June 26, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Valley, This is aglife. My name is Bob Quinn.
With you for the next hour talking about agricultural production
here in the valley, in all across the country. We
start off looking at a potential ag export market. Efforts
to expand US AG exports in Peru are based on
both a growing middle class and growing interest in particular products.

(00:20):
Rod Bain starts us off.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Among USDA's latest efforts to expand agricultural export opportunities around
the globe. A recent agricultural Trade mission in Peru.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Who began the week in rights to business meeting with
some government officials talking about some important issues as it
relates to trade.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Foreign Agricultural Service Administrator Daniel Whitley led a delegation of
over fifty members representatives of various commodity organizations and trade groups, agribusinesses,
and state departments of agriculture. Why the interest in this
particular market beyond market diversification market potential. Currently, Peru ranks

(00:59):
fourth in South American markets for US farm and food exports.
Our country is the second largest AG supplier to Peru.
That is due in Part two fifteen years.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Of the free trade agreement with the United.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
States as well as.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
The macle economics see growing GDP the growing middle class,
So that has always been a pretty strong indicator that
American agritust to be successful.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
In general, that means more consumer demand for proteins, dairy,
fruits and nuts, add specialty products. How does that translate
to the Peruvia market place? As the delegation member at Maryland
Agriculture Secretary Kevin Addox points out, in a state where corn, soybeans,
and poultry are its top ag goods, in addition to

(01:42):
the interest of old wide state broiler products by buyers
in Peru and South America.

Speaker 5 (01:47):
With the GDP growing here and the quickly increasing middle class,
we just see an opportunity for value added products.

Speaker 6 (01:53):
Consumer oriented goods.

Speaker 5 (01:55):
Maryland is historically a rye with the producing state a
couple of discussions that we've had here in case that
there is an opportunity for diversification in that market here.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
And while Montana Agriculture Director Jillian Strait notes the band
of various beef products and grains by Peru's buyers and consumers,
there is also interest in another big sky state product, pulses.

Speaker 7 (02:18):
One of the marketplaces that we visited was a pulse
processing facility. They rave about Montana lentil because it cooks
faster than the Canadian lentil. So that was one of
the things that they brought to like to us with
cooking consistency in the cooking times of the lentil, and
that came directly from that processor. They also enjoy the
color of our pulses. They say that they have a

(02:38):
night for color for their soup and they present better.

Speaker 5 (02:41):
On the table.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
I'm Broadbaine, reporting for the US Department of Agriculture in Washington,
d C.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Well, friends, coming up will look at uncertainty in potato demand,
both in the export market and in the domestic market.
You're listening to ag Life, Bob Quinn. Here was some
farm news this morning. Friends. Farmers are typically an optimistic bunch,
but unfortunately many things that control their success or failure
are beyond their control. For example, the health of the

(03:08):
US and foreign economies has a direct impact on what
farmers can do year in and year out. Chris Voight,
executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, says, with
so many questions about the American economy, consumers are pulling
back and not eating out as often that has made
restaurants nervous, which makes potato processors nervous, saying they don't

(03:29):
want a contract for a bunch of potatoes that may
not be needed.

Speaker 8 (03:33):
So everybody's being very conservative right now. We're actually seeing
our reduction in our acres. Yet we don't know exactly
how big of a reduction. It could be ten percent,
it could be fifteen percent. And that's concerning because you know,
for a long time, Washington is always we've always maxxed
out our potato acres. You know, we could really never
grow more than about one hundred and sixty five thousand

(03:55):
acres every year unless we were able to get some
more water out of Clumbia River or expand in the
Columbia Basin Project. But this is really kind of the
first time in our history in a long time. Then
we're actually having to make some really big cuts. I
never thought we'd see that day, and here we are.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Weight added that pullback is being reported in other economies
around the world as well. In case to drop and
demand isn't challenging enough, now, farmers need to determine what
to do with land that's not growing potatoes. Bit says
because of the struggles of the overall ag economy, there
are few options.

