12-02-11 *RMFU News* Lander’s Tom Bell Receives RMFU Media Excellence Award for 2011

The Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Media Excellence Award recognizes an outstanding contribution in journalism, publishing or media that furthers the values and goals of Farmers Union in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. In 2011, the award is given to Tom Bell, the founder of the bi-weekly High Country News.

Tom Bell, a Wyoming cowboy born in Lander, started his environmental newspaper 41 years ago. High Country News is now headquartered in Paonia, Colorado, and Tom Bell is retired. But his vision of a newspaper focused on environmental issues from the perspective of stewardship lives on, and High Country News is essential reading for anyone in the Rocky Mountain region who cares about public policy, land use, and protecting the heritage of working land. The quality of the newspaper defines excellence, and RMFU wishes to thank Tom Bell for the vision and grit that he applied to protecting our natural heritage from corporate exploitation.

12-02-11 CHANNEL® 2012 PRODUCT LINEUP FEATURES 17 NEW GENUITY® VT DOUBLE PRO® RIB COMPLETE™ PRODUCTS

            ST. LOUIS (December 2, 2011) – Further supporting its “Seedsmanship” approach of offering farmers leading technologies and agronomic services, the Channel® seed brand will introduce 17 new Genuity® VT Double PRO® RIB Complete™ blended seed corn products as part of its 2012 product lineup.

            Now available is a broad selection of Channel Genuity VT Double PRO RIB Complete products in the 84- to 116-day maturity range in the Corn-Growing Area. This advanced technology offers a single-bag refuge management solution with dual modes of action for control of above ground pests, including corn earworm.

Farmers can plant Channel Genuity VT Double PRO RIB Complete across their field, without the need for a separate, structured refuge, resulting in simpler refuge management, time savings and convenience.  In the Cotton-Growing Area where a 20 percent separate, structured refuge is required, Channel will offer traditional Genuity VT Double PRO products for proper insect resistance management.

The new technology blends 95 percent Genuity VT Double PRO Bt corn and 5 percent non-Btrefuge seed in each bag. The 5 percent refuge is the lowest available, enabling farmers to protect more of their acres with traited seed and maximize their whole farm yield opportunity.  Commercialization is pending individual state authorizations and notifications, as required, following U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulatory approval on Nov. 17, 2011.    

12-02-11 *CDA News* Beef Leads Growth in Colorado Agricultural Exports

LAKEWOOD, Colo. –Compared to 2010, Colorado’s exports of agricultural products increased 23 percent in the first nine months of 2011 to $967 million, led by increases in beef, hides, dairy, grains and processed foods.

“This is great news for Colorado producers,” said Commissioner of Agriculture John Salazar.  “Governor Hickenlooper has been a big supporter of these efforts and we look forward to developing additional markets in the future.”

Colorado’s top agricultural commodities lead growth:

Colorado Product	Exports Increase	Total Export Value
Edible Beef	24.4%	$524.3 million
Hides	21.7%	$172 million
Dairy	8.6%	$41.1 million
Grains	94.5%	$26.0 million

Colorado exported beef to 34 countries, including markets in North America, Asia, Europe, South America, the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean and Australia.  Colorado’s top five markets all increased exports in the first three quarters of 2011.

12-02-11 House Agriculture Committee Advances Measure to Subpoena Corzine regarding MF Global Bankruptcy

WASHINGTON – Chairman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma and Ranking Member Collin Peterson of Minnesota issued the following statement after the House Agriculture Committee approved the issuance of a subpoena to compel the attendance of Jon Corzine, the Chief Executive Officer of MF Global, at the full committee hearing scheduled for December 8 to examine the MF Global bankruptcy.

“The circumstances surrounding the MF Global bankruptcy are unprecedented.  Many of our constituents have lost funds and many more have lost confidence in futures and derivatives markets, which are under the jurisdiction of the our Committee.  On December 8 the House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing to examine the facts and circumstances that led up to the bankruptcy, and the efforts underway to recover customer funds and return them to their rightful owners.  To that end, Jon Corzine’s testimony is critical to fulfill our objectives on behalf of our constituents, which is why we have taken this extraordinary step to ensure his attendance. It is our hope the hearing next week will lay the groundwork to address the situation and begin to restore confidence.”

