Poultry Times August 14 Edition

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August 13, 2012

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Poultry Times August 13, 2012Volume 59, Number 17

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Associated Press photo/Nati Harnik

Drought: Drought-damaged corn stalk seen near Brownville, Neb. The widest drought to grip the U.S. in decades is getting worse with no signs of abating. The drought covering two-thirds of the continental U.S. had been considered relatively shallow, the product of months without rain, rather than years, but a recent report shows the intensity is rapidly in-creasing, with 20 percent of the nation now in the two worst stages of drought.

Associated Press photo/The Wichita Eagle/Travis Heying

Chick-fil-A draws crowd: Customers stand in line for a Chick-fil-A meal at the chain’s restaurant in Wichita, Kan., on Aug. 1. The crowd was buying meals to show their support for the company that’s currently embroiled in a controversy over same-sex marriage. Former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Aug. 1 “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,” and according to some reports the company posted record business for one day totals.

Sales record set for Chick-fil-Aduring recent ‘Appreciation Day’By David B. StricklandPoultry Times Staff [email protected]

ATLANTA — Chick-fil-A has been in the headlines for weeks this summer, initially after comments that company President Dan Cathy had made regarding same-sex mar-riage, and then amid reports that the company had set one-day sales records.

The Atlanta-based restaurant chain received a large turnout at its locations nationwide on Aug. 1, after an unofficial “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” was announced and spearheaded by Fox News talk show host and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Steve Robinson, Chick-fil-A ex-ecutive vice president of marketing, noted that while the company is not releasing exact sales numbers for Aug. 1, “it was an unprecedented day.”

“We are very grateful and hum-bled by the incredible turnout of loyal Chick-fil-A customers on Aug. 1 at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country,” Robinson said in a statement. “We congratulate local Chick-fil-A Owner/Operators and their team members for striving to serve each and every customer with genuine hospitality. The Chick-fil-A culture and 66-year-old service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orienta-tion or gender.”

This recent focus on the company originally stemmed from comments Cathy gave to the Baptist Press, when he noted that his company is “guilty as charged,” in regard to sup-port of “the biblical definition of a family.”

This caused a backlash of re-sponse from gay rights activists,

as well as some elected officials around the country, resulting in calls for boycotts and protests of Chick-fil-A.In this regard, a “Kiss In” was announced for Friday, Aug. 3, where gay rights activists asked people of the same sex to visit Chick-fil-A lo-cations and kiss one another.

In a brief statement regarding this event, Robinson said, “At Chick-fil-A, we appreciate all of our custom-ers and are glad to serve them at any time. Our goal is simple: to provide great food, genuine hospitality and to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A.”

In an earlier statement, Robinson also noted that, “Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the gov-ernment and political arena.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Half of U.S. counties now disaster areasThe Associated Press

ST. LOUIS — Nearly 220 coun-ties in a dozen drought-stricken states were added on Aug. 1 to the U.S. government’s list of natural disaster areas as the nation’s agri-culture chief unveiled new help for frustrated, cash-strapped farmers and ranchers grappling with ex-treme dryness and heat.

The USDA’s addition of the 218 counties means that more than half of all U.S. counties — 1,584 in 32 states — have been designated pri-mary disaster areas this growing season, the vast majority of them

mired in a drought that’s considered the worst in decades.

Counties in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyo-ming were included in the Aug. 1 announcement. The USDA uses the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor to help decide which counties to deem disaster areas, which makes farmers and ranchers eligible for federal aid, including low-interest emergency loans.

See Drought, Page 10

2 POULTRY TIMES, August 13, 2012

156 Reps. urge EPA to waive ethanol mandateWASHINGTON — As the worst

drought in a half century continues, a bipartisan group of 156 members of Congress is urging the Environ-mental Protection Agency to act immediately to reduce the Renew-able Fuels Standard (RFS) mandate to account for the severe anticipated corn shortage.

Congressmená Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Steve Womack (R-Ark.) and Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) are spearheading the plea to the EPA because “another short corn crop would be devastating to the animal agriculture industry, food manufac-turers, foodservice providers and consumers,” according to a letter sent Aug. 2 to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.

The letter urged prompt action by the EPA to help ease short corn sup-

ply concerns that would save jobs across many U.S. industries and keep families fed. “We strongly urge you to exercise your authority and take the necessary steps to protect American consumers and the econ-omy,” the representatives wrote.

When Congress enacted the ex-panded RFS in 2007, certain “safety valves” were put in place. One provi-sion allows the administrator of the EPA to reduce the required volume of renewable fuel in any year based on severe harm to the economy or environment of a state, a region or the United States. The congressio-nal letter contends that the worst drought since the Eisenhower ad-ministration calls for exactly the kind of flexibility that Congress envisioned.

The congressional action comes

on the heels of an official petition to waive the RFS delivered to Jack-son earlier by poultry and livestock producers. The RFS has “directly affected the supply and cost of feed in major agricultural sectors of this country, causing the type of eco-nomic harm that justifies issuance of an RFS waiver,” said the coalition in its petition.

The poultry industry welcomed the congressional action.

“We appreciate that these rep-resentatives have fully grasped the scope of this crisis,” said National Turkey Federation President Joel Brandenberger. “Anything other than immediate action would be a blatant disregard for the petition process of the RFS. The emergency is happening now, today. Our tur-key farmers need relief and we are happy to have this much bipartisan support.”