Speaker 8 (04:28):
Is there something I can grow out there that's low
inputs that will I can at least break even on?
Or is there a crop that I can raise that
you know, maybe I'll lose a little bit of money,
but it'll help my potato crop next year. You know,
it may be you know, returns some nutrients to the soil,
or maybe it'll provide you know, to reduce disease or
soil or weat pressure for the following years.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Chris Voight talking potato demand with US well, friends all
look at cattle inventory numbers and comparing to other production
areas of the world. Brett Year, the CEO of Regional
Livestock exchanges in Eastern Australia, recently made a trip to
the US during a sale and yanked in South Dakota.

(05:09):
He said, selling livestock in the US and Australia have
some similarities and differences.

Speaker 9 (05:15):
Yeah, look, there's a lot of similarities, but there are
some differences in our facilities. Most of the cattle sold
over the rail in the salpen, whereas commonly here in
the US they're coming through the sil ring, which is
a little bit different, and the auctioneering techniques and stars
are a little bit different, which makes it unique in
a bit more than exciting.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
You said, the beef industry is a big part of
the Australian economy.

Speaker 9 (05:33):
We've seen the highs that you're seeing now, and we've
seen some lows, and we've seen part of our country
in a really dry spell right now in the top
half in a really good spell. So we've seeing a
lot of cattle moved south to north, which is creding
some opportunities and also underpinning some prices for people doing
it pretty tough.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
Australian cattle producers work with some of these same breeds
that US cattle producers raise.

Speaker 9 (05:53):
Certainly in the south we get a lot of the
eurobreeds that you're getting here, the Hereford's, the Angus cross.
As you head north and you get into that tick country,
and in northern Queensland he starts seeing the Brahmins and
the draft masters and those more resilient top of cattle.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
So we get a bit of a shift.

Speaker 9 (06:06):
As you head north in Queensland in Australia, but certainly
what you're seeing come through the ring you can find
in Australia.

Speaker 10 (06:12):
He talks about making the trip to the US. Yeah, Look,
we've been very fortunate. We've come across for the LMI
conference at the end of the week. Look the fullhand,
we decibed to come over and shaw and get some
experience seeing different style bonds and parts of the industry
to take back home and take some linings out of it.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Brett Freer Regional livestock exchanges in Australia talking cattle with
US well. Friends of the United States and China. Tensions
and the resulting tariff cost US farmers two billion dollars
in lost exports this year. A new study from North
Dakota State University's Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies
says the lost sales to China far surpass modest gains elsewhere.

(06:50):
From January to April, agricultural exports to China dropped by
over five billion dollars, leaving export volumes up to fifty
five percent lower than the previous year. US ag exports
to South Asia, the European Union, and Central America climb
by forty three, thirty nine and twenty four percent, respectively. However,

(07:10):
US gains didn't get high enough to offset the losses
in the Chinese market. Some farmer US. This morning, you're
listening to AAG life.

Speaker 11 (07:20):
It's another agnews update. How is the economy faring more
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Speaker 11 (07:57):
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Speaker 17 (08:01):
By challenging the decades old status quo on tax and trade,
President Trump is breathing new life into the American economy.
More than five hundred thousand private sector payroll jobs have
been added since January. Most importantly, implation in the US
is at its slowest pace since twenty twenty one, and

(08:24):
the numbers we receive today take us back to the
slowest pace since twenty twenty. We are discelerating cost increases
for shelter, food, and energy. After four years of price
increases diminishing the US standard of living. Inflation is showing
substantial improvement due to the administration's policies. Furthermore, the labor

(08:46):
market remains strong, with low unemployment and plentiful labor demand
as job openings remain high. This strength has been exemplified
in the recent performance of the stock market and consumer
confidence data. The President's bold leadership on these issues laid
the ground for a Golden Age economy. With your help,

(09:08):
we can build on that foundation to create even more
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Speaker 11 (09:14):
It's another at News update, Bryan.

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Speaker 11 (09:46):
American Cattle News wats ahead for the beef market. More
after this.

