The naTion’s aging waterways infrastructure is a “ticking time bomb” that could trigger major disruptions in ag commerce, according to a new report. ............4
REMEMBER TO VOTE TUESDAY
haRVesT essenTially is over for 2012, and thus ends the 21th installment of Cropwatcher reports. Most are glad to have the season end. ...................................6,7
Monday, November 5, 2012
Two sections Volume 40, No. 45
European hog farmer: Group housing ‘harder system’ BY DANIEL GRANT FarmWeek
Many hog farmers in Europe are going through some difficult times. They not only face higher feed and input costs, similar to their American counterparts, but they’re also dealing with higher production costs due to an ongoing transition in production methods. Legislation that takes effect in January in the European Union (EU) will require farmers to stop using gestation stalls and keep gestating sows in group housing. The law specifically will require all dry sows to be in group housing at least four weeks after service until one week before the expected time of farrowing. In the U.S., a number of food retailers/restaurant chains in the past year announced plans to source pork only from producers who do not use stalls. But most American farmers, for now, still have a choice of swine housing systems. Many farmers in the EU, meanwhile, had to absorb additional costs to change their facilities to group housing while others have delayed mak-
ing the transition or may choose to exit the business. Annechien ten Have, a pig farmer and member of the Dutch Federation of Agricultural and Horticultural Organization, recently discussed the challenges of converting her operation to group housing during an interview with the RFD Radio Network and FarmWeek. “I’m happy with the new system,” ten Have said. “But we have problems. “Every new housing system has problems in the beginning,” she continued. “There always are costs (associated with building new facilities or upgrading existing structures).” The hog farmer, who has 320 sows in her operation, wasn’t specific about the total cost to change her operation to group housing or if she had to hire additional workers. But the housing change affected her production practices. “Group housing is a harder system,” ten Have said. “If a sow has a (health) problem, she can’t survive there. Then you have to put her in a smaller group or crate.” On the plus side, productivity on ten Have’s farm has
according to ten Have. A switch to group housing systems in the U.S. likely would increase production and retail pork prices as well. And there may not even be a benefit to hogs for such a switch.
Nine academic studies on sow housing over the past eight years show no significant differences in animal productivity or welfare associated with use of sow stall vs. group housing, Nelsen added.
TEMPERATURE’S RIGHT
John Olson applies anhydrous ammonia to a field in rural McLean on a cool, clear day last week. A drop in temperatures in recent weeks cooled the soils and allowed farmers to apply fall nitrogen. The University of Illinois Agronomy Handbook recommends waiting until the soil temperature reaches 50 degrees to apply fall nitrogen. Topsoil temperatures on Thursday ranged from 45.7 degrees in Southern Illinois to 36.1 degrees in Northern Illinois, according to the Illinois State Water Survey. However, fall anhydrous applications are not recommended south of a line extending roughly from Jerseyville to West Union. More information on anhydrous applications appears on page 2. (Photo by Cyndi Cook)
Tuesday could decide farm bill outcome BY MARTIN ROSS FarmWeek
Periodicals: Time Valued
increased by fourth-tenths of a piglet per litter. But any additional production changes should be driven by the market, not legislation, she maintained. “When retailers want it, they have to pay,” ten Have said. “We don’t want more legislation, otherwise farmers would have no position to ask for more money (from consumers or retailers).” Many European hog farmers have not adopted new housing systems as quickly as ten Have. Only seven EU states, in addition to Sweden and the United Kingdom (UK), are expected to be fully compliant with the gestation stall ban by 2013, according to Tamara Nelsen, Illinois Farm Bureau senior director of commodities. Nelsen is the leader of the Illinois Farm Bureau Animal Care Project Team. “In the meantime, the supply of pork meat has decreased markedly across the EU,” Nelsen noted. “That has resulted in increased prices and upset consumers.” The UK, for example, once was self sufficient in pork production but currently imports 40 to 50 percent of its pork,
Tuesday could prove a crucial turning point in farm bill debate — that is, in whatever form the debate might take. According to Patrick Westhoff, director of the national Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, this week’s national elections largely may determine whether Congress passes 2012, 2013, or 2014 ag legislation. “The conventional wisdom seems to be that if the election returns the current president and current makeup of Congress — a Democrat Senate and Republican House — there’s probably a better chance of getting a farm bill done during the (post-election) lame duck session,” he told FarmWeek. “It might not get done because of the farm bill being so important — it might get done as part of a large budget deal. But that
seems to be the single most likely scenario to get the farm bill done over the next couple of months,” he said. “If there were a significant change — a different president or a change in party control of the Senate or House — it’s much more likely no major decisions would get made until everybody takes power. “We’d do a temporary measure to get us beyond January, and then, some time next spring, we’d figure things out.” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (RVa.) appears committed to his pledge to “raise the farm bill issue” on the floor during lame duck discussions, said Dale Moore, American Farm Bureau Federation deputy policy executive director. He predicted “Cantor’s going to stick to his guns,” though House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) may be equally adamant in his refusal to move the measure if it
FarmWeek on the web: FarmWeekNow.com
appears to lack the necessary votes. Cantor has not indicated he would push for an actual farm bill vote, Moore stressed. That opens “the whole gamut” of possibilities, he said, from passage of House Ag Committee proposals with or without ag disaster provisions to a mere three-month or one-year extension of 2008 farm legislation or lawmakers deciding “not to do anything” until 2013. Even if a new Congress tapped existing Senate and/or House Ag Committee farm bill proposals, lawmakers could determine the Senate’s proposed $23 billion or the House’s $35 billion in long-term ag spending cuts are inadequate in reaching update 2013 budget targets, Westhoff advised. If Republicans take control of the White House and both congressional chambers, See Tuesday, page 4
Illinois Farm Bureau®on the web: www.ilfb.org