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Stockmen Association challenge
ALTERNATIVE MEAT By Kim Fundingsland
Lab grown meat, derived from animal cells, has been dubbed Staff Writer kfundingsland@minotdailynews.com “fake meat” by some. Manufacturers refer to the product as “meat alIt is not on the market yet but it ternatives.” The U.S. cattle industry is already an attention getter. The has already taken issue with the first round in the fight over alterna- marketing of proteins made from soy and other plant-based subtive meat is underway. “There’s new technology and stances. “They have already used claims products scheduled for the marketthat we consider not scientifically place in the next year or two,” said valid,” said Ellingson. “We want Julie Ellingson, North Dakota Stockmen’s Association. “It’s lab them to let consumers know what grown meat. That’s the new ani- they are purchasing.” That alternative meat is desmal, if you will. This issue is a high priority for the Stockmen’s Associ- tined to be a choice for consumers at supermarkets and elsewhere in ation.”
the future is not the issue, rather it is how it is marketed. The dairy industry faced a similar situation when products such as soy milk and almond milk appeared on the market. Today those and similar products take up 10 percent of the milk market. “We’re working with Congress and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials to put pressure on the Food and Drug Administration to do their work,” said Ellingson. “Plant-based proteins already fall under the jurisdiction for the FDA. There has to be some level of oversight. The agency has been lax.”
Stockmen contend that any “fake meat” products that appear on consumer shelves should be appropriately labeled and not be allowed to disparage conventional beef and protein. However, counter manufacturers, if alternative meat is made from animal cells then it can be called meat. The issue is likely to heat up in the near future. “We want transparency in labeling. Beef has a great story to tell,” said Ellingson. “We win the hearts and stomachs of consumers every single day.” Nancy Joe Bateman, executive director of the North Dakota Beef
Commission, is well aware of advancements being made by alternative meat manufacturers but says her group has not yet taken an official position on the issue. “It is such a policy-kind of debate in terms of what’s happening,” said Bateman. “We look at promoting beef and are not looking to get involved right now.” Nationally, other cattle and beef organizations have expressed similar thoughts, knowing that a growing segment of consumers – “flexitarians” – are likely to accept plant-based or laboratory produced alternative meat.
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MAY 2018
Photos by Ashton Gerard/MDN
LEFT: Jim Hennessy observes as students Sailor Blahut, left, and Elise Foster mix different seasonings into ground meat at Lewis and Clark school in Berthold. ABOVE: Jim Hennessy, right, helps Matthew Schauer package jerky without trapping air bubbles in the package.
Hands on experience By ASHTON GERARD
Staff Writer agerard@minotdailynews.com Creating opportunities for students in the community is something Jim Hennessy has volunteered his personal time for over the last couple of years. It all started in Stanley with a meats unit, where Hennessy provided equipment the school otherwise wouldn’t have to teach students how to cure and process meat. It started at Stanley High School and has since spread to Parshall and, most recently, Lewis and Clark school in Berthold. Jim Hennessy graduated from North Dakota State University in 1987 and worked with a corporate meat company for about five years before moving on to become a Mountrail County Extension Agent in April 1993. In 2004, Hennessy created and transferred to the Mountrail County Ag Agency. There, he’s been assisting the residents of Mountrail County, including cities like Stanley, New Town and Parshall, with their agricultural questions and inquiries. Because of his time in the meat industry, Hennessy wanted to bring it back to the kids and show them that agriculture always goes one step farther. With Hennessy, the company was more focused on quantity, not quality. He wants to show kids
Volunteer brings meat unit to Lewis & Clark Berthold school and adults alike that they can control the quality of the meat that they process and have a better product in the end. Hennessy started going into the classrooms about three years ago in Stanley. The meat lab at the school didn’t pass inspection, so Hennessy offered for students to come to the Mountrail County Extension Center where they have a certified kitchen for the students to work in. The past six or seven years, Hennessy has offered the same class to adults in the Mountrail County area, and decided it was
time to take it to the children. “I think that we’ve got a lot of opportunity for kids to get involved in the meat industry,” Hennessy explained. “We’re losing a lot of meat shops in the state and it’s kind of a lost trade that a lot of kids don’t have any experience to it.” In the class, students have the chance to make breakfast sausage, pepper sticks, whole muscle jerky, ground jerky and summer sausage. “A lot of them get to take the stuff home and share it with their family,” Hennessy said. “Here, they’re trying to get a meats lab.” Currently, Lewis and Clark Berthold has the space for a meats lab, but according to ag teacher Johnna Varty, the project was never finished. Part of the reason Hennessy offered to host the class in Berthold was to help the school show what they can do and what equipment they will need to make it happen. “It opens up so much for the kids because we don’t have any of this equipment here at the school yet and it’s a really great unit,” Varty said. “The kids have been so excited about it and learning what different cuts of meat are and where they come from.” She said without the time and equipment provided by HenSee MEAT — Page 6
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Dakota College, Dickinson State collaborate
Providing for our community together. Our Ag Lenders have experience in the field and behind the scenes providing financial solutions for you, our community farmers and ranchers. Let’s work together to get you prepared for the season ahead. We’re not just here for you, we are you.
