FYI on Poultry

Whole Foods Market Inc. continued its strong growth Wednesday, posting a 31% jump in fiscal fourth-quarter profit and its eighth straight quarter of identical-store sales growth. It also hiked its dividend 40% and announced a $200 million share-repurchase program.

Rising food prices that defy easing global inflation may challenge policy makers in countries including China to control costs without hurting economic growth, panelists at a forum said yesterday. A growing middle class seeking higher-protein foods is contributing to increased demand and prices, Abby Joseph Cohen, partner and senior U.S. investment strategist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS).

The Select Congressional Deficit Reduction Committee, also known as the Super Committee, is quickly approaching its November 23rd deadline for suggesting methods of trimming $1.5 trillion from the US budget over the next 10 years. Nearly everyone has assumed the committee would be suggesting cuts in expenditures, such as USDA’s farm program safety net, more cuts on crop insurance and conservation, and maybe some in nutrition and rural development. But a new concept has been proposed to achieve 30% of the needed cuts, and a concept that will be endorsed by nearly all of agriculture. It does not touch any farm programs, and it does not call for increased taxes. How do you trim the budget without doing either of those?

President Obama signed the Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia on Friday (21 October). President Obama has signed into law the long-awaited free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia, as well as the latest trade adjustment assistance for workers, reports ABC News.

I had breakfast this week with Jeffrey R. Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric, and the main dish on the menu was tough love. In an interview before a packed hall in Times Square, the boss of the more than a century-old $177 billion global behemoth told me that Americans can still win in the global economy — but that they need to fight harder.

Waters polluted by the ordure of pigs, poultry, or cattle represent a reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes, both known and potentially novel. These resistance genes can be spread among different bacterial species by bacteriophage, bacteria-infecting viruses, according to a paper in the October Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Winter looks to be cold and wet across the northern tier of states, and the drought will worsen in the South, where conditions are expected to be warmer and drier than usual, government forecasters said Thursday. Like last winter, the Pacific Ocean cooling known as La Nina is affecting the weather, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Green Plains and BioProcess Algae have completed the first phase of a series of animal feeding trials with algae grown at an ethanol plant. In poultry, the companies' algae had a similar protein composition to high-protein soybean meal and a higher energy content. Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. and BioProcess Algae, LLC have announced the successful completion of the first round of algae-based poultry feed trials. The algae strains produced for the feed trials demonstrated high energy and protein content that was readily available, similar to other high value feed products used in the feeding of poultry today.

The prospects are bright for the global poultry industry, says a new Rabobank report, despite the current turbulent environment and the challenge of meeting a 30 per cent rise in global demand in the next decade. The report ‘Crossroads for Growth: The International Poultry sector towards 2020’ describes the new competitive environment in the industry. Players from Brazil and other emerging markets have started to internationalise and diversify the global poultry industry as markets in Europe and the US become saturated.

Biofuels face their biggest test yet -- whether they can power fighter jets and tanks in battle at prices the world’s best-funded military can afford. The U.S. Air Force is set to certify all of its 40-plus aircraft models to burn fuels derived from waste oils and plants by 2013, three years ahead of target, Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary Kevin Geiss said. The Army wants 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025. The Navy and Marines aim to shift half their energy use from oil, gas and coal by 2020.

It is estimated by the United Nations that the world’s urban population will double between the years 2000 and 2030. In that time, while cities and populations around the world grow, the amount of fresh water available for consumption as well as domestic and industrial use will not expand. It is further predicted that if little is done to alter this situation, global demand for fresh water may outstrip supply by as much as 40 percent by 2030, putting food security at risk. Such a prospect makes fresh water availability one of the most pressing issues facing the world.

Global agricultural production needs to continue growing at a significant pace to keep up with food needs, according to the 2011 Global Agricultural Productivity Report from the Global Harvest Initiative. The annual GAP report, developed with input from the Farm Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service and other agricultural experts, measures ongoing progress in sustainably doubling agricultural output in the next 40 years.

The divide between a utopian vision of food production and the realities of modern, large-scale agriculture grew ever wider this week as Worldwatch Institute released a report on global meat production and consumption. Offering little more than a rehash of unsubstantiated claims regarding livestock production, Worldwatch fails to add serious discussion to the debate about food production, and their actions don’t serve the world’s population that are poor and hungry.

Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), among others, have taken the first step in developing a new type of vaccine to protect chickens against coccidiosis, the most important parasite of poultry globally.

A 30-day extension of the comment period for the proposed rule on animal disease traceability has been made, the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced. Under the proposed rule, livestock moved interstate would have to be officially identified and accompanied by an interstate certificate of veterinary inspection or other documentation, such as owner-shipper statements or brand certificates, unless specifically exempted. It also encourages the use of low-cost technology and specifies approved forms of official identification for each species, such as metal eartags for cattle.

Consumers, pinched by falling incomes, trimmed their spending last year even as prices for everyday goods climbed, according to a new report from the Labor Department.

High corn and soybean prices have made the search for ways to decrease poultry feed costs more important than ever. According to the Poultry Science Association (PSA), researchers at the University of Nebraska have identified one possible approach that may be effective for laying hens: increasing the percentage of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) used in hens’ diets.

A landmark judgment awarded to Arkansas and Louisiana poultry growers may pave the road for other growers to win their lawsuits against one of the nation's largest chicken producers, reports KATV. A federal judge has ordered Pilgrim's Pride to pay nearly $26 million to 91 growers in the El Dorado area of Arkansas.

Some call it the smell of money, but Teng Teeh Lim thinks that smell does not have to be so bad. The University of Missouri Extension researcher wants to give large, concentrated animal operations an economical way to lessen those troubling smells. Professor Lim recently received a $50,000 Mizzou Advantage grant to develop a computer model that allows large producers to use the size and other simple information about their swine or dairy farm to give them a better idea of the amount of emissions and what they can do to address odour or emission issues.

The animal health business within the global health market is changing with pharmaceutical giants considering selling their veterinary arm due to lower sales and more regulatory restrictions. When a friend of mine swapped his veterinary job for one in human healthcare, I told him he was simply following the latest fashion. The top directors of several big pharmaceutical corporations have been recently suggesting, again, that they might concentrate on the human side and end their interest in animal health products.