Groups Urge USDA to Act Promptly to Permit Early Releases from CRP

Business Wire, June 26, 2008

WASHINGTON -- With tight crop supplies and increasing demand for grains and oilseeds, the Alliance for Agricultural Growth and Competitiveness (AAGC) urged U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Edward T. Schafer to act quickly to grant penalty-free early releases from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for non-environmentally sensitive crop land. The request follows reports of crop loss and decreased yields due to flooding in the Midwest. The devastating floods have eroded the outlook for grain and oilseed stocks and prices in this crop year and beyond.

Failing to permit penalty-free early release will place even greater economic pressure on major sectors of U.S. agriculture that are heavily and traditionally dependent upon competitive supplies of grains and oilseeds, especially livestock, poultry, and dairy producers. The case for penalty-free early release is made even stronger given the ever-greater demand for grains and oilseeds from world export markets and renewable fuel production.

Those were among the core messages conveyed in a letter delivered to the Secretary on June 25 and signed by over 130 organizations. AAGC is an organization of national and state organizations representing a broad cross-section of meat, livestock and poultry production; agricultural input; and grain marketing, handling, processing and exporting interests.

AAGC applauded Secretary Schafer's decision to allow penalty-free haying and grazing on certain CRP land but noted that the decision "will not adequately alleviate the direct pressure on the livestock industry or the increased feed cost pressures on other segments of agriculture and food industries." The statement, which was presented on behalf of the AAGC by Chairman Bill Roenigk, senior vice president of the National Chicken Council, emphasized the need for a timely decision from the Secretary so that producers can be better positioned to prepare the released land for planting.

AAGC reiterated that the current supply/demand situation for basic agricultural commodities continues to be precarious. "Corn/wheat for feed usage are forecast to decrease by more than 12 percent for 2008/09. For animal agriculture to cut production by 12 percent will require severe economic hardship on these producers while further pressuring consumer food prices to move even higher," the statement said.

AAGC also noted that the tight crop supplies are a factor in the increase in food inflation. "Since February, USDA raised its forecast for food inflation from 3.5 percent to 5 percent and many credible, independent analysts forecast the food inflation rate will approach double-digits," the statement said.

"An early-out, penalty-free release of non-environmentally sensitive CRP cropland would be a significant positive step to encourage increased supply which would allow producers to more fully benefit from strong market demand," the Alliance stressed in their letter to Secretary Schafer.

Addendum

The following organizations expressly co-signed the Alliance for Agricultural Growth and Competitiveness' statement:

Ag Partners LLC
Agricultural Retailers Association
Agribusiness Association of Iowa
American Bakers Association
American Feed Industry Association
American Meat Institute
Arkansas Poultry Federation
Aviagen
Bartlett Grain Company L.P.
Brookneal Milling Company
Bunge North America
California Grain and Feed Association
Case Farms
Central Washington Grain Growers
Cereal Food Processors
CGB Enterprises
CHS
Cobb Vantress
Commodity Markets Council
Culpeper Farmers Cooperative
Dakota Mill & Grain
DeBruce Grain
Demeter LP
DFS, Inc.
Elkhart Grain
Exotic Wildlife Association
Falmouth Cooperative Company
Farms Technology LLC
Fieldale Farms
Flowers Foods
Foster Farms
Gavilon LLC
Gavilon Grain LLC
George's
Georgia Poultry Federation
Grain and Feed Association of IL
Gold'n Plump Poultry
Grainland Cooperative
GrainStore Elevators
Hain Pure Protein
Hamilton Farm Bureau
Harrison Poultry
Independent Bakers Association
Independent Cattlemen's Assn. of Texas
Indiana BioFuels Alliance
Indiana Grain and Feed Association
Indiana Plant Food & Ag Chemicals Association
Jamesway Incubator
J.D. Heiskell & Company
Joyce Foods
Kansas City Board of Trade
Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association
Kansas Association of Ethanol Processors
Kansas Grain and Feed Association
Kentucky Feed & Grain Association
Land O'Lakes Purina Feed
Laymac
Lortscher Agri Service
Louis Dreyfus Commodities
Maplehurst Farms
Marshall Durbin Companies
Midsouth Grain Association
Michigan Agri-Business Association
Michigan Agricultural Commodities
Michigan Allied Poultry Industries
Michigan Bean Shippers Association
Minneapolis Grain Exchange
Minnesota Grain and Feed Association
Mississippi Poultry Association
Missouri Poultry Federation
Montana Agricultural Business Association
Montana Grain Elevator Association
Morris & Associates
Mountaire Farms
National Chicken Council
National Grain and Feed Association
National Oilseed Processors Association
National Pork Producers Council
National Poultry & Food Distributors Association
National Turkey Federation
Nebraska Grain and Feed Association
North American Export Grain Association
North American Millers' Association
North American Processor Inspection
North Carolina Poultry Federation
North Dakota Agricultural Association
North Dakota Ethanol Producers
North Dakota Grain Dealers Association
Novus International
O.K. Foods
Oklahoma Agribusiness Retailers Association
Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association
Oklahoma Poultry Federation
Pacific Northwest Grain & Feed Association
Park Farms
Pet Food Institute
Pilgrim's Pride
Poultry & Water Solubles
Rabo AgriFinance
Ritzville Warehouse Company
Rockingham Mill
Rocky Mountain Agribusiness Association
RPMG
Safe Foods Corporation
Sara Lee Corporation
Simmons Prepared Foods
South Carolina Poultry Federation
South Dakota Grain and Feed Association
Stratford Grain Company
Syracuse Cooperative Exchange
T. Lowry
Tate and Lyle Ingredients Americas
Team Marketing Alliance LLC
TEGMA
Tennessee Feed & Grain Association
Texas Grain and Feed Association
Texas Poultry Federation
The Andersons
The Fertilizer Institute
The Long Company
The Scoular Company
Townsends
Tyson Foods
United Egg Association
United Egg Producers
U.S. Poultry & Egg Association
Virginia State Feed Association
W.B. Johnston Grain Company
Wenger Feeds
Weston Foods
Wisconsin Agri-Service Assn.
Zeeland Farm Services