Dakota College at Bottineau recently hosted faculty and students from Dickinson State University who traveled to Bottineau to look at the two year college’s programs. According to a press release, Dakota College provides skills and knowledge in controlled environmental agriculture. Programming is offered in greenhouse technology, floral design, aquaponics, hydroponics, and vegetable production in high tunnels. Dakota College at Bottineau’s Entrepreneurial Center for Horticulture and Dickinson State University’s Agriculture and Technical Studies program received a USDA National Institute of Agriculture grant to expand the agriculture industry in North Dakota through programs in higher education. According to the release, the collaboration will increase education and outreach opportunities in specialty crop production. Dakota College at Bottineau has a well-established program that prepares both students and clients who work in agriculture with training in how to run successful specialty crop enterprises. It offers certification and associate de-
grees in specialty crop production. It boasts that this is the only program of its kind in this part of the country. Dickinson State’s agriculture and technical studies program is a traditionally-focused four year agriculture program. Collaboration between the two schools will capitalize on each institution’s strengths to increase the quality of agriculture education in both institutions. According to the release, the project enhances agricultural education by deepening student awareness and understanding of the diversity and complexity of modern agriculture and food systems. This project takes principles of specialty crop production developed for Dakota College’s two-year vocational-training focused program and integrates them across many disciplines within Dickinson State University’s agricultural curriculum. It also has the advantage of broadening the scope and making agricultural education more accessible to a greater number of students and will provide students with more opportunities than if either school had tried to develop a new sustainable agriculture program alone.
Jacob Fannik Tom Larson
firstwestern.bank
Meat
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nessy, the school wouldn’t have been able to have the meats unit. Hennessy’s generosity is something Varty is grateful for. Varty said there is definitely an interest from students in the meats unit. Even students she wouldn’t have thought to be into the two-week session are really honing in on what the unit means and others are thinking that working with meat could be a career. “When the new addition was built, originally there was a meats lab that was going to be part of it, but it got kind of put on hold,” Varty explained. “So I think if we would be able to finish that, we would definitely have kids that would want to take a class that had that either as the whole class or at least part of the class.” The students of Lewis and Clark
Ashton Gerard/MDN
LCB freshman Matthew Schauer pulls a huge piece of jerky out of an air fryer to check its progress. in Berthold have all been interested in the class and all for different reasons. Sailor Blahut, a freshman, said the class has been a lot of fun and she didn’t know the process of making
the different kinds of meat takes as long as it does. “I’ve learned how to tell different kinds of meat apart and what seasonings to put together and not to put together,” Blahut said. She said her
favorite part of the class was mixing the seasonings because the flavors were always different and it was fun to try what they had created. Blahut said the class always started by washing their hands before moving to cut the different kinds of meat that would then be put into a grinder for whatever they were making that day. After being cut, ground and seasoned, the meat would go into an air fryer and would be packaged once it’s done. Freshman Tucker Johnson said food safety was one of the main takeaways of the class for him, as well as the proper techniques of seasoning and cutting. “It’s a different class than any other class,” Johnson said. “You can go to an English class every day but you don’t always get to go cut meat or make sausage every day.” Hennessy says a lot of kids normally don’t realize what it takes to make the different kinds of meat products. The number one thing
MAY 2018 Hennessy teaches is food safety, with fun being the second priority. “We talk about sanitation, we talk about the different cuts of meat that go into the making the product and when you make it yourself you can control the quality and make it more wholesome,” Hennessy explained. If other schools in the area had the opportunity to have a meats unit every year, Hennessy thinks that kids would for sure have a great time with it and learn that agriculture is more than just farming and ranching. Varty says she’s already been talking about next year and being able to incorporate the meats unit into her classes again for the 2018-19 school year. “I think that kids also find out that in agriculture, it doesn’t just stop at harvest time or when you sell your calves in the fall, but it goes way beyond that,” Hennessy said. “It goes into metropolises where they make a lot of this product that is sold to the people. It’s just a value-added thing.”
