Thursday saw record attendance at the 23rd Annual Joint Commodities Conference in Durham. North Carolina Small Grains Association is this year’s host. NC Small Grains Executive Director Dan Weathington:
"We're excited that we have well over 500 at this point that's registered and we'll probably pick up another 50; so last year I think we had about 380. This is exciting that farmers and agribusiness people are coming in. Last year we had 42 vendors, this year we had 52."
Weathington says the attendance numbers are a testament to farmers wanting to learn more about the market place for their crops:
"Our numbers are growing and it's just so good that farmers are interested and our speaker just talked on China and exporting into the global market and we know that in the future that's a big part of what's going to happen in the ag industry."
Dan Weathington, Executive Director of the North Carolina Small Grain Growers Association. This year’s Joint Commodity Conference gets underway this morning at 8 and wraps up around noon at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Conference Center in Durham.
Click here to read all the Joint Grains Conference reports...
NASS Summarizes 2011 Crop Year
 The Department of Agriculture released its Crop Production 2011 summary on Thursday. According to the summary, U.S. farmers produced a smaller crop than the previous year because of unfavorable planting and growing conditions. Depending on location, producers in the United States battled everything from drought and above normal temperatures to heavy rains and lowland flooding which led to decreased production of corn, soybeans, cotton and wheat – the first time such a year-to-year decrease has occurred in all four commodities since the 2002 crop year.
But, USDA raised its latest estimate of 2011-2012 corn production and exports while sharply lowering its numbers for Argentina. Corn yield, production and export estimates were rising again in USDA’s January World Ag Supply and Demand - or WASDE - report and NASS’s report. World Ag Outlook Board Chair Gerald Bange:
"The national ag statistics service actually went up about a half a bushel per acre this month and made actually a very, very small increase in harvested area. It actually went up on the production number by about 48 million bushels up to 12.358 billion bushels."
HSUS-HSSP Battling Over Agendas
The Humane Society of the United States has been spending inordinate amounts of energy attacking the newly launched Humane Society for Shelter Pets. HSSP’s web site says it is - the only national group whose primary mission is to help animals at local pet shelters. Watchdog group HumaneWatch.org believes the reason behind HSUS’s concern is because the new HSSP group advises animal lovers interested in helping pets to donate to their local shelter instead of funding HSUS.
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