Inaugural exhibit will feature modern ag

A new, innovative display that brings the farm to families will be a highlight of the upcoming 2012 Pennsylvania Farm Show Jan. 7-14 in Harrisburg, Pa.
 

The Today's Agriculture exhibit is made possible by a coalition of more than 80 agribusiness and trade associations.
 

The 10,000 sq. ft. exhibit, coordinated by PennAg Industries Assn. on behalf of the Pennsylvania Alliance for Livestock Care & Well-Being and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, will help consumers understand more about how farmers feed a growing population by opening the doors to modern livestock and crop production.
 

A specially constructed, 84 ft.-long x 42 ft.-wide barn will allow the public to see farm animals in their typical commercial production environment and will include a crated sow with her litter, nursery pigs, finishing floor pigs, broiler chickens, caged layer hens, ducks, turkeys, feedlot steers, dairy cows and veal calves.
 

Cargill Inc. restarted ground turkey production at its plant in Springdale, Ark., this week after getting the green light to do so from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to a company statement.

Production had been shut down for three months after USDA found salmonella in samples of the turkey product. In the interim, Cargill has put several interventions in place to decrease the risk of contamination in the future, and USDA approved those processes yesterday, permitting the plant to resume ground turkey production.

The plant produces other turkey products, and those lines were not affected by the ground turkey situation.

Steve Willardsen, president of the Cargill turkey business, said the company's food safety scientists have been exploring all possible solutions to reduce the risk of salmonella in ground turkey. "No stone has been left unturned," he said.

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In Our Opinion... 
 

Build a more profitable burrito

By Andy Vance

I want to be an economist when I grow up. ... Well, that's not entirely true, but the study of the economy and the principles that underpin the trade of goods and services fascinates me enough that I chose agricultural economics as half of my dual master's degree study at The Ohio State University.
 

I bring up my graduate school endeavors as a backgrounder to my observations on the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture in the U.S.
 

For several years Rep. Louise Slaughter (D., N.Y.) has used her standing as "the only microbiologist in Congress" as justification for an ongoing effort to essentially ban many common uses of antibiotics in livestock production. Her campaign has not been entirely successful, but her efforts, and those of kindred spirits like Steve Ells, chief executive officer of burrito uber-chain Chipotle Mexican Grill, continue to garner media attention.
 

Ells joined Slaughter in a briefing on animal agriculture's use of antibiotics that was intended to drum up support for her Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), which aims to ban many antibiotics Slaughter deems important for human medicine from being used for food animal production.

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Hush time on flu research?

By Sally Schuff
 

In what some believe is a watershed moment for the publication of scientific research, an independent advisory panel of the U.S. government is urging two journals not to publish some details from studies on mutant strains of H5N1 avian influenza.
 

The panel is asking researchers not to publish the specifics of how the strains -- capable of making the virus more transmissible among ferrets and possibly people -- were artificially created.

At issue are two so far unpublished studies, conducted with National Institutes of Health funding, that had been submitted to the journals Science and Nature.
 

In a Dec. 20 statement, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) explained, "These manuscripts -- which describe laboratory experiments that resulted in viruses with enhanced transmissibility in mammals -- concluded that the H5N1 virus has greater potential than previously believed to gain a dangerous capacity to be transmitted among mammals, including, perhaps, humans, and describe some of the genetic changes that appear to correlate with this potential."
  

Smithfield Foods starts 'conversation'

 

Smithfield Foods Inc. last month put up an interactive new website for consumers to provide them with information about how Smithfield hogs and pork are produced and about its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.
 
The website allows consumers to ask questions and view answers to questions other people have asked.
 

The website, www.smithfieldcommitments.com, allows for "a deeper, more timely dialogue with the company," according to the announcement.
 

At the website, consumers can get information on the company's core reporting areas in animal care and well-being, environmental sustainability, food safety and quality, governance and management, employee health and safety and community outreach.
 

There also is a section that provides the latest CSR news about Smithfield's facilities in the U.S. and internationally.
 

There also is a "Connect to the Conversation" link at which visitors can ask questions and sign up to receive CSR news releases and RSS feeds.
 

Consumers today want to know how their food is produced and how the companies that produce that food operate, Smithfield chief executive officer and president C. Larry Pope said.
 

"We are excited to launch this site as an important step in elevating our commitment to accountability and transparency," he said.