2008: Future of Food, Farming at the Forefront

Charlene M. Shupp
Espenshade
Special Sections Editor

From the race to the White House to voter referendums and a raging battle over the passage of the Farm Bill, agriculture played a dominate role in the state, national and international scene this year. From the fears of a food shortage internationally to California’s animal welfare ballot initiative, the talk about agriculture left the farm and headed into mainstream America.

Many of the year’s stories centered on the politics of food and farming, and struggles over how agriculture will be defined in the future.

In the first part of the year food safety, rising food costs and absence labeling dominated the discussion. The fight over raw milk sales continued as the state of Maryland decided to not permit raw milk sales by its dairy producers.

In Pennsylvania, Mark Nolt of Cumberland County continued his battle with the state’s agriculture department on permitting, with several department raids taking place this year seizing unpermitted products.

As the political campaign trail heated up last January until the general election in November, presidential, congressional and state candidates stumped for farmer votes and shared their views on how to keep U.S. agriculture strong.

The 2007 Farm Bill fight rolled over into the first half of 2008, when the Congress overrode a presidential veto in June.

Food safety, agriculture funding, and questions about renewable energy dominated discussions in the statehouses. Farm groups protested the proposed move of the USDA Plum Island Animal Disease Center facility to the U.S. mainland for fear of an accidental outbreak of an animal disease that could devastate the U.S. farm economy.

With the high corn prices in early 2008, the food-versus-fuel debate increased as consumers discovered price increases to many consumer goods because of rising transportation costs and grain prices. Livestock and dairy producers also struggled with rising feed costs in the first half of the year.

With the slowing economy, many states struggled to balance their budgets.

Pennsylvania mandated a universal state budget cut of at least 4 percent, saying it could increase as state income continues to decline. New Jersey attempted to cut its entire state department of agriculture, but opted not to after significant protest from the agriculture community.

Here are some agricultural highlights from the year:
January
• The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lancaster County preservation groups denying the Ephrata School District permission to build a 50-foot drive through a preserved farm.
• Acting USDA Secretary Chuck Conner told the South Dakota Corn Growers that the Congress has a lot of work left on the Farm Bill. If left as is, he said President Bush will veto the package.
• Joseph Schuster of Pennsylvania was named a winner in the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Farmer Idea Exchange Contest at the AFBF convention.
• Pennsylvania farmers maxed out the $10 million in REAP (Resource Enhancement and Protection) program by Jan. 19, two weeks after the program opened. REAP provides tax credits for the installation of agricultural best management practices.
• FDA approved the use of meat and milk from cloned animals for consumption.
• Gov. Ed Rendell moved to allow for the use of rbST-free (recombinant bovine somatotropin) labels on milk sold in Pennsylvania, easing up on a previous ruling banning their use.
• Cowtown Livestock Auction in southern New Jersey closed its doors.
• New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont renewed its memorandum of understanding to work cooperatively to strengthen their dairy industries.
• Katy Mitchell was crowned 2008 Pennsylvania Fair Queen.

February
• The U.S. Senate confirmed Ed Schafer USDA secretary.
• The Patrick Family of Howard County and the Schmidt Family of Queen Anne’s County were selected as the 2008 inductees to the Maryland Agriculture Hall of Fame.
• Scientists announced that they discovered the first case of pest resistance to Bt plants. Bollworms in Mississippi and Alabama developed resistance to Bt cotton.
• In reaction to the USDA beef recall from a California meet packing plant, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) called for USDA to be stripped of its food safety responsibility.
• A Maryland proposal to tighten poultry manure regulations came under fire from the state’s poultry farmers. The state’s environment department said that poultry farming is a major source of nitrogen and phosphorous pollution.
• A Lancaster Farming interview with Berkeley professor and agricultural food writer Michael Pollan stoked strong reader opinions on farming methods.
• More than 900 young farmers gathered in Baltimore for the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmer and Rancher Conference.
• Holly Mackey was named New Jersey Outstanding Young Farmer.
• New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine announced that in an attempt to balance the state’s budget, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture should be eliminated.

March
• Rolf Derpsch, no-till pioneer from South America, headlined the first Penn State Crop Producers Conference, which combined the forces of several ag organizations.
• Daniel Kniffen of Pennsylvania was appointed to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board by the USDA Secretary of Agriculture.
• Willard Maust and Clarence Stauffer were inducted into the Pennsylvania Holstein Hall of Fame.
• “Stand by Your Ham” was the theme of pig farmers in the United Kingdom as they penned a song to protest low pork prices.
• Dozens of municipalities sued Pennsylvania over the costs to upgrade wastewater plants to meet the state’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed Strategy.
• After record milk prices in 2007, Penn State Economist Ken Bailey predicted that 2008 will be more “bearish” as milk prices drop.
• Pennsylvania eighth-grader Katlin Wiest, 14, of Lykens won the Agriculture Council of America’s National Ag Day Essay Contest.
• Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner announced she will return to the family farm at the end of her term as governor.
• Maryland Health and Government Operations Committee voted to turn down a bill to legalize the sale of raw milk.
• Pennsylvania grower Keith Eckel announced he is quitting growing tomatoes because of the migrant labor crisis.
• Dale Hoover and Bennett Cassell were honored by the National DHIA on March 13 during the organization’s national meeting.

April
• At Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s legislative day, members called for changes to save the state’s industry.
• President Bush sent the Columbia Free Trade Agreement to Congress, which opposed the measure.
• Brubaker Farms hosted an open house at their Mt. Joy Farm to show their new methane digester on April 16.
• The Commodities Futures Trading Commission ruled on April 22 to turn down requests limiting speculative trading. The agency said prices are being driven by a weak dollar, smaller inventories and increase transportation costs.
• The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture seized raw milk products from the farm of Mark Nolt of Cumberland County in response to Nolt’s refusal to get a raw milk permit.

