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Farm News & Views for the week of December 9th, 2024

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A couple of weeks ago, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service temporarily paused the importation of Mexican Cattle into the U.S. because of concerns about a New World Screwworm that was detected in a cow in southern Mexico near the Guatemalan border. For decades, screwworm infestations caused significant losses for livestock producers in the southern U.S. Female screwworm flies deposite eggs near wounds or exposed tissue of livestock. When these eggs hatch, the maggots move into wounds where they cause infections that often result in death of the host. But in the 1960s. researchers determined that when male screwworm were irradiated, it made them sterile, and the sterile males were released to mate with female screwworm flies, which caused the females flies to produce eggs that were not viable. Eventually the population of screwworm flies died out in the southern U.S. and Mexico, so importation of potentially infected cattle could bring back the problem again. However, if this suspension of Mexican cattle imports continues for an extended period of time, it could affect U.S. beef production and prices, since the year-to-date number of cattle imported from Mexico was over 1.2 million head. Chief Veterinary officer of the U.S. Dr. Rosemary Sifford, stated that “With this latest find in Mexico, we will further intensify this work to protect American agriculture and reestablish a screwworm barrier in Central America.”
Last week, a University of Illinois Farm Doc Daily report pointed out that it has been over 1,000 days since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 20th, 2022. Before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine exported corn, wheat, and vegetable oils, to the European Union and Asian and African countries. According to Farm Doc Daily statistics, the war has caused $80 billion in damages and losses to Ukraine’s agricultural sector. That includes $10 billion in damaged assets with the bulk of those being machinery and equipment, and $70 billion in lost revenue and increased costs due to the conflict. The report points out that Ukraine is the most heavily landmined country in the world today, with about 23% of its land contaminated by approximately 2 million landmines. Ukraine is using drones and sensors integrated with artificial intelligence and machine learning, to survey suspected hazardous areas, with the hope that they will be able to restore Ukraine’s agricultural potential by reclaiming cropland that is currently unsuitable for production due to landmine contamination. Russia has also targeted Ukraine’s export infrastructure in the Black Sea region, by conducting at least 50 attacks against port facilities, causing damage to over 300 facilities and 23 civilian vessels, and destroying more than 100,000 metric tons of agricultural products. Recently, the Russian army has increased the rate of missile attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea port infrastructure. This week, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced that the agency is beginning a National Milk Testing Strategy, requiring states to collect raw milk samples that are to be shared with the USDA for testing to determine if the samples contain H5N1 bird flu virus. The first states that will be brought into this program are California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania. The USDA points out that since the outbreak began there have been 720 confirmed cases of H5N1 in dairy cattle in 15 states, and the hope is that these tests will help to combat the disease.

Author James Thurber wrote, “It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers”

Bob has been an agricultural educator and farm and ranch management consultant for over 40 years in southwest Colorado. He writes about agricultural issues from his farm near Cortez, and has helped to produce farm reports on KSJD for more than a dozen years.