Georgia Farm Bureau's Leadership Alert - December 26, 3012

December 26, 2012

www.gfb.org

Vol. 30 No. 52

2013 AG FORECAST MEETINGS TO FEATURE GLOBAL TRADE DISCUSSIONS With an eye on international trade developments, including trade agreements, Russia joining the WTO and projects to expand the capacities of the Panama Canal and the Port of Savannah, the 2013 Ag Forecast Meetings will take place under the theme, “Farm to Port: Maximizing the global impact of Georgia agriculture.” Keynote presentations will come from Kathe Falls, director of international trade for the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

Falls, who has been with the GDEcD since 1984, leads the department’s international trade team in facilitating the expansion of Georgia exports and retention of export-related jobs, as well as performing matching services between Georgia companies and international buyers.

The Ag Forecast Meetings are scheduled for Jan. 25 at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education in Athens, Jan. 28 at the ECO Center in Rome, Jan. 29 at the Georgia Farm Bureau home office in Macon, Jan. 30 at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center, Jan. 31 at the Decatur County Livestock Complex in Bainbridge and Feb. 1 at the Toombs County Agri-Center in Lyons.

Each session will also feature an overview of the coming year and a regional speaker will discuss their experience in exports. Regional speakers include USA Poultry and Egg Export Council President Jim Sumner, who will speak in Athens; Certified Angus Beef Executive Account Manager Maggie O’Quinn, who will speak in Rome; Al Pearson of Pearson Farms, who will speak in Macon; National Cotton Council Delegate Jimmy Webb, who will speak in Tifton; Mazur and Hockman Peanut Brokers President Richard Barnhill, who will speak in Bainbridge; and Southern Valley Fruit & Vegetable Director of Operations Jon Schwalls, who will speak in Lyons.

UGA economists to speak in the series include Dr. Kent Wolfe of the UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development (Athens), Livestock Extension Economist Dr. Curt Lacy (Rome and Macon), Professor and Economist for Cotton Dr. Don Shurley (Tifton), and Associate Professor and Extension Economist Dr. Nathan Smith (Bainbridge and Lyons).

Check-in for all sessions, except Tifton, begins at 9:30 a.m. Seminars run from 10 a.m. to noon followed by lunch. The Tifton event is a breakfast that runs from 7:30 a.m to 10 a.m. Cost is $30 per person or $200 for a table sponsorship, which includes eight seats. Advance registration is required by January 23.

For more information or to register, visit http://www.georgiaagforecast.com call 706-583-0347 or email carlam@uga.edu. These meetings are a UGA College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences program endowed by Georgia Farm Bureau and supported by the Georgia Dept. of Agriculture and Georgia Agribusiness Council.

Leadership Alert page 2 of 4 PEANUT GENETICS, MARKET OUTLOOK DISCUSSED AT CONVENTION Economists estimate new peanut varieties with improved disease resistance developed through the Peanut Genome Initiative could save growers more than $150 per acre, George Birdsong, CEO of Birdsong Peanuts in Suffolk,Va., told growers attending the peanut conference at the 75th Annual Georgia Farm Bureau Convention earlier this month.

“I’ve always felt like research is where the industry can make the most progress to help growers grow peanuts more efficiently. Longterm we need to be more competitive with other crops” Birdsong said.

“Peanuts are too small of a crop to motivate seed companies to do genetic research on peanuts like has been done on corn and soybeans.”

Birdsong said the $6 million project is designed to be funded equally by growers through the National Peanut Board and donations from Birdsong shellers and buying points and peanut manufacturers. The genetic information the project produces will be used to develop peanut varieties that provide higher yields and are also drought tolerant, address aflatoxin issues, require less water and pesticides to produce and offer improved nutrition.

After hearing how genetic research can positively impact the industry, peanut broker George Lovatt of Lovatt & Rushing Inc. gave growers a grim outlook for the peanut market as 2012’s national record crop of about 6.5 billion pounds is expected to create a carryout supply of about 1.5 million tons of peanuts.

“There's enough 2012 peanuts to take us from August 2013 into April 2014,” Lovatt said. “It's not a catastrophe but it's a serious problem we have to deal with.”

Lovatt encouraged growers to listen to what shellers and buying points are saying in regards to moving this record crop through the supply chain and making planting decisions for 2013. He said the peanut industry will need to decrease imports, increase exports and domestic demand, and limit seed demand by reducing acreage in 2013.

CURRENT DROUGHT WORSE IN SOME AREAS THAN 2007-2009 DROUGHT A UGA climatologist called the current drought in Georgia a “quiet” drought, noting that because its most severe impacts were felt in the state’s less-populated areas it has not drawn the same level of attention as the 2007-2009 drought, which centered over north Georgia and caused water-related issues in metro Atlanta and Athens.

UGA Agricultural Climatologist Pam Knox noted in the December climate report that 14 percent of the state was experiencing exceptional drought, the most severe category of drought conditions, a level of drought expected once every 50 to 100 years.

Drought is classified into four levels: moderate (D1), severe (D2), extreme (D3) and exceptional (D4) drought.

A few areas in central Georgia have been experiencing extreme drought continuously since May 2011. Mid-December rainfall provided only limited improvements in areas that have seen rainfall deficits as low as 20 inches below normal in 2012.

