Bad Ants, Good Ants

Imported fire ants have gotten their share of bad press since their unwelcome arrival in the Port of Mobile roughly 70 years ago. Meanwhile, other types of ants that predate their imported cousins go quietly about their business performing all sorts of tasks that benefit the environment and, ultimately, humans.

Mississippi State University researchers recently took stock of these other species. What they uncovered was a rich diversity of ants with some unusual social characteristics.

More Research Dollars for Alabama Ag Projects

Agricultural research funding provided by the omnibus appropriations bill, signed into law by President Bush recently, may be a boon to Alabama farmers in several ways, helping them treat costly diseases, expand marketing opportunities for some crops and explore high-tech management practices.

Among other projects, the $5-million appropriation will fund catfish disease research, the Precision Agriculture Partnership, and tri-state peanut joint research. The appropriation also provides more than $1 million dollars for food safety and detection studies at Auburn University. The additional money provided this year will allow Auburn to expand its research of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and methods of prevention.

Listeria Detection Prompts Recall

The detection of listeria in a meat product at an Atlanta supermarket has prompted Vincent Giordano Corp., of Philadelphia, to recall about 52,000 pounds of beef. Georgia Health officials detected the pathogen on a deli meat product in a Kroger delicatessen counter.

Each of the recalled products bear the establishment number "EST. 5397" inside the USDA mark of inspection. The products subject to recall also bear the date code "350." The products were produced between Dec. 11 and Dec. 15, 2003, and were packaged on Dec. 16, 2003. They were distributed to retail stores nationwide.

Dr. Jean Weese, Alabama Cooperative Extension System food scientist and Auburn University associate professor of nutrition and food science, considers listeria “one tough bug.”

"One thing that distinguishes Listeria from better-known disease-causing agents, such as E.coli and Salmonella, is that it can be found practically everywhere – in the air, on the ground, in water, in soil and even on people," she said.

100-Million Bales in 2004?

Cotton producers ended up with a decent harvest and price in 2003. But with an adjusted world price of roughly 64 cents, what does the future hold in 2004, especially if we end up with 100 million bales? Alabama Extension economist Dr. Robert Goodman’s guess is that even with 100-million bales, demand will exceed supply, ending stocks will fall and prices will remain high. Ditto corn and soybeans.

Sedentary Toddlers

The problems associated with childhood obesity just got a lot more complicated: A British study suggests that even 3-year-old children are too sedentary – a factor that may affect their physical and emotional health later in life.

The study, the first that has ever rigorously tracked the activity of preschoolers, found that the average 3-year-old gets only about 20 minutes of exercise a day. One hour of activity a day is considered the ideal level for children this age. That means the average 3-year-old burns only about 1,300 calories through exercise – less than the 1,500 calories recommended.

Researchers lay the blame for this reduced activity on the usual culprits, television and other visual media. Experts have consistently blamed television, videos, CD’s and computer games for the rising tide of teenage obesity.

First Mad Cow, Now Asbestos

Just when the British thought they were safe from so-called mad cow disease, doctors are predicting an “asbestos epidemic.” An article published in the British Medical Journal claims that more than 100,000 people now living will eventually die of Mesothelioma, a disease linked to asbestos inhalation. The disease can take as long as 50 years to develop.

Roughly 1,800 people die each year of Mesothelioma in the United Kingdom. Doctors believe the rate will increase to about 2,000 a year between 2015 and 2020.

Britain banned asbestos use in 1983.

For Americans, the good news is that rates of mesothelioma likely already have peaked in the United States, which introduced asbestos restrictions much earlier than Britain.

Are You (and Your Child) What You Eat?

A study of laboratory mice suggests that women who don’t eat well during pregnancy may increase the risk their children will suffer long-term health problems and possibly even die prematurely.

The results of the Cambridge University study reveal that mice fed healthy diets during pregnancy gave birth to offspring that were healthier and longer lived. Conversely, mice that were undernourished in the womb and were fed poor diets throughout adulthood died prematurely.

