Former Iowa Governor and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack recently led a discussion amongst four other past U.S. Secretaries of Ag — Dan Glickman, Ann Veneman, Mike Johanns and Ed Schafer — at the 2017 Iowa Hunger Summit. Their primary objective was to address a less commonly realized but ever-prevalent issue affecting U.S. citizens: food insecurity.

Some may be asking themselves what exactly the term “food insecurity” means. It is defined as being without consistent access to an adequate supply of reasonably priced, healthy food. And, while it may seem almost inconceivable for such a highly developed country to be dealing with an issue like hunger, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, it’s an unfortunate reality for some 41.2 million Americans living in food-insecure households.

Fortunately, the U.S. has one of the most comprehensive feeding programs in the world, offering the Woman, Infants and Children (WIC) program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and National School Lunch Program (NSLP).

Yet, programs like SNAP have no restrictions. People may buy whatever unhealthy options they wish to, and often do. So, the question arises: Should we limit participant options? And, while we’ve come a long way from the days of food stamps and the associated stigmas, many feel that restricting offerings would only serve to further reinforce shame felt by program participants.

Domino effect

According to estimates from the 2015 U.S. Census Bureau, the official poverty rate is roughly 13.5 percent, meaning over 43 million Americans are living on an insufficient income. The nation also sits at a record high obesity rate; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 36.5 percent of U.S. adults are considered grossly overweight. It would seem these two issues go hand in hand with the issue of food insecurity.

People are not only undereducated on nutrition but are often unsure how to prepare food. To put it simply, many people don’t know how to cook anymore. Without this knowledge, most seek quick, convenient and often calorie-dense options.

And we are paying a high price for these correlations:

• Globally, more people are dying of non-communicable diseases (e.g., heart disease and diabetes) than communicable diseases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), unhealthy diets and lack of physical activity are some of the top reasons for premature death.
• Obesity is one of the biggest drivers of healthcare costs. In fact, the fastest growing part of the U.S. budget is healthcare. The United States spends an estimated $147 to $210 billion annually on costs associated with preventable chronic diseases.

Focus on nutrition, not just hunger

The panel did seem to collectively agree that nutrition education should continue to be a top priority. The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) was established nearly 50 years ago to help with nutrition and exercise-related behaviors for low-income families, particularly those with small children. SNAP to Health is another example of an effective program aimed at reducing food insecurity and promoting better nutrition for Americans. Additionally, many grocery store chains are now employing dietitians to help consumers make better choices, often at little to no cost.

How agriculture can help

We must continue to be proactive in our efforts to end hunger in this country. Not surprisingly, agriculture will continue to play a critical role. We are making headway with efforts such as the expansion of farmers markets and local food options, more widely available crop insurance and risk management tools, and the establishment of farm-to-school program grants for sourcing local foods. But the hard work can’t stop there. As our population continues to grow and weather patterns shift, we will need to continue to examine new resources, fresh ideas and innovative technologies, all aimed at making food insecurity a thing of the past.

How do you think the future of farming will impact issues like food insecurity? A panel of agribusiness experts recently discussed “Farming the Future” and what it may hold for not only agriculture, but the entire food supply chain.

Watch Farming the Future

Those of us who don’t farm for a living but have always wanted to catch an on-farm glimpse, rejoice! Did you know that there is an immersive game, developed by Giants Software of Switzerland, called Farming Simulator? The game allows players to armchair farm in the comfort of their living room.

My curiosity was piqued when I heard about it, so I called Brian Bolger, an Irish engineer working in New York who contributes modifications to the game in his spare time, to learn more about it.

I admitted to Brian that I knew very little about the game and was interested in its origins and what it was all about. Brian first discovered the game himself on YouTube and by the end of 2015 was actively involved in creating his own model. Farming Simulator gives players a complete farming experience. The game enables players to get a sense of what it’s like to toil the land, work with heavy machinery, harvest crops and care for livestock, all on their very own digital farm.

Originally from County Kildare, a mere 25-minute drive from KEENAN headquarters in Borris, County Carlow, Brian develops game assets for Giants Software as a hobby. With a background in farming and a huge interest in farm machinery, Brian started out drawing basic shapes, making cubes and working his way up to building a small trailer. He progressed to developing more complex machines and discovered that Giants Software hosted an annual contest for the development of games assets — something that inspired Brian.

“I enjoy the complexity of developing 3D models in 1:1, or full size, scale,” he said. “Developing a KEENAN model with the same functionality as the real machine is challenging, and I love it.”

Brian gets into the weeds with the actual detail of the models he creates. From creating textures and colors for the 3D model through to digital controls, a model such as the KEENAN diet feeder can take Brian a couple of days to build from the ground up. Brian refers to himself as a “modder” (for those of us non-gamers, that refers to people who create modifications for games).

Farming Simulator did not have a KEENAN machine a few years ago, and so Brian set about to rectify this.

“I took pictures originally and built the model, adding functionality such as the feed mixing inside the wagon and the finished mix being poured out to feed the animals,” he explained. “I then created specifications for each of the effects and developed software to make it all work and come to life. It’s fairly complex, and there is no book on how to do it, but I really enjoy it.”

Today, thanks to Brian’s ingenuity, the KEENAN “Green Machine” has more than 1 million downloads. The download numbers also spiked due to the game being available for console play on Xbox and PlayStation.

“A lot of gamers are sons and daughters of farmers,” he said. “Interestingly enough, I get a lot of emails from people in the U.S. asking,  ‘Where is this machine made?’”

Farming Simulator has been on the market since 2008. However, it has experienced significant growth in the past two to three years. So popular is the simulator that Giants Software is now developing a South American version of the game.

Brian estimates that the game player demographics are made up of approximately 70 percent of players aged 18 years old and under, with the remaining 30 percent being over age 18. It’s interesting to consider that many of our future farmers could be cutting their teeth and developing machine preferences through a digital platform.

Why is Farming Simulator so popular? Brian is convinced it is all about the magic of creating your own machine for the games, the fact that it has no limits and the seemingly real immersion the user gets from farming in this manner.