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F O U N D I N G FA R M E R S Farmer-owned restaurant group continues to grow By JILL SCHRAMM
Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com The opening of a seventh farmer-owned restaurant in April puts the North Dakota Farmers Union’s 12-year culinary venture just about where NDFU President Mark Watne had envisioned it would be by 2018. “But we never expected them to be as popular,” Watne said of the rave reviews the restaurants have received. “We envisioned having a number of restaurants but we never knew we would be serving 50,000 people a week in seven restaurants.” Founding Farmers on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., has been the top requested dinner reservation in the world on OpenTable.com. Farmers Restaurant Group has operated its restaurants on the concept of food sourced from family farms. Diners can expect servers to deliver stories behind the food as well as a first-class meal. Brekka Kramer of Minot has been to Founding Farmer restaurants a half-dozen times. The Founding Farmers DC restaurant is among a couple of favorite dining venues for her in Washington. “They have a pretty diverse menu,” Kramer said. “I try to sit by
Submitted Photos
TOP LEFT: Diners enjoy their meals at Founding Farmers Reston, which opened in Washington, D.C., on April 11. TOP CENTER: A chef at Farmers & Distillers in Washington, D.C., prepares Ahi Tuna Bites. TOP RIGHT: Chicken and waffles is one of the most popular items on the Founding Farmers menu. ABOVE: Founding Farmers DC has had the most requested restaurant reservations in the country on OpenTable.com for the past five years. It is located near the White House. somebody else who is a little adventurous, then share.” She said she’s tasted the popular chicken and waffles – one of the restaurant’s unique food combinations. Often, the best way to choose from the menu is to ask the server for a recommendation or house specials, she said. “Everything I have had there has been really kind of tasty. They have
really good food,” Kramer said. However, she added, “You can’t go wrong with a great prime rib.” Minot native Sen. John Hoeven, R-ND, shares similar sentiments. “You really can’t go wrong with any dish at Founding Farmers, but their steaks are always a favorite,” he said. Randy Hauck, manager at Verendrye Electric, recently visited
the Farmers & Distillers in Washington for a second time. It was his third visit to a Founding Farmers restaurant. “They are a hit,” he said. He’s been especially impressed with the customer service. State Sen. Randy Burckhard and John MacMartin with the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce recall visits from several years ago
to Founding Farmers DC. “It was busy. It was good service. The food was good,” Burckhard said. “It was a good experience for us all around.” Burckhard said he’s into simple fare so prefers the menu’s farmstyle meat-and-potatoes items. MacMartin said the atmosphere at Founding Farmers DC was urban contemporary, although the restaurant made clear that it’s roots are rural. Each restaurant in the chain has its own atmosphere and decor. Resembling a rustic Virginia farmhouse, Founding Farmers Tysons in Viriginia differs from the contemporary farmhouse and nautically inspired interior of Farmers Fishers Bakers in Washington’s Georgetown. Farmers & Distillers in Washington pays homage to founding father George Washington, who was an acclaimed farmer, distiller and entrepreneur ahead of his time. At the newest Founding Farmers restaurant in Reston, Virginia, the tribute is to former president Thomas Jefferson. The restaurant features artwork of James Hemings, whom Jefferson sent to France for culinary training, as well as Sally Hemings, mother to several of his children. See FARMER — Page 8
Farmer
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Recycled and refurbished materials are incorinto the porated restaurants’ sustainable design. Food waste is recycled or composted. Watne said the restaurants fall into one of three brands. There are the traditional Founding Farmers restaurants that make up five of the seven establishments. Farmers Fishers Bakers features more seafood options. Farmers & Distillers does the final distilling processes of its spirits on site. Watne said the restaurant group is looking at another Farmers & Distillers in the Philadelphia area as its next restaurant venture.