Researchers concede that, despite the study’s finding, there is no proof the same holds true for humans. Still, they believe it bolsters the argument that low birth weight babies are more likely to develop health problems as they mature.

Other researchers, however, don’t buy it.

Rachel Huxley of the Institute for International Health in Sydney, Australia, said a mother's diet is likely to have very little effect on how long her offspring lives when compared to known health risks in adulthood, such as cigarette smoking.

Closer Than You Think

Bees that can withstand pesticides…silkworms that produce pharmaceuticals instead of silk…mosquitoes that deliver vaccines instead of disease with every bite… Science fiction fantasy? No, reality – or, at the very least, something now within the realm of possibility.

That is why federal agencies should begin laying the foundations for a regulatory system to govern release of these new organisms now instead of later, advises the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, a think tank in Washington.

More Funding for BSE

USDA Secretary Ann Veneman announced yesterday that President Bush’s proposed budget for her department would include a $47 million increase to support multi-agency efforts to prevent exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, so-called mad cow disease.

The president’s call for more BSE funding, totaling $60 million, represents a 377 percent increase over the 2004 USDA budget. Among other measures, the funding would include: $33 million to further accelerate the development of a national animal identification system; $17 million for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to collect 40,000 samples and tests for BSE at rendering plants and on farms; and $4 million for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to conduct monitoring and surveillance of compliance with the regulations for specified risk materials and advance meat recovery.

Traction for Green Provisions

The “green” provisions outlined in the 2002 Farm Bill finally have gotten some traction. USDA has announced the release of its proposed rule for implementing these provisions, long advocated by many policymakers as a sort of counterweight to conventional subsidies. The provisions have long been a pet project of Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, who believed earlier bills placed too much emphasis on subsidies and not on conservation.

“The Conservation Security Program will reward the best and motivate the rest by identifying those agricultural producers who historically have been the best stewards of their land,” said Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, announcing the proposed rule. “It will also provide incentives for those who want to increase conservation practices.”

Counterfeiting American Ingenuity

Dr. Bob Goodman, Alabama Extension economist and Auburn University associate professor of agricultural economists, has often pondered the irony of countries such as Brazil complaining about U.S. farm subsidies. Through the illegal use of genetically engineered crops, Brazilian farmers are able to avoid the technology fees American farmers regularly pay to grow these crops legally – a subsidy by any other name. But Brazil isn’t the only country profiting illegally from the fruits of American ingenuity.

Other countries are making a killing using the same strategy. And there is very little Americans can do to stop them.

Wild Encounters

As suburban life continues its sprawl into once pristine forestland, chance human encounters with wildlife are becoming more common. Fortunately for most people, these encounters are more nuisances than anything else. But in some parts of the country, they are dangerous and even deadly.

An Opening for Biotech Foods?

The European Union is pushing to end the 6-year-old ban on biotech foods – an effort stymied last year when a committee of experts reached loggerheads on canned sweet corn.

The Bush administration, which is challenging the ban through the World Trade Organization, contends the ban is harmful to American exporters and is exacerbating starvation in Africa.

Searching for BSE Equivalent in Humans

It’s gruesome work, but someone’s got to do it. Dr. Pierluigi Gambetti, a mild-mannered Italian neuropathologist, has what most would consider an unenviable task: examining the brains of Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease victims. With the detection of the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, so-called mad cow disease, in the United States, this job takes on more urgency for Gambetti, who directs the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University.

Gambett’s job is to determine if victims died of what is perceived to be a new variant form of the disease, new variant Cruetzfeldt-Jacob disease, which has been linked with BSE in cattle. So far, he’s studied more than 1,200 brains and identified 732 cases of CJD, but most of these are classified as the sporadic form of the disease, linked with aging.

Home Rule Redux?

