At a bankrupt Philadelphia oil refinery, Texas Senator Ted Cruz called on pro-ethanol President Trump to protect blue-collar jobs by reforming the federal biofuels mandate. The news site philly.com said Cruz, who is making his case in part by blocking the Senate from voting on a USDA nominee, has made the Renewable Fuel Standard a major issue in his re-election campaign.

Cruz spoke at a rally at Philadelphia Energy Solutions a day after the Iowa Republican Party warned that he was endangering his chances of a repeat victory in the state's presidential caucuses with his four-month hold on Bill Northey. 

If confirmed, Northey, the current Iowa Secretary of Ag, would be the No. 3 official at the USDA and would oversee its crop subsidy, crop insurance, and land stewardship programs. Cruz is holding the nomination hostage in hopes of persuading midwestern senators to modify the ethanol mandate. 

After the Cruz appearance in Philadelphia, the National Corn Growers' President Kevin Skunes offered a statement to rebut the claims made by the Texas Senator:

This coming Friday, the United States Department of Agriculture will release its regular monthly Cattle on Feed report based on February 1st data. Jim Robb of the Livestock Marketing Information Center sat down recently with me to share his thoughts on what this upcoming report might show.


"I think it's a tale of dry conditions and the Southern Plains being the major part of the story in placements," Robb said, clarifying that a relatively large number of cattle have been placed during January compared to last year. "We placed a lot of animals in January because we slowed them down and we kind of delayed them into feedyards. Well, we're pulling them in early this year and certainly the drought conditions in the Southern Plains - Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico especially - have been forced to place a lot of cattle into feedyards in the month of January."


Robb says the numbers from the Southern Plains could come in surprisingly large, again compared to a rather big number from last year. If this happens, Robb suggests that it might have a noticeable impact in the marketplace and drive fed cattle prices down later on. Also, Robb says marketings have been raised up a bit more on top of last year's good number, which he says when all totaled, leaves us with what he expects to be a 7 to 7.5 percent year-over-year increase to the on feed inventory.


"That's a little bit smaller year-over-year increase than we had last month," he said. "But, that's still a lot of cattle to work through. The concern is the timeframe that those animals come out of feedyards - certainly targeted to summer months. That's the time where this fed cattle market and the feeder cattle markets will come together."

OSU's Ag-Econ Department released the summary report of its February 2018 edition of the Food Demand Survey (FooDS) this week. The survey's ad hoc section this month focused on gardening and people's participation in growing their own food. About 40% of survey participants stated revealed that they do in fact keep their own garden.


Most participants stated their garden was smaller than a standard parking space for a car, while about 5% of participants said their garden was more than 1,000 square feet, roughly seven times the area of a parking space.


Some of the most popular produce grown in the gardens of those surveyed, include tomatoes, peppers and herbs. Some participants also stated they grow non-edible ornamental plants.


Regarding pesticide use, approximately 56% of participants say they never use any chemicals in their gardens. About 37% of participants answered that they will occasionally use them; and about 4% of gardeners surveyed, claim to use pesticides frequently.


When buying produce, over half of all participants surveyed stated they would prefer a "produce that looks perfect but was grown using traditional agricultural practices." About 47% of participants stated they would prefer "produce with some slight, cosmetic blemishes but was grown using organic practices."

To take a look at the complete summary report of this month's edition of the FooDS Survey for more highlights, click or tap here.

In a new video release, Melissa Brewer, director of communications for Certified Angus Beef, explains how the progression of online shopping has evolved - changing the way people shop for groceries - including the way we buy beef. 

With the advent of new home delivery services such as Amazon Prime and Amazon Fresh, meal kits like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron and others - Brewer says the food retail landscape is changing and continues to evolve. "We have been continuing to look at what is happening in that landscape and where fresh meat fits in within that portfolio," she said.

Despite the popularity of these home delivery services, though, data suggests that today's consumer is not quite ready for beef to be delivered to their door.

"The reality is that recent Gallup surveys showed that 84 percent of consumers still haven't purchased groceries online. And when you think about that, you're hearing a lot of buzz, but the reality is, they're still not willing to go there for their groceries," Brewer said. "Then when you look on further down into that basket, they're certainly not willing, yet, to put their dollars towards fresh meats, fresh produce, because they still want to be able to go into the store, be able to touch, to feel, to see the freshness of that product. And so, it's an interesting landscape right now from that standpoint knowing that consumers are absolutely interested in, are ever-more connected to their mobile devices and being able to make those transactions right online, but we still need to see how it's going to play out when it comes to, you know, the meat case and being able to take those fresh products home."

To read the full story or watch a video clip featuring Brewer explain why today's consumer may buy beef a bit differently than generations before, click or tap here.

As I reported on Monday- the Oklahoma Farm Bureau has named Ron Justice their new vice president of public policy. In his new role, Justice will direct the advocacy of Farm Bureau member policy at the state Capitol and throughout Oklahoma. He replaces LeeAnna McNally who has moved over to the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education as their Government Relations Rep.  


OKFB President Rodd Moesel said of Justice, "We're honored to have him take the helm of our policy efforts, and look forward to all he will accomplish for our farmers and ranchers."


Justice was employed with the OSU Cooperative Extension Service for 33 years before being elected to the Oklahoma Senate in 2004, where he served parts of Canadian, Grady and Kingfisher counties for 12 years. During that time, Justice served as vice chairman of agriculture and rural development, vice chairman of appropriations and chairman of the Republican Rural Caucus.


"Upholding the issues that are important to the people that live and work in rural Oklahoma has been a long-standing passion of mine," Justice said. "I'm eager to work hand-in-hand with Farm Bureau members to bolster our state's agriculture community." 

Click or tap here to read the full statement from OKFB announcing Justice's hire.
 

 Established in 2000, the Integrity Beef Alliance is a comprehensive beef production system focusing on improving returns for farmers and ranchers through value-added traits and sustainability. This in turn produces the highest quality calves possible for both the supply chain owner and the consumer. The American Hereford Association announced yesterday that the IBA will now accept Hereford bulls as the newest breed sire in the program.