Speaker 19 (09:55):
Here's farmer and Businessman James Wood.

Speaker 20 (09:58):
We've farm about thirty five. There's pipelines everywhere. The contractor
working on my property did not have the lines located
before he began work, and it resulted on a strike
on a natural gas pipeline. Fortunately no one was hurt,
but it could have been much worse.

Speaker 19 (10:14):
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Speaker 11 (10:24):
Doctor Daryl Pill, Oklahoma state livestock economist with.

Speaker 6 (10:28):
The fedcattle market kind of leading things. We've seen stronger prices,
you know, on a daily basis, almost well, we don't
trade every day, but each week certainly we've set new
record prices.

Speaker 15 (10:39):
The bigger feeder cattle have also.

Speaker 6 (10:41):
Gone up, and you know, the veed cattle you could
argue seasonally might drop off a little bit here in
the summer.

Speaker 15 (10:47):
They typically peek in the spring.

Speaker 6 (10:48):
If there's no underlying trend, they would typically peak in
the spring, drop off a little into a summer low,
and then come back in the you know, in the
last part of the year. We've been sort of building
towards this for you know, two years, I guess in
terms of the general squeeze on cattle supplies. You know,
so the two questions out there, one of which we
still can't answer for sure, and that is are we

(11:10):
taking tight feeder supplies and squeezing them even farther by
holding back heifers. We think that's probably starting, but we
don't really have any data definitively, but I think what's
happening is we're beginning to see some of that work
its way through the feed lots. Feedlots have kind of
defied gravity for about eighteen months by slowing them down

(11:30):
and basically making fewer replacements look.

Speaker 15 (11:33):
Like more cattle, if you will.

Speaker 6 (11:35):
And of course we've made them bigger in the meantime,
so carcass weights have gone up.

Speaker 15 (11:40):
But all of that's going to catch up with us
at some point.

Speaker 6 (11:42):
And so what we've seen in the last six or
eight weeks is that fed cattle slaughter has dropped pretty sharply. Finally,
you know, last year, when we got done with the year,
we had a very you know, almost no change in
fed slaughter, but much heavier carcass weights. So beef production
in total was unchanged last year. Be production is going
to fall this year. We still don't quite know about

(12:04):
how much, but I think it'll probably be down two
percent or perhaps a little bit more by the end
of the year.

Speaker 11 (12:09):
American Cattle News. This is Dairy Radio Now with Bill Baker.

Speaker 12 (12:18):
On this installment of the Up Level Dairy Podcast, we
hear from former Texas dairy manager Manny Salsado, who created
his own solution software to save time and increase efficiency.
How did that all begin?

Speaker 21 (12:29):
About ten twelve years ago is when the cloud started
really coming to fruition. It was easier to be able
to grab information, put it into the cloud, and be
able to do whatever you wanted with it. Back in
the day basically had to store it on a local
hard drive and then most of the time the data
processing that it would take. These computers can handle it.

(12:50):
When the cloud opened up, whatever information I wanted and
look at it however I wanted to look at it.
So the cloud was a big piece of why some
of the systems that exis this today exists today. And
so now that they're able to see on a computer
or on a phone or on a tablet how they're performing,
everything started moving in the right direction. So like to

(13:10):
give you an idea. We started grabbing information like zero
to fifteen seconds by shift right, or the percent milk
in two minutes. Every employee could then see based on
the position they were at the rotary, our flow rates
got a lot quicker. So we were basically milking the
cow out quicker based on the information of what the
milkers were getting, and so they started getting competitive amongst themselves,
and before you know it, we saw a drop a

(13:32):
somatic cell, we saw more efficiency in the parlor, we
saw less massitis cows. And this is basically because these
guys were all logged into the system that would show
them how they were performing, and that was a huge
benefit to the farm at the time.

Speaker 12 (13:45):
He explains how he created it and came up with
the name Dairy Performance Network.

