Grazing program, buck sale on tap Oct. 17 in Ky.

Sustainable Agriculture Workshop

"Third Thursday Thing"

October 17, 2019

Harold R. Benson Research and Demonstration Farm

1525 Mills Lane — Frankfort, Kentucky — (502) 597-6325

Dr. Marion Simon, State Specialist

Small Farm and Part-time Farmers

e-mail address:  marion.simon@kysu.edu

College of Agriculture, Communities and the Environment

Harold R. Benson Research and Demonstration Farm, Center for the Sustainability of Farms and Families

1525 Mills Lane, Frankfort, KY (4 miles south of I-64, off US 127)

Directions:  From I-64 Exit 53, take US127 South toward Lawrenceburg to the 4th stoplight, turn left onto Mills Lane, the KSU Farm is 1.5 miles on the right.

TIME	PROGRAM
10:00 - 10:15 am	Welcome and Announcements – Dr. Marion Simon, Kentucky State University
10:15 – 10:50 am	“Goats in an Integrated Whole Farm Management System” Shawn Lucas, KSU
11:00 – 10:50 am	“Evaluation of Different Grazing Intensity for Goat Production” Ken Andries and Emily Clement, KSU
12:00 – 1:00 pm	LUNCH Farm Crew
1:00 – 1:50 pm	“Isoflavones in Forage Legumes to Promote Weight Gain and Alleviate Fescue Toxicosis” Michael Flythe, ARS Forage Lab, Lexington, KY
2:00 – 2:50 pm	“Practical Evaluation of Pastures for Improved Grazing” Krista Lea, UK Forage Extension
3:00 – 3:50 pm	“Tour of Grazing Research Area and Discussion of Implications” (weather permitting) There will also be the sale of a few KSU Buck Kids depending on Performance

Small ruminant ranch tour taking Arkansans to Texas in October

By Abbi Ross
U of A System Division of Agriculture

@AgNews479

Fast Facts:

• The small ruminant ranch tour will be held in San Angelo, Texas
• The cost to attend ranges from $400-565
• Deadline to register: Oct. 4
• The event will be held Oct. 28-31
  
  FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A visit to sheep and goat ranches, feed mills, a livestock auction and more are all on the agenda for a small ruminant ranch tour for Arkansas producers in October.
  The tour is being hosted by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture department of animal science and will be held Oct. 28-31 in San Angelo, Texas, for producers who are interested in small ruminant production. The cost to attend is $400 for a single occupancy room and $565 for a double occupancy room and includes lodging, meals and transportation.
  “It’s an awesome opportunity for producers to see what other producers are doing, especially in more small ruminant focused areas of the United States,” said Chelsey Kimbrough, assistant professor and small ruminant specialist for the Division of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service. 
  Producers will get the chance to visit sheep and lamb operations, show goat operations, feed mills, livestock auctions, research centers and more, Kimbrough said.
  One of the unique opportunities available on the tour is being able to attend the goat and sheep livestock auction, something that is not as common in Arkansas, Kimbrough said.
  “Participants also get to see other operations, and learn things that they may be able to implement on their farms,” Kimbrough said.
  The deadline to register is Oct. 4. For more information on the event contact Chelsey Kimbrough atckimbrough@uaex.edu or by phone at 501-503-6592. Registration for the event can be found at https://uaex.formstack.com/forms/ranch_tour.
  To learn about Extension Programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visitwww.uaex.edu. Follow us on Twitter at @UAEX_edu.
  
  

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USDA Resources Available for Farmers Hurt by 2018, 2019 Disasters

Signup Begins Sept. 11 for More Than $3 Billion in Aid

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 9, 2019 – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced that agricultural producers affected by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019, including Hurricane Dorian, can apply for assistance through the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+). Signup for this U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program will begin Sept. 11, 2019.

“U.S. agriculture has been dealt a hefty blow by extreme weather over the last several years, and 2019 is no exception,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. “The scope of this year’s prevented planting alone is devastating, and although these disaster program benefits will not make producers whole, we hope the assistance will ease some of the financial strain farmers, ranchers and their families are experiencing. President Trump has the backs of our farmers, and we are working to support America’s great patriot farmers.”

More than $3 billion is available through the disaster relief package passed by Congress and signed by President Trump in early June. WHIP+ builds on the successes of its predecessor program the 2017 Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program (2017 WHIP) that was authorized by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. In addition, the relief package included new programs to cover losses for milk dumped or removed from the commercial market and losses of eligible farm stored commodities due to eligible disaster events in 2018 and 2019. Also, prevented planting supplemental disaster payments will provide support to producers who were prevented from planting eligible crops for the 2019 crop year.

