In the wake of a deliberate fire set earlier this week at Harris Ranch, in Coalinga, California, an animal rights organization has claimed credit, citing the attack as a blow against the factory farming system.

On January 8, 14 trucks at the Harris Ranch were set ablaze. In an anonymous electronic message, the Animal Liberation Front claimed credit for the fire, detailing their planning, operation, and motives.

“at about 3:40 am on sunday, january 8th, 14 cattle trucks caught fire at the harris feeding company in coalinga, ca. containers of accelerant were placed beneath a row of 14 trucks with 4 digital timers used to light 4 of the containers and kerosene-soaked rope carrying the fire to the other 10,” the author of the email said.

Farm organizations across the country have condemned the group. According to the president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, “This is not only an attack on a family-owned and operated business; this is a domestic terrorist attack on our nation’s providers of food and fiber. This extremist behavior goes above mere activism and the freedom of speech. These criminals are threatening lives and causing substantial economic harm.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security lists the ALF as a domestic terrorist organization.

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Written by: Justin Ellison / Farm Plus Staff Writer

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At the annual Farm Bureau Federation meeting in Honolulu, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced about $150 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture budget cuts.

According to Vilsack’s message, the cuts are necessary because of the roughly $3 billion in discretionary budget cuts the USDA has experienced since 2010. “Over the course of the last year or so we have obviously been challenged with reduced budgets,” Vilsack said.

Vilsack portrayed the cuts as a way to streamline USDA programs. In addition to closing over 100 Farm Service Agency offices, the department will shut down a variety of support centers, including a number of farm research centers across the country.

According to Vilsack, “It’s reasonable to assume we’re all going to be faced with this because we have to get our fiscal house in order. My thought was I would rather be proactive. I would rather take the time to do it comprehensively than be forced to do it in a short period of time when your options are very limited.”

Vilsack also pointed out that the $150 million saved in budget cuts is not related to the $23 to $40 billion in cuts expected when Congress gets back in session.

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In a survey done at the latest Farm Bureau Federation meeting in Honolulu, farmers indicated their hope that farm safety programs will continue in the next Farm Bill.

The past several months have been difficult for many American farmers. While commodity prices have skyrocketed, leading to record high farm profits, many farmers have experienced major losses due to extreme weather in nearly every region of the country. In addition, with the 2008 Farm Bill about to expire, many farmers are nervous due to Congress’ inability to pass the long-debated 2012 Farm Bill.

At a Farm Bureau meeting in Honolulu, farmers expressed a hope that the next farm bill will continue major farm safety net programs. Currently, the 2008 Farm Bill authorizes a series of safety programs that include direct farm payments, subsidies triggered by low farm prices, and government subsidized crop insurance.

While farmers are nearly unanimous in hoping that farm support programs will continue, there is some disagreement as to how best to maintain these programs. 39 percent of farmers surveyed at the meeting indicated that they would prefer to maintain the supports contained in the 2008 Farm Bill. About 36 percent responded that they would support switching the current system to a revenue insurance program.

The 2012 Farm Bill is set to resume debate in the House and Senate when both houses return from recess.

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Nearly five months after August’s devastating Hurricane Irene, much of the American Northeast is still making repairs to roads, bridges, and agricultural land. In the seven days between the storm’s formation and dissipation, Irene killed 56 people and caused about $10 billion worth of damage. Of that cost, about $7 billion was limited to the United States.

Irene hit New England hard. Vermont in particular suffered the bulk of the damage with repair costs estimated to be about $200 million. Although much of that will be covered by the federal government, state officials have set up disaster funds and outside charities have worked hard to help Vermonters still suffering from the storm.

The agricultural sector, in particular, is suffering from the damages caused by Irene. According to Chuck Ross, the Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, damage done to the farming sector will easily top $20 million.

“The agriculture community in the state of Vermont has come though it incredibly well,” Ross said, “but make no mistake, there were significant and damaging impacts on the farming community in the state of Vermont.”

Despite these losses, Ross is confident that, given the funding available through the federal government and state agencies, Vermont farmers will bounce back from the storm.

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Earlier this week, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced that the Department of Agriculture planned to close nearly 250 offices across the country, most of them dealing with aid for farmers.

Currently the USDA operates thousands of offices across the country, ensuring that each rural county has at least one Farm Service Agency office.

USDA office closures have been debated before. In the past several years, the USDA has attempted to shut down unnecessary and inefficient offices around the country. Each time, however, the organization has run into opposition from Congress. Prompted by resistance from farm advocacy organizations, Congress has refused to shutter offices without adequate notification and proof that the local office is not needed.

Vilsack has stated that the closures will not hinder the USDA’s larger mission, saying, “Even with these changes, USDA will still have a strong presence in virtually all counties in the country as well as around the world. Over the long haul, we believe farmers and ranchers across the country will be better served by the choice we made.”

Vilsack claims that the closures will help streamline USDA operations. Replacing physical offices with an increased electronic presence, the USDA claims, will make it easier for farmers to receive federal services. In addition, the closures will help save up to $150 million a year.

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In an announcement earlier this week, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam revealed that 14 counties have qualified to receive federal disaster funding. The disaster declaration was caused by excessive heat and drought from earlier in 2011.

