HPWD Public Hearings – The High Plains Underground Water Conservation District (HPWD) has released their draft proposed rules for their management plan and are seeking public comments and testimony at two hearings in their region. The first hearing will be held on July 29 at the Mallet Event Center in Levelland and the second hearing will be held on August 5 at the Kuhlman Center in Canyon. Both hearings are scheduled for 3:00 – 6:00 pm. Written comments and questions may also be submitted to the HPWD by mail or by email at rulecomments@hpwd.com. The draft of the proposed revisions may be found here.
Potential Milo-Pro Use on Cotton – The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) requested an exemption from Section 18 of EPA’s Fungicide and Rodenticde Act (FIFRA) to use a registered pesticide for unregistered use for a limited time. TDA requested to use Propazine, more commonly known as Milo-Pro, to treat up to three million acres of cotton to control glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth or Pigweeds. TDA has noted that Propazine is needed due to the lack of suitable alternatives and effective control practices. TDA also noted that significant economic losses will occur if this weed is not controlled. Milo-Pro is currently approved by EPA for use on grain sorghum in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas. Comment period closed on July 3, 2014 and over 500 were received.
Food for Thought – A study conducted by USDA’s Economic Research Service recently provided facts that may be surprising to some. The study found that the US spends very little on food when compared to other countries. The average American uses 6.6 percent of their budget on food consumed at home and when eating out, costs are added and the grand total rises to 11 percent. This might be hard to put into perspective until you realize, on average, Canadians spends 9.9 percent of their budget on food consumed at home, Italians uses 14.2 percent of their budget for food consumed at home and Mexicans spends nearly one quarter of their yearly budget on food. Researchers attribute the differences in spending to a number of factors, one simply being that Americans are richer. Other influences do matter though, such as differing tax systems, dining out habits and food prices. Although farm subsidies and advancements in industrial agriculture come with some debate they have also been credited with keeping the sticker price of food at the grocery store lower in the U.S.
Sorghum Insider Program – Registration for the Sorghum Insider, an exclusive three-day program, which will take place Aug. 20-22 in Lubbock is now open. The program is hosted by National Sorghum Producers and is for industry partners, elevators and end-users. The program will take participants through the U.S. sorghum industry from beginning to end, covering all of the important issues impacting production, policy, markets and more. Congressman Mike Conaway will be joining the program. To register call 800-658-9808 or to view more info, visit www.SorghumGrowers.com/sorghuminsider.
USCP Concludes 5-Year Genetic Project – The Sorghum Checkoff (USCP), in collaboration with NuSeed/MMR Genetics an USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, recently completed a five-year, $600,000 investment in a project to help broaden the pool of available sorghum genetics. Over the five years, the program converted wild-type sorghum varieties not suitable for U.S. breeding programs into genetic lines that are more easily incorporated into established breeding and research programs. Justin Weinheimer, USCP Crop Improvement Director, said a total of 144 new sources of sorghum genetics were released to breeding programs across the country. A total of 15 different breeding and research progress have acquired some or all of this material and are incorporating it into their programs. Weinheimer also noted to USCP, “the results of this project are directly tied to making more productive hybrids, which in turn results in higher profitability for producer.”