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Agriculture Committee Press Office
http://agriculture.house.gov

12-02-11 Economists Urge President to Create New Protected Areas Such as National Parks, Wilderness, and Monuments

Letter, Including Three Nobel Winners, Asserts That These Lands Are an Essential Component of the West’s Competitive Advantage

Bozeman, Mont. – More than 100 economists and academics in related fields from across the country today sent a letter to President Obama urging him to “create jobs and support businesses by investing in our public lands infrastructure and establishing new protected areas such as parks, wilderness, and monuments.”

The list of signers includes three Nobel laureates: Kenneth Arrow, Stanford University; Robert Solow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia University.

The letter also notes: “We believe that federal protected public lands are essential to the West’s economic future. These public lands, including national parks, wilderness areas and national monuments, attract innovative companies and workers, and are an essential component of the region’s competitive advantage.”

The letter and background is at http://headwaterseconomics.org/land/reports/economists-president-public-lands/ and the full text and signatures is printed below.

“This letter clearly shows broad agreement that protected public lands are important to attracting and keeping jobs, entrepreneurs, and investment,” noted Ray Rasker, Ph.D., who organized the letter and serves as the Executive Director of Headwaters Economics and is Affiliate Faculty with Montana State University. “During a time of both budget and economic difficulties, it is important for the President and Congress act to preserve one the West’s economic engines: its world-class natural amenities.  Federal public policy should strive to preserve and build on this special resource and the benefits it provides to communities across the region.”

12-02-11 NAWG Weekly Wheat Digest

NAWG Weekly Wheat Digest

Ag Groups Work to Push Action in 2011 on NPDES Legislation NAWG and other agricultural groups have been hitting Capitol Hill this week urging Senators to offer their formal support for that chamber’s consideration of H.R. 872 before year’s end. Read full article

Farm Groups Ask Ag Leaders for MF Global Oversight, Assistance A coalition of farmer and ag finance organizations wrote leaders of the Congressional Agriculture Committees this week urging their careful oversight of the MF Global bankruptcy, which they said has “deeply affected” many farmers and grain merchandisers. Read full article

Heartland Nears 150th Episode About Farm People, Places America’s Heartland – the only national TV show about American agriculture – is nearing its 150th episode, the capstone of its seventh season on the air. Read full article

12-02-11 *FS4JK News* Cargill supports Farm Safety 4 Just Kids

URBANDALE, Iowa (AgPR) December 2, 2011 – Cargill recently made a generous contribution to Farm Safety 4 Just Kids [FS4JK]. Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial, and industrial products and services. Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 138,000 people in 67 countries.

“Cargill’s generous donation supporting Farm Safety 4 Just Kids demonstrates their dedication to helping their customers succeed and ensures our organization will be able to continue keeping our rural youth safe,” said Dave Schweitz, executive director of Farm Safety 4 Just Kids.

Farm Safety 4 Just Kids was created in 1987 by Marilyn Adams after the death of her 11-year-old son. The organization raises awareness about the health and safety hazards that are an inherent part of the rural environment in which children live, work, and play. Nine outreach coordinators and more than 120 chapters in the United States and Canada conduct safety and health programs within their communities.

Thanks to the support of agri-business sponsors like Cargill, Farm Safety 4 Just Kids is able to provide their volunteers with up to date and pertinent safety education and demonstration resources.

For more information visit www.fs4jk.org.

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12-02-11 US Rep Gardner (R-CO) Statement on November Jobs Report

WASHINGTON D.C. – Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) released the following statement on the national unemployment numbers for the month of November:

“It was encouraging to see a dent made in our nation’s unemployment last month, but the jobless rate remains unacceptably high. Too many people are still out of work, and businesses still worry about economic uncertainty. While the number moved lower, it masks the 300,000 who simply quit looking for employment. We have a lot of work to do to restore confidence and get back to pre-recession levels. The House has passed 20 plus jobs bills that are stuck in the United States Senate, and it is my hope that President Obama calls on the Senate to give these jobs bills the approval they deserve.”

