NEWS ARCHIVES
2008: January February March April May June July August September October November December
IPIC Associate Director James McKean is winner of the Pork Checkoff’s Distinguished Service Award, just announced at the 2008 National Pork Industry Forum in St. Louis, Mo. This annual award recognizes the lifelong contribution to the pork industry by an outstanding leader. McKean also is an ISU University Professor and ISU Extension swine veterinarian. NPB president Lynn Harrison said, "Jim is an exceptional player in the pork industry (and) …is dedicated to the industry as a whole, dedicated to the local producers and dedicated to the local community." 03/10/2008
Farming Matters: A forum for Iowa crop and livestock farmers, the fourth in a series, is set for March 25 in Ames. Sponsored by Coalition to Support Iowa's Farmers, the agenda focuses on managing energy and input costs, effective communications with neighbors, and livestock rule reviews. Cost is $35 when registered by March 14, $50 per person after that date. Read more on the CSIF Web site. 02/22/2008
ISU associate professor of Veterinary Medicine Scott Hurd is named the new USDA deputy undersecretary for food safety. His appointment expires Jan. 20, 2009, when the next U.S. president takes office. Hurd says he's looking forward to using his background and knowledge of food risks and food safety in this new position and when he returns to Iowa State afterwards. Read more in news releases from Iowa State and USDA. 02/13/2008
USDA extends comment period for "naturally raised meat marketing claim" through March 3, 2008. See more information on the USDA-ARS Web site. Comments may be sent by regular mail, fax or e-mail, Be sure to reference "Docket No. AMS-LS-07-0731" in writing at the top of the letter or email "Re: Docket No. AMS-LS-07-0131." Include your name, address, and if appropriate, affiliation(s) and/or interest(s) in the issue. To read the more than 1,100 comments already received on this topic, check out the comments page. 02/12/2008
The USDA has released a final risk assessment on animal clones, including the finding that, " … meat and milk from clones of cattle, swine, and goats, and the offspring of clones from any species traditionally consumed as food, are as safe to eat as food from conventionally bred animals." For more information on this topic and links to additional sources like the Food and Drug Administration's cloning pages, see this special USDA web site. 01/16/2008
Interested in adding crude glycerol to your swine diets? See the new IPIC publication on crude glycerol usage in the series "Feeding Bioenergy Coproducts to Swine." 01/14/2008
Learn more about niche pork production costs, returns and efficiency in this report from 2006 prepared as part of a National Research Initiative Grant. The project is coordinated through IPIC and Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI), and the report was prepared by James Kliebenstein and John Mabry of ISU, Dave Stender of ISU Extension and Gary Huber of PFI. 01/14/2008
ISU researchers working with a team of USDA-ARS researchers have characterized a fairly newly identified influenza subtype in pigs. Wenjun Ma and Bruce Janke, both of the College of Veterinary Medicine, say the discovery is important because theis subtype typically hasn't been found in pigs. See the USDA news release. And, read more in an ISU news release about the virus frequently found in birds. 01/03/08
The latest U.S. Hogs and Pigs report shows hog numbers continue to increase and returns continue to decrease. ISU extension ag economist John Lawrence says production is "forecast to increase in 2008 over record 2007 levels." Read his report on the final 2007 numbers. 12/31/2007
"Transitioning to Organic" course available at ISU starting Jan.
8, 2008. Associate professor of horticulture and agronomy Kathleen Dalate
is the lead instructor. She says anyone interested in the topic is welcome to
register. Cost is $10 per
sesssion,
and only
those interested in receiving academic credit need to attend all 16 weekly
sessions. Learn more on the course Web
site. 12/31/2007