Founding Farmers’ story began in 2005 when the N.D. Farmers Union sought a way to bring its members’ products directly to consumers. The first restaurant, Agraria, struggled, but drawing on the expertise of restaurateurs Mike Vucurevicha and Dan Simons, coowners with Watne, the group began seeing success with its second restaurant in 2008. Restaurants are owned by the more than 47,000 family farmers of the N.D. Farmers Union and supplied by hundreds of family farmers across the country. At times, the restaurant has to buy from the traditional, corporate supply chain, but it works to source as much of its products as possible as close to the farm as possi-
Farmers Restaurant Group
1. Agraria, Washington, D.C., 2006 - Became Farmers & Fishers, 2009 - Became Farmers Fishers Bakers, 2012 2. Founding Farmers, Washington, D.C., 2008 3. MoCo’s Founding Farmers, Potomac, Maryland, 2014 4. Founding Farmers Tysons, Virginia, February 2015 5. Farmers & Distillers, Washington, D.C., November 2016 6. Founding Farmers First Bake Cafe & Creamery, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, November 2017 7. Founding Farmers Reston, Virginia, April 2018 ble. Selling wholesale to the restaurants also can be a challenge for farmerowned businesses used to selling jellies or cheeses at retail. The restaurants require a certain quantity and consistency from suppliers. “One thing that gets people coming back to the
restaurant is a certain expectation level of quality. That’s key. We try not to take any risks with that,” Watne said. The company sources wheat, potatoes, safflower oil and sugar from North Dakota, either directly from farmers or from cooperatives. The State Mill provides flour. Some of the
MAY 2018 sourced wheat goes into the distillery process for the premium vodka sold. The company has about 200 investors. Although not looking for new investors at this time, the company provides opportunities for new investors through the buying and selling of existing interests. Farmers looking to supply the restaurants also can find opportunities by contacting the restaurants’ management team. The company is at a point in its development where it regularly get calls from California to Florida, urging it to consider new restaurant openings, Watne said. But congregating restaurants in heavily populated areas within a three-state vicinity and D.C. has been a way to
make the most of the food distribution system, and Founding Farmers isn’t quite ready to veer from that. “We are growing on our path rather than somebody else’s,” Watne said. “Even though it seems like we are growing fast, we are relatively slow growing and making sure we do it right every time.” The hope is to eventually have 20 to 25 restaurants, he said, noting that, in time, the expansion could extend to other parts of the country. “It’s really been an interesting adventure,” Watne said. “We have learned so much and I think we are getting quite good at it. I am hoping that we can continue our success with this and continue to grow it.”
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How the year is shaping up for farmers, ranchers
By ELOISE OGDEN
Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com Soybean acres have increased significantly in Ward County and the area, says Paige Brummund, Ward County Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Agent in Minot. “People to the north and to the west are putting in more acres of soybeans than in previous years. Probably just in the past five years it’s really increased in acreage,” she said. Contributing to the increase in soybean acres are some improvements in the genetics. “There’s been some new varieties that have been developed that do yield and do well up here in the northern areas. The markets have really driven it as well,” Brummund said,”
crops.” She said she hasn’t heard of as many producers putting in sunflowers. “There are some challenges and risks with sunflowers. The birds cause some struggles and it’s a late season – a late harvest – so there’s some people that just don’t want to take on the risks of sunflowers, but they are a crop that will be grown as well.” Corn acres in the county have decreased, she said. “Corn is a high input crop and the return just isn’t quite as well,” she said. She said “hardly any” acres of barley were put in last year or this year. “There’s still a lot of time left where peoTraditional crops ple might change their planting decisions. “We’re still going to have a lot of wheat acreage in. There’s going to be a lot of flax, a As we get later into the season they might lot of canola – some of those traditional decide to go with a different crop. It’s still too
adding, “Soybeans are one of the more profitable crops right now so that’s been a driver in people giving it a try.” She said last year many new soybean growers who put the crop in had average success in a dry year and were encouraged by that. “Farmers in the south and east in Ward County have been growing soybeans for quite a while so it’s not a new crop for them,” Brummund said. “It used to be unheard of to have soybeans up in the northwest Gooseneck portion and now there’s significant acres of it.”