12-02-11 US Rep Gardner (R-CO), pro-energy coalition keeps pressure on Obama Administration to OK drilling in Chukchi andBeaufort Seas

WASHINGTON D.C. – Despite the Obama Administration’s feet dragging on drilling permits in Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and a diverse group of elected officials, business owners, community leaders and Alaskan residents are not giving up their efforts to see that the nation’s energy resources are not held hostage by frivolous legal challenges.

“Developing all of our energy resources is critical to our national security and our national economy,” Gardner said. “Once these permits are approved, it will create over 54,000 jobs and produce 1 million barrels of oil a day – enough to replace our imports from Saudi Arabia. I’d like to thank the Consumer Energy Alliance and its coalition for joining my efforts to keep pressure on the Obama Administration to move these permits forward.”

12-02-11 CME Group Volume Averaged 13.2 Million Contracts per Day in November 2011, Up 6 Percent from October 2011

CHICAGO, Dec. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ – CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced November volume averaged 13.2 million contracts per day, up 6 percent from October 2011, but down 7 percent from November 2010.  Average daily volume for November 2010, boosted by the completion of QE2, came in at 14.2 million contracts per day.  November 2011 average daily volume was higher than 4 other months during 2011, and year-to-date volume is averaging 13.8 million contracts per day, up 12 percent from the same time period in 2010.  Total volume for November was 276 million contracts, of which 83 percent was traded electronically.

In November 2011, CME Group interest rate volume averaged 5.8 million contracts per day, up 22 percent from October 2011, but down 16 percent compared with November 2010.  Treasury futures volume averaged 2.8 million contracts per day, up 27 percent sequentially, but down 5 percent compared with same period a year ago.  Treasury options volume averaged 304,000 contracts per day, up 5 percent sequentially, but down 31 percent from November 2010.  Eurodollar futures volume averaged 1.9 million contracts per day, up 15 percent from October 2011, but down 29 percent compared with the prior November.  Eurodollar options volume averaged 824,000 contracts per day, up 31 percent sequentially, but down 2 percent from November 2010.  Additionally, the 3-Year Eurodollar Midcurve option contract averaged a monthly record of 145,000 contracts per day in November.

12-02-11 KCBT Extends Annual Volume Records for HRW Wheat Futures, Exchange

Kansas City–December 1, 2011–The Kansas City Board of Trade during the month of November continued to add to the annual trading volume records in the Hard Red Winter wheat futures contract and the exchange as a whole. The records were first set in October and exceeded the previous records set in 2010.

Through November 30, a total of 6,089,068 HRW wheat futures contracts or 30.45 billion bushels had traded, exceeding last year’s annual volume record of 5,549,842 contracts or 27.75 billion bushels by 9.7 percent with one month remaining to build on the record. The KCBT hard red winter wheat futures contract is the world benchmark pricing mechanism for bread wheat.

12-02-11 U.S. Soybean Farmers Mark 20 Years of Checkoff Work

United Soybean Board Sets Sights on Next 20 Years at December Annual Meeting

ST. LOUIS (December 1, 2011) – U.S. soybean farmers aren’t spending much time recognizing the first 20 years of the United Soybean Board (USB) and the national soybean checkoff. They’re too busy planning for the next 20 years.

As the national checkoff’s 20th anniversary passes, the board will meet Dec. 6-7 in St. Louis to set its sights on making sure the checkoff reaches its goals and helps maximize U.S. soybean farmers’ profit opportunities in the future.

The 69 farmer-leaders who serve on USB will observe the national checkoff’s 20th anniversary during their December meeting; they will also continue their focus on the checkoff’s new Long Range Strategic Plan.

“Now is no time to sit on our laurels and focus only on the past,” says USB Chairman Marc Curtis, a soybean farmer from Leland, Miss., whose successor will be elected at the December meeting. “Instead, we are focused on meeting our strategic objectives aimed at supporting our fellow U.S. soybean farmers’ profitability in the decades to come.”