A bill that would enable Alabamians to decide whether counties should be granted more local autonomy may be presented again to the Legislature. Members of Gov. Bob Riley’s administration are not familiar with all of the provisions outlined in the bill, but they believe it will be very similar to a bill proposed last year.

Currently, many local actions, such as zoning and litter laws, first must be approved by the Alabama Legislature. The bill would allow counties to make local decisions without first seeking legislative approval.

At least one farm organization is concerned the prerogatives counties could acquire under the legislation could harm farmers. Fred Patterson, governmental affairs director of the Alabama Farmers Federation, fears this could lead to some counties enacting onerous tax or land-use policies that could pose unfair financial burdens on some farmers.

Developing...

Federal investigators are trying to determine whether commodity traders exploited the outbreak of BSE for financial gain, the Guardian Unlimited reports. Investigators with the commodity futures trading commission plan to question witnesses and examine records to determine if traders exploited knowledge they had gained in advance about the BSE detection in Washington state. Such investigations are routine following unusually volatile trading.

A Hint of Hypocrisy?

It there a hint of hypocrisy in the demands of underdeveloped countries that the U.S. give up farm subsidies? The Ag Policy Analysis Center’s Daryll E. Ray certainly thinks so, and places the proverbial shoe squarely on the other foot in a recent column. China, for example, one of the countries clamoring for an end to American subsidies, has “doubled its daily kilocalorie production of food between 1970 and 1999 and reduced the number of malnourished among its population by millions.” Is it reasonable to believe that China would abandon these gains by importing up to 20 percent of its seeds and grains and throwing more than 100 million of its citizens out of work -- all this merely to comply with WTO guidelines? Hardly.

Hard Water and Heart Attacks

Can you lower your risk of heart disease by drinking hard water? Perhaps, say Finnish researchers. In a study involving the death records of roughly 19,000 Finnish men, they noticed a considerably lower incidence of heart disease in the western and southern regions of the country where water hardness was highest. Researchers concede there is not an ironclad association between the two factors, heart disease and water hardness. Even so, the study revealed that for every unit increase in the hardness of local water, the risk of having a heart attack fell by 1 percent.

High Carb Industries Fight Back

The current Atkins diet-driven craze for low-carb foods has put a serious squeeze on high-carb food industries. But some aren’t giving up without a fight.

Potato farmers, Florida citrus growers and other collaborators are rolling out a national promotional campaign to win back consumers driven away from high-carb foods. Other industries have taken the “if-you-can-beat-them-join them” approach, introducing their own line of low-carb fare.

Oh, and look for ads about the “Healthy Potato,” part of a $4.4 million campaign that will be debuted by the Denver-based U.S. Potato Board next month.

Safer Eating through Cloning?

A rather unconventional approach to safeguard consumers against exposure to so-called mad cow disease: Scientists are working to clone cattle that are immune to the disease. Three different teams are working on the project; one of the teams, based in Korea, already has announced the birth of four “mad cow-proof” calves.

Researchers at Virginia Tech hope to have a cloned cow either late this year or early next year.

More on the FDA Feeding Ban

Dr. Darrell Rankins, Alabama Extension animal scientist, discusses the effect of the FDA ban on poultry litter as a cattle feed. (Audio File is in MP3 format.)

Effect of New FDA BSE Provisions on Alabama Producers

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has announced several new public health measures, to be implemented by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to strengthen existing firewalls that protect Americans from exposure to the agent thought to cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as mad cow disease) and that help prevent the spread of BSE in U.S. cattle.

One change will be to FDA’s 1997 animal feed ban, which is the critical safeguard to help prevent the spread of BSE through cattle herds by prohibiting the feeding of most mammalian protein to ruminant animals, including cattle. One of the most significant changes to the rule will ban the feeding of poultry litter to cattle. FDA will publish two interim final rules that will take effect immediately upon publication, although there will be an opportunity for public comment after publication. Publication is expected in the immediate future.