Speaker 21 (13:49):
To me, I wanted farms to perform better, and I
wanted to create a network for them to bring all
the data together, and that's how we came up with
a name. Most of the people that we work with
now and even people in the dairy industry, call it DPN.
Hardly anybody ever calls a dairy performance network. The platform
that we basically provide for these dairies we call dairy Stash,

(14:10):
and so if you go to our website, you'll see
that Dairy Performance Network has a tool called dairy Stash,
and dairy Stash is basically what brings all the data together.
But yeah, that's kind of how I came up with
the name. We currently have about six people working for
us now. These guys are either ex dairy farmers like
myself or computer guys like myself that either grew up

(14:31):
on a dairy or herdsman on dairy bread cows and
just happen to like the data space, like the technology
side of things, and so yeah, we're all working towards
a common goal to help these farmers with their solutions.
And it's very difficult because every farm has different technologies
and as new startups come up, new technologies come up.
There's not something out there that's just cookie cutter that

(14:52):
you can plug in and brings everything together. So we
have to take the time to understand what these technologies
are and what the farmers want. And so where we're
on farm and we're starting to build everything for them,
there's a lot of going down from the guy bringing
up bringing the cows up to the parlor, to the
owner to the manager, right, So we customize basically everything

(15:14):
that the farmer wants, the owner wants, the manager wants,
the herdsman wants, and the guy bringing up the cows.

Speaker 22 (15:22):
Right.

Speaker 21 (15:23):
It's streamlining it and customizing it for what they want
down to the smallest detail. And so that's why our
approach isn't just hey, let's go in and essentially sell
this thing. It's saying, Okay, what are the problems that
you have, and this is the solution that we have
for you, right, And so we start building it from
the ground up.

Speaker 12 (15:41):
Basically, for those listening, how can they get in touch
with you and learn more about the Dairy Performance Network so.

Speaker 21 (15:47):
They can reach out to our Facebook, our Instagram, if
you go to Dairy Performance Network on LinkedIn. You can
also email support at dpnconnect dot com. If you go
to our website dpnconnect dot com or Dairyperformance Network dot
com be able to contact us right there.

Speaker 12 (16:02):
Former Texas Dairy manager Manny Salsado on a recent Up
Level Dairy podcast our thanks to Peggy coffeeing with Up
Level Dairy Podcast and if you'd like to hear that
in its entirety, just head to upleveldairy dot com.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
The eastern half of the US remains an extreme heat
as of Tuesday, Yet, as USDA Meeorologist Brad Rippy points.

Speaker 23 (16:22):
Out, we will continue to chip away at that heat
and humidity over the next few days, and we're also
seeing some moisture being entrained into this ridge of high pressure.
Some of those showers will also help to bring down
the heat levels as we move through the rest of
the southeastern quadrant of the country for the foreseeable future.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Extreme heat meanwhile, will shift westward during the second half
of the.

Speaker 23 (16:42):
Week, and by the end of the week it will
be the southwest and back to the central US that
will be seeing some of the hottest weather, while it'll
cool down a bit across the east. We're just getting
started here, I think what is going to turn out
to be a rather hot summer for the nation as
a whole.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Broad Bain reporting for the US Department of Agriculture in
w Sheington, d C.

Speaker 18 (17:03):
Addressing challenges and cover crops in amens. I'm Patrick Kavanaugh
with a California tree nut report. It's not as the
best management practices on cover crops and amens. It's a
new manual that's available now. Vivian Waters is a postdoctoral
fellow at UC Davis. She's the lead author on this manual.
Water says, there's a lot to think about when growing
cover crops.

Speaker 16 (17:24):
If you get good rains early on, then your cover
crop's going to be bigger, and just having growers know
that so that some of the what they'll see about
cover crop that they recognize that that may not have
been in a system that was very similar to their
so that some of the waves that we're addressing challenges.
Another way is we also include a main concerns about
cover crops and mitigation strategies during the growth of cover crops.

Speaker 22 (17:46):
So some of the things.