12-02-11 New Annual Electronic Trading Record Set at MGEX

MINNEAPOLIS – MGEX, a Designated Contract Market and Derivatives Clearing Organization, today announced it set a new annual electronic trading record in 2011. With 21 trading  days left in the calendar year, more than 1.5 million contracts have traded electronically at MGEX in 2011, breaking the previous record set in 2010. Further, November 2011 broke into the top 25 of monthly electronic trading records.

The quick pace to the new calendar year electronic trading record was fueled by 6 new monthly electronic trading records. February 2011 topped all electronic trading months with 197,362 contracts traded. Total calendar year to date Exchange volume of Hard Red Spring Wheat futures and options trading is currently running nine percent higher than during the same period a year ago.

Complete MGEX volume and open interest records are available at www.mgex.com.

About MGEX

12-02-11 *Morgan County Ext News* BECOME A COLORADO MASTER GARDENER…REGISTER BY DEC 9th

By Joanne Jones, Colorado State University Extension Horticulture, Morgan County

The deadline to apply to the Colorado Master Gardener program for 2012 is Friday, December 9, 2011.   Those accepted into the program receive 10 weeks of training in plant care and other plant/garden topics.  Classes will be held Monday and Wednesday evenings beginning on Monday, January 23, 2012 and run from 6 – 9 p.m.  Most classes will be held at the meeting room at the Colorado State University Extension office in Morgan County located at 914 E. Railroad Ave. in Fort Morgan.  For more information or to obtain an application form contact the Extension office at 970-542-3540.

12-02-11 *Center for Rural Affairs* Generations Bookend Rural America

Rural youth and elderly hold their own, but rural areas lag in working age young adults

Lyons, Nebraska - A Center for Rural Affairs report released today finds that rural areas in the Great Plains and Midwest continue to lose population and are caught between  “bookend generations” – the youngest and the oldest – with a demographic valley in between.

“Increasingly, rural America’s greatest exports are our young people. We send them off to college and hope they return home after graduation, and often they want to return but if the jobs and economic opportunity are not here they will be drawn to the opportunity and bright lights of the city,” said Jon Bailey, Research Director of the Center for Rural Affairs and author of the report.

The distribution of population by age further demonstrates what is happening to population in rural areas of the region, Bailey continued. Rural areas hold their own with urban areas in proportion of population of their youngest residents. But as the youngest residents turn 20 and age into their 30s and mid-40s, the prime working years, rural populations compared to urban populations begin to lag. This is a significant illustration of the lack of economic opportunities in many rural places in the region.

The report, Age Distribution on the Great Plains, is the second in a series of briefs examining data from the 2010 Census. The analysis covers a 10 state region that includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa and selected counties in Colorado, Montana, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

A full copy of the report can be downloaded at: http://files.cfra.org/pdf/census-brief2-age.pdf

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“Hearing Looks At MF Global Bankruptcy”

The Senate Ag Committee held an oversight hearing on the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act Thursday. During the hearing Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow question CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler and Securities Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro on the collapse of MF Global. Thousands of MF Global’s customers are still missing funds after the November 1 bankruptcy, the eighth largest in U.S. history.

In her opening statement, Chairwoman Stabenow said – we’ve already seen, with the bankruptcy of MF Global, how dangerously exposed our economy is to what’s happening in Europe. The implications of this cannot be overstated. The Senator continued, – the MF Global bankruptcy underscores the importance of having effective oversight in all of our financial markets. We need these markets to function properly, and we need consumers to have faith in them.

Global’s customers included farmers, ranchers, co-ops, small businesses, and individuals who use these markets to hedge their business risk. So far, federal officials have been unable to find an estimated 1.2-billion dollars in customer funds. Stabenow says – it’s clear that something went terribly wrong. Former MF Global CEO Jon Corzine is scheduled to testify before the committee on December 13.

***************READ MORE NAFB AG NEWS BELOW*************************

“Hearing Focuses on Ag IG Reports”

The House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, and Credit held a public hearing Thursday to review updates to the audits of USDA’s Inspector General. These audits included Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fraud detection and USDA’s use of additional funding for information technology to improve program delivery. Members emphasized the importance of completing reports in a timely fashion and questioned the Inspector General’s process for these efforts.