Dr. Darrell Rankins, an animal scientist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System who specializes in cattle nutrition, says this ban will create challenges for Alabama cattle producers who currently use poultry litter as part of their winter feeding programs.

“Farmers will be faced with a feed supply that is no longer legal to use and will have to replace it immediately,” Rankins said. “That will create a challenge for producers to locate appropriate feeds and to get them onsite. Farmers face the very real chance of having their feed be legal one day and illegal the next.”
Rankins added that while not even a majority of cattle producers feed poultry litter to their herds, the ban will have a definite impact on a significant number of cattle operations.

Poultry litter consists of bedding, spilled feed, feathers, and fecal matter that are collected from living quarters where poultry is raised. This material is then used in cattle feed in some areas of the country where cattle and large poultry raising operations are located near each other.

Poultry feed may legally contain protein that is prohibited in ruminant feed, such as bovine meat and bone meal. The concern is that spillage of poultry feed in the chicken house occurs and that poultry feed (which may contain protein prohibited in ruminant feed) is then collected as part of the “poultry litter” and added to ruminant feed.

View the complete FDA press release dealing with the BSE safeguards.

Federal Ban On Poultry Litter Feeding

It’s official: The FDA has announced a ban on the feeding of poultry litter to cattle. The provision also will prohibit the use of meat from "downer" cattle in canned soups, pizzas, dietary supplements and cosmetics. More details soon.

More on Doom, the Computer Worm

Greg Parmer, Alabama Extension technology master specialist, said he has encountered only a small percentage of infected computers on Extension’s network. That’s the good news. The bad news is that those that are infected have been quite active in their attempts to spread. Everyone needs to be sure their virus definitions are up to date (McAfee's definition file, v4319 is dated 1/27/2004). Also be suspicious of unexpected attachments via e-mail. The worm/virus re-writes the “From” address, which means it could show up in your mailbox from someone you know. It also spreads via peer-to-peer file-sharing programs – yet another reason to abstain from sharing copyrighted materials such as music and movies using Kazaa or similar software.

Observations on a National Epidemic

Our Childhood Obesity Information Page, available on our front page, now includes a streamed interview with Dr. Robert Keith, Alabama Extension nutritionist and Auburn University professor of nutrition and food science, who discusses one of this nation’s most serious health epidemics: childhood obesity. One of the great ironies associated with childhood obesity is that so much of it is caused from affluence, something scarcely imagined by our poor, malnourished forebears. Indeed, Keith believes two factors associated with affluent lifestyles are fueling this epidemic: food that is cheap, fast and convenient and a mind-boggling variety of cable television channels and video games. The end result: a generation of children who are turning to visual media for the sort of stimulation earlier generations derived from physical activities such as touch football or basketball.

Doom via E-mail

It’s ripping its way through the internet even as you read this – a variant of the familiar Mimail that wreaked havoc last year.

Two-Year Delay on Food Labeling?

A country-of-origin labeling provision requiring retailers to identify the national origin of beef and produce could be delayed for up to two years.

The labeling requirement was due to take effect on Sept. 30 under farm legislation that was enacted in 2002. However, a $820 billion catchall spending measure currently under consideration in Congress mandates a two-year delay.

Farmers and consumer groups, who support the provision, claim labeling is sorely needed in a global marketplace where American consumers are choosing among products produced throughout the world. Consumers, they argue, have no way of knowing where all these products come from and would be more inclined to buy American-grown products if the items were labeled.

Grocery chains and food processor organizations, on the other hand, have opposed labeling, claiming it is too costly and burdensome.

A Fight to the Finish

A battle royal is looming in Geneva – a literal fight to the finish that many U.S. agricultural leaders contend may lead to a radical overhaul of American farm policy.

The battle involves an international court case pitting a determined coalition of developing countries – Brazil, China, India, South Africa and a dozen other countries – against the United States, Europe and other wealthy countries. The coalition contends that the $300 billion worth of subsidies these affluent nations pay their farming and agribusiness sectors have undermined regional and global negotiations for the last year. Brazil, which has the first case challenging these subsidies before the World Trade Organization, takes aim at the $1.54 billion in annual U.S. farm subsidies, claiming that they break trade rules.

