The Ranch Post

The Food and Drug Administration still has not determined the origin of the U.S. salmonella outbreak last month. Farmers and distributors of tomatoes, the prime suspect, are growing angry as many consumers have stopped buying tomatoes altogether for fear of becoming ill, which has resulted in slumping sales.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “the regulators said they can’t pinpoint a region, or even a country, where the outbreak might have started. It might even be possible, they said, that tomatoes aren’t to blame,” as “many victims ate tomatoes combined in dishes such as salsa and guacamole.” The FDA has collected and tested 1,700 tomato samples in the U.S. and Mexico, and all have returned negative for salmonella.

For further info, read the articles in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

In Reno, Nevada this week, the estate of a rancher was awarded $4.2 million by a federal judge after “ruling that the U.S. Forest Service committed a constitutional ‘taking’ of his water rights during a decades-long dispute over livestock grazing on federal land.” The rancher, Wayne Hage, who died in 2006 and was also a property rights activist, had owned the Pine Creek Ranch since 1978 and first filed a claim in 1991. In a 2004 interview before his death, Hage told the Associated Press that the case “could have a dramatic impact on Western state’s rights and the proper jurisdiction of federal lands in the West.” Click here to read more.

Private investors are now betting on increasing global food demand. The latest trend has these investors buying up farm and ranch real estate, along with equipment, around the globe. Some are positive about the trend, claiming these investors “could bolster food production at a time when the world needs more of it.” However, some are skeptical, “concerned these newcomers will focus on profits above all else.” Read the article in The New York Times.

The farm bill was vetoed by President G.W. Bush this week, and the House voted to override the veto within hours. However, a clerical error was discovered, and the bill will have to be passed by the House again, and re-submitted to the president.

“The farm bill expands funding for public nutrition, land stewardship and biofuel development but Bush says it will subsidize multimillionaire farmers when Americans face higher grocery prices.”

For more information, read the article in the Washington Post.

The Casper Star-Tribune is reporting that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has warned Powder River Basin land users that a sage grouse study will affect drilling and grazing in the area. “Grazing, along with oil and gas development, could be affected most… Drilling plans not yet approved, grazing lease transfers and renewals, even ’solid minerals’ such as coal, could be deferred.”

According to the article, “from 2000 to 2005, sage grouse populations amid coal-bed methane activity declined by 86 percent, whereas populations outside of coal-bed methane development areas declined by 35 percent.” Thus the reason for the study. A public meeting will be held on May 28, 2008 in Buffalo, Wyoming.

The bison industry is booming and the president of the National Bison Association, Dave Carter, says that more ranchers need to get involved to meet the growing demand.

“It takes five years to get a bison from pasture to plate,” and since the industry does not “allow growth hormones or antibiotics, these animals grow slower.” In the end, bison bring in $2,000 - $5,000 per head, making them a solid investment. Read more…

In related news, Idaho’s Shoshone-Bannock tribe will return to the Jackson Hole area for a limited ceremonial bison hunt. “The tribe recently entered into an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that will allow the killing of up to five bison on the National Elk Refuge as part of the tribe’s traditional ceremonial activity.” Read more…

On the front page of the Wall Street Journal this morning, “grain companies prices soar as global food crisis mounts.” Farmers are making incredible profits since many grains and vegetables are in high demand. “The crisis stems from a combination of heightened demand for food from fast-growing developing countries like China and India, low grain stockpiles caused by bad weather, rising fuel prices and the increasing amount of land used to grow crops for ethanol and other biofuels rather than food.” Grain companies have responded by saying they will put the extra money towards technology development that will increase productivity.

The Denver Business Journal is reporting that corn farmers in Yuma County are looking to a $71 million water project to sustain their businesses.

Colorado is obligated to send a certain amount of water from the Republican River downstream to Nebraska and Kansas, and many farmers /ranchers are unable to properly irrigate their fields under that requirement. If ranchers take more water than allowed, neighboring states can take their case to the Supreme Court and shut down all wells in the Republican River Basin. If ranchers can’t access water, they can’t grow corn, which forces them to turn to “non-irrigated crops or grazed cattle,” decreasing the value of the land by as “much as 80 percent.”

Read more about the proposed water project in today’s Denver Business Journal.

The American Farm Bureau is reporting the results of a Department of Agriculture survey of farmer’s planting intentions for 2008. According to the report, “U.S. farmers are expected to plant about 18 percent more soybeans this year, while their corn acreage could decline by about 8 percent from a year ago.” The report is significant, as the day the report was released, a bushel of corn was “up about 10 cents to 15 cents.”

In related news, the New York Times elaborates on our April 1 blog on how ranchers and farmers are taking their land out of the government’s Conservation Reserve Program, and farming that land to cash in on the agricultural boom. “Environmental and hunting groups are warning that years of progress could soon be lost, particularly with the native prairie in the Upper Midwest. But a broad coalition of baking, poultry, snack food, ethanol and livestock groups say bigger harvests are a more important priority than habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife.” According to the article, as many acres as “are in Rhode Island and Delaware combined” were converted from conserved to cultivated land last fall alone.

From around the web, here’s the latest news on conservation tax credits in Colorado:

• “Ranchers worry about future of conservation tax credit,” KUNC 91.5 FM Radio Broadcast
• “Columnist: Transparency welcome on open space tax credits,” Vail Daily, by Cindy Cohegan, Executive Director, Eagle Valley Land Trust”

Also, check out “Ridgeway rancher looks back” in the Telluride Daily Planet, an article about the life of Deedee Decker, the wife of our Agricultural Stewardship Expert, Peter Decker. The Deckers came to Colorado in the 1970s, and have been extremely active in the community from the get-go. Here she discusses everything from their initial move from the East Coast, to learning to become the agricultural experts they are today, to advising Ralph Lauren on buying his first ranch property.