Eligibility

WHIP+ will be available for eligible producers who have suffered eligible losses of certain crops, trees, bushes or vines in counties with a Presidential Emergency Disaster Declaration or a Secretarial Disaster Designation (primary counties only). Disaster losses must have been a result of hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, typhoons, volcanic activity, snowstorms or wildfires that occurred in 2018 or 2019. Also, producers in counties that did not received a disaster declaration or designation may still apply for WHIP+ but must provide supporting documentation to establish that the crops were directly affected by a qualifying disaster loss. 

A list of counties that received qualifying disaster declarations and designations is available at farmers.gov/recover/whip-plus.  Because grazing and livestock losses, other than milk losses, are covered by other disaster recovery programs offered through USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), those losses are not eligible for WHIP+.

General Eligibility and Payment Limitations

WHIP+ is only designed to provide assistance for production losses, however, if quality was taken into consideration under federal crop insurance or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) policy, where production was further adjusted, the adjusted production will be used in calculating assistance under this program.

Eligible crops include those for which federal crop insurance or NAP coverage is available, excluding crops intended for grazing. A list of crops covered by crop insurance is available through USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) Actuarial Information Browser at webapp.rma.usda.gov/apps/actuarialinformationbrowser.

Eligibility will be determined for each producer based on the size of the loss and the level of insurance coverage elected by the producer. A WHIP+ factor will be determined for each crop based on a producer’s coverage level. Producers who elected higher coverage levels will receive a higher WHIP+ factor.

The WHIP+ payment factor ranges from 75 percent to 95 percent, depending on the level of crop insurance coverage or NAP coverage that a producer obtained for the crop. Producers who did not insure their crops in 2018 or 2019 will receive 70 percent of the expected value of the crop. Insured crops (either crop insurance or NAP coverage) will receive between 75 percent and 95 percent of expected value; those who purchased the highest levels of coverage will receive 95-percent of the expected value.

Once signup begins, a producer will be asked to provide verifiable and reliable production records. If a producer is unable to provide production records, WHIP+ payments will be determined based on the lower of either the actual loss certified by the producer and determined acceptable by FSA or the county expected yield and county disaster yield. The county disaster yield is the production that a producer would have been expected to make based on the eligible disaster conditions in the county.

WHIP+ payments for 2018 disasters will be eligible for 100 percent of their calculated value. WHIP+ payments for 2019 disasters will be limited to an initial 50 percent of their calculated value, with an opportunity to receive up to the remaining 50 percent after January 1, 2020, if sufficient funding remains.

WHIP+ benefits will be subject to a payment limitation of either $125,000 or $250,000 per crop year, depending upon their verified average adjusted gross income. As under 2017 WHIP, the payment limitation for WHIP+ factors in the person’s or legal entity’s income from activities related to farming, ranching, or forestry.  Specifically, a person or legal entity, other than a joint venture or general partnership, cannot receive more than $125,000 in payments under WHIP+, if their average adjusted gross farm income is less than 75 percent of their average adjusted gross income (AGI) for 2015, 2016, and 2017.  The $125,000 payment limitation is single total combined limitation for payments for the 2018, 2019, and 2020 crop years.  However, if at least 75 percent of the person or legal entity’s average AGI is derived from farming, ranching, or forestry related activities and the participant provides the required certification and documentation, the person or legal entity, other than a joint venture or general partnership, is eligible to receive, directly or indirectly, up to $250,000 per crop year in WHIP+ payments, with a total combined limitation for payments for the 2018, 2019, and 2020 crop years of $500,000.  The relevant tax years for establishing a producer’s AGI and percentage derived from farming, ranching, or forestry related activities for WHIP+ are 2015, 2016, and 2017. For information regarding the payment limitation that applies to WHIP+, please contact your local USDA service center or visit farmers.gov/recover.

Future Insurance Coverage Requirements

Both insured and uninsured producers are eligible to apply for WHIP+. But all producers receiving WHIP+ payments will be required to purchase crop insurance or NAP, at the 60 percent coverage level or higher, for the next two available, consecutive crop years after the crop year for which WHIP+ payments were paid. Producers who fail to purchase crop insurance for the next two applicable, consecutive years will be required to pay back the WHIP+ payment.