early to say. We’re just a few days in,” she said during a May 8 interview. It’s a late planting season for farmers in Ward County and the surrounding area this year. Brummund said many farmers got into the field around May 5-6. “That’s fairly late for us,” she said. “We had the fifth coldest April on record so that’s why. We had snow that stuck around well into the middle and end of April. When the frost did go out that moisture disappeared in a hurry but we stayed really cold through April so they’re just starting to get rolling now – the first week of May,” she said. See YEAR — Page 11
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Soil temperatures
Information about soil temperatures can be found online at NDAWN – the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network – at https://ndawn.ndsu.nodak.e du/. NDAWN stations are located at Minot and surrounding areas. Brummund said an NDAWN is located about every 60 miles or so. “We are coming off of a dry year – 2017 – and that pattern seems to be holding for this region so far,� Brummund continued. “April is the 14th dryest April in history on record so while that’s letting people get going in the field this late
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out, we have some struggles then. Snow and cold and wet – it was a challenging calving season this year,� she said. With the weather hump over, she said “things are looking up.� “We do hope we can get some rain. The snowmelt did help fill up some of the waterholes for livestock so that was a positive but we’re still behind on moisture,� she said. “I just can’t stress enough if producers can rest pastures that were overgrazed last year and wait well into the end of May or June before turning out. That’s really going to help the grass production,� Brummund said.
said. As of Tuesday, May 8, she said the majority of Ward County was in a D-1 category or moderate drought. “We’ll see how that progresses as the growing season goes on,� she said. People can find information about the drought by going to the U.S. Drought Monitor/North Dakota Drought Monitor online at droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx. “Right now we’re looking at the drought continuing into maybe 2018 which is unfortunate and that’s something producers keep in mind as they are managing their fields and trying to retain as much moisture as possible and then also selecting their crops – trying to select varieties that are drought resistant,� Brummund said.
spring, we really are going to need some moisture at some point,� Brummund said. “The snow is nice for a little bit of moisture. This spring the snow melted before the ground was thawed so the majority of that moisture ran off. That was good for filling up our stockponds, replenishing our sloughs and rivers and springs but not a significant amount of it was absorbing the soil because the ground was still frozen when the snow melted. We had more runoff rather than absorption,� she said. “That’s really part of farming and agriculture is you roll with what Mother Nature gives you,� Brummund said.
year and what we’ve been noticing because of the cool spring is our grasses are behind as well,� Brummund said. “It’s a little bit too early yet to have cattle out on our summer pastures so hopefully ranchers are keeping them in on their spring pastures, letting that grass get ahead in the growth a little bit before they turn cattle out in there. If they’re able to do that, they’ll have more production (of grass) later into the summer.� As far as cattle health goes, she said cattle owners had some struggles with the cool April. “The coldest April on record really gave us some animal health issues,� mainly referring to those who were Ranchers and calving during that time. “The pastures majority of ranchers in the “Obviously, the drought area calve in that March-April again carries over into this timeframe so when it is cool
goes out to scout the pastures and fields and her information also is shared within the Extension Network. Every county has an Extension agent. “We share that information weekly with each other and with the media to help us get that message out,� Brummund said. She can obtain the soil temperatures online but said she also networks with other producers and farmers. They call her or she calls them to find out the current conditions at their places. For example, she said conditions will vary drastically between a farmer in the Douglas area and a farmer in the Kenmare area. “I can call them on Getting the the same day and it will be information quite different,� she said. To obtain information “We are drier in the westabout current conditions in ern portion (of the state). The Ward County, Brummund east isn’t quite as dry,� she
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New terminal near Lansford to open in June
LANSFORD – CHS SunPrairie’s 83 terminal near Lansford is scheduled to be operational in mid-June. “We are excited to see this project become a reality for the growers in our region,” said Eric Moberg, CHS SunPrairie board chairman. “Once operational, we will have three shuttle loading facilities strategically placed within our geography. Our ultimate goal is to provide the best service and returns to our patrons and this addition to our assets will do that for a very long time,” Moberg said. He said they are also in discussions with their cooperative neighbor in that area to enhance the efficiency of the other terminals close by. The CHS SunPrairie 83 terminal will be called the Wiley Terminal. Jayme Burkhart, marketing director for Dakota Agronomy, CHS SunPrairie and Enerbase, said there used to be a short spur track for three or four rail cars in the 1970s and early 1980s to deliver supplies to oil-field workers working in the Wiley Field, an area oil field. – Source: CHS SunPrairie
Submitted Art
ABOVE: This rendering shows the plan for CHS SunPrairie’s 83 terminal near Lansford. Submitted Photo
RIGHT: This photo shows construction of CHS SunPrairie’s 83 terminal near Lansford as of Feb. 22.
