Seven beef farms and ranches, representing a wide range of sizes and types of businesses, were selected as regional winners of the 2009 Environmental Stewardship Award. For almost two decades, the beef industry has recognized outstanding commitment and leadership in conservation.

In this 19^th year of the award, honorees include a certified organic ranch in Northern California; a farm in southeast Georgia that raises crops, livestock and timber; and a family-owned business with calf operations and feedyards in locations across north Texas and New Mexico.

“The Environmental Stewardship Award program gives us an opportunity to honor the men and women of the beef industry who demonstrate leadership on environmental issues, and provide them with a platform to share their best practices with other farmers and ranchers throughout the country,” said Dave Petty, chairman of the Environmental Stewardship Award selection committee and the 2001 national award winner.

The regional award winners are being recognized at The Cattle Industry Summer Conference, being held this week in Denver. A national winner will be selected from among the regional winners and announced in January at the 2010 Cattle Industry Annual Convention & NCBA Trade Show in San Antonio, Texas.

Choosing just one family from each region can be challenging for the 22-member selection committee as most of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers are proactively employing a variety of sustainable practices, according to data from a recent survey funded by The Beef Checkoff Program. In fact, 85 percent of farmers and ranchers agree conservation is a key to their success.

“The seven regional winners come from all parts of the beef industry and country,” said Petty. “They are outstanding examples of how the people who provide consumers with nutritious and delicious beef are earning a reputation as everyday environmentalists. They are proof that conservation can be as good for business as it is for the environment.”

Regional recipients of the Environmental Stewardship Award serve as a model for others seeking to improve and protect the environment. This year they include:

• Region I: Young’s Cattle Company, Belmont, Ohio – An Angus-based cow-calf and cattle backgrounding (feeding) operation.

Nominated by Belmont Soil & Water Conservation District and Ohio Cattlemen’s Association

• Region II: Greenview Farms, Screven, Ga. – A 2,800-acre family business that produces Polled Hereford cattle, hay and row crops including cotton, corn, soybeans, peanuts, pecans, vegetables, annual forages, pine straw and timber.

Nominated by the Georgia Cattlemen’s Association

• Region III: Eckenfels Farm, Sainte Genevieve, Mo. – An operation managing herds of Angus, Hereford and Simmental cattle in two different locations.

Nominated by National Resources Conservation Service

• Region IV: Stoney Point AgriCorp, Inc., Melissa, Texas – A family-owned operation which raises Holstein calves to be sent to finishing yards for further feeding and heifers for the dairy industry.

Nominated by Texas Cattle Feeders Association

• Region V: Pape Ranches, Daniel, Wyo. – An operation comprised of more than 10,000 acres of rangeland and irrigated hay land where Hereford Angus Crossbred cattle are raised.

Nominated by Wyoming Stock Growers Association

• Region VI: Leavitt Lake Ranches, Vina, Calif. – A certified organic, grass-fed cow-calf and yearling ranch run on 39,000 acres near the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Nominated by California Cattlemen’s Association and California Rangeland Trust

• Region VII: Daybreak Ranch, Highmore, S.D. – A commercial cow-calf operation whose owners also no-till farm corn, sunflowers, oats and wheat.

Nominated by South Dakota Grasslands Coalition

The Environmental Stewardship Award is presented each year by The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and The National Cattlemen’s Foundation, and is sponsored by Dow AgroSciences and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Resources Conservation Service. For nearly 20 years, regional and national award winners have been honored for their commitment to protecting the environment and improving fish and wildlife habitat while operating profitable cattle operations. For more information, or to nominate a cattle farmer or rancher, visit www.environmentalstewardship.org.

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting story that I thought I would share.  A subscription is required to read the full story, but here is how it starts off. 

JULY 27, 2009

Organic Foods Get on Private-Label Wagon

As More Shoppers Pinch Pennies, Grocery Chains See 'Natural' Expansion of Store Brands

BY TIMOTHY W. MARTIN

“Organic farmers and grocery retailers are embracing the idea of lower-cost, private-label products to retain newly budget-conscious consumers.

Supervalu Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. food retailer by sales, expanded its Wild Harvest organic brand to 312 items, from 150 last spring. Safeway Inc., the third-largest U.S. food retailer , last fall began selling its organic food brands to other retailers.

Private-label organics have "broken some price barriers for shoppers, and everyone is price sensitive these days," said Mike Gilliland, chief executive of Newflower Market Inc., a natural-grocery chain based in Boulder, Colo., with 25 stores.

At a Newflower Market store in ...”

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124865207118182453.html#mod=djemITP

The food safety bill (HR 2749) that was passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in June is expected to go to the floor of the House Tuesday afternoon for a final vote under "suspension," meaning no amendments and very limited debate and two-thirds majority needed for passage are secure.  Suspension of the normal rules is generally only used for uncontroversial bills.

 HR 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, has attracted much criticism from sustainable and organic farming organizations because it includes provisions that could require a flat fee for small processors, including any farmers who do on-farm value-added processing if they sell mostly wholesale.  The bill also requires farms to do extensive and expensive electronic tracing even if they sell only their own unprocessed products in the wholesale market.  In addition, the bill does not specify the positive role that conservation practices can play to address food safety concerns, and also fails to provide guidance so that new food safety standards are harmonized with those specified in the Organic Foods Production Act.

Here is this week’s Farm News Roundup.  It is not intended to be all inclusive of every article this week related to US agriculture.  It’s just meant give you a few pieces from here and there that you probably didn’t read in your local paper.