A deficit of tropical rain events has resulted in drier than normal conditions in some areas of the state. Tropical systems, which typically provide significant portions of Georgia’s fall rainfall, largely bypassed the state. More than 50 percent of the state received less than half its usual rainfall in September, October and November, causing stream flows to drop to near-record levels and expanding the areas affected by drought.

Leadership Alert page 3 of 4 VILSACK APPOINTS NATIONAL PORK BOARD MEMBERS Georgians Dania Devane and Mark Clemmer were among 156 pork producers and four pork importers appointed to the National Pork Board by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the USDA announced in a release.

Devane, from Randolph County, sits on the Georgia Farm Bureau Swine Committee. Both she and Clemmer, who is from Coffee County, sit on the Georgia Pork Board.

Established under the Pork Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act of 1985, the delegate body and the National Pork Board have implemented a national program designed to improve the pork industry’s position in the marketplace. USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service oversees operations of the delegate body.

Representation on the delegate body is based on annual net assessments collected on sales of domestic hogs within individual states, with a minimum of two producers from each state. States have the option of not submitting nominees.

Delegates meet annually to recommend the rate of assessment, determine the percentage of assessments that state associations will receive and nominate producers and importers to the 15member National Pork Board.

The delegate body will meet during the National Pork Industry Forum, to be held March 8-9, 2013, in Orlando, Fla. USDA CONDUCTING CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE Georgia farmers have the opportunity to participate in the 2012 Census of Agriculture. The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts the census every five years to get a complete count of all U.S. farms, ranches and those who operate them.

“The census remains the only source of uniform, comprehensive agricultural data for every county in the nation,” said Doug Kleweno, director of NASS’s Georgia Field Office. “It's a critical tool that gives farmers a voice to influence decisions that will shape the future of their community, industry and operation.”

The census looks at land use and ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, income and expenditures and other topics. Local, state and federal governments, ag organizations and agribusinesses rely on census data to help farmers. For example, legislators use the data when shaping farm policy, and agribusinesses use the data to determine the locations of facilities to serve farmers.

“Your answers to the census impact farm programs and rural services that support your community,” Kleweno said. “So do your part and be counted when you receive your form, because there’s strength in numbers that only the census can reveal.”

The Census of Agriculture includes anyone who produced or sold $1,000 or more of agricultural products in 2012.

NASS has mailed out the forms to collect data for the 2012 calendar year. Completed forms are due by February 4, 2013. Producers may also fill out the census online via a secure website, http://www.agcensus.usda.gov, or return their form by mail. Federal law requires all agricultural producers to participate in the census and requires NASS to keep all individual information confidential. For more information call 1-888-424-7828 or the Georgia Field Office at 1-800253-4419.

Leadership Alert page 4 of 4 SOUTHEAST REGIONAL FRUIT & VEGETABLE CONFERENCE Jan. 10-13, 2013 International Trade and Convention Center Savannah This annual conference features 12 different crop-specific workshops plus workshops on business operations and food safety. Attendees will also have the chance to receive legislative updates from Washington and Atlanta. For more information or to register, visit http://www.seregionalconference.com.

GEORGIA GROWN EXECUTIVE CHEF PROGRAM SEEKS APPLICANTS Georgia Grown and the Georgia Restaurant Association are seeking applicants for the Georgia Grown Executive Chef Program, which promotes the Department’s Georgia Grown campaign statewide. The program offers participating chefs a mark of honor and distinction, while increasing awareness for both restaurateurs and consumers about which local Georgia products are available for the cooking season. The application process runs through Jan. 11, 2013.

Visit http://www.garestaurants.org/GeorgiaGrown to apply. The selected chefs will be announced at the Taste of Georgia Legislative Reception on Feb. 19, 2013.

2013 GEORGIA DAIRY CONFERENCE Jan. 14-16, 2013 Savannah Riverfront Marriott Savannah This annual conference is designed to provide dairy producers with significant and practical take-home information on topics ranging from economic factors affecting feed prices, lowering somatic cell counts, promotion and agritourism and much more. The conference also features board of directors meetings for the Agricultural Commodity Commission for Milk, Georgia Milk Producers Inc., and the Georgia Dairy Youth Foundation. Registration is free for Georgia dairymen. Fees for out-of-state dairymen are $100 per farm for all three days or $50 per farm for two days or less. more information, contact Farrah Newberry at 706-310-0020 or gamilkproducers@gmail.com.

BEEKEEPING SHORT COURSE Jan. 19, 2013 Atlanta Botanical Garden Day Hall 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Atlanta This one-day course will provide everything beginning beekeepers need to know to get started in urban beekeeping. Topics including the life cycle of the honeybee, bee biology, varroa mites, honey harvest and more. The $95 registration fee includes admission to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, a light breakfast, lunch, parking, supplies and presentations. For more information, visit http://www.metroatlantabeekeepers.org/shortcourse.htm.

2013 SOYBEAN/SMALL GRAIN EXPO Jan. 24, 2013 Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agricenter Perry The Expo will provide soybean and small grain producers with up-to-date marketing projections and the newest production techniques. The event will also feature presentations from UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences professors on kudzu bug control, soybean breeding and the world outlook for southern commodities and others. Pesticide credits are available. For more information, contact the Georgia/Florida Soybean Association at 706-5423793.