May
• Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunis spoke to the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce about “micro-credit” lending — small loans to individuals who don’t qualify for traditional lending.
• Weis Markets launched the Pennsylvania Proud Choice Angus Beef Program. The program is the largest of its type in the nation working with local producers to market local beef.
• Betsy Huber and Keith Masser were elected to the Penn State Ag Trustee board.
• Sen. Roger Madigan and Rep. Art Hershey (R-13) were honored by PennAg Industries for their years of service in the state General Assembly.
• Commodities Futures Trading Commission announced an investigation of the Dairy Farmers of America cooperative for price manipulation.
• Congress overrode President Bush’s Farm Bill veto.
• USDA issued final rule on mandatory reporting program, effective July 15.

June
• United Nations Chief Ban Ki-Moon told leaders that global food production must rise 5 percent by 2030 to meet growing population demands.
• USDA inspectors announced that Tyson Foods used an antibiotic in poultry raised under its “raised without antibiotics” label. Tyson voluntarily withdrew the label until issues could be resolved.
• Rep. Art Hershey and Sen. Roger Madigan introduced Dairy-Max legislation in the General Assembly. The proposed program would give tax credits to dairy farmers for farm modernization.
• Massive flooding in Midwest threatened to reduce world corn supplies. Floods sent corn prices past $7 per bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade.
• U.S. Congress overruled the presidential veto to pass the second version of the Farm Bill on June 18. The package had to be re-voted on because of a clerical error.

July
• According the Pennsylvania state office of the USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) 50 percent of the state’s crop acreage was planted no-till.
• Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed the state budget on July 4. Several ag groups were disappointed to see cuts to ag programs.
• Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and PennAg Industries Association defended State Attorney General Tom Corbett’s stance on prosecuting illegal township ordinances restricting agriculture. Democratic candidate John Morganelli implied in a speech that if elected he would ignore state legislation that gives the attorney general authority to sue townships.
• The Penn Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (PANTS) announced that it will return to Pennsylvania for its 2009 show. In recent years the event has been in New Jersey.
• World Trade Organization (WTO) talks collapsed after several years of discussion looking to open new trade opportunities for farmers.

August
• Fair season was in full swing with fairs kicking off across the Mid-Atlantic.
• Monsanto announced the sale of its rbST product, Posilac.
• USDA raised its corn estimates based on the ideal summer weather conditions. Farmers were on pace to produce the nation’s second largest crop.

September
• A report released by the Chesapeake Bay Commission indicated the watershed has the potential to lead the nation in cellulosic biofuel production.
• Pennsylvania preserved its 400,000th acre.
• Dave Smith and Dieter Kreig were honored at the All-American with the Image and Obie Snider Awards, respectively.
• Old Mill E Snickerdoodle owned by Allen Bassler Jr. of Upperville, Va. was selected as the youth and open supreme champion at the 2008 All-American Dairy Show.
• The new Pennsylvania Dairy Royalty were crowned in September including state princess LeeAnn Kapanic and alternates Abby Trotter and Nicole Wasson.
• Dr. Harold Harpster was inducted into the Pennsylvania Livestock Association’s Hall of Fame at the opening ceremony at the Keystone International Livestock Exposition.
• The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6849 to reverse a 2008 Farm Bill interpretation that ended certain farm program benefits to farms under 10 acres.

October
• Penn State’s Dean of Agricultural Sciences Robert Steele formally announced he was stepping down and the university was preparing to launch a national search for his replacement.
• Politics heated up across the countryside as presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain courted farmers for votes.
• Betsy Huber was re-elected to a fourth term as Master of the Pennsylvania State Grange at their annual meeting.

November
• The Chesapeake Bay Foundation announced plans to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), noting that it has failed to reduce pollution into the bay watershed under the Clean Water Act.
• The Holstein Association and National Association of Animal Breeders asked dairy producers for assistance identifying a new congenital defect, brachyspina syndrome.
• The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Office announced it will collect and publish county-level land rental rates for the first time as part of the 2008 Farm Bill package.
• New Jersey Agriculture Secretary Charles Kuperus announced he was resigning his post at the end of the year.
• Controversial Proposition 2 passed in California. The new law requires veal, egg laying hens and pregnant sows can only be confined in ways that allow the animals to lie down, stand up, and turn around freely.
• Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff appears on “short list” for the USDA secretary post.
• USDA Under Secretary Thomas Dorr of the Rural Development Agency announced he was stepping down at the end of the month.
• Dr. Mark Robson announced at the New Jersey Farm Bureau Meeting he would be heading the college of agriculture programs at Rutgers University as the new dean.
• Jeff Moyer of the Rodale Institute was elected to chair the 2009 USDA National Organic Standards Board.

December
• Pilgrim’s Pride Cooperation announced it was filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company said it was expecting a “significant loss” in its fourth quarter reports.
• Soybean producers are asked for a checkoff investigation, according to the American Soybean Association, which said it wants USDA to see if there has been wasteful checkoff spending by the United Soybean Association and U.S. Soybean Export Council.
• Dairy Farmers of America agreed to pay a fine of $12 million in an investigation of the dairy co-op’s alleged manipulation of milk futures in 2004.
• Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack was tapped to serve as the next USDA Secretary.
• U.S. oat production has hit an all-time low since the Civil War. However strong production in Canada will make up for the shortfall for animal feed and cereal production.