From the editors of Feedstuffs
Perdue AgriBusiness investing $59.1m to expand Chesapeake facility Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced March 25 that Perdue AgriBusiness will invest $59.1 million to expand its operation in the City of Chesapeake. The company will modernize facilities and increase production of its high protein soybean meal, soybean oil, and hulls, positioning the company to expand its soybean crushing capability to include other high-oil content products. Virginia successfully competed with Maryland, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania for the project.
Perdue purchases 80% of Virginia’s soybeans and exports 72 million tons of soybeans per year through The Port of Virginia. The Chesapeake facility supplies crude degummed soybean oil to Perdue’s Salisbury, Maryland oil refinery for further processing and sales to the food industry as well as supplying the biodiesel industry globally. Read more
NGFA members have been unable to purchase grain and unable to deliver feed.
NGFA urges STB to address inadequate rail service The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) today urged the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to address “significant rail service disruptions” negatively impacting the nation’s supply chains. In a recent letter to STB, NGFA President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Seyfert said rail customers are not being adequately served by the Union Pacific (UP), Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) and Norfolk Southern (NS) railroads. Read more
Beef trade deal struck with Japan
The United States and Japan have reached an agreement to increase the beef safeguard trigger level under the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement. The new three-trigger safeguard mechanism will allow U.S. exporters to meet Japan’s growing demand for high-quality beef and reduce the probability that Japan will impose higher tariffs in the future, according to a release from USDA and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.
U.S. beef exports to Japan exceeded 320,000 metric tons in 2021 and set a new value record at $2.38 billion. But U.S. beef was subject to a higher tariff than its competitors for 30 days, from mid-March to mid-April, after imports exceeded the safeguard volume. As part of the terms of the Japan – U.S. Trade Agreement, both countries entered consultations after the volume-based safeguard was triggered in March 2021.
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South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska are all reporting additional cases of HPAI in commercial poultry flocks. The Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) said it has confirmed a third case and USDA listed three commercial flocks in South Dakota as having the virus. Iowa also reported March 24 that the virus was found in a commercial turkey flock of nearly 54,000 birds.
The third farm in Nebraska, a flock of 400,000 broilers, is in Butler County. The first farm in Nebraska to report a case of HPAI was a backyard flock in Merrick County that was announced on March 16, 2022.
“The locations of the Butler County farms are in close proximity to each other. This further emphasizes continued diligence of biosecurity and timely response to control this highly contagious disease,” said NDA Director Steve Wellman. Read more
For the latest on HPAI, visit Feedstuffs.com and watch our coverage on Feedstuffs365.com
Check out our interviews from the Midwest Poultry Federation Convention. Egg industry update: Organics, HPAI and more Cage-free egg production and research: What do and don’t we know? NTF leaders give HPAI, food safety policy update Legal strategies to avoid litigation High pathogenic avian influenza: What's the same, what's different?
Maintaining cow weight in times of high nutritional demands
As people move through life stages, often their nutritional needs change depending on shifts in metabolism and activity levels. In a similar way, beef cattle that have just calved and are in lactation have a high nutritional demand on their bodies. On a recent Cattle Chat podcast, experts at Kansas State University’s Beef Cattle Institute said those animals’ overall body condition needs to be managed accordingly.
“After calving the goal is for the cows to maintain their body condition before breeding, and if they are in a poor body condition it is going to be hard to get them to gain weight during this time because of the lactation demands on them,” said veterinarian Brad White.
Veterinarian Bob Larson and nutritionist Phillip Lancaster agree that the first step is to assess the quality of the hay while looking at the overall condition of the cowherd post-calving. Read more
By U.S. Meat Export Federation
While most Asian countries are gradually easing social distancing restrictions and taking more of a "living with COVID" approach to the pandemic, there are notable exceptions in Hong Kong and some areas of China. In these situations, authorities continue to impose strict public health regulations in an effort to stop further spread of the virus.
U.S. Meat Export Federation Senior Vice President Joel Haggard, who is based in Hong Kong, says these restrictions are impacting importation, movement and consumption of U.S. red meat in the region.
Despite glimpses of easing restrictions, Haggard says strict social distancing measures will remain in place until at least April 20. Hong Kong regulations require all restaurant outlets to close by 6 p.m. and no more than two diners are allowed per table. Read more