Like much of the rest of the United States, Tennessee has been suffering from an ongoing drought. Farmers across the state have reported up to thirty percent crop losses ranging from corn and soybeans to tobacco.

In his statement, Haslam praised the Agriculture Department, saying, “Agriculture is important to the state and contributes significantly to our rural economy. I’m pleased that USDA has acted on my request so promptly. I hope this assistance helps eligible farmers recover and better prepare for the upcoming growing season.”

The counties in question include Blount, Cumberland, Fayette, Fentress, Haywood, Loudon, McMinn, Macon, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Roane, Scott and Wilson.

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With Japanese farmers still feeling the effects of last March’s devastating Tsunami, the government has stepped in with a futuristic plan to revamp Japanese agriculture.

The tsunami last year, sparked by a 9.0 earthquake in the Pacific, devastated the Japanese seaboard, shutting down trade, damaging ports, and destroying the Fukushima nuclear power plant, leading to a meltdown and serious radioactive contamination. In addition, the waves polluted the surrounding countryside and severely damaged farmland in the surrounding.

In order to help resurrect the agricultural sector, the Japanese government is planning a series of robotic farms in the Fukushima prefecture. Known as the Dream Project, the Agriculture Ministry is planning to begin on-site research this March and has allocated $53 million over the next six years.

The farms, when they are finished, will boast state of the art robotic systems. The farm will use unmanned tractors to harvest crops, LEDs to replace pesticides, and will channel carbon dioxide generated by farm machines back into plants to strengthen them without the need for chemical fertilizers.

The farm is part of a larger plan to revolutionize Japanese agriculture. According to an Agriculture Ministry representative, “We hope the project will help not only support farmers in the disaster-hit regions but also revive the entire nation’s agriculture.”

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The race to fill retiring Democratic Senator Ben Nelson’s seat has recently heated up with Democrats accusing the Republican candidate, Attorney General Jon Bruning, of financial impropriety.

The money in question is a $100,000 grant given to We Support Agriculture, a Nebraska based farm advocacy organization, from funds that came out of the state’s Supplemental Environment Project fund, administered by the Attorney General and paid for through state settlements with companies fined for environmental regulations.

Democratic Party spokespeople accused Bruning of using state funds for personal political gain. In a statement blasting the Attorney General, the party stated, “This is just another example of Jon Bruning having a conflict of interest. He seems to have a gift for failing to separate what’s best for the state and what’s best for his own political ambitions.”

Democrats say that the grant was rushed through in order to give Bruning a photo op (he presented the grant at a Farm Bureau convention). They also criticized Bruning’s announcement, which contained an attack on the Humane Society of the United States (Bruning labeled it an extremist organization).

Bruning defended the grant and accused the Democrats of playing politics with Nebraska agriculture, stating, “This is an orchestrated attempt to throw mud.”

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Last fall, in the deadliest American food-borne illness outbreak since the 1920s, listeria tainted cantaloupes grown in Colorado killed 30 people and sickened nearly 150 across over 28 states. While Colorado cantaloupe growers are planning a large-scale food safety program, the larger impact of the listeria crisis is still being felt across the country.

In California’s Central Valley, cantaloupe producers are still struggling months after the outbreak, despite the fact that all the tainted melons were grown on farms 1,300 miles away.

The sudden drop in consumer demand has hit these farmers hard. In the Central Valley, which produces 90 percent of the United States’ summer cantaloupe crop, farm workers on cantaloupe farms were let go and crops were left to rot in the field. Cantaloupe growers across California are still reducing their acreage and looking for alternative crops to plant until the public outcry dies down.

The chair of the California Cantaloupe Advisory Board acknowledged the arbitrariness of public fears, stating, “People shouldn’t have to fear their food. But the irony is that California shipped more cantaloupe in a day than Colorado in their whole season. Millions and millions of cantaloupe, healthy and fine.”

Similar hurdles are appearing in other states as well. With farmers struggling to think of ways to combat misguided public opinion, the solution coming out of California, Colorado, and other cantaloupe producing states is a strict set of production guidelines maximizing health and sanitation standards.

Establishing tough best practice guidelines will help restore consumer confidence in a tarnished industry and will hopefully help farmers across the country continue to serve their local communities.

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Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved a drought resistant strain of corn developed by Monsanto, clearing the corn for sale in the United States.

Corn is the most prevalent crop grown in the United States with over 91 million acres grown this year alone. Over the last several years, corn production in the United States has skyrocketed, largely due to increased overseas demand and ethanol production.

Given the importance of corn to American farmers, the development of heartier strains has been a top concern for genetically modified food producers like Monsanto. When they applied for approval of their modified corn, Monsanto reported that about 40 percent of crop loss in North America was due to a lack of moisture.

According to a Monsanto official, “Our drought system is designed to help farmers mitigate the risk of yield loss when experiencing drought stress, primarily in areas of annual drought stress.”

Now that the USDA has approved their corn, Monsanto has announced that it plans farm trials across the Great Plains in order to prepare for commercial development and marketing.

Assuming the trials are successful, this new strain of corn could be sold globally, helping to ease international food shortages, particularly in drought-afflicted regions.

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