Additional Loss Coverage

The Milk Loss Program will provide payments to eligible dairy operations for milk that was dumped or removed without compensation from the commercial milk market because of a qualifying 2018 and 2019 natural disaster. Producers who suffered losses of harvested commodities, including hay, stored in on-farm structures in 2018 and 2019 will receive assistance through the On-Farm Storage Loss Program.

Additionally, the disaster relief measure expanded coverage of the 2017 WHIP to include losses from Tropical Storm Cindy, and peach and blueberry crop losses that resulted from extreme cold.

Enhanced Assistance Through Tree Assistance Program (TAP)

TAP traditionally provides cost-share for replanting and rehabilitating eligible trees. WHIP+ will provide payments based on the loss of value of the tree, bush or vine itself. Therefore, eligible producers may receive both a TAP and a 2017 WHIP or WHIP+ payment for the same acreage.

In addition, TAP policy has been updated to assist eligible orchardists or nursery tree growers of pecan trees with a tree mortality rate that exceeds 7.5 percent (adjusted for normal mortality) but is less than 15 percent (adjusted for normal mortality) for losses incurred during 2018. 

Prevented Planting

Agricultural producers faced significant challenges planting crops in 2019 in many parts of the country. All producers with flooding or excess moisture-related prevented planting insurance claims in calendar year 2019 will receive a prevented planting supplemental disaster (“bonus”) payment equal to 10 percent of their prevented planting indemnity, plus an additional 5 percent will be provided to those who purchased harvest price option coverage.

As under 2017 WHIP, WHIP+ will provide prevented planting assistance to uninsured producers, NAP producers and producers who may have been prevented from planting an insured crop in the 2018 crop year and those 2019 crops that had a final planting date prior to January 1, 2019.

Other USDA Disaster Recovery Assistance

When major disasters strike, USDA has an emergency loan program that provides eligible farmers low-interest loans to help them recover from production and physical losses.

Livestock owners and contract growers who experience above normal livestock deaths because of specific weather events, as well as from disease or animal attacks, may qualify for assistance under USDA’s Livestock Indemnity Program. Producers who suffer losses to or are prevented from planting agricultural commodities not covered by federal crop insurance may be eligible for assistance under USDA’s Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program if the losses were from natural disasters.

USDA’s Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program provides payments to producers of these commodities to help compensate for losses because of diseases (including cattle tick fever) and adverse weather or other conditions, such as blizzards and wildfires, that are not covered by other disaster programs.

USDA also provides financial resources through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program for immediate needs and long-term support to help recover from natural disasters and conserve water resources. Additionally, the Emergency Watershed Protection Program helps local communities immediately begin relieving imminent hazards to life and property caused by floods.  In addition, the Emergency Conservation Program provides funding and technical assistance for farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters and help put in place methods for water conservation during severe drought. 

For more information on FSA disaster assistance programs, please contact your local USDA service center or visit farmers.gov/recover. For all available USDA disaster assistance programs, go to USDA’s disaster resources website.

In the largest prosecution of organic fraud in U.S. history, Iowa grain seller sentenced to 10 years in prison

Jesse Hirsch

UPDATE 8/21/2019, 7:46 a.m. The Associated Press is reporting that Randy Constant was found dead, apparently by suicide. He was found by police in a vehicle in his garage in Chillicothe, Missouri, according to the AP. The coroner in Livingston County said that he had died of carbon monoxide poisoning, which was confirmed by a post-mortem exam at the University of Missouri Medical Center. The New Food Economy will work to confirm these details.

Shade-grown coffee. Pastured chicken. Organic milk. What do these foodstuffs share in common? Each one comes with an elevated origin story, helping to fetch a higher price at the grocery store. Perhaps more importantly, these items require a degree of consumer confidence that their backstories are legitimate. As such, they are susceptible to fraud.

“Any time there’s a claim of a certain pedigree, an origin that the consumer is not equipped to verify independently, the market is ripe for fraud,” says Doug Moyer, PhD, a professor of public health at Michigan State University, and a researcher at MSU’s Food Fraud Institute.

The only assurance the public has that a product is actually organic is a USDA certification label.

Case in point: Last Friday, as part of an ongoing federal investigation, the perpetrator of the largest case of organic fraud in United States history was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. Between 2010 and 2017, court documents show that farmer Randy Constant ran a massive Iowa grain brokerage, selling more than $142 million in supposedly “organic” animal feed to livestock farmers throughout the Midwest. In turn, the products those farmers sold to the public under the USDA-certified organic label—meat, dairy, and eggs—were virtually indistinguishable from their conventionally produced counterparts.

