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Jul
29
NPPC calls for delay for California Prop 12 implementation
The United States Supreme Court announced it will not hear the North American Meat Institute’s (NAMI) case against Proposition 12 (Prop 12) in California. The case was denied without explanation. Prop 12 will become law in 2022, but numerous organizations have called for a delay.
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Jul
29
New bill Would Provide More Plant-Based Choices in Schools
Two Democratic members of Congress, Nydia M. Velazquez (D-NY) and Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D (D-NY), have recently introduced a bill that would create a voluntary grant program for school districts to help schools provide additional plant-based options. The “Healthy Future Students and Earth Pilot Program Act” is intended to help combat the climate crisis as well.
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Jul
29
Meat Sales Down and Prices are Increasing Across the World
Just in time for grilling season, meat prices are increasing globally. A report in Bloomberg found in the United States, the sales of meat at grocery stores are down by 12% from the previous year. Due to the global supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the price of meat has been rising since October 2020.
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Jul
29
Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021 Passes in Senate
The Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021 has passed in the United States Senate and is now moving to the House. The bipartisan bill was introduced by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) and co-sponsored by over 50 members of the Senate. S.1251 would authorize the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a voluntary Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Certification Program to help reduce entry barriers into voluntary environmental credit markets for farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners.
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Jul
29
Farm System Reform Act Introduced
The Farm System Reform Act was recently reintroduced by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) to create a more resilient food system. The Farm System Reform Act was first introduced by Booker and Khanna in 2019 and 2020, respectively, with no traction.
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Jul
29
USDA Announces Plan to Help Expand Small Meat Processing Facilities
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack shared that the USDA plans to spend $500 million to help encourage the construction of new small meat processing facilities in the country.
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Jul
29
“Made in USA” Labeling Ruling Finalized
The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a ruling regarding ‘Made in USA’ (MUSA) product labeling claims. The ruling will take effect on August 13, 2021. A public workshop and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking comment period were accomplished by FTC, where the rule gained “nearly universal support for a rule addressing MUSA labels.
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Jul
18
Animal Health Symposium
Dr. Johnson started off the Animal Health Symposium on Saturday, July 17th, by discussing where we currently sit with the use of antibiotics in animal production and why that position has been changing over time. Using an antibiotic is not a simple process, there are many factors that go into giving antibiotics such as regulatory issues, economics, and pressures from consumers. When animals get sick the traditional approaches have been to rely on effective antibiotics to eliminate the pathogen causing the disease.
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Jul
18
Animal Breeding and Genetics Symposium II
Dr. Bijma began by discussing why selection against infectious diseases is more promising than currently believed. Infectious diseases are a great concern in agriculture as they lead to production losses and costs of treatment causing economic damage. Genetic selection has been used as a strategy to combat infectious diseases in agriculture. The current breeder’s perspective focuses on the binary disease status of the individual and the low heritabilities suggest the rate for genetic improvement is restricted; however, Dr. Bijma explained that a proper quantitative genetic theory that includes transmission dynamics within a population is lacking.
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Jul
18
ASAS NANP Symposium
The Nation Animal Nutrition Program (NANP) was established in 2010 to support research requested by stakeholders. It addresses challenges in research, education, and teaching, and supports agencies in animal agriculture. Information Technology (IT) has evolved greatly over the years particularly in combination with data analytics. In the animal industry, understanding the application of information technology of data analytics can provide a competitive advantage.
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Jul
18
Forages and Pastures Symposium II
Larry Redmon began the symposium with a presentation about “Where Should Forage Courses Be Housed”. According to him, in forage, there is often separation between the animal and plant science aspects of the field. In many cases in forage teaching, boundaries are not crossed to work with cooperating departments such as animal science. There is also uncertainty as to which department forages should be housed in.
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Jul
18
Contemporary and Emerging Issues Symposium II
The symposium focused on “Science Communication and a Skeptical Society: From Research to Social Media”. The introduction began by addressing the large scope of sharing information particularly with the advent of social media. There are many gaps in information that science has the potential to correct to alleviate biased and sensationalized messages from the media and research that can create bias.
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Jul
18
Contemporary and Emerging Issues Symposium I
Lowell Randel, a member of the ASAS Public Policy Committee (PPC) introduced the symposium. According to him the purpose of grand challenges (GCs) is to develop the field of animal science since the last strategic plan. Grand challenges clearly articulate priorities for providing scientific information for shaping public policy and enhancing research and educational programs in animal science.
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Jul
18
Nonruminant Nutrition Symposium I
Dr. Chris Parks delivered the first talk about “Integrated Pork Production During a Global Pandemic: Impact on the Live Production Supply Chain, Feed Mills, & Nutrition''. According to him, the U.S. has an integrated pork system resulting from vertical integration. This means that a single company controls pork production from farmers to consumers allowing them to capitalize on the economics of the scale, create consistent products, and spread out risk.
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Jul
18
Swine Species Symposium
Dr. Belstra began the Swine Species Symposium by addressing critical gaps in swine reproduction. Today's talk was about the identification of swine reproduction opportunities, especially those that add value by addressing industry challenges and leveraging assisted reproductive technologies (ART).
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Jul
17
Companion Animals Symposium II
The 2021 ASAS-CSAS-SSASAS Annual Meeting at the Louisville Convention Center in Kentucky, Companion Animals Symposium II (July 16, 2021), comprised of four presenters from diverse educational backgrounds. The overarching theme was brewing and fermented ingredients in pet nutrition.
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Jul
17
Companion Animals Symposium III
The Companion Animal III Symposium at the 2021 ASAS National Meeting focused on dietary supplements in companion animal nutrition. Several speakers presented different, though highly relevant, perspectives on the potential, discovery, development, and regulatory concerns about the inclusion of dietary supplements in the diets of companion animals.
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Jul
17
Forages and Pastures Symposium I
The Forages and Pastures Symposium I on Friday, July 16th, began with Dr. DelCurto discussing the ongoing challenges of designing research for beef cattle production in extensive environments. Previous study designs trying to get enough observations for statistical inference required cattle to be brought in from the rangeland each day, sorted, fed, and then let back out.
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Jul
17
Cell Biology Symposium
The 2021 ASAS Cell Biology Symposium that took place on Friday, July 16th, focused on the role of epigenetics in production and health. Dr. Peterson started off the symposium by discussing the role epigenetics has in maternal and fetal programming specifically looking at the pancreas.
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Jul
16
SSASAS: Kunkle Symposium
Dr. Poore jump-started the SSASAS Kunkle Symposium to discuss byproduct feeds in the Southeastern beef production systems. There are many alternative feeds available and used for both cow/calf and stocker cattle in this region. In addition, classification of the feeds (waste materials, waste products, byproducts, and coproducts) may also influence when to use these alternatives.
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