Listen as AgriBusiness Director DeAnna Thomas visits with USDA Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. John Clifford, Epidemiologist and Professor of Food Safety and Public Health Dr. Guy Lonerago, National Cattleman’s Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall, Illinois Farm Bureau Livestock Program Director Jim Fraley and Director of Communications for the Illinois Beef Association Eric Johnson about the latest confirmation of BSE – Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy here in the United States.

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(NAFB) – USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has confirmed the nation’s fourth case of BSE. USDA Chief Veterinary Officer John Clifford says the animal is a dairy cow from central California. He stresses that the carcass will be destroyed and was never presented for slaughter for human consumption. As such – it never presented a risk to the food supply or human health. In addition – Clifford says milk does not transmit BSE. Clifford says evidence shows the systems and safeguards in place to prevent BSE – including the FDA ban on ruminant material in cattle feed – are working in the U.S. and around the world. He notes there were just 29 worldwide cases of BSE in 2011 – a dramatic decline and 99-percent reduction since the peak in 1992 of more than 37-thousand cases. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack stated that USDA remains confident in the health of U.S. cattle and added the department has no reason to believe any other U.S. animals are currently affected.

USDA collects 40-thousand samples for BSE on an annual basis. Samples from this animal were tested at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa. The animal was confirmed positive for atypical BSE – a rare form of the disease not generally associated with an animal consuming infected feed. The results – according to Clifford – will be shared with international animal health reference labs in Canada and England. He says the labs have extensive experience diagnosing atypical BSE and will review USDA’s confirmation of this form of the disease. In addition – USDA will conduct a comprehensive epidemiological investigation in conjunction with California animal and public health officials and the FDA.
Clifford says this detection in no way affects the nation’s BSE status as determined by the OIE – the World Organization for Animal Health – and therefore should not impact U.S. trade. He says USDA is confident in the health of the national herd and the safety of beef and dairy products.

(NAFB) – Senate Ag Committee leaders Debbie Stabenow and Pat Roberts say the USDA’s proven firewalls and internationally recognized safeguards that protect against BSE worked as intended. Stabenow says these safeguards are in place so rare cases like this one can be detected. She says the fact we heard about the discovery – and that there was never any threat to consumers – shows the mechanisms in place for protecting our food supply worked. According to Roberts – internationally science performed just as intended by immediately detecting a problem, protecting public health and further ensuring the safety of our nation’s livestock.

Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns also weighed in Tuesday – stating that American beef continues to be among the safest in the world. According to Johanns – Americans and the entire world should continue to be confident in the safety of American beef. To show his own confidence – Senator Roberts stated he was looking forward to a good beef dinner Tuesday night.

When it comes to the latest U.S. case of BSE – the American Farm Bureau Federation and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association are reminding Americans that our beef and dairy products are safe. NCBA Cattle Health and Well-being Committee Chair Tom Talbot says the top priority of America’s cattle producers is raising healthy cattle. To that end – he says the U.S. beef community has worked with animal health experts and government to put multiple interlocking safeguards in place to prevent BSE from taking hold in this country. Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman says the detection of this BSE case is proof that our detection system is working. Talbot notes the World Organization for Animal Health – OIE – formally classified the U.S. as a controlled risk country for BSE back in May of 2007. The classification recognizes that U.S. regulatory controls are effective and that U.S. fresh beef and beef products from cattle of all ages are safe and can be safely traded due to our interlocking safeguards.

(NAFB) – The American Soybean Association has taken a closer look at the mark of the 2012 Farm Bill released by the Senate Ag Committee leaders Friday. The group is voicing its overall support of the draft language and calling on the Committee to approve it quickly in the interest of passing the new farm bill as soon as possible. Steve Wellman – Nebraska soybean farmer and ASA President – says the organization supports the decision to achieve 23-billion dollars in savings over ten years. He says farmers and ranchers are willing to do their fair share to address the nation’s fiscal problems – but adds the investments in food, agriculture and conservation should not be cut disproportionately.