U.S. cotton growers maintain the case threatens not only the American farming system but their livelihoods. Brazilians, for their part, contend the subsidies not only are providing Americans with unfair trading advantages but are destroying their export markets.

“This is a groundbreaking case – a whole new area – and a tough case for the United States,” said Claude E. Barfield, director of trade studies at American Enterprise Institute and a trade adviser during the Reagan administration.

U.S. cotton industry officials believe much is at stake.

“If this panel finds against the United States, it may force radical revisions in U.S. commodity programs,” said William A. Gillon, legal counsel to the National Cotton Industry.

Consumer Confidence Critical to Beef Rebound

Dr. Walt Prevatt, an economist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension
System, says maintaining domestic consumer confidence is imperative
until the U.S. beef industry regains export partners.

Meanwhile, Japan, the world's largest buyer of U.S. beef , still balks at American and Canadian beef products, claiming that cows from both countries are still vulnerable to a BSE (mad cow disease) outbreak. More than 30 countries shut their borders on U.S. beef last month, folliwng the first recorded American case of BSE. Japan, alone, previously had imported more than $1 billion a year of American beef and $55 million from Canada before imposing the bans.

Beyond Ephedra

Ephedra was only beginning. Following its ban on this controversial supplement, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it will subject other such questionable products to closer scrutiny -- an effort that will involve new FDA-mandated manufacturing and labeling regulations for dietary supplements that will be announced later this year.

Some of the products already garnering closer attention include bitter orange, aristolochic acid and usnic acid.

Under these new regulations, FDA Administrator Mark McClellan said, supplements no longer will be sold on the basis of “buyer beware.”

Currently, supplements, unlike drugs, do not have to be proved safe before they are released on the market.

“Granted, there are some loosely written rules about quality and what should go into the product,” said Dr. Robert Keith, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System nutritionist and Auburn University professor of nutrition and food science. “But no one has set a standard for the industry. Certainly no one is closely overseeing them from a regulatory standpoint, though some companies do a better job policing themselves than others.”

The Bush administration's decision late last year to prohibit the sale of ephedra marks the first federal ban of an over-the-counter nutritional supplement.

The Best Safeguard against Illness

Two of the best weapons for preventing flu or some other potentially serious illness this winter are your nearest bathroom sink and a bar of soap.

Plain soap and water, coupled with about 15 seconds of friction while you apply the soap lather to your hands, are the single most effect effective safeguards against infectious disease, said Judy Daly, secretary of the American Society for Microbiology and a professor of pathology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, who was interviewed recently by HealthScout.com. It is a view supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hand washing, in fact, has been shown to prevent everything from the common cold or influenza to more serious illnesses such as hepatitis and SARS. Infections are the leading cause of death and disease worldwide and the third leading cause of death in the United States, HealthScout.com reports.

When should you wash you hands? Anytime you think you’ve been exposed to bacteria, experts say. Some prime examples include: after sneezing or coughing into to your hands; before, during and after preparing food; before eating; after using the bathroom; after changing a diaper; and, after handling money.

Keep an Eye on This Bug

It is a scenario that keeps virologists up at night: the image of “a small and deadly thing that is poking and prodding for a weak spot in whatever is protecting its intended victims.”

Scientists are closely monitoring an outbreak in Asia in the event one of these small and deadly things -- a new flu virus -- is rearing its head. They're determined to avoid a repeat of the deadly epidemic associated with the SARS outbreak last year.

Here’s what they know for sure: During the past month, a strain of bird flu that has killed thousands of chickens in four Asians countries has overpowered the species barrier and crossed over into humans, claiming a handful of victims, mostly children under age 12.