Farming Simulator is available to buy online. Go forth, gamers, and farm!

Precise nutrition, personalized nutrition, targeted medicine, precision medicine, targeted cancer therapies, targeted gene nutrition and cell nutrition: These are some of the emerging technologies that are rapidly moving us into new frontiers of medical and nutritional innovation.

These innovative technologies have the potential to change the way we (and our animals) live and cope with illnesses and devastating diseases such as cancer.

Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new cancer treatment called CAR T cell therapy. CAR T stands for “chimeric antigen receptor T cell.” T cells harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells. The thought behind CAR T is to use a patient's own immune system T cells and engineer them in such a way that the T cells can better recognize cancer cells and neutralize them without damaging organs or causing harm to the individual.

The National Cancer Institute website provides excellent information on targeted cancer therapies. Most of these therapies focus on drugs (ones that are already approved to treat specific types of cancer or are in development) that utilize an individual’s unique genes to treat the disease.

Would it be possible to use the information on a person’s or animal’s genes to identify whether the individual may be predisposed to develop a devastating disease such as cancer? And would it be possible to use such information to prevent the onset of such a disease?

Last year alone, it was estimated that some 1.6 million Americans would be diagnosed with cancer. The key is to understand what drives cancer and its different forms, what genes are involved and how we can downregulate (“turn off”) their expression.

There are already several studies taking place, and research is ongoing in the field of animal nutrition, demonstrating the impact that nutrients have on gene expression and how such expression affects performance and health. As work continues to expand in this field and into human and companion animal nutrition, we may be able to design diets based on the genetic makeup of a person or animal.

This is a game changer. Imagine providing diets that will feed the unique genes, provide a healthy life, and reduce or delay the onset of disease. Once we understand what an individual’s gene requirement is for certain nutrients such as selenium, zinc or a fatty acid, precise nutrition could provide an optimized diet that’s just right for their body’s needs.

Want to learn more?

2017 was a hard year for many producers, with many difficulties that could not have been prevented. However, the new year is an opportunity for a fresh start. Here are three simple things you can do to bounce back and make 2018 your best year yet:

STOP problems before they start — give your cattle the minerals they need.

When we see sick cattle in the field during the spring, we follow the trail of breadcrumbs back to January. Most of the time, we find that these cattle were not given the right minerals to prepare them for the winter and early spring challenges of calving and wet conditions. Alltech’s Bioplex®organic trace minerals, when combined with Sel-Plex® organic selenium, provide mineral nutrition in a form as close to nature as possible and are scientifically proven to be more bioavailable than inorganic mineral sources.

LOOK: Keep an eye out for mycotoxins.

2017’s hurricanes have left the ground wet in the southern U.S., and this can be a harbinger of mycotoxins, but don’t let this stop you from having a good year.

If you’d like to know what you are dealing with, take the Alltech 37+® mycotoxin analysis. This test checks for more than 40 different kinds of mycotoxins, detecting them before you put your cattle at risk.

SAVE time tidying your farm — leave these barrels in the pasture!

Eliminate labor and costs associated with collecting and returning steel barrels or disposing of plastic containers. The CRYSTALYX® BioBarrel® is designed with Single-Trip Container (STC^®) technology, which biodegrades naturally in the field. The end result is environmentally friendly and labor-friendly, with virtually no cleanup or disposal issues.

Because the barrel disappears, it's easy to see how much is left as you check pastures.

“The BioBarrel pays for itself,” said Felix Serna from Kingsville, Texas. “You don’t create any extra labor to go pick them up, and it’s not an eyesore because it disappears as the cattle eat the product!”

Find out where you can get BioBarrels and save time on your farm next year.

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Silage samples from across the U.S., Canada and Europe have shown high levels of mycotoxins, according to the Alltech 2017 Harvest Analysis. The high reading comes on the heels of similar findings in 2016.

As the name implies, mycotoxins are toxic. They can negatively affect the health of animals if contaminated feedstuffs are ingested. The symptoms can be many and varied, but the outcome in all cases will be reduced performance and lost profits.

Produced by certain molds, more than 500 mycotoxins have been discovered to date. Each affects the animal or human in a certain way. Some mycotoxins are carcinogenic, neurotoxic and immunosuppressive.

Climate change and feed storage practices are starting to influence the range of molds occurring in farm feedstocks. And with traditional tilling and crop rotation practices diminishing in many developed countries, mold contamination is persisting year-on-year, making the multiple mycotoxin threat very real.

U.S. sampling shows high mycotoxin count

Samples from American farms submitted to the Alltech 37+^® mycotoxin analytical services laboratory in Kentucky between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1, 2017, show that grains contained mixtures of mycotoxins, including deoxynivalenol (DON), fusaric acid and fumonisin.

Fumonisin is commonly found in corn at levels of 2 parts per million (ppm) or less, but this year, testing has confirmed levels well above 30 ppm, and some above 100 ppm.

Forages such as corn silage, barlage and haylage samples also contained multiple mycotoxins in 2017, including DON, fusaric acid, type A trichothecenes (T-2) and fumonisin.

“It’s particularly high right now,” said Dr. Max Hawkins, nutritionist with the Alltech^® Mycotoxin Management team. “In the Wisconsin-Minnesota area, we’re about seven-tenths of a mycotoxin-per-sample higher than a year ago. More of the samples we’re seeing have the mycotoxins in them, and the major toxins that are present are four to five times higher than they were a year ago.”

The Canadian findings are much the same

Samples submitted for the Alltech 2017 Canadian Harvest Analysis indicated high levels of DON and zearalenone (ZEA) in grain and forage.

Submitted between Sept. 1 and Oct. 15, 2017, the samples show that grains contained mixtures of mycotoxins, including DON and ZEA. Forages such as corn silage, barlage and haylage samples also contained multiple mycotoxins in 2017, particularly from mycotoxins produced by Fusarium species of molds, such as DON, ZEA and T-2/HT-2 toxins.

