Germany- Day 17
We began this morning with a tour of the Hessischer Landtag, the Hessen capitol building. It was a fantastic tour in a building mixed with old architecture and new. What a beautiful building! The parliament meets in a round chamber with the “left wing” parties sitting on the left, to the more “right wing” parties on the right. It is also a proportional parliament, so the...
Read MoreMcRib Good for Pork Farmers
Pork farmers and fans of the McRib sandwich are cheering the announcement by McDonalds on Monday that the sandwich is returning to its menus and will be available at all locations of the Golden Arches through Nov. 14. And in an interview with Meatingplace, Ron Plain, professor of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri, said the return of the McRib is a boon for the pork industry....
Read MoreUSDA Reduces Reports Due to Budget Cuts
Due to budget cuts, the Agriculture Department’s National Agricultural Statistics Service will reduce the frequency of its potato stocks report and fruit and vegetable crops estimates, the Packer reports. The potato stocks report is scheduled to change from a monthly report to a quarterly report. Fruit and vegetable in-season forecasts and estimates are being reduced from monthly and quarterly...
Read MoreGermany- Day 16
We started at MUH (get it? German Moo…) a farmer owned dairy cooperative founded in 1967. The cooperative consists of 2,600 farmers in a 250 km radius; they get milk from the five countries of Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France and Luxembourg. The company employs 770 employees and specializes in long-life milk products that are essentially sterilized. They receive over 1,150 million kg...
Read MoreAFBF Proposes Systemic Risk Reduction Farm Program
Stating that government agricultural support programs traditionally were intended to provide a safety net to help farmers deal with “large systemic risk issues” rather than “smaller fluctuations in income” that can result from “average weather and market events,” the American Farm Bureau Federation on Friday sent a farm program proposal to Congress that is an alternative to earlier...
Read MoreLegislative Tracking 2013