This time, though, experts think they’ve nipped this potential epidemic it in the bud – or bug, as it were. Chickens presumed to be carrying the virus have been killed, and researchers are closely scrutinizing how human infection occurs through contact with the birds.

The good news is that the virus is caused exclusively by human contact with chickens and is not spread person by person. In Thailand, where the most recent outbreaks have occurred, health officials say that two boys, ages 6 and 7, contracted the disease after playing with infected chickens.

Little Beef with Beef since Mad Cow Discovery

Despite last’s month’s first recorded case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, so-called mad cow disease, in the United States, few Alabamians seem to have much of a beef with beef.

While conceding the discovery of the first recorded case of mad cow in the United States is a problem, most concede it hasn’t changed their eating habits or undermined their confidence in the U.S. food supply.

A poll conducted by the Mobile-Press Register and the University of South Alabama shows that 84 percent of respondents believe the U.S. food supply is “very safe” or “somewhat safe.” Seventy-four percent of respondents who identified themselves as beef eaters said they had not reduced their beef intake since the detection of mad cow disease.

The view in Alabama appears to be reflected throughout the rest of the country when beef prices are taken into account. Beef industry prices continue to recover after announcement of the mad cow discovery last month. Strong prices are expected, though the recovery is not expected to reach the levels of a year ago.

"Prices are less than what we had originally forecasted, revised down from $11 to $14 per hundred weight for each weight class," said Dr. Ernie Davis, Texas Cooperative Extension livestock marketing economist.

"But when you look at prices, you'll see they are relatively high. It may rebound better than we thought."

Heavy, Hypertensive and Diabetic

If you’re a diabetes sufferer, chances are you’re overweight and suffer from hypertension and elevated cholesterol levels, all of which increase the likelihood you will die prematurely.

Poorly regulated diabetes is a major contributor to heart problems, kidney failure, blindness and circulatory problems. Studies show roughly 65 percent of adult diabetic sufferers will die of heart attacks or stroke. Only 7 percent of adults with this condition have attained recommended levels for blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol.

The good news is that there has been a significant improvement in the percentage of diabetic sufferers controlling their cholesterol. The bad news is that a 2000 survey revealed the percentage of participants who were obese jumped from 42 percent to 52 percent.

Currently, there are more than 13 million adults and children in the United States who suffer from diabetes – double the number from 1990. It is estimated an additional 5 million Americans have undiagnosed cases of diabetes.

Who pays for much of the treatment for diabetes and other obesity-related medical conditions? You do. A study that will be reported Tuesday, Jan. 27, in the Journal of Obesity, reveals that taxpayers pay about $39 billion a year – about $175 per person – for obesity-related illnesses through Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The total amount of obesity-related medical costs totaled $75 billion in 2003, the report states.

New Rules, Observations about Transgenic Technology:

Federal regulations governing genetically altered crops are about to get an overhaul – a process that for the first time will include a comprehensive review of how these regulations affect the environment.

Environmental groups have long complained that these rules, by failing to adequately account for the threats transgenic species pose to the surrounding environment, aren’t stringent enough.

One significant change may involve the way permits are granted to run field tests on genetically engineered crops. Organisms would be categorized according to their potential risks, with the most stringent regulations applying to those species deemed the most ecologically threatening.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will develop a comprehensive impact statement to assess the effectiveness of exiting regulations. A draft is due by the end of the year.

Trade groups expressed support for the new rules, hoping that it will finally allay widespread public concerns about genetically altered foods. For their part, environmental groups expressed strong support for plans to include impact statements for transgenic foods.

Meanwhile, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, in a federally commissioned report, contends that there is no totally foolproof way to prevent genetically altered organisms from producing unintended effects. While acknowledging the many new techniques under development to prevent escapes into the wild by genetically altered organisms, the council stresses that these methods are still in the early development stages and none appear to be totally effective.