Mycotoxin risk levels high in Europe, as well

The Alltech 37+ lab in Dunboyne, Ireland, analyzed samples of wheat, barley, corn, corn silage and grass silage submitted from across Europe. The grain crops are showing risk levels of trichothecenes from DON and T-2 to swine. Silages are showing risk levels of not only DON and T-2, but also high levels of Penicillium and, to a lesser degree, aflatoxin, according to Alltech’s 2017 European Summer Harvest Analysis.

What’s causing this?

Weather conditions can be a major influence.

“Some areas have seen record levels of rain, some areas are experiencing record drought conditions,” Dr. Alexandra Weaver, Alltech Mycotoxin Management technical specialist, said of the European findings. “That’s going to play a big role in the level of mycotoxins you see as well as what types of mycotoxins.”

Weather factors are also suspected in the United States.

“A lot of areas have gone through a cool, wet summer, and cool, wet weather is the preferred environment for Fusarium mold,” said Hawkins. “Fusarium is the mold that produces DON, T-2, ZEA and fusaric acid. Those are the mycotoxins that can become very problematic, and they already appear to be very problematic this year in the corn silage crop.”

Higher levels of mycotoxins appear to be a lingering legacy of the havoc Hurricane Harvey delivered to the Texas Gulf Coast in mid-August.

“In Texas, we have really dramatically high levels of fumonisin,” said Hawkins. “You can track it northward from where that rainfall came up from the Gulf and across the Texas panhandle into Kansas and Nebraska. The levels of fumonisin will begin to decrease, but they’re still much higher than we would typically see in those areas.”

Weather’s important, but there are other factors

While weather is linked to the higher mycotoxin rates of recent years, Weaver suggested that other important factors are contributing to the scope of the findings, including better detection methods as well as increased awareness among farmers.

“We have better ability to test for these toxins now; different agronomic practices play a role — the idea of ‘no-till’ versus ‘till’ has an influence; the use of fungicides may have an influence,” she said. “So there are things that play into this whole topic rather than just the weather, but certainly weather events with excess moisture are going to have a big impact.”

Watching for co-occurrence of mycotoxins

The Alltech 37+ analysis examines over 40 individual mycotoxins in minute levels: parts per billion. The laboratories are especially vigilant for samples containing more than one type of mycotoxin.

“We have a fairly thorough understanding of the additive effects of mycotoxins,” said Hawkins. “But many mycotoxins can have synergistic effects for DON and for fusaric acid. When you have those two together in the same feed or the same ingredient, one plus one does not necessarily equal two. One plus one may equal three, four or five in terms of magnified or synergistic effects.”

Mycotoxins present researchers with challenging paradoxes. Feeding multiple mycotoxins at low levels can be as detrimental or worse than feeding one mycotoxin at a high level, explained Hawkins. One mold species may produce many different mycotoxins, and several species may produce the same mycotoxin.

Hawkins wants people to be aware of multiple mycotoxins and the risk that they present.

“As you make more complex feeds with more ingredients, you’re bringing more and different combinations of mycotoxins into one place, where the animal will have the opportunity to consume it, so the opportunity for risk goes up,” he said.

Helping farmers gain the advantage

The Alltech^® RAPIREAD^TM  tool delivers an integrated system of tools and technologies to the farm to enable quick on-site analysis.

“It’s a handheld lateral-flow device,” explained Hawkins. “We can take samples on-farm for feed ingredients — corn, grain, distillers grains, corn silage — and we don’t check for a broad array of toxins, we’re looking for one, two or three toxins that could be on a very problematic level.

“So, for example, if we’re in Texas, we might be checking corn grain for high fumonisin levels; if we’re in Wisconsin, we might be checking corn silage for high DON or high T-2 levels,” he continued. “And we can give them that answer on the spot within 10 to 20 minutes.”

Based on the information produced by RAPIREAD, the Alltech team can put together a basic management program to help the farmer mitigate the risk of animals going through a period of stress or suffering.

“When the analysis comes back showing extremely high levels of mycotoxins in corn silage — to the point that they didn’t think that they would be able to feed that corn silage — the Alltech team can show them how they can continue to feed the silage they’ve invested in,” said Hawkins. “Alltech puts together a program, monitoring and tweaking as they go along. We can show them that, if they manage it properly in the right program setting, they can still use a feed that has mycotoxins present.”

Alltech^® MIKO, a program based on HACCP principles (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points), identifies the mycotoxin risks within a farm or feed mill and creates a plan to minimize the risks to the animal and protect the profitability of operations.

Alltech’s Mycosorb A+^® reduces the threat of mycotoxins in animal feed. The technology reduces mycotoxin absorption within the animal, negating the damaging effects of mycotoxins on its health.

“Farmers should carefully consider if and how feed with mycotoxins is used,” cautioned Weaver. “Even minimal changes in feed quality can have a big impact on an animal’s production over time.”

Effective mycotoxin management is about seeing the whole challenge, from the farm to feed mill and from risk assessment to feed management.

The Alltech Mycotoxin Management team has produced a number of species-specific fact sheets, which explain the impact of mycotoxins.

For more information about mycotoxins and to view a collection of case studies, visit knowmycotoxins.com.

Eggs have long been regarded as an excellent source of high-quality “complete” protein, as they contain all of the essential amino acids — dubbed “essential” because our bodies cannot synthesize them and we must get them from our diet.

But eggs are not only a great (and inexpensive!) source of protein; they have a high nutrient density, because they provide a number of nutrients in proportion to their calorie count. One egg has 13 essential vitamins and minerals in varying amounts, high-quality protein and antioxidants, all for just 70 calories.¹

Additionally, the enrichment of eggs has made it possible for consumers to get even more nutrition from each egg. Producers have begun increasing key nutrients — like selenium — in layer diets in order to increase the nutrient content of eggs. By increasing the amount of this essential mineral in the layer diet, farmers have the opportunity to naturally increase the nutritional value of the eggs that they produce.

What does this mean for consumers?

