way," Zimmer said.

As customers meet and chat about food with market farmers, they often begin to recognize yet another advantage, Beckman said.

“They discover they like keeping their money circulating in the local economy, helping support their hometown and local farmers,” she said. “I suspect that kind of appeal is just going to get stronger as residents, towns and states are having to come to grips with our current financial challenges.”

The seasonal pork price increase from early April to early June over the past five years was $11 per live hundredweight, and this year the seasonal increase has been $23 so far.

"That's more than double the normal," said Chris Hurt, a Purdue University Extension agricultural economist. "With pork production up about 10 percent, this almost defies basic economics."

Hog prices have gone from $35 on a liveweight basis in mid-March to $58, and producers have to be happy about that, Hurt said. The huge financial losses have slowed as hog prices have recovered much closer to the cost of production.

Hurt said the dramatic turnaround in such a short time can be attributed to a combination of three factors.

"With pork supply up 10 percent we know that it's not supply, so we must look over to demand and check out exports," he said. "Unfortunately the data does lag some, but we see about a 40 percent increase in pork exports from January through March and also a 10 percent reduction in imports.

"It's less pork in the United States, shipping more out and bringing less in from other countries. So we think this is a very important factor."

The United States is exporting about 18 percent of the pork that is produced, which is the meat product from about one out of every five hogs produced, Hurt said.

The second contributing factor is consumers comparing costs at the grocery.

"When consumers are shopping for food, they are very cautious right now," Hurt said. "We know that pressure on the family budget - with the costs of food and fuel going up - is causing consumers to do more comparative shopping.

"With April beef prices averaging $4.17 a pound at retail and pork at $2.86 a pound, it's $1.31 per pound cheaper to buy pork. Just the cost savings for picking up pork rather than beef for a 10-pound purchase would be $13. We are all thinking about gas costs now, and that $13 would move the family vehicle down the road about 60 or 70 miles."

The third factor is what Hurt thinks is an underlying expectation that pork and beef prices are going to see a fairly major increase at some point.

"Futures markets and other traders that hold onto pork stocks are holding more tightly and buying more aggressively because they recognize that many commodity prices have gone up sharply, even doubled," Hurt said. "But we haven't seen that yet in pork and beef, and that will probably come in the later part of 2008 and 2009 for pork."

Earlier in the year, economists thought that the U.S. breeding herd would have to be cut by 6 percent to 8 percent. Hurt said the strong export demand, however, may indicate that other producers around the world, like the Canadians, may have already started cutting herds.

"We're gaining some of that export market, and perhaps we won't have to cut the U.S. herd as much," he said. "I think we can back that 6 percent to 8 percent herd reduction down to 3 percent to 5 percent."

R-CALF USA has obtained evidence that demonstrates the proposed acquisitions of U.S. Premium Beef’s National Beef Packing Co., the Smithfield Beef Group and Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding would result in direct harm to cow/calf producers, backgrounders and stockers due to a lessening of competition in the feeder cattle market, a market dispersed across all 48 contiguous states. This evidence was submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday.

“Because the JBS mergers fold the exclusive U.S. Premium Beef/National Beef Packing relationship under the same ownership of Five Rivers, feeder cattle markets dispersed across the U.S. would experience a reduction in the number of competitive feeder cattle buyers,” explained R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard. “Post-merger, all competing order buyers who are now filling orders for Five Rivers and National Beef would be filling orders for the same company – JBS-Brazil.

R-CALF USA provided the Justice Department with evidence showing that U.S. Premium Beef functions as a feedlot company, much in the same way as Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding functions, and U.S. Premium Beef is a captive supply source to National Beef Packing. According to R-CALF USA, these two feedlots – U.S. Premium Beef and Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding – are separate competitors that compete for nearly 10 percent of the feeder cattle sold annually in the United States. Following the merger, both of these important competitors would be controlled by JBS.

“In some, and perhaps many, feeder cattle markets, this would significantly reduce competition for a significant number of feeder cattle, resulting in lower prices paid to cow/calf producers, backgrounders and stockers,” he continued. “This direct harm would adversely affect many states and would result in a substantial lessening of competition within the entire feeder cattle market, resulting from the loss of one or more competitive feeder cattle buyers in various regions across the country.”

R-CALF USA believes another – indirect – harm to the U.S. feeder cattle market would be caused by the lessening of competition in the market for slaughter-ready steers and heifers – the market that essentially sets the price for all classes of cattle sold, including feeder cattle.

R-CALF USA stated that combined and singularly, these two harms would substantially extend the geographic reach of the JBS mergers’ negative impacts, far beyond the U.S. cattle feeding sector concentrated primarily in the Plain Region, as the two harms would permeate feeder cattle markets all across the U.S., with all markets impacted by the indirect harm, and potentially many markets impacted by the direct harm.

“We are recommending that the Justice Department consider conducting a national survey, perhaps with the assistance of state attorneys general, to better determine the effect that the merger of Five Rivers and U.S. Premium Beef/National Beef Packing, under the auspices of JBS-Brazil, would have on the competitiveness of each state’s market outlets for feeder cattle,” said Bullard.

R-CALF USA has now provided the U.S. Justice Department with five separate submissions, and has met personally with the agency to help it better understand how the U.S. cattle market functions and how the proposed merger would have a detrimental impact on the competitiveness of the entire U.S. cattle industry. R-CALF USA’s members also are working with state attorneys general in a dozen states to urge them to stand up for independent cattle producers.

Note: To view R-CALF USA’s fifth submission to the Justice Department regarding the proposed JBS acquisitions, visit the “Competition Issues” link at www.r-calfusa.com.