Commissioned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the report addressed bioconfinement, the various types of methods under study to prevent transgenic escapes. One concern expressed in the report is that fast-growing salmon, transgenically engineered fish produced to offset serious drop-offs of Atlantic salmon, could escape into the wild and disrupt the food chain by out competing normal salmon.

One form of biocontainment would involve inducing sterility in fish by including an extra chromosome. Biocontainment methods for other organisms could include using radiation to sterilize transgenic insects and adding “suicide genes” in bacteria that would activate in the event of an escape.

While conceding that many of these altered organisms do not pose serious ecological risks, the report recommends using more than one biocontainment method for species that pose greater risks.

More than 7 million producers worldwide grow genetically altered crops, many of which have been changed to better resist pests and weeds. The percentage of acreage planted in genetically altered crops increased by 15 percent last year, building on a steady decade-long advance of the technology.

Why Can’t We Raise Cattle Like We Used To?

In a Jan. 10 column titled “Coming to Terms with Global Meat,” New York Times editorial observer Verlyn Klikenborg served up a hefty indictment of what she described as the factory farming of beef. She accused modern farming, beef production in particular, of contributing to an “agri-forming the earth,” similar to the way science fiction movies portray the terra-forming of alien worlds. Not only do rain forests suffer as more land is cleared for cattle production, but as industrial agriculture is exported to far-flung corners of the earth, “every island of genetic difference in farm animals and crops and every traditional relationship between humans and the soil are threatened.”

Equally bad, the rural depopulation that follows in its wake threatens the very basis of popular democracy, “no matter what the Iowa caucuses suggest.”

It’s a well-stated argument, yes, but practical? Hardly, argues Dr. Lisa Kriese-Anderson, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System animal scientist and Auburn University associate professor of animal and dairy sciences.

First, even though the governors of depopulated states such as Iowa may offer incentives for immigrants to return to the farm, there will be few takers. Truth is, most urban dwellers are happy where they are, thank you very much, and do not find the low pay and long, unpredictable hours associated with farming very appealing.

Besides, why tinker with efficiency? The American economic system has produced a wondrously efficient system by which only 2 percent of Americans who still farm can feed the entire country and much of the rest of the world.

“So, why is it,” Kriese asked, “that whenever we encounter a problem such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), it’s always agriculture’s fault because more of us aren’t running small farms with 40 cows and a handful of chickens and pigs like farmers in the 1960s?”

True, there are alternatives to conventional agriculture, most notably organic farming. But these are possible only because of conventional agriculture. Indeed, the only reason we have markets for alternative farming practices is because there are enough wealthy consumers willing to pay higher prices for them. Conventional farming, which made it possible for millions of Americans to leave the farm and pursue more lucrative opportunities in the big city decades ago, is a major factor behind this wealth.

Even with all the talk about the merits of alternative agriculture, can it really work on a large scale? No. For one thing, grass-fed herds require lots of land --- land that becomes increasingly scarce as urbanization continues apace.

If a producer wants to take the next step by becoming an organic farmer, the challenge is even harder. Just completing all the steps required to become a certified organic cattle producer involves three years of grueling effort --- an effort far beyond the ability of most cash-strapped producers who would have to survive on substantially reduced yields while adopting organic production techniques.

Even if the producer gains certification, there is the perennial challenge of Mother Nature. What is he to do with all of his grass-fed livestock during prolonged drought?

For that matter, how do you define grass-fed? Must an animal be fed exclusively grass, or is some supplementation allowed? It remains a very murky definition, even according to current USDA guidelines.

Finally, there is the consumer. Yes, grass-fed products have plenty of nutritional attributes. But as food processors have learned time and again, convenience often trumps nutritional value. Grass-fed beef has to be cooked more carefully; otherwise, you end up with a plate full of dry, chewy meat. Are consumers, even those with advanced cooking skills, willing to tolerate this extra inconvenience?

The answer is probably no, which explains why such products aren’t likely to garner widespread appeal for the foreseeable future.

A Landmark Ruling?