Selenium is nutritionally essential for humans — it plays a role in healthy reproduction and metabolism and may help maintain a strong immune system.^2-6 Selenium is also being studied for its potential role in reducing both the risk of cardiovascular disease and age-related decline in brain function. ^8-10  

Selenium-enriched eggs can help to fill the “nutritional gap” in our diets, delivering this essential nutrient through a food that’s delicious, inexpensive, readily accessible and easy to prepare. 

Sel-Plex® is Alltech's proprietary organic form of selenium yeast and is the first European Union-approved and only U.S. Food and Drug Administration-reviewed form of organic selenium. Sel-Plex is supported by more than 19 years of research and is now being used to enrich layer diets.

References:

1.  Egg Nutrition Center of the American Egg Board 2017
2. Sunde RA. Selenium. In: Ross AC, Caballero B, Cousins RJ, Tucker KL, Ziegler TR, eds. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. 11th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2012:225-37
3. Sunde RA. Selenium. In: Bowman B, Russell R, eds. Present Knowledge in Nutrition. 9th ed. Washington, DC: International Life Sciences Institute; 2006:480-97
4. Rayman MP. Selenium and human health. Lancet 2012;379:1256-68.
5. Allen NE, Appleby PN, Roddam AW, Tjonneland A, Johnsen NF, Overvad K, et al. Plasma selenium concentration and prostate cancer risk: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Am J Clin Nutr 2008;88:1567-75.
6. Combs GF, Jr and Gray WP. Chemopreventive agents: Selenium. Pharmacol Ther 1998; 79:179-92.
7. Dennert G, Zwahlen M, Brinkman M, Vinceti M, Zeegers MP, Horneber M. Selenium for preventing cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2011:CD005195.
8. Rayman MP. Selenium and human health. Lancet 2012;379:1256-68.
9. Akbaraly TN, Hininger-Favier I, Carriere I, Arnaud J, Gourlet V, Roussel AM, et al. Plasma selenium over time and cognitive decline in the elderly. Epidemiology 2007;18:52-8.
10. Shahar A, Patel KV, Semba RD, Bandinelli S, Shahar DR, Ferrucci L, et al. Plasma selenium is positively related to performance in neurological tasks assessing coordination and motor speed. Mov Disord 2010;25:1909-15.

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Nature has menacing ways of reminding us who has the ultimate upper hand.

Wildfires. Hurricanes. Floods. Droughts. Earthquakes. These powerful natural events can deliver massive destruction and loss of life. Often overlooked by the media and general public are the consequences for agriculture, and all who depend on farming for food and sustenance.

Agricultural impacts from natural events and disasters most commonly include:

   •      Contamination of water bodies.

   •      Loss of harvest or livestock.

   •      Increased susceptibility to disease.

   •      Destruction of irrigation systems and other agricultural infrastructure.

This article looks at many of the major natural disasters of 2017 and how these events have impacted farming, from the back-to-back powerful hurricanes that have wrecked crops in the Caribbean and the U.S. Gulf Coast and the wildfires that have decimated cattle ranches in the American West to a prolonged, devastating drought destroying crops in Portugal and Spain, and an earthquake in Latin America.

The furies of wind and rain

The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season was extremely destructive and among the costliest on record.

The August National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast for an above-normal, hyperactive season featuring two to five major hurricanes turned out to be horribly understated.

There were 10 of these ferocious storms during the season, and they all occurred one after another, the greatest number of consecutive hurricanes since satellites began tracking storms.

Three in particular left trails of devastation from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico to Florida and Texas: Harvey, Irma and Maria.

Harvey

At 10 p.m. CDT on Aug. 25, a storm of intense ferocity rolled over the Texas Gulf Coast near Corpus Christi. Hurricane Harvey arrived, delivered its first blow, bounced back out over the warm waters of the Gulf, regained strength and slammed Texas a second time.

The weather analytics company WeatherBELL estimates that Harvey dumped 27 trillion gallons of rain over Texas and Louisiana during a six-day period. At 51 inches of rainfall, it was a record for the most ever from a tropical storm system in the continental U.S.

Estimates by Moody’s Analytics put eventual total losses from Harvey alone at approximately $100 billion.

Among the major casualties was what had been shaping up as one of the Texas cotton industry’s most promising years in recent times.

“The cotton crop along the Gulf Coast was exceptional. It really was,” said Russell Boening, Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) president. “Yield-wise, this was going to be one of the best in 10 or 15 years.”

That outlook disintegrated in only hours as Harvey roared inland, destroying at least $100 million in cotton, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economists, and perhaps much more, by Boening’s estimate.

The economists peg losses for Lone Star State livestock producers at $93 million, conservatively.

“Livestock were lost and livestock were affected because they were standing in water so long,” said Boening. “They may have survived, but may have some health issues.”

The Wendt Ranch in Bay City, Texas, after Harvey. Credit: The Wendt Ranch. 

Adding insult to injury, Harvey’s blow to Texas farmers arrived as grain producers were already dealing with trouble of another sort.

“In Texas, we have really dramatically high levels of fumonisin,” noted Dr. Max Hawkins, nutritionist with the Alltech^® Mycotoxin Management team.

The increased presence of fumonisin was a result of hot weather in late June and July followed by a cool, exceptionally wet August. 

The fences, barns and animal-handling facilities destroyed in the storm must be rebuilt. And there are concerns about the replacement costs of hay that was destroyed in the high flood waters.

“We are right on the verge of entering winter feeding season, and ranchers will have to find replacement hay that averages $63 per round bale,” said Dr. David Anderson, AgriLife Extension livestock economist in College Station, Texas. “A rancher may typically feed two or more round bales per cow during winter, so even if there isn’t hay available, they will still have to purchase some type of supplemental feed. All of this comes with a hefty price.”

Learning of all the destruction and loss early on the morning following Harvey’s landfall, Alltech’s founder and president, Dr. Pearse Lyons, issued a company-wide call-to-action on behalf of the Texans.

When word of this reached Alltech’s Ridley Block Operations managing director Earl Witham, trucks hit the road loaded with $40,000 in feed supplements, bound for the company’s Texas distributors to donate to ranchers in need.