At A Glance
CHS SunPrairie’s 83 terminal project near Lansford includes: – 180-acre property. – 6-pack concrete facility. – 900,000 bushel capacity. – 2 scales, 1 inbound, 1 outbound. – 2 unloading pits. – 120-car circle track. – Ability to load 110-car shuttle in under 8 hours. – Source: CHS SunPrairie
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MAY 2018
Report: US winter wheat forecast down amid drought, surplus WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — U.S. farmers are expected to harvest their smallest winter wheat crop in more than a decade amid an ongoing drought that has devastated fields across the nation’s breadbasket and a global surplus of the grain that has depressed prices, according to government report released Thursday. The National Agricultural Statistics Service forecast the size of the nation’s 2018 wheat crop at 1.19 billion bushels. If realized, that would be down 6 percent from the previous year. The last time the nation’s farmers harvested such a small wheat crop was in 2002, when U.S. production fell to 1.137 billion
bushels, said Marsha Boswell, spokeswoman for the industry group Kansas Wheat. “It is not a surprise that production is down, the market is not really telling people to plant wheat. There is a surplus of wheat in the world,” Boswell said. Not only are projected U.S. wheat yields down to an average 48 bushels per acre, but the agency is also forecasting that just 24.8 million acres of wheat will be harvested — a record low harvested acreage for the United States, according to the report. Kansas remained the nation’s top winter wheat producer even in a dry year like this one, with the government estimating that state’s
growers will bring in 270.1 million bushels. That’s compared to the 333.6 million bushels harvested last year in Kansas. The government’s estimate for Kansas is a bit more optimistic than the 243.3 million bushels that participants in the Wheat Quality Council’s winter wheat tour had predicted earlier this month, although both had estimated average statewide yields of 37 bushels per acre. The difference is because tour participants anticipate Kansas farmers will abandon more acres before harvest. Lane County grower Vance Ehmke said his farm in west central Kansas — where he grows about 2,500 acres of certified wheat
seed — has gotten less than 2 inches of rain since October, far less than the 7 inches that would be normal for that period. His neighbor this week plowed up a half section of wheat that was so poor it would not be worth cutting. “It is just incredibly dry out there,” Ehmke said. “Farmers have a well-deserved reputation for whining, but this time we are not kidding.” Winter wheat is planted in the fall and typically harvested beginning in June in Kansas. Drought conditions have plagued this year’s crop, and it remains to be seen whether the state will get enough moisture in the coming weeks to fill out the heads of wheat. Much of
the wheat across Kansas is just ankle-high, and crop development is two to three weeks late. “I have no idea what to expect, but we continue daily to reduce our expectations so whatever we get we wouldn’t be disappointed,” Ehmke said. The report noted drought conditions were prevalent across most of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Behind Kansas, the second largest winter wheat crop this year is expected to come out of Washington with a forecast production there of 118.8 million bushels of wheat. Colorado production trails third with 83.6 million bushels.
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PAGE 19 Livestock producers should test the water in ponds, dugouts and other water sources because last year’s drought may have compromised the quality of the water. (NDSU photo) Submitted Photo
Test water quality prior to livestock turnout Many producers are continuing to feel the effects of the 2017 drought, which are lingering into the 2018 grazing season. Numerous ponds and dugouts dried up as a result of the drought, and any water remaining in others may not be the best quality. “Runoff from snowmelt and spring rains may not be enough to replenish depleted ponds and dugouts, and water quality in ponds and dugouts still may be compromised by concentrated levels of salts, minerals and bacteria,” warns Miranda Meehan, North Dakota State University Extension livestock environmental stewardship specialist. Michelle Mostrom, a toxicologist in NDSU’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, recommends producers test their livestock’s
water sources for total dissolved solids (TDS), sulfates and nitrates. TDS measure salts. These levels should be less than 5,000 parts per million (ppm) for most classes of grazing livestock. Elevated levels of TDS may be harmful to livestock health. Sulfate levels should be less than 500 ppm for calves and less than 1,000 ppm for adult cattle. High levels of sulfate can reduce copper availability in the diet. Elevated levels of sulfates may cause loose stool, whereas very high levels of sulfate can induce central nervous system problems and polioencephelomalacia, a brain disorder in cattle. Nitrate in itself is not toxic to animals, but at elevated levels, it causes nitrate poisoning. Water sources that receive runoff from
