Never too Early to Prepare for the Next Hurricane

North Carolina’s Ag Commissioner Steve Troxler is once again encouraging agricultural operations to be prepared in the event of a hurricane or other natural disaster:

“First and foremost we need to prepare for our families and workers. After that the equipment. Livestock operations will still need to be looked after.”
After having a plan for the safety of living beings, Troxler recommends a back-up plan for water and electricity:

“Water and electricity always seems to be a problem so be sure to make plans to have those available should we have outages and no access to water.”

2011’s Hurricane Irene’s landfall on the coast of North Carolina showed that agricultural operations aren’t always the first in line for assistance.
Commissioner Troxler addresses that situation:

“I have learned over and over again is that agriculture falls through the cracks. We have implemented a plan to have an emergency response team ready for disaster. We will have trained personnel on these teams that will be outfitted with proper equipment and be available to respond directly to agricultural matters.”

While hurricane season doesn’t officially open until Friday, there have already been two named storms in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific.
 

To learn more tips on natural disaster preparedness, visit NCDA’s website; ncagr.gov.
 

Animal Welfare Expert Temple Grandin Comes out in Favor of LFTB
 

Animal welfare expert Temple Grandin initially neglected to comment on the “pink slime” controversy, but now supports the product after learning more about the process. After watching the process beef moves through to make LFTB Grandin supports the product.

Citing the 15 to 30 pounds of beef wasted when LFTB is off the market, Grandin said educating consumers about the process and labeling products made with the treated beef would have prevented the recent uproar. More than 400 people in three states lost their job after the media uproar earlier this spring caused the plants to close down.

“FFA Rally to Fight Hunger” Planned for 2012 Convention
 

The National FFA Organization announced plans for an “FFA Rally to Fight Hunger” at the 2012 National FFA Convention and Expo, Oct. 24-26, to help feed children and adults suffering from food insecurity. Launched as part of the organization’s “Feeding the World–Starting at Home” initiative to fight hunger, the rally will engage as many as 10,000 FFA members from across the country and local volunteers. Their goal is to package one million meals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to combat hunger.

Working with Kids Against Hunger, a humanitarian food-aid organization, FFA members from across the nation will assemble meals and gather additional supplements to provide relief from hunger and malnutrition. Approximately half of the meals will be distributed in the Indianapolis area. Others will be shipped to designated locations domestically and internationally.
 

Website Promotes Controversial Egg Housing Legislation
 

In an effort to promote the passage of legislation that would establish a national standard for hen housing in the egg industry – United Egg Producers has launched a new informational website. Legislators, consumers, foodservice and retail executives and others can learn more about this measure at www.eggbill.com. The bill – introduced by Oregon 5th District Representative Kurt Schrader – would codify the controversial agreement between the United Egg Producers and the Humane Society of the United States that would transition egg production away from conventional cages by the end of 2029.