Morton Barnyard Zoo

March 28, 2011 By

The Morton High School FFA and Ag program is holding their Barnyard Zoo Friday, April 8th from 9am to 2pm.  The Barnyard Zoo will be held in the parking lot of Morton High School along Jackson Street.  Stop by and check out all the  animals and tractors and help support the Morton High School FFA and Agriculture Program. There will even be a special visit from Captain Cornelius. 

Sack lunches will be available for sale from 11:30 to 1:00 pm.  Your choice of Roast Beef Sandwich, chips and a drink for $5.00 and a Hot Dog Lunch for the kids for $3.00.

The Barnyard Zoo is free and open to the public.

Come out to support the Morton High School FFA and Agriculture Programs!!!

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Peoria Area Anti-Hunger Coalition Prepares for Can-A-Thon

March 23, 2011 By

(Peoria) – Food insecurity in Central Illinois is no secret and the Peoria Area Anti-Hunger Coalition is making an effort to help again this year.  Sunday, March 27th volunteers will be going door to door collecting non-perishable canned food for food pantries in the greater Peoria area.    The food that is collected will go to the Peoria Area Foodbanks and the foodbank will then distribute food to local food pantries.  The collection times for this year’s door to door Can-A-Thon are 1:00pm through 4:00pm. 

Can-A-Thon bags were distributed in the March 21 edition of the Peoria Journal Star.  The Coalition is asking for donations of non-perishable food items like canned meats, peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, boxed dinner meals, etc.  Those can be dropped off at local participating sites through April 8. 

For the last twenty-eight years the Can-A-Thon has assisted the more the 30,000 people a month that suffer from food insecurity in Central Illinois.  They continue to help neighbors in need.

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Spring Is Officially Here….

March 23, 2011 By

That means… Our AgLand FS Rain Gauge Report has returned and we want your help!  Every time it rains… Click HERE and send us your rainfall totals.  We’ll your totals (along with our AgLand FS locations totals) on during our ag programming on both 1470 WMBD and Classic Country 1290 WIRL.

Check back to our website and we’ll update the totals after each rainfall!

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FDA to Halt Some Food Imports from Japan

March 23, 2011 By

(NAFB) – Late Tuesday, the U.S Food and Drug Administration said it will halt imports of dairy products and produce from the area of Japan where a nuclear reactor is leaking radiation. Those foods will be detained at entry and will not be sold to the public. Other foods imported from Japan, including seafood, still will be sold to the public but screened first for radiation.

Japanese foods make up less than 4 percent of all U.S. imports, and the FDA said it expects no risk to the U.S. food supply from radiation. Officials and health experts say the doses are low and not a threat to human health unless the tainted products are consumed in abnormally excessive quantities.

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New Hampshire House Bans Ethanol

March 23, 2011 By

(NAFB) – The New Hampshire House has passed a bill that would ban the sale of corn-based ethanol in the state. Earlier the House Science Technology and Energy Committee voted down the piece of legislation, however, Representative David Campbell spoke up for the change and the House agreed, 237 to 87. Campbell said – my pitch was this was how the state could send a message that the ethanol mandate raises prices on our gas and is a windfall profit for the corn growers and the big agri-farms in the Midwest.

 Campbell points out – one of the keys is that New Hampshire would be the third New England state to vote this way, so we would be creating a viable market without corn-based ethanol. The ethanol industry must now fight an unexpected battle in the New Hampshire Senate.

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Secretary Seeks Committee Members

March 23, 2011 By

(NAFB) – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is requesting nominations of qualified persons to serve as members of the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture. Vilsack says – this committee will help provide USDA with recommendations on practical measures and tools that can be developed to facilitate the coexistence of production utilizing agricultural biotechnology with other production methods. Written nominations must be received by fax or postmarked on or before April 17, 2011.

This discretionary committee is composed of 20 to 25 members and will include up to seven ex officio members from federal and/or state government agencies outside of USDA. Members will be selected in order to achieve a broad representation of viewpoints to address effectively USDA biotechnology policy issues under consideration. Members shall serve for terms of up to two years.

Nominations for membership must be submitted in writing and provide the appropriate background documents as described in the Federal Register.

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Grassley Wants Ag Committee Hearing

March 23, 2011 By

(NAFB) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley has renewed his request for a hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee to focus on the Office of Civil Rights and the alleged widespread abuses of civil rights throughout the Department of Agriculture. The request was made through a letter to Senate Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow.

Senator Grassley noted, the Department has overcome numerous obstacles and made some progress in this area, but the successes are few and far between. Grassley said, – when the Office of Civil Rights was set up, it was expected to provide leadership and direction for the fair and equitable treatment of all customers and employees at USDA. 

An October 2008 report released by the Government Accountability Office said the Department of Agriculture has continued to struggle to meet its basic responsibilities to guarantee the civil rights of its personnel and ensure that minority farmers and ranchers are served without discrimination.

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Researchers Working to Conserve Water

March 23, 2011 By

(NAFB) – Fort Huachuca, which is the primary economic engine in Arizona’s  Upper San Pedro River Valley near Tuscon, draws its water from the aquifer that sustains the desert river, but this groundwater is being depleted more rapidly than it is replenished. So, USDA scientists are studying how much water is used by riparian vegetation and evaluating how storm water runoff from urban development affects groundwater reserves. Researchers found that a third of the runoff from the developed site resulted just from the compaction from the surface soils during construction-and not from the installation of impervious barriers, as they had expected.

Russ Scott and his colleagues, working at the ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center, have also found that mesquite woodlands use much more water than cottonwood and willow trees that grow along the riverbanks. Using these findings, Scott has developed a GIS-based riparian evaporation and transpiration tool that regional land managers can use to estimate water savings by replacing mesquite with native desert grasses. The Upper San Pedro River Valley is part of a riparian desert region.

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Researching for Healthy Children

March 23, 2011 By

(NAFB) – USDA has released a grant to Temple University to prevent obesity among low-income pre-schoolers by teaching mothers simple strategies to promote healthy food choices and portion sizes to their children. Roger Beachy, Director of USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, said – NIFA supports sound scientific research that will reverse the trend of rising obesity rates and help children and their families adopt healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime.

NIFA awarded the 3.7-million dollar grant to support the work of Dr. Jennifer Orlet Fisher, Associate Professor of Public Health and Director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University. Fisher’s project consists of three parts: learn how various factors – socioeconomic, socio-cultural, and structural – influence parental strategies for establishing portion size for their children.

Secondly, clinically test a behavioral intervention for mothers and their children will be developed.  The project will ultimately be implemented in an urban community in Virginia as part of the SNAP-Ed program, an extension of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides schools with nutrition education.  March is National Nutrition Month.

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Potato Packs Ready to Feed Hungry

March 23, 2011 By

(NAFB) – For the record, over the weekend, more than 500 Syngenta employees, their families and friends, and FFA students gathered at Syngenta headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina, to pack over 178-thousand  servings of Feed My Starving Children MannaPack Potato meals. MannaPack Potato servings are formulated to prevent starvation in children using dehydrated potatoes, vitamins and minerals. Syngenta sponsored the packing event in celebration of National Ag Week.

Over the two-day period, volunteers worked for 12 hours to package the potato-based formula. Vern Hawkins, president of Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC said – I am very proud of what we were able to accomplish as a team. Not only were we able to support the potato industry and celebrate our partnership with FFA, but we were also able to touch the lives of thousands of children who would otherwise go hungry.

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