fields and confined feeding locations that contain elevated levels of nitrogen are at risk of contamination. During the 2017 drought, NDSU Extension helped producers collect 94 water samples for laboratory testing; 82 of these samples contained potentially toxic levels of TDS. “We recommend that livestock producers test water quality prior to livestock turnout, especially if their water sources had elevated TDS last year,” says Janna Kincheloe, Extension livestock systems specialist at NDSU’s Hettinger Research Extension Center. “Monitoring water quality throughout the grazing season is important because the quality changes in response to climate and environmental conditions,” Kinch-
eloe adds. “The importance will be magnified if the drought continues into the growing season, especially when using a shallow water source and sources with a history of water quality issues.” Many commercial laboratories and the NDSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory provide testing for livestock water quality and specialized testing. The cost of a basic water quality test is approximately $25. When collecting and submitting a sample for analysis, follow the livestock water testing guidelines at https://tinyurl.com/WaterTestingGuidelines. If you need assistance, contact your local Extension agent or watershed coordinator. If concerned about livestock disease caused by contaminated
drinking water, contact your local veterinarian, NDSU Extension veterinarian Gerald Stokka at 2315082 or gerald.stokka@ndsu.edu, or the NDSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at 231-8307 or http://www.vdl.ndsu.edu/. More information on livestock water quality is available in the following Extension publications: Livestock Water Requirements - http://tinyurl.com/LivestockWaterRequirements Livestock Water Quality http://tinyurl.com/LivestockWater Nitrate Poisoning of Livestock http://tinyurl.com/LivestockNitratePoisoning Cyanobacteria Poisoning (Bluegreen Algae) http://tinyurl.com/NDSUBluegreenAlgae
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MAY 2018
China cutting US soybean purchases in face of tariffs threat WASHINGTON (AP) — With the threat of tariffs and counter-tariffs between Washington and Beijing looming, Chinese buyers are canceling orders for U.S. soybeans, a trend that could deal a blow to American farmers if it continues. At the same time, farmers in China are being encouraged to plant more soy, apparently to help offset any shortfall from the United States. Beijing has included soybeans on a list of $50 billion of U.S. exports on which it has said it would impose 25 percent tariffs if the United States follows through on its threats to impose the same level of tariffs on the same value of Chinese goods. The U.S. tariffs could kick in later this month; China would likely retaliate soon after. It can take a month or more for soybean shipments to travel from the U.S. to China. Any soybeans on their way to China now could be hit by the tariff by the time they arrive. “The Chinese aren’t willing to buy US soybeans with a 25 percent tax hanging over their head,” said Dan Basse, president of AgResource, an agricultural research and advisory firm. “You just don’t want the risk.” China typically buys most of its soybeans from South American nations such as Brazil and Argentina during spring and early summer. It shifts to U.S. soybeans in the fall. As a result, for now, the cutbacks from the United States are relatively small. But should they persist, it could cause real pain to U.S. farmers. Roughly 60 percent of U.S. soybeans are shipped to China. There might also be a political impact: Three of the top five soybean-exporting states — Iowa, Indiana and Nebraska — voted for President Donald Trump in 2016. Illinois, the top soybean exporter, and Minnesota, the thirdlargest, backed Hillary Clinton.
AP Photo
Matt Aultman, a grain salesman and feed nutritionist with Keller Grain & Feed, Inc., shows locally grown soybeans during an interview at their facilities in Greenville, Ohio. With the threat of tariffs and counter-tariffs between Washington and Beijing looming, Chinese buyers are canceling orders for U.S. soybeans, a trend that could deal a blow to American farmers if it continues. Basse said that it has been roughly three weeks since China has made any major soybean purchases, an unusually long delay. Some Chinese buyers might be showing support for their government in the trade dispute by turning away U.S. soybeans, Basse said. The dispute may also make it seem too risky to buy from the United States over the long run. “The United States could lose the reliable supplier label that we’ve had these many years,” Basse said. Data from the U.S. government data show that sales of soybeans have fallen from about 255,000 metric tons in the first week of April, when the trade dispute began, to just 7,900 in the week
that ended April 26. Cancellations have also jumped, to more than 140,000 metric tons in the week ending April 26. In the same week last year, there were no canceled sales at all. Some analysts argue that the shifts aren’t yet particularly significant. China buys most of its soybeans from the United States in the late summer and fall, and then switches to South American sources, mainly Brazil and Argentina, in the spring. So the current market activity doesn’t necessarily reflect the pattern that would occur during the main buying season. “These numbers we’re talking about are pretty minor,” said John Baize, an economist for the U.S.
