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News from the Minnesota Association of Wheat |
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USDA: ESTIMATES ON HIGH SIDE OF TRADE GUESSES The appropriations committees in both the House and the Senate this week passed amendments to the
agricultural appropriations bill that would allow sales of food and medicine to all sanctioned countries. The language does not preclude sales to governments thereby opening the way for potential sales to Cuba.
Yesterday afternoon in the House Full Appropriations Committee, Rep. Tom DeLay R-TX offered an amendment to strike the unilateral sanctions reform language included in the Agriculture spending bill by Rep. Nethercutt.
DeLay's amendment was defeated by a vote of 24-35, a truly significant margin of victory. This success can be directly attributed to the hard work of several farm district congressmen and the constant pressure from
farmers, ranchers and agricultural organizations on legislators. While this represents a great hurdle in the ongoing battle to reform unilateral sanctions there are several more hoops to jump through. The language
must first pass the Rules committee, which has final say over what it may contain. Congressman Nethercutt's office is expected to circulate a letter for signature of House Members urging the Rules Committee to protect
the sanctions language. The Rules committee will likely meet on May 18. The legislation is scheduled to be considered by the full House and Senate next week.
WHEAT GROWERS PLAN TO VISIT 440 HILL OFFICES NEXT WEEK The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on PNTR during the week of May 22 and agricultural groups throughout the U.S. are planning on flying in to Washington D.C. the week before the vote in a show of
support for PNTR. Despite the unfortunate timing, planting season for some ? harvesting for others, over fifty wheat representatives are arriving in Washington and will deliver a pro-PNTR message to all 440 Hill
offices. The wheat contingent represents the largest number of all commodity groups participating in the fly-in by a more than two to one margin. Wheat growers are visiting every House office with information stressing
the importance of PNTR for America's farmers, ranchers and laborers Vote counting is continuing in earnest as both sides jockey for political positioning. An early count by Majority Whip Tom Delay (R-TX) underwhelmed
pro-PNTR supporters. The Majority Whip said that 120 Republicans have committed to support PNTR (30 short of the 150 who have been counted on to support the yearly vote). Several insiders have indicated that this is a
tactic to put more pressure on Democrats and the Administration as well as not wanting to appear overconfident. Opponents of PNTR are also sounding negative in their ability to garner enough support to defeat the
measure. Next week will provide a final lobby blitz on both sides of the issue before it comes to debate on the House floor the week of May 22nd.
USDA: NO SOYBEAN CHECKOFF REFERENDUM NEEDED USDA received 17,970 signed request for referendum forms, or just less than three percent of the 600,813 eligible producers at county Farm Service Agency (FSA)
offices. Finish the article at The forecast - AWF's second for the April/March season - falls short of Australia's record
crop of 23.80 million tonnes of wheat in 1999/00, estimated by the private forecaster. In Queensland, in addition to good subsoil moisture, there have been rains that have allowed growers to proceed with sowing, AWF
said. "However, in some regions, with more reliable winter rainfall, growers are opting to delay wheat sowings until June," it said. Central Queensland received rain in April and so far this month,
leading to the region's best start to winter cropping for four years, AWF said. "Growers are choosing more of the longer growing season wheat varieties, and this enables the yield forecast to be
increased," AWF said.
THE STATE OF FOOD INSECURITY IN THE WORLD According to The State of Food Insecurity in the World 1999, the current reduction does not indicate uniform progress throughout the world. Indeed the data reveal that, in
the first half of this decade, just 37 countries achieved a reduction in the number of undernourished, totalling 100 million people. Across the rest of the developing world, the number of hungry people actually
increased by almost 60 million. The State of Food Insecurity in the World also points out that hunger is not limited to the developing nations. The report presents the first assessment of the number of undernourished
people in the developed world, finding 8 million in the industrialized countries and 26 million in the countries in transition. There is no single prescription for action to combat hunger. The goal agreed to at the
1999 World Food Summit - a reduction by half in the number of hungry people by the year 2015 - must be translated into concrete objectives at local, national and regional levels. This will enable people and their
leaders to take action that will guarantee the birthright of everyone on this planet - enough to eat.
MILLIONS OF CATTLE DIE IN FAMINE-HIT ETHIOPIA Preliminary estimates of the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) indicated that up to three million cattle, calves and milking cows had died, in some areas up to
90 percent of the total. "The most negative impact of cattle mortality and poor body condition is the lack of milk for human consumption, particularly for children," the FAO said in a statement.
Mortality figures for camels varied from five to 10 percent, and for sheep between 10 and 20 percent, the FAO said. The United Nations has warned that the failure of the secondary Belg season crops could push up the
number of people needing food aid in Ethiopia this year above eight million. The Belg crop, harvested in May and June, accounts for around eight to 10 percent of annual cereals and pulses production, but
in some of the northern areas of Ethiopia it provides a significant part of annual grain production.
FROST DAMAGE ON SEEDLINGS Low temperatures of 26 to
30 F was reported over the weekend. The NDAWN maps show that frost occurred in the SW on May 12, while on May 13 frost occurred primarily in the western half of the state and on May 14 frost was primarily in the
east central and NE areas of the state. A few reports of frost injury are starting to come in! It's too early to tell if it was a killing frost in some areas depending on crop seedling stages and the duration of
the cold temperatures. The next few days will tell if chilled or damaged seedlings will recover. An excellent reference site is available on the NDSU Web site: Under the PROCROP page- Environmental Damage: FROST
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