United States-Pilgrims Pride to close 3 poultry processing plants.
UNITED STATES-DROUGHT.
Farmers in California are reeling after an announcement Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that no water is available for agriculture use, the result of a worsening drought.
San Joaquin Valley farmers will be hit hard, as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation supplies more than 80 percent of the water to the valley. Farms supplied water by the state will still receive 15 percent of their normal deliveries.
Early reports indicate that more than 75,000 jobs will be lost, $2 billion will disappear from the economy and more than 1 million acres will not have access to above-ground water. Farmers will be forced to take water away from annual crops and use available groundwater to keep permanent crops alive.
This means an even greater dependence placed on the groundwater supply, already overtaxed in many parts of the valley. To drill a well varies from $20,000 to $1 million, depending upon depth. "Under any circumstance, putting a well in is not cheap," says Ryan Jacobson, executive director of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. In some parts of California, underground water reservoirs have been emptied by overuse and over-drilling of wells. In other areas, the aquifer might not produce any water or it is not good quality
CANADA-HOW IT REALLY IS.
If you work for Environment Canada or know anyone who does, please stop reading this story and go to another page.
The name Jeff Woodward may not be familiar to many people in the southwest, but his uncle definitely is.
Woodward, a resident of Regina and an Environment Canada employee, has unofficially taken the family reigns predicting the weather using a pig spleen. These skills were displayed by his legendary uncle Gus Wickstrom, who sadly passed away in the early summer of 2007.
As Wickstrom always said, the pig spleen predictions are, on the average, 80 per cent correct which is more on the money than Environment Canada’s forecasts. Just don’t tell Woodward’s employers that.
In 2008, he and Woodward’s family were doing it, but now the job is falling more to Jeff Woodward himself.
This year’s predictions were done in early December 2008, but just within the family confines, unlike the theatrical and extremely entertaining methods Wickstrom employed each year.
"We sort of did it as a group ... sort of a private thing," said Woodward, acknowledging and paying tribute to his uncle’s showmanship. "It’s very entertaining for us (though)."
Woodward said while he doesn’t actually make the predictions out in public, his predictions have caught the media’s attention in Regina. He has been on the Wolf radio station numerous times and has been in contact with Angel Blair from Global Television.
"Last year, I was getting quite a lot of press, this year, not as much," explained Woodward. The media is still interested.
Pig spleen weather predictions were in Wickstrom’s family for 200 years, originating in Sweden.
Each year Wickstrom, who lived in Tompkins, used to receive a pig spleen donated from the Carmichael Hutterite colony. He preferred using spleens from older hogs weighing between 400 and 700 lbs, because they have larger spleens, which are easier to read.
The shape of the spleen changes from top to bottom, making it easy to determine which area of the spleen corresponds to each month. As he learned from his grandfather, Wickstrom only predicted from January until June.
Wickstrom told Prairie Post how it’s done.
"Spots along the spleen are thicker and thinner," said Wickstrom. "Where it is thicker, that shows wind and snow and cold weather. Softer spots mean warmer weather, and firm areas show cold or moisture."
Wickstrom also explained along the backside of the spleen, there is a layer of fat. If the layer of fat is thicker than usual, it indicates precipitation will be high.
For the record, Woodward’s February predictions were dead on: "increasing precipitation towards the end of the month."
Gus would be proud.
Jeff Woodward’s 2009 predictions:
March: Temperature during the month of March will tend toward normal.
April: Temperature during the month of April will tend toward normal.
May: Temperatures during the month will start out normal, but will tend toward above normal on May 11 and will be warmer than normal for the end of May to June 15.
June: Above temperatures during
the first half of June. After June 15, temperatures will return to near normal.
Precipitation:
February: Increasing precipitation toward the end of the month.
A general weather trend will start around February 21 and last until March 17. The peak of this system will be March 3-5.
From March 10 to April 5, there will be a definite east/west split in Sask. provincial weather. East of Swift Current will tend to more of winter conditions and west of Swift Current will tend to more mild, spring conditions.
Precipitation for April will be normal, nothing stands out.
Precipitation for May will centre around the 10th with a big rain.
Precipitation for June will be centred around June 10 with rain and possible rain/snow. Although above average daily temps, there is a risk of night frost between June 10 and 25.
The east/west split between Swift Current will again be pronounced during the month of June. June 16 is a date to keep in mind as there will be a major event — might be political.
UNITED STATES-FARM SUBSIDIES TO BE CUT.
President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2009 agriculture budget proposal, released Thursday, increases spending for child nutrition programs while phasing out direct payments to the nation’s biggest farmers -- specifically those with $500,000 per year in adjusted gross income.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said at the USDA Outlook Conference just outside of Washington Thursday that President Obama is committed to addressing childhood obesity by improving children’s diets, and feeding children more fruits, vegetables, nuts and other nutritious foods costs more money. He noted that budget issues came down to questions of "if you have one dollar" should it go to child nutrition, maintenance and fire fighting in the Forest Service or to a farmer with a high-income operation?
The biggest savings in the budget would come from a phase-out of direct payments to the largest farmers, specifically those with more than $500,000 per year in adjusted gross income averaged over three years. The cut, which would have to be approved by Congress, would save a total of $3.6 billion over five years and $9.8 billion over 10 years, reducing the $5.2 billion in direct payments by $85 million in fiscal-year 2010, $480 million in 2011, $625 million in 2012, and $1.2 billion in each year between 2013 and 2019.
The budget also includes unspecified reductions in "payments to high-income farmers" of $58 million in 2010 and lesser amounts in future years for a total of $108 million in savings over five years and $126 million over 10 years.
Under the new farm bill, farmers become ineligible for payments based on the following, averaged over three years:
-- If non-farm income averages more than $500,000, then the person or entity is not eligible for direct payments, counter-cyclical payments or marketing loan gains. If farm income averages more than $750,000, the farmer or entity is not eligible for direct payments.
-- After direct payments, the second biggest source of savings in agriculture would come from a reduction in spending on crop insurance premiums and underwriting gains and by increasing fees. The crop insurance savings would begin in 20