“I just have to say this,” shared Witham. “The day that it happened, the day of the hurricane, I got a call, and they said, ‘Dr. Lyons wants to do something right now.’ So, it was driven from the very top that Alltech was going to get involved; we were going to volunteer people; we were going to donate product; we were going to give as much in funds as we could. It’s a good feeling to work for a gentleman who is that giving.”

Dr. Lyons' directive also resulted in the launch of "Hope After Harvey,” an effort to raise support funds for Texas farmers and ranchers.

Alltech committed to match donations made to its nonprofit Alltech ACE Foundation. As a result, company representatives presented the Texas Farm Bureau’s Agriculture Research and Education Foundation with a $42,607.12 check. The funds are providing support and relief to Texas farmers and ranchers who were affected by Hurricane Harvey.

Alltech’s “Hope After Harvey” campaign resulted in a donation of $42,607.12 to Texas Farm Bureau’s Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund. Left to right: Brian Lawless, North America brand manager, Alltech; Si Cook, Texas Farm Bureau executive director/chief operating officer; Lee Pritchard, account manager for Ridley Block Operations, an Alltech company; Neil Walter, Texas Farm Bureau District 8 state director; and Randy Asher, regional sales manager for Alltech. Credit: Texas Farm Bureau

Boening said the hurricane was a tough blow to the Texas agricultural community, but farmers are resilient people.

“If you’ve been a cotton farmer, more than likely you’re going to continue to be a cotton farmer, and if you’ve raised livestock, even though you might’ve had a setback from this storm, you’re probably going to continue raising livestock,” he said.

Irma

One thousand miles eastward from the Texas coast across the Gulf of Mexico, the citrus growers of Florida were already struggling with crop losses due to the bacterial disease citrus huanglongbing(HLB). Also known as “yellow dragon” or “greening” disease, HLB had infected all 32 of the state’s growing citrus counties. There is no known cure.

But things finally seemed to be looking up in August when Dr. Elizabeth Steger of the Kissimmee-based Citrus Consulting International — whose crop yield forecasts have become something of a gold standard among Florida citrus growers — predicted a 10 percent increase in yield over 2016.

That forecast was dashed on Sept. 10 when Hurricane Irma struck the coast of southern Florida and tied with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane as the strongest ever to make landfall in the Atlantic basin. The huge storm proceeded to barrel north, straight up the peninsula, raking citrus groves in Florida's top-producing citrus counties: DeSoto, Polk, Hendry, Highlands, Hardee and Collier.

Citrus groves in Florida remain under flood waters Sept. 13 after Hurricane Irma. Credit: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Now, instead of the long-awaited growth that had been predicted, the Sunshine State’s citrus growers anticipate producing 35 percent less for 2017 than in the year before, according to Jim Ellis, financial examiner/analyst with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

And the impact doesn’t stop at grove’s edge.

Ellis noted that Florida is home to 18 fruit packing houses. In 2016, the industry packed 12 million 4/5 bushel cartons. He estimates that there is only enough citrus remaining after the storms of 2017 to fill 6 million cartons. Three packing houses can process that entire crop, he said, adding that the state’s fruit processors will pack an estimated 50 million boxes this year —down by 20 million boxes from 2016.

“The industry is crippled now,” said Ellis. “The packing and processing plants can’t run at full capacity, so there is a direct impact on labor and profits.”

Maria

Irma was soon followed in late September by Hurricane Maria, sweeping across the Caribbean, smashing Puerto Rico with Category 4 winds and in only hours wiping out about 80 percent of the U.S. territory’s crop value, which had only weeks before been hit hard by Irma. The island suffered a loss of $780 million in agriculture yields, according to preliminary estimates by the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture.

Also taking hits from Maria were Guadeloupe, Martinique and Dominica, where crop losses were estimated at between 90 and 100 percent, decimating small-scale agriculture.

Hurricane Katia had in the meantime struck Mexico on Sept. 8, dumping 10 to 15 inches of rain on northern Veracruz, eastern Hidalgo and Puebla. The winds and flooding left damage across 200,000 hectares of maize, pineapple, papaya, banana and other crops.

Cyclones and typhoons

Growers and producers in the Pacific basin were experiencing their own struggles with an intense cyclone season.

As 2017 dawned, nearly 67,000 farmers in the Philippines were only beginning to take stock of damages wrought by Typhoon Nina. The storm struck just days before the beginning of the new year. Nina’s destruction of Philippine rice farms, coconut groves, fisheries and livestock operations topped P4 billion ($80 million USD) in losses, according to the country’s department of agriculture. 

Madagascar vanilla beans. Credit: Shutterstock

In March, Cyclone Enawo slammed Madagascar, exporter of between 75 percent and 85 percent of the world’s vanilla beans. Many vanilla farms across the island nation were lost. In certain areas, the tree canopy that typically shades vanilla vines and serves as a scaffold for them to climb was either severely damaged or destroyed by the storm, placing the vines and vanilla pods at greater risk of UV damage from direct sun exposure. Pastry chefs and ice cream shops the world over have been forced to get creative. Vanilla pods are now trading at an all-time high, according to Craig Nielsen of the U.S. vanilla and flavorings group Nielsen-Massey.

“Inventories were already depleted, and now we have the damage caused by the cyclone,”  Nielsen-Massey told Financial Times. “It will be a tough time [for the vanilla market] for the next couple of years.”

Cyclone Debbie was, at the time, inundating farms in Australia, leaving heavy damage among tomato, capsicum, sugarcane and eggplant producers. Tree crops such as mangos, pawpaw, custard apples and lychees also suffered heavy damage, according to reports.

Cyclone Ockhi wiped out banana plantations and rice farms in western India.

Heavy early December rains and severe flooding hit rice production in Bangladesh, and agricultural damages from major storms was also reported from Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia to Greece and Albania.

Send some of that water our way!

Even as many of the world’s farmers slogged through high waters to rescue or defend their crops and livestock, their counterparts in other regions of the planet suffered the opposite dilemma: severe drought.

One of the worst dry spells in recent decades is devastating southern European crops. Just this year, the damage is estimated to top €1 billion.