Speaker 16 (17:47):
That people have mentioned that they were concerned about and
that I consulted with a lot of growers in development
of the best management practices were excess water.

Speaker 18 (17:56):
Used and that's a big one for a lot of growers.
Rock damage risks another may your issue in the late
winter early spring, and those problems can be worked out
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The best place to reach a farmer with a farming
solution messages when they're well farming. It's easy to find
them during the day as most farmers are behind the
wheel of the pickup truck or farm equipment with the
radio on listening to this station for the ag Information
Network of the West News. So reach real farmers right here,
right now as they listen to what's important to their

(19:19):
farm operation. Give us a call and we'll connect you
with our local farming community. They trust us, so they'll
trust you with the ag information network. I'm Patrick Kavanaugh.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Agritourism, the economic and social opportunity it provides the family,
farms and communities they serve, continues to expand.

Speaker 26 (19:39):
There are large, diverse opportunities there and it really depends
on your situation, your farm and what you produce.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yet, what are some of the trends recently noted in
this value added proposition? I'm Rod Bade. Audrey Kummerford of
Oregon State University Extension joins us as we look at
trends at agritourism in this edition of Agriculture You the
diversity that is agritourism continues to be on display as

(20:06):
more farms, ranches, orchards and operations go into and expand
this potential business opportunity. Oregon State University Extensions Audrey cover
Ford says a broad scope of agritourism offerings can be
found within fifty miles of her residence.

Speaker 26 (20:20):
I have everything from a tulip farm that opens in
April to a small dairy that does single cow cheese
and will produce vodka out of way. We have blueberry
folks that will do frozen products throughout the year to
be able to lengthen their season, and so we're seeing
a lot of ingenuity here with the farms.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
It's because of this diversity that putting a precise definition
of what agritourism is can be a challenge.

Speaker 26 (20:45):
Anytime the visiting public is coming onto a farmer ranch,
and this could be for things like direct sales so
farm stands, you picks, you cuts.

Speaker 16 (20:54):
It could be.

Speaker 26 (20:55):
For entertainment such as festivals, pumpkin patches. It could be
for hospitality reasons. These could be like tastings or farmed
table dinners, outdoor recreation, hiking, birding, horseback riding. We also
have education, which is classes, demonstrations, those types of.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Things among the harvest coming in from new agriturism operations
data to better recognize and understand treads with this value
added proposition cover forward notes recent data associated with USDA's
twenty twenty two Census of Agriculture.

Speaker 26 (21:28):
One point nine million US farms were estimated to basically
report and one and a half percent reported and solves
being engaged in some sort of agritourism and six percent
of direct to consumer sales. The national data looks at
those two things.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
Separate another way, to break down numbers within agriturism operations,
They were reported in fifty seven percent of the nation's
counties in the most recent census. Perhaps a more telling
trend in agritourism.

Speaker 26 (21:54):
Total income generated from agritourism and recreational services through from
the two thousand and seventeenth census.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
That one point twenty six billion with a B dollars
of income through agriturism services as according to the twenty
twenty two Census of Agriculture, reflects an over twelve percent
increase from the prior census in twenty seventeen. Back to
that fifty seven percent of US counties reporting agritourism in
some form in the latest Census of ag Almost fifty

(22:23):
percent of that total originated from counties in just four
states California, Texas, Colorado, and Hawaii, and what they generated
in income was over one quarter of the one point
two six billion dollars in agriturism sales in twenty twenty two.
Data on agriturism trends is also being gleaned on the

(22:43):
cooperative extension level, both on a nationwide and a state
or regional basis. Audrey Coverford discusses results of a national
survey conducted in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty by University
of Vermont Extension.

Speaker 26 (22:58):
We're seeing a lot of these agri tourism operations identifying
as either woman owned or woman led. That is really
encouraging to see that this may be a spot that
whether it be the next generation coming up that's looking
to make a stamp on their operation, but this could
be a place that could be a strong avenue for
women an act to make their mark.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
While a recent Oregon State Extension look at agritourism in
the major population region of the Willamite Valley leans insight
on consumers that visit such businesses.