ASA has released its title-by-title positions on the Chair’s Mark for the farm bill. As for the commodity programs of Title I – ASA supports the need to replace existing farm support programs like direct payments, counter-cyclical payments and ACRE; using remaining baseline funding to establish the Agriculture Risk Coverage Program; maintaining marketing assistance loans at current levels; and re-instituting current payment limitations.
Under Title II – ASA supports the simplification, flexibility and consolidation of agricultural conservation programs and the priority given to working lands. They support the consolidation of 23 existing programs into 13 and requiring conservation compliance as a condition for eligibility to receive benefits under Title I commodity programs. When it comes to trade – Title III – ASA supports continuing full annual funding for the Market Access and Foreign Market Development programs; the McGovern-Dole Program and the Food for Peace Program.
ASA also strongly supports the efforts made to protect and strengthen crop insurance as a risk management tool. They support new provisions like increasing the transitional yield plug from 60 to 70-percent; requiring USDA to implement an acreage report streamlining initiative project and authorizing supplemental coverage for farmers to buy a county-level revenue policy in addition to individual coverage.
ASA has outlined areas where they would support changes and refinements as well. Among other things – ASA notes the mark authorizes but does not include mandatory funding for energy programs. The group supports efforts to provide mandatory funding for the Bio-based Market Program and the Biodiesel Education Program.

(NAFB) – The Senate Agriculture Committee’s proposed farm bill supports many of the critical priorities for specialty crops. That’s according to the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance. The Alliance says the mark continues important investments made in specialty crop programs through the 2008 Farm Bill. They are urging the Committee to complete its work on the bill and pass the legislation this week. According to the Alliance – the proposal includes support for key industry priorities such as research, pest and disease mitigation, trade, nutrition and other programs that enhance the ability of specialty crop producers to be competitive and meet the needs of American consumers. The SCFBA says the proposal is a critical step in maintaining the momentum started in 2008.

(NAFB) – A report from SecondMarket Holdings Inc. shows MF Global was the second most actively traded bankruptcy case by dollar amount in March. Nearly 326-million dollars-worth of claims changed hands. Investors made more than 100 trades of customer claims with an average value of 3.13-million dollars per claim. Due in part to the heavy demand from MF Global – the report says the claims trading market encompassed 6.2-billion dollars-worth of claims last month – an 88-percent increase from February.

(NAFB) – U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced funding for 13 partnership agreements for high-priority wetland restoration and conservation work in 12 states. This year – 15-million dollars in financial and technical assistance is available for these projects through USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and a network of partners. Vilsack says the projects were selected because of their significant contribution towards wetlands restoration, enhancement or protection. He says the effort combines federal resources with the funding and expertise of others needed to improve water quality, prevent flooding and enhance wildlife habitat on more than 16-thousand acres of wetlands.

The Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program is a special component of the NRCS Wetlands Reserve Program. NRCS will celebrate the 20th anniversary of WRP next month. More than 11-thousand private landowners have voluntarily enrolled more than 2.3-million acres into the program. Landowners can apply at their local NRCS office.
For more information – visit go dot usa dot gov slash m24 (http://go.usa.gov/m24).

(NAFB) – The nation’s corn growers are getting a jump start on planting this year. The latest USDA Crop Progress report shows more than a quarter of the corn is in the ground – 28-percent to be exact. The five-year average is 15-percent and last year at this time – just eight-percent had been planted. Six states are at least halfway done with planting – including Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Nine-percent of the crop is now emerged – well ahead of the five-year average of two-percent. Soybean planting is also off to a quicker start than usual with six-percent planted. The five-year average pace is two-percent.

(NAFB) – The House Agriculture Committee met Wednesday to consider a proposal to satisfy the Committee’s reconciliation instructions required by House Concurrent Resolution 112. The Committee passed the reconciliation measure by voice vote. Included are 33-billion dollars in cuts to federal nutrition spending over 10 years. The savings are achieved through reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. House Ag Chair Frank Lucas says the cuts will close loopholes, reduce waste and abuse and increase the integrity of the program. Costs would be cut by four-percent. According to Lucas – the proposals represent common sense and good government in a time of fiscal restraint. The measure now goes to the House Budget Committee.

Ranking Member Collin Peterson called the process a waste of time in his opening remarks – noting the Senate has not agreed to reconciliation and would almost certainly not touch the bill. He also argued that the proposal before the committee was not serious. According to Peterson – you can’t have a serious conversation about getting the budget under control when large items like defense are off the table. He said taking a meat ax to nutrition programs that feed millions of hard-working families in an effort to avoid defense cuts is not a serious way to achieve deficit reduction.