In Italy, around 30 percent less rain has fallen in 2017 compared to last year. Grains have been especially badly damaged by the lack of water and the intense heat.

The drought now threatens to reduce cereal production in Italy and parts of Spain to its lowest level in at least 20 years and hit other regional crops, including olives and almonds.

Spain is living through its worst drought in decades. Reservoirs have dried up. Corn, potato, beets and bean crops have died. Wildfires have wrought destruction, according to Euronews.

Some farmers have said they won't even harvest this year because the overall result would be so low it wouldn't be worth the money.

Rains have barely brought relief from a prolonged drought that is affecting the Horn of Africa region. Up to 75 percent of livestock has died in the worst affected areas, according to watchers.NEWS.

Sri Lanka has suffered from prolonged lack of rain. The charity Save the Children reports the country’s worst harvest in 40 years.

And in an ironic prelude to the hurricanes that slammed the state later in the year, Florida endured an extreme dry spell until June when just seven days of heavy rainfall, record-breaking in places, pulled the entire state out of extreme drought conditions.

Even so, Florida experienced extreme heat for the entire month of July, setting a record for hottest July. Only a single day had a high temperature below 90.

Fire!

A severe heat wave that brought record temperatures across the western United States exacerbated North American wildfires, which by July had spread across six U.S. states and into British Columbia, Canada.

More than 47,000 wildfires burned more than 8 million acres across the country, according to CBS News.

Late winter of 2017 brought flames to Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Thousands of cattle and hogs were lost, according to Alltech’s Global Supply Chain Weekly Market Notes.

Some 1,500 square miles of agricultural grazing land burned in early March. Thousands of cattle perished, and countless homes, buildings and fences were destroyed as windswept flames scorched pastures, reducing generations of hard work and dreams to ashes. In several cases, ranchers died trying to save livestock.

Alltech’s Hubbard Feeds and Ridley Block Operations both teamed up to provide livestock feed relief to fire-stricken cattle producers and ranchers in the four afflicted states.

In April, the Market Notes reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had opened emergency grazing lands previously protected under the Conservation Reserve Program in these states.

By summer, the thick, black smoke and red-hot, wind-fueled flames were consuming hundreds of thousands of acres in six Western states.

Taylor Brown herds recovered cattle across a charred pasture on L.O. Bar Ranch to water and food near Sand Springs, Montana. Credit: Billings Gazette | Rebecca Noble

Among them was drought-stricken Montana.

Multiple wildfires blackened over 1 million acres throughout the state. The most devastating to ranchers, the Lodgepole Complex fire in eastern Montana, impacted over 270,000 acres.

U.S. Highway 200 is surrounded by blackened earth in July after the Lodgepole Complex fire burned through the area. Credit: Billings Gazette | Casey Page

“The Lodgepole Complex fires didn't just wipe out this year; they wiped out years to come,” the Billings Gazette reported on July 30. “Many ranchers will likely have to sell off cattle to survive — losing years of carefully honed genetics.

“Other ranchers will have to wait until 2019 to see new calves reach market age — and who knows how they'll make it until then,” it continued. “And for new, young ranchers, the fires may have wiped out their budding businesses before they even got on their feet.”

The farming community rose to the occasion. Jerry Beggar, general manager of Alltech’s Montana-based WestFeeds, said his company joined the effort by donating supplies of feed supplements.

“We’re part of a community out here and care about everybody,” he said. “With all of the expenses they’re going to incur, we tried to lighten up the load a little bit.”

By Aug. 7, Seattle matched its all-time record for consecutive days without precipitation.

Oregon and Washington, the states that produce most of the nation’s apples, pears, cherries and hops (for brewing beer), were battling record blazes. Farmworkers were having difficulty getting out into the orchards, vineyards and fields due to choking smoke.

After California, Oregon and Washington have the highest number of wineries in the country. Together, the industry brings in more than $5 billion a year to the Pacific Northwest. But with wildfires becoming all too common in the region, growers are worried. The effects of wildfire smoke are being debated in wine circles across the West Coast.

October brought even more Western wildfires, this time decimating vineyards and wineries in California’s famed wine country.

According to San Francisco Chronicle wine writer Esther Mobley, “Depending on how widespread the destruction of vines is across wine country, it could mark a severe shortage of grapes for years to come. When vineyards are planted, it can take three to five years for them to bear fruit. Additionally, most Napa and Sonoma wineries hold at least three vintages of wine in barrel at any given time, not to mention the large inventory of bottles that many wineries hold back for years.”

In British Columbia, the 2017 fire season has left behind the largest total area burnt in a fire season in recorded history: more than 1 million acres.

“People have not only lost homes and buildings, but there’s also dead or injured cattle and the long-term health effects to some cattle,” Cody Cox, Cariboo Cattlemen’s Association president, told Business Vancouver. “The ranchers have lost miles and miles of fences; their summer and fall pastures that sustain the cattle until they sell them in the fall are burned up and gone. Some have lost their hay crops, their bales — it goes on and on.”

Shaken

When we think of damage from earthquakes, we tend to default to urban settings. Although risks are normally associated with densely populated cities, the effects on farming communities also can be devastating. Earthquakes sometimes trigger tsunamis, landslides and occasionally volcanic activity. The results can include injury and loss of family members and workforce, damage to irrigation systems, loss of crops and livestock, and damage to infrastructure.

A powerful Sept. 7 earthquake rumbling through more than a dozen states in Mexico damaged 138,000 hectares of crops, including bananas, coffee and corn, Fruitnet.com reported. No one could have foreseen that Mexico was in for a double whammy: 24 hours later, Hurricane Katia roared ashore.

Necessity is the mother of invention

While meteorology is delivering ever-improving forecast technologies, we are still never fully prepared for the unpredictable realities of powerful weather-related events. These include the severe wind and flooding damages wrought by hurricanes, cyclones and tornadoes, as well as droughts that contribute to wildfires.