A lawsuit brought by a Native American tribe pits the drinking water and agricultural demands of a rapidly growing suburban area against the environmental welfare of one of the nation’s greatest treasures. And the final court decision could prove to be one of the landmark environmental rulings of the decade.

For roughly 50 years, a rather nondescript pumping station known as S-9 has been releasing storm water runoff into the Florida Everglades. Technically, this is legal under the Clean Water Act – technically. The problem is that along with this drainage comes phosphorous runoff from farms and landscapes --- large amounts of phosphorous that are promoting the growth of cattails and other species that outdo other aquatic plants and undermine biodiversity.

The court could rule that S-9, rather than adding pollutants to the waterway, merely is transferring them from bodies of water that comprise the same national system of water ways, writes New York Times reporter Felicity Barringer. Or, it could decide that S-9 is adding pollutants, which means it would be subject to a stringent system of permits and pollution controls mandated by the Clean Water Act of 1972. If the court opts for the latter, the formidable challenge water authorities already face tapping and rerouting water to address the drinking water and farming needs of rapidly expanding suburban areas will get even harder.

Federal law already requires larger municipalities to dilute waste water of many of its pollutants before it is discharged. Cities are also required to apply for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permits, before discharging wastewater into waterways.

AU: A Center for BSE Testing?

If Congressman Mike Rogers (R-Anniston) has his way, Auburn University could be a major hub for mad cow testing in the United States, reports Jack Stripling of the O-A News, Jan. 22, 2004.

Under Rogers' proposal, an additional $2 million would be allocated to upgrade an animal diagnostic laboratory that will be built by the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries on the AU campus. The upgrade would allow the facility to handle a large number of high-risk animal carcass cases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease.

Currently, a federal lab in Ames, Iowa, is the only facility equipped to test for BSE.

No End to Biotech

There appears to be no end to biotech, and most farmers wouldn't have it any other way.

Farmers are planting biotech crops at a dizzying rate . For the seventh consecutive year, biotech crops posted double-digit growth. Last year alone, the acreage increased by 15 percent to more than 167 million acres worldwide. In the United States, biotech crop acreage grew 10 percent as a result of significant gains in biotech corn area and continued growth in biotech soybeans. A total of 105.7 million acres of soybeans, corn and cotton were grown.

Europeans fear biotech crops with a now legendary passion. But as Michael Fumento, author of a recent book on biotechnology argues, the world already has reaped huge environmental gains from this technology. What this new technology has provided, aside from the ability to transfer genetic benefits from one plant to another more precisely and effectively, is the ability to grow larger amounts of food on smaller parcels of land.

Alabama cotton producers already are well acquainted with the benefits of biotech, since the technology enabled many of them to save their farms several years ago following an onslaught of insecticide-resistant budworms that wiped out much of the crop in 1995.

Preventing Hepatitis A

Following a massive hepatitis A outbreak in Pennsylvania late last year that sickened hundreds of people, the federal government is exploring ways to safeguard the population against similar outbreaks in the future, especially in states where these outbreaks have been the highest.

The Centers for Disease Control and the American Pediatrics Association has recommended vaccination, especially in eleven Western states where the rates of hepatitis A have tended to run the highest.

But since the most common source of hepatitis A tends to be tainted food, especially fruits and vegetables, why not enhance safe handling on the farm? Some of that already is being done, said Dr. Jean Weese, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System food scientist and Auburn University professor of nutrition and food science. But there’s one hitch: Much of the produce, including the green onions to which the most recent outbreak was traced, is produced abroad. Some consumer groups are calling on the Food and Drug Administration to post more food inspectors at docks to ensure the safety of these shipments. But inspecting tens of thousands of tons of produce for signs of contamination is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

As Weese observes, no inspection system no matter how well funded, is 100-percent safe. That one tainted apple that escapes detection and is squeezed into apple juice has the potential of infecting hundreds of people. That is why in the end, American consumers must take responsibility for their own food safety, she said.