Soybean Export Council. The U.S. ships about 35 million metric tons of soybeans to China a year, Baize said. China usually imports about 100 million tons a year and can’t import enough from other countries, he said, to abandon the United States as a source. “Where’s China going to buy its beans?” Baize asked. That may be true in the short run. But Basse suggests that Brazil has enough land that could be used for soybean cultivation that it could soon mostly replace the United States as a supplier to China. And if the Chinese market were to be closed to U.S. farmers, they might be able to sell some portion of their soybeans to other markets. Baize said that huge multinational
companies, such as Cargill and ADM, might, for example, sell more U.S. soybeans to Europe, where they wouldn’t face any tariffs, though this likely wouldn’t make up for the loss of the Chinese market. At the same time, China is looking more to its own farmers. Since China announced its potential tariffs on U.S. soy in April, the government has encouraged farmers to cultivate more soybeans. Beginning this month, Chinese farmers say, Beijing reduced corn subsidies and raised annual soybean subsidies from 2550 yuan ($400) per hectare to 3000 yuan ($470) or more per hectare in major soybean-producing provinces in northeast China. An adjustment had already been planned to help draw down China’s substantial corn stockpiles, so the change wasn’t necessarily aimed at U.S. soy growers, analysts say. But the subsidy adjustment did come with political undertones. Officials in major soybean-producing provinces were describing the promotion of local soybeans as “the most important political task in agricultural production at present.” Heilongjiang in northeast China announced a pilot project to plant soybeans on over 100,000 new hectares, with an extra 2,250 yuan ($353) subsidy per hectare. The moves are prompting farmers like Liu Cong to focus more on growing soy. Liu says he used most of his land to grow corn last year but this year is planting more soybeans. “This is encouraging for farmers,” he said in a phone interview. “We’re more motivated.” Zhang Xiaoping, China director for the U.S. Soybean Export Council, says that Chinese buyers have been canceling soybean purchases of last year’s U.S. soybean harvest because of the threat of tariffs. “The buyers literally stopped buying from the U.S.,” Zhang said. “Exporters cannot find any buyers in China.”
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PAGE 23
Food production is in their blood Morning Joy Farm works to care for the land By SHYANNE BELZER
Staff Writer sbelzer@minotdailynews.com Continuing to work the land that her family has farmed for over 75 years, Annie Carlson has one goal in mind for the Morning Joy Farm: increasing soil health. Carlson and her husband were both raised on farms, seeing the day-to-day tasks and struggles that can come with food production.
“We both saw how hard it is for our families to make a living farming conventionally, subject to whims and prices of the conventional input prices and buyers,” she explained. After marrying her husband in 2007, they made the decision to do something different. On their farm, they grow exclusively grassfed beef and lamb, pastured broiler chickens, egg-laying chickens, turkeys, egg-laying ducks, and pork. Grazing animals is an extremely important part of their goal. Carlson explained that grazing animals in a managed system can allow for free solar energy to be harvested in the form of perennial forages. It can decrease dependence on high-priced inputs such as petroleum, grain, and management intensive infrastruc-
ture. Of the grazing experience, Carlson said, “It allows our animals to fully express their innate abilities, like chickens scratching and chasing bugs on the pasture, pigs rooting and foraging, and cows and sheep grazing in close-knit herds.” One of Carlson’s favorite things about farming is walking through the pastures in the early morning and moving the animals to fresh pastures. She enjoys watching them frolic and graze in the new grass. She says it all allows her and her family to provide nutricious and delicious food to their customers. Farming and what they do is such a big deal for Carlson that not only are her and her husband raising their children to be the 4th generation to live and work the
land but they will be hosting a Women Caring for the Land Event where they will be talking about regenerating the soil health and multi-species grazing systems. “Regenerating the land and our food system: A Women Caring for the Land event” will take place on June 20 at 9 a.m. on the Morning Joy Farm. Placed a mile north and a mile and a half west of Mercer, the farm will host whoever is interested in joining the women-centered learning experience. An expert about the upcoming event says the day will be a family-friendly time to spend on the farm, time to network with other women in agriculture, and time to consider the legacy of the land. The Carlsons have a passion for what they do and want to share their process of using the animals
to not only regenerate the land but to also help keep the next generation connected to their food system. For more information on the event or to sign up, contact Cayla Bendel at either 498-2920 or at cbendel@pheasantsforever.org. The Women Caring for the Land is a group that is designed to help serve women farmland owners who are interested in learning more about conservation, according to their site. They work to give women opportunities to learn through events and meetings, such as the one the Carlsons will be hosting on their farm. They have been working to connect women with other women farmland owners to learn and share their knowledge and expertise for around 15 years.