From the citrus growers of Florida and the cattle ranchers of Montana to the vanilla bean producers of Madagascar and the farmers of southeastern Spain, 2017 has delivered more evidence of the critical agricultural assets and infrastructure that natural disasters often destroy, disrupting production cycles, trade flows and livelihoods.

The number and frequency of natural disasters, along with the associated impact and damage to livelihoods and economies, are increasing significantly, according to The impact of disasters on agriculture and food security,” a comprehensive report by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.

Food security is impacted and value chains are disrupted. Such disasters may slow overall economic growth, especially where agriculture and food production still account for a large share of gross domestic product and employment.

Many efforts are underway at national and international levels to improve agriculture’s ability to anticipate, prepare for and recover from these events.

However, vital systematic data and information on the impact of disasters and hazardous events in agriculture and its sub-sectors — crop, livestock, fisheries, aquaculture and forestry — remain limited. Perhaps this presents a challenge as well as an opportunity for innovation and invention.

In the U.S., pet food safety is overseen by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). These organizations each have different roles but are closely linked. The FDA is charged by federal laws to ensure that pet food is safe and truthfully labeled.

Misbranded pet food labels are prohibited under state and federal law. According to the FDA, a truthfully labeled pet food product contains:

1. An ingredients list: everything used to make the pet food product must be listed as an ingredient and must be deemed by the FDA as safe for use.
2. Appropriate identification of the product: for example, puppy food must be formulated for the nutritional requirements of a puppy.  
3. Quantity: how much product is contained in the packaging.
4. The manufacturer’s or distributor’s name and address: to ensure traceability of the pet food product and its ingredients.

Safety and quality starts with ingredient sourcing

The pet food ingredient panel may list cereal grains such as corn, barley, rice and also seeds, legumes and fruits, ingredients that are susceptible to mold growth. If mold is present, the risk for mycotoxin presence increases significantly, and certain types of mycotoxins cause a health threat to pets through acute toxicity and chronic health issues.

Trace minerals are also listed in the ingredient panel, but the form of the trace mineral used is very important. Are they sulfates, oxides or proteinates? Inorganic trace minerals (sulfates and oxides) may be contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium and lead, as well as environmental pollutants like PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and dioxins, carcinogenic substances that pose a health risk to pets.

Peace of mind: When it comes to safety, a step forward is better

Ingredient contamination throughout the supply chain is always possible, and avoidance and minimization of risk is achieved by checks, verifications and validation processes. These processes are all part of a food safety system designed to ensure high standards of ingredients used and total transparency from suppliers to pet food manufacturers.

Manufacturers should ensure pet food safety by sourcing ingredients from approved suppliers — those who have passed rigorous quality and food safety audits and are able to demonstrate a thorough traceability system.

Know your supplier inside out

Quality assurance control programs such as the Alltech Q+™ (Quality Plus) program and the Alltech 37+^® mycotoxin analysis are examples of programs developed by Alltech.

Alltech 37+ is designed to reduce the risk of mycotoxin contamination and improve food safety. It tests for more than 40 types of mycotoxins in one sample.

Alltech Q+ is a quality control system unique to Alltech Bioplex^® and Sel-Plex^® trace minerals. It guarantees that all incoming raw material ingredients (and final products) are tested for heavy metals, dioxins and PCBs and are rejected if they do not comply with Alltech’s standards.

When it comes to our beloved pets’ food, traceably sourced ingredients matter.

Want to learn more?

It is hard to believe that it is that time of year again: The combines are rolling and farmers across Canada, where I am based, are starting to pack, or have just finished packing, their bunks and silos. To better prepare producers — both livestock and grain farms — for next year’s growing season, I had the chance to discuss managing mycotoxins from the field with Dr. Art Schaafsma, a researcher at the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

My name is Dr. Art Schaafsma, and I am a researcher at the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus. I have a Ph.D. in crop protection and have been involved with field crop pest management at Ridgetown for just over 30 years. My main area of emphasis and research has been mycotoxins in both corn and wheat. I look at agronomic practices, sampling, detection and how to deal with mycotoxins along the value chain.

Is there a way to mitigate the risk of mycotoxins from the field, whether during planting, growing or harvesting? If so, how?

Mycotoxins are really complicated to manage, and it takes a multi-faceted approach and several tools to address them.

The typical rotation after wheat is corn, and wheat does not seem to be as large a source of inoculum as corn is. This is seen often in minimum till and no-till systems, as there is a lot of corn residue left.

Some pork producers use wheat as a way to manage mycotoxins. They will grow both corn and wheat and hope that one of those crops is clean and mix them if one is not as clean. They prefer corn, but if it is a bad year, then they will sell the wheat.

Also, pay attention to hybrid selection and look for hybrids that are less susceptible to mycotoxins. You want to look for a hybrid that will mature on time, because if you push the hybrid, you can increase the risk of mycotoxins forming. In wheat, it is much the same when it comes to variety selection.

During flowering in both corn and wheat is when the crop is most susceptible to the fungi that produce mycotoxins. In order to help combat this, producers should use a fungicide spray. The only group that is available are the triazoles to control Fusarium on both corn and wheat, and it is very important to get the timing right and get good coverage.

In corn, it is important to control western bean cutworm and other pests that can contribute to furthering the risk of mycotoxin contamination.

When it comes to harvest, some producers have started to take their wheat or corn off as soon as it can be taken off so that they can then dry it. This helps because they can control how fast the grain dries to stop the infection.

During the growing season, what are some visible signs of mycotoxin contamination?

In wheat, it is a bit easier to see the signs of deoxynivalenol (DON) because you look for head blight symptoms. These symptoms include the spikelets looking bleached. In corn, however, it is a bit more difficult, because there are a number of different species of Fusarium, and a lot don’t produce mycotoxins.

The main mycotoxin we deal with is DON. You can tell if you have DON if you have white mold accompanied by a purple or pink color anywhere on the cob. It is always better to test the grain, especially if you see any pink or purple color or white mold. Green molds and black molds are not associated with mycotoxins.