Speaker 26 (23:30):
A lot of the agritourism customers when we did our
study here in the Willamette Valley, the majority of them
were within fifty miles of the farm. So we're looking
at sixty six percent of that your local community, the
folks that are regularly visiting these farms, they know about them,
and then we're looking at the folks coming from farther away.
That's still a pretty good percentage. Nineteen percent is coming

(23:51):
from more than fifty miles and fifteen percent are the
overnight visits.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
Comer forwarday knowledge is that because of the very broad
nature a loose definition of agritourism.

Speaker 26 (24:02):
Doesn't have as much data behind it as we would like,
and so extension services are looking to see how best
we can provide numbers to further these conversations.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
This has been Agriculture USA. I'm broad Bane reporting for
the US Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC.

Speaker 27 (24:22):
It's time for California agg today on the ag Information Network.
I am Haley's ship. We are talking leafy vegetables in
your egg news today. When we spoke earlier this week,
Dave Cheatham of Helena Agra Enterprises explained that fertilizer is
top of mind right now, especially with the second crop
going in and nitrogen regulation in mind.

Speaker 28 (24:45):
One of the tactics that we've been deploying, especially with
all the mitigation around nitrogen management, is using full your
applications of nitrogen products like coreon and other stimulants like
or picks to get the crop up through the season.

Speaker 27 (25:03):
He also says that insect pressure, especially with this second
crop in the coastal region, is going to get pretty high,
and some of.

Speaker 28 (25:10):
The target pests that we're working on are diamondback moths
and Western power thrifts. We're seeing variable results with control
options for diamondback moths, and I think that growers can
expect that it's going to be hard to control year
with the cool variable weather that we've had and limited

(25:32):
options for control. You got to pay attention to rotation
and make sure you don't get stuck on diamide chemistry.

Speaker 27 (25:38):
To best in line up a chemistry to your crop.
You can find a repnear you at Helena agri dot com.

Speaker 29 (25:45):
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Speaker 27 (26:43):
With California AGG today on the AG Information Network, I
am Hailey, Ship Bob Quin.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
Here were some farmer used this morning. Friends. Farmers are
typically an optimistic bunch, but unfortunately, many things that control
their success or failure are beyond their control. For example,
the health of the US and foreign economies has a
direct impact on what farmers can do year in and
year out. Chris Voight, executive director of the Washington State
Potato Commission, says, with so many questions about the American economy,

(27:11):
consumers are pulling back and not eating out as often.
That has made restaurants nervous, which makes potato processors nervous,
saying they don't want a contract for a bunch of
potatoes that may not be needed.

Speaker 8 (27:24):
So everybody's being very conservative right now. We're actually seeing
our reduction in our acres, yet we don't know exactly
how big of a reduction. It could be ten percent,
it could be fifteen percent. And that's concerning because you know,
for a long time, Washington is always we've always maxed
out our potato acres. You know, we could really never
grow more than about one hundred and sixty five thousand

(27:46):
acres every year unless we were able to get some
more water out of Columbia River or expand the Columbia
Basin project. But this is really kind of the first
time in our history in a long time that we're
actually having to make some really big cuts. Never thought
we'd see that day, and here we are.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Woight added that pullback is being reported in other economies
around the world as well. In case the drop in
demand isn't challenging enough, now, farmers need to determine what
to do with land that's not growing potatoes. Boyd says,
because of the struggles of the overall agg economy, there
are few options.

Speaker 8 (28:19):
Is there something I can grow out there that's low
inputs that will I can at least break even on
Or is there a crop that I can raise that
you know, maybe I'll lose a little bit of money,
but it'll help my potato crop next year. You know,
it may be you know, return some nutrients to the soil,
or maybe it'll provide you know, to reduce disease or
soil or weat pressure for the following years.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
Chris Voight talking potato demand with US well. Friends of
the us DA has outlined its plan to attack the
new World screwworm that includes eight point five million dollars
for a facility to produce sterile flies in South Texas.
AG Secretary Brook Rolins said the agency is trying to
enhance its ability to detect, control, and eliminate that pest.