“Thousands upon thousands of consumers paid for products they did not get and paid for products they did not want,” U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams said at Friday’s sentencing, according to court documents. “This has caused incalculable damage to the confidence the American public has in organic products.”

In 2018, U.S. organic food sales topped $47.9 billion, up almost $3 billion from the previous year, and following a steady annual increase since at least 2009. At retail, the price markup for organic over conventional products can run as little as 5 or 6 percent for produce items, to well over 100 percent for beef and other meats.

There is a range of factors for the price differential, but put simply, growing organic food requires additional costs on the part of the farmer. This is due to both more labor-intensive operational costs and the inability to apply the easy-touch pesticides and insecticides often required in conventional farming (a limited number of chemicals are approved for use by organic growers.)

The only assurance the public has that a product is actually organic is a USDA certification label. This indicates that the food producer in question successfully went through a lengthy application process, and is subject to at least one inspection per year. 

One of the strictest requirements for organic-certified meat, dairy, and eggs is that grain-based animal feed must have been grown without synthetic pesticides, the same as crops grown for human consumption. With the USDA’s animal welfare standards for organic producers eroding, this feed requirement is arguably the most important distinguisher between conventional and organic meat products.

Prosecutions of organic fraud are fairly uncommon, especially at this scale.

Court documents show that Constant purchased his grain through a brokerage he owned called Jericho Solutions, then sold it to livestock farmers. Three grain farmers were given lesser sentences alongside Constant, all of whom were found guilty of knowingly growing fraudulent corn and soy for the grain brokerage (the DOJ predicts more arrests to come). DOJ claims that Constant’s products accounted for 8 percent of all organic soybeans grown in the U.S. in 2016, and 7 percent of comparable organic corn.

Constant exploited the organic/conventional price differential by selling faux-organic feed at prices that couldn’t be matched by competitors. In fact, other, presumably honest organic feed producers allegedly reported Constant to federal investigators, claiming his prices were simply too low for the crops to have been produced organically. Other grain farmers couldn’t compete. 

“The only reason this investigation ever happened was that others in the industry reported [Constant],” says Mark Kastel, founder of the organic watchdog organization Cornucopia Institute, which has been assisting the Department of Justice (DOJ) in its investigation. 

Indeed, prosecutions of organic fraud are fairly uncommon, especially at this scale. Factors include dwindling resources at USDA’s National Organic Program, paired with an inspection system rife with loopholes. For instance, organic certifiers are often hired by farmers themselves. Inspections are usually made with days or weeks of advance notice. And pesticide testing on the grains themselves is rarely done. Additionally, monitoring imported organic grains, which have been in the spotlight recently for repeated cases of fraud, has been a drain on federal resources.

Moyer suspects there’s less of an appetite to prosecute organic fraudsters, especially when it comes to animal feed, as there is little risk to human health. He points out instances of food adulteration like antifreeze in wine and melamine in baby formula that had serious public health consequences. “It may be that [organic fraud] seems like more of a victimless crime,” says Moyer. “Unless of course, you’re the consumer who’s been paying extra for fake products.”

This sentiment is echoed by the Organic Trade Association (OTA), the organic industry’s biggest lobbying group. “Trust in the organic seal is critical, and the Organic Trade Association supports actions by the USDA to uphold the integrity of organic,” said OTA’s executive director, Laura Batcha, in a statement to The New Food Economy.  “The vast majority of organic producers and stakeholders work hard every day to abide by the standards, but for the ones who don’t, there are consequences. We hope this ruling serves as a deterrent for future attempts at fraud. Enforcement of the organic standards is critical for the continued success of organic.”

Constant’s particular scam involved a process Moyer refers to as “salting,” wherein a small proportion of legitimate product—in this case, organic grain—is mixed with fraudulent product, a simple means of throwing inspectors off the scent. Another form of salting comes in the reverse—for instance, a small amount of a cheaper item is mixed in with the legitimate product, producing large savings in the aggregate. This type of fraud is prevalent with spices like oregano and olive oil, and can have dire public health consequences as in the 2014 case of cumin salted with peanut shells.

Despite the lack of precedent for cases like Constant’s, Moyers hopes this is a watershed moment for organic authenticity. “This has been devastating for an industry that is largely built on consumer confidence,” he says. “I’m thrilled this conviction happened, though. This is how you rebuild trust.”

We reached out to USDA for comment, and will update if and when they respond.

Environment, Farm, Home Feature, JusticefarmersfraudgrainOrganicUSDA