If you thought the "fiscal cliff" was the end of the story, you were wrong. Far from it, in fact, as March 1 brought forth a budgetary reality known as "sequestration." Dating back to the 2011 deficit-reduction talks between Congress and the White House, the sequestration, like the fiscal cliff, came about as part of a nuclear-deterrent of sorts, designed to be so frightening to both Republicans and Democrats that the parties would be forced to work together on reducing…

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I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but hay supplies are a real problem right now. According to the latest Feed Outlook from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS), stocks of all U.S. hay stored on farms totaled 76.5 million tons as of December 1, 2012 (see figure). That supply figure is down sharply from a year ago because of - obviously - the effects of the widespread drought of 2012: When measured relative to the demand…

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Drought has claimed its latest victim, with Cargill announcing Jan. 17 that it would idle its Plainview, Texas beef processing facility at the close of business Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Resulting "primarily from the tight cattle supply brought about by years of drought in Texas and the Southern Plains," the closure will affect roughly 2,000 workers. "The decision to idle our Plainview beef processing plant was a difficult and painful one to make and was made only after we…

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Back in my radio days, I travelled - a lot. While I still get out to my fair share of meetings, tradeshows, conventions and seminars, working a great team of reporters each covering a different "beat" within agriculture means I'm not the only one in our newsroom tasked with packing his suitcase and hitting the road this time of year. One of my favorite events of the farm-meeting travel season is the Cattle Industry Annual Convention hosted by the National Cattlemen's…

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While U.S. pork exports for the first 11 months of 2012 continued to exceed the record-setting pace of 2011, the value of beef exports remained slightly above 2011’s record levels despite continued lower volumes, according to statistics released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). In their latest analysis of export data, USMEF pointed out that while volumes have trended lower throughout the year, strong prices for U.S. beef have kept the overall value of…

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The courtroom can be a real circus these days. Okay, that was me stretching to make a clever pun out of a very interesting story from the annals of the animal rights movement - I promise I won't try it again. Here's the crux of the story: The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) reached a legal settlement with Feld Entertainment Inc., the parent company of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, in which ASPCA has paid Feld…

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A good blogger should be something of a curator for his readers, gathering and analyzing important news stories and items of interest for the reader. Be on the lookout for regular updates of that sort here under the heading "Beef Briefs;" I'll provide you a synopsis of the story, a link to the source material and some pithy comments on what the story might mean to you. Here's what came across my radar this morning: JBS plans XL acquisition Jan. 14 My Feedstuffs…

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For the better part of a decade, the U.S. livestock industry has grappled with how to best identify, monitor and trace animals in the event of a major disease event. Dating back to December 2003 discovery of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in Washington State, the discussion has been lengthy, arduous and at times quite contentious. The latest chapter in that story, it seems, is drawing to a close, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection…

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First there was the fiscal cliff, then there was the dairy cliff, and now the agriculture sector is on pins and needles hoping to avoid falling over the container cliff. The latest possible catastrophe to plague the ailing U.S. economy is a narrowly-averted, yet still pending strike of port and dock workers that threatens a multi-billion dollar export trade, including record-setting meat exports. For the last several months of 2012, a potential longshoremen’s strike at major East…

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If perception is reality, then the rich aren't doing their "fair share," and should pay more taxes to subsidize more social programs administered by the federal government. Skeptical? Just ask super-pollster Scott Rasmussen. In a series of polls over the past couple of weeks, Rasmussen Reports has consistently shown that the average American holds a variety of seemingly conflicting views on the current state of fiscal affairs in the U.S. It is this apparent cognitive…

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