Many people worry about toxins increasing during storage; however, DON won’t increase if corn is stored below 18 percent moisture. However, this is when the mycotoxin zearalenone can be produced. Zearalenone is a late-season toxin, and there is an increased risk of zearalenone if the crop is late to harvest, stored incorrectly or not dried quickly enough. DON needs warm conditions to keep growing.  Zearalenone can form under cooler and damper conditions.

Are there certain types of mycotoxins that become more prevalent based on the type of growing season? For example, if it is a very wet year, do you see more DON versus in a dry year?

Depending on the type of year you may be experiencing, you could get different types of mycotoxins contaminating your corn or wheat. For example, DON forms in a moderately warm temperature, with its optimum temperature being 28 degrees Celsius, and if there is a lot of rain, DON can become a big issue. Also, in August, when we sometimes get the foggy mornings and then the rest of the day is warm, DON can be an issue.

DON is a complicated type of toxin and has several forms.  Most producers tend to use an ELISA test to test for DON in their crops, but it only measures a few forms of DON, not all its forms.  The other forms are just as toxic as DON.  DON can sometimes also be masked or hidden. This happens when DON is conjugated with a sugar and is then overlooked by an ELISA test. This is why sometimes you may run an ELISA test, think there are no problems, then discover a mycotoxin.

Fumonisin, another type of mycotoxin, shows up when there is heat stress, with low- to mid-30s degree Celsius weather and drought. In Ontario, we do not get this one too much because it isn’t hot and dry enough.

Zearalenone does not show up in wheat because it is too warm during flowering, as wheat heads out in June or July. However, it does show up in corn in the fall.

One toxin producers should be aware of is T-2 toxin. T-2 is related to a late harvest, and we find it regularly in corn that is left in the field too long and when corn lodges. The danger with this one is that it is 10 times more toxic than DON.

Where do you think the next advancements will come from in reducing/protecting against Fusarium-produced mycotoxins?

In corn, we are working on a sustainable way to manage western bean cutworm. I would like for there to be an incentive for farmers to grow less susceptible hybrids. This may happen soon because other end markets that buy a lot of corn are getting frustrated by mycotoxins as well. It is not just livestock producers that should be looking at their corn this way. More often now, there is a penalty applied for how much DON is brought into the processing plant. Awareness is growing and will lead us to change.

In wheat, the industry continues to improve the genetics. There is more progress in managing mycotoxins in wheat than in corn. We can manage it reasonably well in wheat. 

Have a question or comment?

There are two important parts to free stalls. One is the neck rail. The purpose of the neck rail is that, when a cow stands up, the rail positions her so that it touches the top of her shoulder, guiding her to back up a couple of inches so she will defecate in the ally.

The next important part of the free stall is the brisket locator. The brisket locator positions the cow so that she doesn’t lie down too far forward in the stall.

When we measure stalls, we want to see stalls that are long and wide. Today, we have bigger cows, especially when we consider the Holstein breed. Our goal is to see stalls that, when measured from curb to curb, are between 17–18 feet wide to allow personal space for the cows. When measuring stall width, we measure what the cow feels. We do not measure from the center of the loop to the center of the next loop; we measure from inside to inside of the loop. With our bigger cows, we should be around 50 inches, not at 45 inches, which I see in many barns. For these larger cows, the neck rail should be around 50 inches high as well.

Next, we want to avoid obstruction. Horizontal obstructions are often seen in older barns and affect the cow’s ability to get straight up and straight down. If we watch a cow out in the pasture as she gets up naturally, she rocks her head forward toward the ground, puts one front foot forward, planting herself to stand up straight. When obstructions are in their “rising,” they will do everything they can to use the valuable inches of space. I like to say that cows know geometry — they figure out how to use angles in the stall to get the most use out of the space they are provided. If the stall is too narrow, or too short, the cow will naturally angle herself in the stall.

If we see cows standing with two feet in the stall and two feet out of the stall, we call that “perching,” and this is not good. We want the cows to come into the stall and lie down immediately. We want them off their feet because these are 1,400- to 1,600-pound animals. They should be comfortable and lying down because more blood is pumped through the udder to make milk when they are lying down versus standing up.

Cow comfort

When considering stall design, we need to be sure to look directly at the cows themselves. When you look at a cow, you want to see a very nice set of feet and legs. While in the parlor, if I see swollen hocks, skinned hocks or injuries on the inside of the leg of the animal, that tells me that the stalls are too short and too narrow and the type of surface that the cow is lying on may be having a negative effect on her legs. Consider yourself: If you’re in a hotel and the bed is not comfortable, what do you do? You toss and you turn. When a 1,400- to 1,600-pound animal is not comfortable in the stall, she is moving her legs, tossing and turning in the stall, leading to swollen and skinned hocks.

When we see an injury on the inside of the leg, that tells me that the stall is too short and her leg is hanging over the curb.

These are very important aspects of cow comfort that we can observe in the parlor before we even look at the cow in the free stalls.

Water quality

When we talk about overall milk quality and cow comfort, another critical component is water. Over 87 percent of milk composition is water.

When I am looking at the stalls, I also spend time examining the waterers. Are the waterers clean and scrubbed? Are we doing a good job of protecting the waterers?

I always like to see a high rail around the water so cows can’t jump up and put their feet in the waterer. We want the distance between the edge of the water and the edge of the wall to be over 12 feet so the “big boss” cows can be drinking water and other cows can go around behind them to eat and lie down. Plenty of clean water is very important, and it must be enough for the number of cows. Cows can consume between 30–50 gallons of water per day. Providing enough available space of water for the number of cows, approximately 3 feet of available water area per 10–15 cows, is important to milk production.

Air quality

Air quality, or the movement of air over the cows, is another very important part of cow comfort in a free stall building, a cross-ventilated building and a natural-ventilated building. 

When measuring stalls, I check what the wind speed is, or how good the air quality is moving through the building. Smoke is a great tool for showing the air movement through the building, but cows do not like smoke and can smell it up to 5 miles away. So, instead of smoke, I go to my grandkids’ toy box and find a little bubble machine. This little bubble machine gives me a good indication of which way and how fast the airflow is moving in the building. Plus, the curious cows seem amused by the bubbles!