US responds to Russia's ban on meat imports

United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk today issued the following statement in response to Russia's suspension of U.S. meat imports:
"The United States is very disappointed that Russia has taken action to suspend all imports of U.S. meat, which is produced to the highest safety standards in the world. Russia has disregarded the extensive and expert scientific studies conducted by the international food safety standards body, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which has repeatedly concluded that animal feed containing the additive ractopamine is completely safe for livestock and for humans that consume their meat. Russia's failure to adopt the Codex standard raises questions about its commitment to the global trading system. Despite repeated U.S. requests to discuss the safety of ractopamine, Russia has refused to engage in any constructive dialogue and instead has simply suspended U.S. meat imports. The United States calls on Russia to restore market access for U.S. meat and meat products immediately and to abide by its obligations as a Member of the World Trade Organization."
As of February 11, 2013, Russia is prohibiting imports of all U.S. beef, pork, turkey and other meat products by requiring a zero tolerance for the presence of ractopamine. Ractopamine is an additive for animal feed that is used in 27 countries, and has been shown to be completely safe at levels established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the United Nation's Codex Alimentarius Commission, the preeminent food safety international standards organization.

Nutreco share buy-back program hits 44,000 shares

Further to the share buy-back program announced on February 8, Nutreco has announced that during the period from February 8 through February 15, the company purchased 44,000 of its shares at an average price of €67.10 per share.
The total number of shares repurchased under this program to date is 44,000 common shares for a total consideration of €3 million. The buy-back program is being carried out in order to cover future stock dividends and employee stock plans, according to the company.
The share buy-back program will ultimately terminate on March 28, unless the maximum number of 700,000 shares has been repurchased prior to such date. In that case, the program will end on the date on which this maximum is reached and such early termination will immediately be disclosed, said Nutreco.

Cobb Europe opens new UK headquarters

The new Cobb Europe headquarters at Colchester, UK, have been officially opened, with the move showing commitment to further growth throughout the region, according to the company.
“We’ve already made substantial investment in developing and expanding Cobb great-grandparent production facilities in the UK, and we’re now doubling the scale of our pedigree breeding operation in the Netherlands,” said Cobb President Jerry Moye. "This is an exciting time for the Cobb Europe Team. The investments that Cobb has and will continue to make in the region demonstrate our commitment to further contribute to the success of the industry in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”
The new headquarters are the base for Cobb activities throughout this region. The distinctively designed premises, a short distance from the previous offices, are well situated for communication with London and are within easy reach of London’s City and Stansted airport’s as well as the Harwich — Hook of Holland ferry link.

Congress listening more to Renewable Fuel Standard opponents

Thomas Elam has made his voice heard as the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Renewable Fuel Standard is in the midst of a 45-day public comment period, and he said he thinks members of Congress are starting to listen.
Elam, introduced to members of the National Turkey Federation as the “arch-nemesis of the ethanol industry," spoke to federation members on February 14 during their annual convention.
The proposed 2013 overall volumes and standards are: biomass-based diesel (1.28 billion gallons; 1.12 percent); advanced biofuels (2.75 billion gallons; 1.60 percent); cellulosic biofuels (14 million gallons; 0.008 percent); and total renewable fuels (16.55 billion gallons; 9.63 percent.) They were introduced on January 31. Elam, president of FarmEcon LLC, along with spokespeople from ActionAid, Taxpayers for Common Sense, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Environmental Working Group and National Marine Manufacturers Association, took part in Congressional briefings on February 5. Members from each group warned Washington officials of how the Renewable Fuel Standard and the ethanol industry are harmful.
Whether those briefings will lead to a different standard and free up more corn for poultry and livestock feed is still up in the air, Elam said, but the seed has at least been planted. “We did this briefing a year ago, and the attendance this time showed two or three times as many people there,” said Elam. “There’s more of them listening, and they were listening very intently. On the Senate side, we got no questions, but on the House side, we got a ton of questions, and they were all very, very good questions. Does that translate to a majority in both houses voting for a bill and perhaps being able to override a presidential veto? I don’t know.”
During his talk to the federation, Elam said the Renewable Fuels Association will tell the story that the availability of corn has little impact on the cost of poultry and livestock production, or the cost of food. But he stresses quite the opposite. “Since the first RFS in 2006, food costs have started to climb, and have they ever climbed,” he said, estimating that the total cost impact on food from 2005 to 2012 has been $71.3 billion. Despite the 15 percent decrease in feed supply and significant increase of feed costs since 2007, the turkey industry has sustained. The overall commercial meat production in 2012 was around 91 billion pounds, which is actually up about one billion from 2007. Projections for 2013 are very similar to the 2012 results.
But Elam said had less grain been used for ethanol production, more would have been available for feeding turkeys and that 2012 production number would have been much higher. “It’s been amazing what you’ve managed to do. If costs have been lower and corn had been more plentiful, that production would be up close to 100 billion pounds this year,” said Elam. “That is the potential that we are missing.”
Elam said ethanol mandates are also holding other animal agriculture industries back. “We could have been producing significantly more meat. Cargill wouldn’t have needed to close their Texas plant. We could have built that Sanderson Farms complex in North Carolina. We could have built more complexes. There wouldn’t have been eight poultry companies go bankrupt since 2008. We could have avoided a lot of stress. We just don’t have enough feed stocks to feed our people and our ethanol plants,” Elam said.

