| 1 Reduction in hog breeding herd needed to increase prices The weak economy has also affected many sectors of the agriculture industry, with the pork industry being no exception. University of Missouri-Columbia agriculture economist Glenn Grimes said the major problem pork producers are faced with is cost—cost of feed and inputs as compared to market price. Grimes told pork producers during the World Pork Expo, held recently in Des Moines, that key driving forces for the pork markets include oil prices, biofuels policy and the economy. "High oil prices led to high gasoline prices, high ethanol prices, high corn prices and red ink for the livestock industry," said Grimes. "A weak economy is doing the same in reverse." (Read more.) Return to headlines
2 H1N1 flu outbreak virus not found in U.S. hog herd
While H1N1 is the most common influenza found in the hog herd, it is not the same as the H1N1 flu virus found in people. Iowa State University veterinary pathologist Greg Stevenson told pork producers, during a news conference at the World Pork Expo, that the human outbreak is being referred to as the H1N1 flu outbreak virus in order to distinguish it from the flu in the hog herd. "The difficult part about this virus is it won’t respond to antibiotics and it can’t replicate outside of cells," he said. In order for the H1N1 virus to survive it must attach to host cells in an animal to be able to replicate, and read the genes in order to know how they replicate. Stevenson said the common types of flu are found in waterfowl where they cause asymptomatic disease and subclinical infections. "Very few of these flu viruses are established in mammalian species," he added. (Read more.) Return to headlines
3 New finding helps explain how toxin harms farm animals A new category of fats in mammalian cells discovered by Agricultural Research Service scientists and colleagues may help explain how a harmful toxin called fumonisin causes disease in farm animals. The discovery could open up a new research area for exploring ways to reduce the toxic effects of fumonisin, which is found in corn that has been infected with a fungus called Fusarium. Fumonisin is known to cause a host of diseases, such as equine leukoencephalomalacia, which is a brain disease in horses, and porcine pulmonary edema, a lung disease in swine. In previous work, these scientists found that fumonisin inhibits the formation of a group of fats known as sphingolipids and disrupts the metabolism of sphingolipids and other fats. It is now known that this disruption of fat metabolism is the cause of the animal diseases and also kidney and liver toxicity and cancer in rodent animal models. In the earlier studies, this group showed that inhibition increases the levels of several well-known sphingolipid metabolites and an unidentified sphingolipid which was coined "the mystery peak." (Read more.) Return to headlines
4 Growers should remember to apply pesticides properly EPA is reminding growers and pesticide applicators to pay attention to label requirements when applying pesticides to crops near harvest time. "All pesticide label instructions need to be followed and it's especially important that pesticides are applied the proper number of days before harvest," said Jamie Green, Chief of EPA's Region 7 Toxics and Pesticides Branch in Kansas City. "EPA and our state regulatory partners want to avoid a repeat of the situation faced by a number of Kansas and Nebraska wheat growers in 2008. A late season fungicide application contributed to delayed harvests by some growers in order to ensure compliance with federal regulations." Growers and pesticide applicators may both be held responsible for assuring compliance with pre-harvest intervals and other post-application requirements. The waiting period, listed as a pre-harvest interval on pesticide labels, is the minimum number of days a grower must wait before harvesting a treated crop. EPA and our state partners are responsible for ensuring compliance with pesticide label directions. Failure to follow label instructions is a violation of federal and state pesticide laws. For more information about activities in EPA Region 7, visit www.epa.gov/region07/pesticides/index.htm. Return to headlines
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