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News from Around the Farm World - Feb. 17, 2010

USDA sharpens rules for organic milk and meat
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — What makes milk or meat organic? After a drawn-out debate, the USDA has significantly narrowed the definition to livestock that spend a third of the year grazing on pasture.

New rules announced Friday say organic milk and meat must come from livestock grazing on pasture for at least four months of the year, and that 30 percent of their feed must come from grazing. The old rules said only that animals must have “access to pasture.”
It took years to craft the new regulations, which offer clarity for ranchers, food companies and consumers, who have forked over billions of dollars for organic food without a clear standard for livestock.

Once a niche market, the organic industry has grown exponentially in the last 20 years as consumers following healthy eating trends sought out organic products, which are grown without pesticides, hormones, antibiotics or biotechnology. It had grown to a $24 billion market in 2008, according to the most recent figures from the Organic Trade Assoc., and its share of food sales was 3.5 percent and growing.

The industry’s rapid expansion, and the ensuing competition between small- and large-scale farmers and ranchers, has put a premium on defining what it means to be organic. To that end, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said the pasture rules are the first step in sharpening that definition.

The new rules take effect in June, and farmers and ranchers will have one year to comply. The rules also say 30 percent of animals’ feed must come from grazing and that ranchers must have a plan to protect soil and water quality. Industry groups and consumer watchdogs praised the rules as an important first step.

“Consumers increasingly are placing high value on organic principles that safeguard animal welfare and avoid confinement,” said Christine Bushway, executive director of the Organic Trade Assoc.

Haiti pitches farm needs to United Nations

ROME (AP) — Haiti’s agriculture minister urged international support Friday for a $700 million plan to bolster food production and create jobs to help the hundreds of thousands of poor Haitians who have fled the earthquake-stricken capital.

Joanas Gue pitched the plan, which is focused on absorbing the large influx from Port-au-Prince to the countryside and putting people to work clearing roads, replanting forests and digging irrigation ditches. Officials hope to avoid further straining the country’s already fragile agriculture industry.

The United Nations (U.N.) sponsored the half-day meeting of donors and aid groups at the Rome headquarters of the U.N. World Food Program. The world body estimates that a half million people – in a country of 9 million – have left the capital in the weeks since the December quake. Cheryl Mills, counselor to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said agriculture investment is key to tackling poverty.

“If we can put people to work in agriculture, raise their incomes, strengthen their markets and support them to grow and buy nutritious food, we will not only enable this decentralization strategy, we will provide real incentives for Haitians to live and work in areas of the country, like the north and west, that are less vulnerable to natural disasters,” Mills said.

Gue wanted to clinch aid for his country’s longer-term food production needs at the meeting, which also was attended by officials from international banking organizations.

While aid workers from foreign governments and private organizations rushed to feed the disaster’s survivors and homeless in the days after the quake struck, Haiti is now concerned about how to feed its people in the medium- and long-term. Poor nutrition was common in Haiti even before the quake, where three-quarters of Haitians were living on $2 a day.

Making Haiti’s agricultural situation even more urgent is the approaching rainy season.

Owner of sick Ohio horses pleads not guilty to cruelty

PORT CLINTON, Ohio (AP) — The owner of an Ohio farm where dozens of malnourished horses were rescued has pled not guilty to 42 counts of animal cruelty.

Robin Vess’ plea was entered Thursday in northern Ohio’s Ottawa County by her lawyer, who said his client could not be in court because she’s hospitalized for depression.

Prosecutors said Vess allowed dozens of Arabian horses to starve and did not seek medical care for them. Her attorney, Mark Davis, has said only some of the horses were underweight, and that their poor physical condition was due to illness, not lack of food.

At least one horse was found dead by the Humane Society of Ottawa County last month, and several others had to be put down. The Humane Society is now caring for 36 horses it seized.

2/17/2010