Ag in the News

11/01/2007

National and International

Bush nominates new ag secretary
President Bush has nominated Edward T. Schafer to serve as the nation's next Agriculture Secretary, saying Schafer's service over two terms as governor of North Dakota has well qualified him for the job, the White House announced. MORE!

National Livestock Emergency Response Conference planned
The second annual National Livestock Emergency Response Conference is scheduled for Dec. 5-7 in southern Arizona. MORE!

Applebee's launches checkoff-funded menu
Overland Park, Kan.-based dining chain Applebee's announced that it is partnering with the Beef Checkoff Program to upgrade its menu with new beef entrees at 1,900 of its nationwide locations. MORE!

Carl's Jr. brings back Portobello mushroom burger
Carpinteria, Calif.-based burger chain Carl's Jr. announced that it is putting its award-winning Portobello Mushroom Six Dollar Burger back on its menu. MORE!

Wrap Up

Big drops for wheat, corn business. Weekly export sales figures from USDA painted a disappointing picture for U.S. corn and wheat export sales. Both registered marketing-year lows after lofty sales posted in prior weeks. Soybeans, however, did have strong business reported.

Australia okays grain imports. While no applications for imports have been made as of yet, Australia has approved the import of feedgrains as the country deals with drought. Reports from Australia say the approval was given for wheat and rye from Canada, wheat from the United Kingdom, corn and sorghum from the United States, corn, sunflowers, sorghum and wheat from Argentina and soybeans from Paraguay.

Russian official threatens grain exports. Russia's ag minister has warned that if world grain prices continue to rise, his country will take further actions to cut off grain exports. However, the official did not specify what those actions are. Russia has already set a 10% export duty on wheat and 30% on barley that reports say will apply from Nov. 12 into April 2008.

Ag secretary choice. The choice of former North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer as the next USDA Secretary is getting mostly positive reviews in most political and ag circles. But the focus is really still on the Senate's version of the farm bill as there are starting to be more questions and issues raised about the package.