(29:03):
Cigarette Johannes of the National Cattle Ands Beef Association says
it's an extremely expensive disease to eradicate, which is why
prevention is the key.

Speaker 30 (29:12):
The dominoes in Central America fell really fast, and we
saw from November of last year up and through the
winter in the spring, we saw this disease move really
quickly through Central America into Mexico. And that is why
it is such an urgent concern for the United States
now because it is right at our southern neighbor and
we've got to make sure we keep it out of
the US cattle herd. It is an extremely expensive disease

(29:33):
to eradicate once you have it, so prevention is worth everything. Here.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
One step was to close the border to live cattle imports,
and another was to breed flies that are sterile so
when they mate in the wild with females, they will
not produce offspring.

Speaker 30 (29:48):
And then they drop them into the environment and these
sterilized males in theory outcompete the males in the environment
and gradually the population goes down. The trick with that, though,
is you need an awful lot of flies.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
There is current one facility in Panama now producing those flies.
More on animal health now, ag research is vital to
the future of American agriculture, including the pork industry. Doctor
Lisa Beckton, Associate director of the Swine Health Information Center,
says they have a lot going on in research projects.

Speaker 14 (30:17):
First and foremost, we're working on our plan of work
for twenty twenty five. We released that call for proposals
in early March and receive fifty seven proposals. The really
fun thing is it encompasses all five of our strategic pillars,
so it covers things such as transportation, biosecurity, you know,
how do we assess information early disease alert systems, diagnostics
and monitoring, including evaluation of waste water and how that

(30:39):
could be used for monitoring your surveillance of disease.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
She says. The center hopes to identify research projects that
will get funding by the end of summer. They're currently
finishing up work on biosecurity.

Speaker 14 (30:50):
We just are wrapping up our WIEN to Harvest information
and we're getting a lot of good results out of that,
and that was focusing on biosecurity and again that weiing
to harvest space and so we have a lot lot
of reports that are coming up and we'll publish those
in our newsletters and on the website. But recently focusing
on transportation in that plant transportation interface, so that's going
to yield some really good information. And then lastly, we're

(31:12):
just finalized some of our H five N one influenza research.
Also really excited about that because while pigs have influenza,
we don't have H five N one in that population.
But there were so many different unknown things happening, and
we saw what was happening in the dairy industry, and
so we were trying to figure out how do we
better prepare and.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
Swine talking swine health. This morning, you are listening to
ag Life.

Speaker 31 (31:37):
From the Egg Information Network. This is your agribusiness update.
California farm leaders are calling for a different approach to
immigration enforcement after federal agents recently detained at least thirty
five farm employees in Ventura County, California. Farm Bureaus Brian
Little says this approach is having a disruptive effect on
rural communities and the farmers, ranchers, workers and families who

(31:57):
lived there. Little says if these enforcement actives bities continue,
it will become increasingly difficult to produce food and get
it to market. The Public Lands Council thank President Trump,
Eggs Secretary Brook Rawlins and Interior Secretary Doug Burgham for
the push to make the federal government's wildfire prevention and
response strategy more efficient. PLC President Tim Canterbury says there

(32:18):
is no single solution for protecting the West from catastrophic wildfires,
but by using livestock grazing to reduce fuels, increase active
land management, and making the federal response more efficient, we
can protect lives and livelihoods. Nominations are being accepted from
farmers and ranchers to serve on local USDA Farms Service
Agency County committees. The committees make important decisions about how

(32:41):
federal farm programs are administered locally. All nomination forms must
be postmarked or received in the local FSA office by
August first. FSA Administrator Bill Beam says, here's your chance
to support USDA's commitment to putting farmers first by amplifying
the voices of farmers and ranchers.

