2004

BSE

July 20 2004

It is time for USDA to move quickly and decisively and change their flawed reporting procedure for BSE. We have had 2 false positives this month. They received headline attention spooking the cattle market, undercutting consumer confidence, and hurting our chances of opening up the Japanese market to our beef. Both of the warnings have proven to be false. I'm glad they were. Although the immediate test was positive, it is also true that when USDA gets a positive on the first test that positive…

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Agriculture Today

July 14 2004

I was down on this farn this past week. We may have been afraid of draught, floods and all kinds of production problems, but I've never seen our corn and soybean prospects look any better.

I took time away from the farm to drive down from Galesburg, IL to the Lake of the Ozarks in MO where I spoke on the program of the National Pork Industry Conference. The crops all the way down looked great. I realize the windshield look can hide problems in the interior of the fields but I come away convinced…

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