From the editors of Feedstuffs
Report criticizes meat industry’s handling of COVID
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released a new staff report claiming meatpacking companies engaged Trump administration political appointees in an aggressive campaign to force workers to remain in processing plants with high risk of coronavirus transmission. However, the North American Meat Institute states the committee cherry picked data to “support a narrative that is completely unrepresentative of the early days of an unprecedented national emergency.”
The staff report revealed that last year, the Select Subcommittee found that during the first year of the pandemic, infections and deaths among workers for five of the largest meatpacking companies – Tyson Foods, Inc., JBS USA Holdings, Inc., Smithfield Foods, Cargill, Inc., and National Beef Packing Company LLC – were significantly higher than previously estimated, with over 59,000 workers for these companies being infected with the coronavirus and at least 269 dying.
The report adds that internal meatpacking industry documents reviewed by the subcommittee “now illustrate that despite awareness of the high risks of coronavirus spread in their plants, meatpacking companies engaged in a concerted effort with Trump administration political officials to insulate themselves from coronavirus-related oversight, to force workers to continue working in dangerous conditions, and to shield themselves from legal liability for any resulting worker illness or death.”
Read more Chobani commits $1m to nation’s largest research dairy Chobani announced May 11 a $1 million gift to the University of Idaho-led Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Idaho CAFE) to help fund construction of the nation’s largest research dairy and advance scientific research to ensure a sustainable future for the U.S. dairy industry.
With deep roots and a major manufacturing, research and development presence in the Magic Valley, Chobani has long been committed to taking a holistic and inclusive approach to sustainability, especially within the dairy industry. Located in Idaho’s Magic Valley, Idaho CAFE spans three counties with a 2,000-cow research dairy and 640-acre demonstration farm in Rupert, a public outreach and education center in Jerome and collaborative food science efforts developed in partnership with the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls. Read more
A ribbon cutting took place May 9 at the new Stanley L. Balloun Turkey Teaching and Research Facility along 520th Avenue south of Ames. Jim and Julie Balloun, son and daughter-in-law of Stanley L. Balloun, had the honor of cutting the ribbon.
ISU dedicates new Turkey Teaching and Research Facility
Iowa State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences recently dedicated the new Stanley L. Balloun Turkey Teaching and Research Facility, the only facility of its kind focused on turkey production at a major university.
The university’s first-ever dedicated turkey teaching and research facility provides students a living classroom to experience hands-on learning in modern production practices and state-of-the-art equipment for research that addresses current challenges and helps advance Iowa’s turkey industry, one of the largest in the United States. Located south of the Iowa State campus on 520th Avenue in Ames, the facility also offers continuing education, outreach, peer-to-peer opportunities for professionals in the industry and observation areas where visitors, including schoolchildren, can see first-hand examples of turkey production systems and learn about turkey production.
The facility is named in honor of Stanley L. Balloun, an international expert, pioneering researcher and leader in the science of turkey feed. Read more
Check out this Feedstuffs 365 interview with Gretta Irwin, Executive Director of the Iowa Turkey Federation / Iowa Turkey Marketing Council, and Dawn Koltes, assistant professor in animal science, from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. We talk about the new facility and what it means for the industry as well as students and future industry leaders.
View our interview
Canada still falling short on USMCA dairy commitments
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said he told his Canadian counterpart that the U.S. is greatly disappointed with the proposed changes suggested by the Government of Canada to change how dairy tariff rate quotas are allocated under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Vilsack was not prepared to throw his support behind the need for tariffs as the dairy industry is now requesting, but he hopes that Canada will take a different approach to avoid such action.
In January, a USMCA dispute resolution panel initiated by the U.S. found that Canada’s dairy tariff-rate quotas system violates the terms of USMCA. Canada issued a new TRQ proposal in March which included only inconsequential changes. The latest announcement shows no indication that Canada intends to comply with its USMCA commitments on dairy TRQs.
While in Germany for a G7 meeting, Vilsack says he conveyed a strong message of disappointment with Canada’s decision to move forward in a fashion that falls short of the agreement’s intent was “delivered emphatically” and he was fairly confident a similar conversation took place between U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai and her Canadian counterpart. Read more
GOOD Meat, ADM partner to accelerate cultivated meat production Eat Just Inc., a company that applies cutting-edge science and technology on a mission to create healthier, more sustainable foods, has announced that its GOOD Meat division has entered into a joint development agreement with ADM. This is ADM's first strategic partnership of its kind in the cultivated meat sector, which analysts predict could become a $25 billion global industry by 2030. GOOD Meat created the world’s first real, high-quality meat made directly from animal cells that has been approved for commercial sale, and the company is accelerating research and development and increasing production capacity to meet customer demand in Singapore and future markets. ADM’s unparalleled capabilities across every part of the global food chain, including human and animal nutrition, establishes an important pathway to large-scale commercialization of GOOD Meat’s products. Read more
Texas Tech researchers looking for solutions to water shortages Texas Tech University researchers are working to help farmers in semi-arid regions deal with a dwindling water supply. Three professors in the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources recently received a $294,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to study the integration a resilient cropping system and precision conservation for sustainable agriculture in a semi-arid region.
“The overall challenge in this region is the lack of water, and now the water from the Ogallala Aquifer is actually running out,” said principal investigator Wenxuan Guo, an assistant professor of crop ecophysiology and precision agriculture in the Department of Plant and Soil Science. “We’re trying to address the future if the water condition continues to worsen.” Guo and his team will use predictive modeling techniques to gain a better understanding of which crops will work best in rotation depending on the amount of water available in the future. Read more
If you have been fertilizing your pastures to support your livestock operation, then cutting back on fertilizer this year because of its high cost requires improved management. What about other management and nutritional strategies? What do you need to be thinking about? Dr. Dale Blasi, professor/extension specialist beef cattle nutrition and management at Kansas State University, along with Dr. Vanessa Corriher-Olson, extension forage specialist in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University, join us to share their thoughts. View our interview.