Speaker 25 (32:58):
For over forty years, the aag Information Network has been
providing news and information for the most important industry in
the world, agriculture. The Egg Information Network gives you worldwide
updates from local producers to regional organizations, from major crops
like wheat and corn, to animal agriculture to specially crops
like apples, almonds, and cherries. We report on stories that

(33:19):
mean the most to you online at aginfo dot net.
The Egg Information Network trusted and transparent journalism lasting for
the next generation.

Speaker 4 (33:27):
It's been popping up in orchards and vineyards all over
any origin theories.

Speaker 24 (33:31):
Calors, Oh hey, yeah, it's Seva fungicide from BASF, a
category leader and disease control.

Speaker 4 (33:37):
How do you explain these healthy crops.

Speaker 24 (33:39):
Well longer lasting residual. Plus it's built for current regulatory
standards and prepare for what's to come, which improves crop
marketing flexibility.

Speaker 4 (33:46):
So a fungicide that is out of this world. I
knew it sevia fungicide from BASF for is it always reading.

Speaker 13 (33:55):
Egressions from the Egg Information Network.

Speaker 15 (33:58):
I'm Bob Larson with today's agg business update.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
Bob went back to wrap up IGLIE for today friends. Well,
the Asian longhorn tick has moved into Iowa in the
central part of the US, and cattle producers need to
be vigilant. Todd Gleeson has our final report today.

Speaker 32 (34:12):
Cattle producers need to be aware that the Asian longhorn
tick has arrived in Van Buren County, Iowa, in the
southeastern part of that state. This is particularly an issue
as the tick carries a disease called taylarium and can
be catastrophic once they heard is infected.

Speaker 22 (34:31):
There have been reports from veterinarians that up to twenty
twenty five percent of your herd could be lost.

Speaker 32 (34:37):
That's Teresa Steckler. She's a beef cattle educator for University
of Illinois Extension. She says Tyleria and the Asian longhorn
tick have been mostly confined to the East coast to
this point, but is cautioning farmers across the state of
Illinois to be on the lookout for both.

Speaker 22 (34:55):
The big thing about this is looking from the ticks.
The tics are carrier of this and there are many
many animals that will transport or move these ticks from
site to site, many of our bird species. They have
recently found that bald eagles will have the ticks on them,
owls as well, wrens, and many mammal species, including white

(35:20):
tailed deer, all kinds of different species raccoons. Producers need
to be aware and they need to be vigilant about
looking for this particular tick. It's highly recommended that you guys,
that farmers take a bat wing and mow at least
once around the periphery of their pastures. That'll create an

(35:41):
area that's dry to help keep the ticks at bay.
If they're in the wooded areas next to your pastures,
the ticks will generally cluster in areas in the flanks
on the head next you'll just see huge clusters of ticks.
If anybody is aware of huge clusters of ticks on

(36:03):
their livestock. They need to contact their vet or take
samples into their vet immediately so they can be idd
and then we can work with the livestock producers.

Speaker 32 (36:13):
Are there other recommendations you make as it's related to
the Asian longhorn tick and the disease.

Speaker 22 (36:19):
One of the big recommendations that we are making is
that if you bring any livestock in to your farm,
especially from states that have the tick, you need to
quarantine these animals and you need to treat them for
them and pour them based on their weight. Don't judge
them based on your eye. Get a good weight on

(36:40):
these animals and pour them appropriately, work with your herd
vetinarian on a product for your herd, and quarantine these
animals for at least three weeks. Also, this traditionally, since
there's a lot of guys that row crop also have livestock,
the guys that put their cattle out the pasture need

(37:02):
to go out and monitor those ticks on a weekly basis.
These ticks can overwhelm our lives talk pretty quickly into
confested areas, so it's very important that you pour these
animals before you turn them out and also monitor them.

Speaker 32 (37:18):
That's Teresa Steckler. She is a beef cattle educator with
University of Illinois Extension.

Speaker 4 (37:23):
I'm Todd Gleason.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
With that, friends, r out of time for today, Thanks
for joining us. Back tomorrow morning with another edition of AGLA.