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News from Around the Farm World - April 30, 2008

Brazil blocks exports of gov.-owned stocks of rice

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry said it has temporarily banned exports of government-owned stocks of rice to guarantee domestic supply amid rising world prices, but other shipments will still be allowed.

The Agriculture Ministry issued a statement April 23 suggesting that all rice exports were being halted, but a ministry spokeswoman said Thursday the statement was poorly worded.

Rice farmers have not been asked to stop exporting and the government will “allow the market to follow its course as long as there is no risk of shortages,” the spokeswoman said. She declined to be quoted by name, in line with department policy.

The ministry said the decision to ban exports of government rice stocks was sparked by a purchase request from some African nations.
“We told them that we could not meet their request because we have to make sure that Brazil will not suffer shortages,” the spokeswoman said. She did not know which countries had hoped to buy rice.

The ministry also said on May 5 the government will auction 55,000 tons of rice from its stocks to keep domestic prices from rising from current levels, about $17-$18 for a 110-pound bag. The ministry said the 2007-08 rice harvest totaled 12 million tons, and government rice stocks currently stand at 1.6 million tons.

Nicaragua has emergency meeting on food crisis

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said Central American food shortages have reached crisis levels and could cause social unrest.

Free trade, market forces and farm subsidies in developed nations are contributing to the problem, Ortega told regional agriculture ministers on Saturday. Ortega convened the ministers for what he called “an emergency meeting to take measures in the face of a food crisis, before we have any possible social explosions.”

Poverty-ridden Central America depends on imported oil and fertilizer to fuel its farms. Malnutrition is already common across the region, and soaring oil and grain prices threaten to make things worse.

The aim of Saturday’s meeting was to develop a production and marketing alliance for regional farm goods. Also attending were members of the Venezuelan-inspired Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, a trade and aid bloc known as ALBA.

Last week, Ortega joined the leftist leaders of Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia in creating a $100 million program to fight rising food costs for Latin America’s poor. International aid groups and the news media have not paid the food crisis enough attention, Ortega said.
“The drama of poor nations, where every five seconds a child dies of hunger and malnutrition, doesn’t make the news,” Ortega said. “When they limit sales of rice in the United States, that is news.”

U.S. releases final rules on materials in animal feed

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration said April 23 it is implementing a rule that bans certain cattle parts from animal and pet food as part of an effort to prevent “Mad Cow” disease.

The regulation originally was instituted in 2005. Wednesday’s action was to make its implementation final. Materials prohibited from pet and animal feed are tissues that have the highest risk for carrying bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the technical term for the disease.

These include the brains and spinal cords from cattle 30 months of age and older. The entire carcasses of cattle not inspected and passed for human consumption also are prohibited unless the cattle are younger than 30 months of age or the brains and spinal cords have been removed.

The risk of BSE in cattle younger than 30 months is considered exceedingly low.

The final rule takes effect in 12 months. Materials that pose a risk of the human form of the disease have been banned from the human food supply since 1997.

Japan says banned spinal column found in U.S. beef
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s farm ministry said a spinal cord was found in beef shipped from the United States, a violation of a bilateral trade agreement.

Under the accord, U.S. exporters must remove spinal columns and other materials that are believed to pose a risk of “Mad Cow” disease. Japan resumed imports of U.S. beef in July 2006.

The farm ministry said April 23 that Japanese officials have informed the U.S. Embassy of their findings, and shipments from the processing plant in California have been temporarily halted.

In change, industry groups back downer cow ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — In a significant reversal, the meat industry is backing a total ban on “downer” cattle from entering the food supply.

Calls for such a ban have come from watchdog groups in the wake of the massive beef recall from a southern California slaughterhouse. Current law bans the slaughter of most cows that are unable to stand, but they’re allowed in if they fall down after passing a veterinarians’ inspection and then are re-inspected.
Advocacy groups consider that a loophole, but the USDA and the meat industry opposed changing it.

Now, industry has reconsidered. The American Meat Institute, the National Meat Assoc. and the National Milk Producers Federation announced April 22 that they have asked the USDA to enact a total ban.

Farmers die of injuries from tractor accidents

LAPEL, Ind. (AP) — A Madison County farmer has died after being accidentally pinned between the front of his tractor and the machine’s bucket frame.

Madison County Sheriff Ron Richardson said 72-year-old Don L. Conrad was in a barn doing maintenance work on the tractor when the accident occurred the afternoon of April 25 on the farm between Anderson and Lapel.

He said it appeared there was a loose hydraulic line and the bucket came down on top of Conrad. The tractor was not moving at the time, Richardson said.

Conrad’s body was found later by his wife, the sheriff said.
In Mount Vernon, Ill., authorities say a farm accident has killed a 78-year-old Jefferson County man.

The Jefferson Fire Protection District says Harold Langa died April 18 inside a barn on his property. Officials say Langa apparently had been working on his tractor when it began to move.

Langa tried to get out of the way but tripped and fell. Officials say he then was pinned and crushed when the front of the tractor hit a barn door.

4/30/2008