Optimizing use of phytase key topic at International Phytase Summit

Incomplete destruction of phytate is compromising the profitability and sustainability of the animal feed industry, according to information presented at the second International Phytase Summit held in December 2012.
Hosted in Rome by AB Vista, the University of Sydney, University of Maryland, Massey University and Schothorst Feed Research, the summit welcomed more than 70 delegates from 18 countries and nearly 50 universities, institutes and companies. Collectively these delegates account for around a third of all scientific papers published on phytase research in the past few years.
Under the summit's overarching theme of "optimizing the use of phytase," presentations and open discussions covered a wide range of topics including the formulation of animal feeds with phytase; the content and nutritional influence of phytate in animal feed; and the use of phytases to destroy phytate.
Many themes emerged, such as how to formulate diets according to animals' mineral requirements, dietary phytate contents and the effect of phytases. This led to a discussion about the differences between phytases and their varied abilities to degrade phytate and release minerals and nutrients. There was also extensive debate about the anti-nutritional effects of phytate and the use of "super doses" of specific phytases to make animal production more efficient by rapidly destroying phytate in the foregut. Finally, the summit explored the role phytate and phytase play in animal health and welfare, and on the sustainability and efficiency of animal production in general.
"A number of novel and exciting hypotheses were floated at [the summit], including that phytate may be an enemy in the intestines but desirable in the body," said Dr. Mike Bedford, research director at AB Vista. "It is clear that research into many new areas is warranted and that not all the benefits of phytase use have been unearthed and explained."

Researchers find genetic code for infectious laryngotracheitis vaccines

The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and the USPOULTRY Foundation have completed a funded research project at the University of Georgia and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory regarding the finding of a genetic code for creating safer vaccines for infectious laryngotracheitis. The project is part of the association’s comprehensive research program encompassing all phases of poultry and egg production and processing.
The live vaccines that are used to control infectious laryngotracheitis in chickens have the potential to regain their virulence when they spread from chicken to chicken in the field. This characteristic of the vaccines has limited their use in some instances and induced vaccine-related disease in some cases. The genetic basis for how these vaccines regain their virulence has been poorly understood.
Dr. Maricarmen Garcia, University of Georgia, and Dr. Stephen Spatz, USDA Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, successfully determined the full genome sequences for the two most common live ILT vaccines. They then allowed the vaccines to spread in chickens and looked at the DNA changes in the genomes of the vaccine viruses after they had been allowed to spread one time and again after they had been allowed to spread twenty times. Through this process, they determined which genetic sequences are responsible for the virulence of the virus. This new genetic information will allow researchers to create vaccines which do not have these genetic virulence markers, providing the basis for future effective, safe vaccines to protect the chicken industry against infectious laryngotracheitis.

Former agriculture secretary leaving public office

U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., has said that he will not seek re-election in 2014.
The Senate Agriculture Committee member said he wants a "quieter time" to focus on his family following a busy political career. Prior to joining the U.S. Senate, he served as his state’s governor and as President George W. Bush's agriculture secretary.
Johanns, 62, announced that he was retiring from the Senate after one term. He said he and his wife, Stephanie, had decided that the time had come to end a public career that has spanned more than half of his life. Stephanie Johanns is a former state legislator. Between the two of them, they held eight different offices over the course of 32 years.
Johanns is the second Senate Agriculture Committee member opting not to seek re-election. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, made a similar announcement in January.