Association Perspectives

DON is Grain Industry’s Mad Cow

A few items to note from the recent case of BSE or “Mad Cow disease” found in Washington State:

The media needs to be held accountable for its reporting. Sometimes the media gets a bad rap, while other times the criticism is justified.  For instance, didn’t it seem like that TV image of the stumbling Holstein cow was played over and over?  The kicker is that this was not the BSE case from the state of Washington; it was file footage of an infected cow in Britain.  It is this image that likely made the biggest impression on consumers, who by and large probably assumed that what they were seeing was the cow from Washington state. Yet the video was not labeled as “British file footage.” The media needs to be held accountable for its product and its packaging, just like any other industry.

The issue demonstrates the value of farm commodity groups. State and national cattlemen’s groups were quick to disseminate information about the BSE incident and assure consumers that beef is safe. In fact, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association had a crisis response plan in place in the event of a BSE outbreak, and state and national beef organizations have worked continuously since the Dec. 23 BSE case to execute that plan. The NCBA points out that the checkoff program provided the resources necessary to combat this issue on behalf of the industry.  It gets back to the assertion that if producers don’t have a system in place to defend and promote their product, then who will?

Food safety is a critical issue. We’ve heard this so much in recent years that it’s almost become a cliché.  But the BSE incident really drives home how food safety – in particular, the perception of food safety – can have an economic impact on farm products, affecting everyone from producer to processor.

The grain industry has its own mad cow, so to speak: deoxynivalenol (DON) or vomitoxin, the toxic byproduct of Fusarium head blight (scab) that can make wheat unfit for milling and barley unsuitable for malting. 

Mid Atlantic states had big problems with DON in 2003 (see story page19).  Mike Pate with Midstate Mills, which processes wheat into flour for a number of national retail accounts, puts the issue bluntly: “If you cannot provide a safe food commodity to the end user, two things happen to you: you’re not going to have any business, and lawyers are going to step in. Litigation is the watch word for what we do.”

What can farmers do about the safety of the commodities they produce? On-farm, most are already doing what they can do, and that’s to produce the highest quality crops and livestock in the most sensible and responsible means possible.

Off-the-farm, producers need to support their commodity checkoffs which makes product promotion, education and research (including product safety) a sustainable reality. And with their memberships in grower associations that lobby, they support efforts of these groups to address food safety issues without increasing the regulatory burden on producers. For instance, by urging state and federal lawmakers to allocate funding to research.  A state initiative in Minnesota to increase the research focus on FHB and DON (an update of which is included this issue) as well as a national initiative (www.scabusa.org) are direct results of grain grower association lobbying.

Association Perspectives represents the views of the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers, North Dakota Grain Growers Association, Montana Grain Growers Association, and South Dakota Wheat Inc.

Association News

NDGGA Bestows “Kernel Awards”

The North Dakota Grain Growers Association recently honored several individuals with the group’s “Kernel Awards,” which recognizes those who have made outstanding contributions to the state’s wheat and barley industry.  Honored were Dick Emerson, Busch Ag Resources; Mark Gage, a Page, N.D. producer; Washington, D.C. Agweek correspondent Jerry Hagstrom; Gene Nicholas, farmer and chair of the ND House Ag Committee, Cando, N.D.; and Merle Boucher, a rancher from Rolette, N.D. and minority leader for the state House of Representatives.

New NDGGA Officers, Board Members
Greg Daws, Michigan, N.D., has been elected as the new president of the NDGGA. He succeeds Bruce Freitag, Scranton. Other directors elected to officer positions include Terry Wanzek, Jamestown, 1st Vice President; Doyle Lentz, Rolla, 2nd Vice President; Keith Neshem, Berthold, secretary-treasurer. Elected to the NDGGA board was Mike Martin, Forbes, who replaces Al Skogen, Valley City, who dedicated nine years to serving on the NDGGA board.

MGGA Elects New Officers, Board Members

New Montana Grain Growers Association officers for 2004: Lochiel Edwards, Big Sandy, president; Keith Schott, Broadview, vice president; Jon Stoner, Havre, treasurer; Alex Smith, Lewistown, secretary; Herb Karst, Sunburst, past president.

New MGGA Directors: Matt Flikkema, Belgrade; Eric Simonson, Plentywood;
Gordon Stoner, Outlook; Brian Eggebrecht,  Malta; Bing Von Bergen, Moccasin.

Directors re-elected to another term: Darin Arganbright, Carter; David Tutvedt, Kalispell.

See the following link for a list of MGGA’s 2004 Policy Resolutions: www.mgga.org/mgga/res.html.

SD Ag Horizons Conference, SD Wheat Inc Board
The 2003 Ag Horizons conference in South Dakota was a success with 270 participants attending the conference. Topics of discussion included: Container transportation, pulse crops, carbon sequestration, Cruiser seed treatment, Clearfield Sunflowers, bottom-line input sustainability, and deferring capital gains.

At South Dakota Wheat Inc’s annual meeting, Julian Roseth, Midland, was elected as the new district 2 director.  Bill Huber, Parmelee, was re-elected district 3 director, and Carl Schwab, Andover, was re-elected District 6 director.

Schwab was re-elected as president of South Dakota Wheat Inc, and Steve Masat, Redfield, was elected as vice president.

MAWG Elects New Leadership
Paul Johnson, Hallock, was elected to the MAWG board of directors, representing district 1. He succeeds Ron Anderson, also of Hallock, who was instrumental in the success of many programs and activities during his 11 years of service as a MAWG board member.  The MAWG also re-elected Gaylen Affield, Fergus Falls, to a three year term.

Richard Magnusson, Roseau, has been named president of the MAWG in 2004; he succeeds Mike Bruer, Alberta, who continues to serve on the MAWG board.  Others who serve on the MAWG board are Scott Swenson, Elbow Lake; Bryan Hest, Perley; and Chad Anvinson, East Grand Forks.