“I commend Representatives Goodlatte, Womack and McIntyre for their leadership on this issue,” said National Chicken Council President Mike Brown. “I urge EPA Administrator Jackson to heed the call of more than one-third of U.S. representatives to help alleviate tight corn supplies and rising prices in the face of the worst drought in

more than half a century. Chicken companies in particular are increas-ingly being severely impacted by the growing diversion of corn into our gas tanks because of govern-ment mandated ethanol programs. The chicken industry is urging EPA to implement the law that is on the books and promptly grant a full or partial waiver of the RFS. How bad does it have to get before the admin-istration acts?”

“The U.S. meat and poultry in-dustry appreciates the leadership of these lawmakers in helping press for relief from the current drought,” said AMI President J. Patrick Boyle. “We are facing record-breaking drought and record corn prices, which stand to hurt livestock and poultry pro-ducers now and consumers longer term as they grapple with inevitable higher meat and poultry prices that these conditions will generate.”

However, Renewable Fuels As-sociation President and CEO Bob Dinneen said calls to waive the Re-newable Fuel Standard for the rest of 2012 “will not make it rain in Indiana or meaningfully lower corn prices.”

Calls to waive any or all of the the RFS “are not only premature, but void of justification,” said Dinneen.

“The RFS contains a great deal of flexibility allowing obligated par-ties to meet RFS requirements in a variety of ways other than blending physical gallons of ethanol. The market is taking advantage of this flexibility as domestic ethanol de-mand for corn has fallen nearly 15 percent and production has dropped in the last six weeks. Simply put, the RFS is working and knee-jerk reactions to acts of God will not provide the kind of relief some are seeking.”

According to academic research and RFA analysis, some 2.5 billion ethanol credits, known as Renew-able Identification Numbers (RINs), are currently “in the bank.” These RINs were “banked” in years past as refiners used more ethanol than was required by the RFS. Should etha-nol production be short this year, re-finers can use these excess credits to show compliance with the RFS. By substituting paper RINs for physical gallons of ethanol, demand for corn by ethanol producers would fall.

A copy of the congressional letter to the EPA is available at www.na-tionalchickencouncil.org/wp-con-tent/uploads/2012/08/house-letter-final.pdf

Groups join challenge to final rule on trucking hours TUCKER, Ga. — The U.S. Poul-

try & Egg Association, National Chicken Council and National Tur-key Federation have joined a coali-tion of industry groups in challeng-ing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Hours of Service Final Rules for com-mercial truck drivers. The groups argued that portions of the rule will slow productivity, hurt jobs and have a negative impact on agricul-ture, manufacturers, retail supply chains and distribution operations.

In filing a joint amici curiae brief, the poultry industry is in agreement with the American Trucking Asso-ciations legal challenge. The group

supports the view that the specific rest periods of the ‘34-hour restart’ and the exclusion of all ‘on-duty non-driving work’ during specified breaks should be held unlawful on the grounds that the changes are ar-bitrary and capricious.

The brief argues that the FMCSA failed to consider any costs on ship-pers, receivers or transportation intermediaries when evaluating changes to the rule.

The coalition group also opposed a challenge lodged by Public Citi-zen and defended the FMCSA’s de-cision to maintain the 14-hour driv-ing window and the 11-hour daily

driving provision.Groups participating in the amici

filing include: American Bakers As-sociation, Food Marketing Institute, Intermodal Association of North America, International Food Dis-tributors Association, NASSTRAC, National Association of Manufac-turers, National Chicken Council, National Grocers Association, Na-tional Private Truck Council, Na-tional Retail Federation, National Turkey Federation, Retail Industry Leaders Association, Snack Food Association, U.S. Chamber of Com-merce and U.S. Poultry & Egg As-sociation.

3POULTRY TIMES, August 13, 2012

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Business .......................... 6--7

Calendar ..............................9

Classified ...........................12

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Viewpoint .............................4

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Special

Information Systems: Ron Wells, left, chief information officer at But-terball; and Randy Friesen, manager of production and research for the British Columbia Egg Marketing Board, were presenters at the recent 2012 Information Systems Seminar in Nashville, Tenn., sponsored by the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.

Information Systems seminar highlighted emerging technology

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — “As capital dollars get more strained, there is more accountability. Thus, IT (information technology) leaders have to have credibility. We have to give confidence that we are just as concerned about expenses and mea-suring projected cost savings as the management team,” said Ron Wells, chief information officer at Butter-ball.

He was speaking to information technology professionals from throughout the poultry industry who gathered at the 2012 Informa-tion Systems Seminar in Nashville, Tenn. The annual conference is sponsored by the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.

As part of an open forum discus-sion on cost savings, Wells shared his experiences in implementing cost savings initiatives at Butterball. He remarked that his IT department is constantly challenged to do more with less and that cost savings is not always about head cut reduction.

Wells went on to discuss “vendor sprawl” or “extending the scope”

and mentioned that Butterball had reduced its licensing agreements by 23 percent as a result of “coat tail-ing” on its association with other Butterball companies.

Randy Friesen, manager of pro-duction and research for the British Columbia Egg Marketing Board, described his co-op’s use of the IBM TM1 system as part of the “Cost Savings Initiatives” topic.

The BC Egg Marketing Board’s old DOS-based system required a two week reporting cycle. With the IBM TM1 system, the group has been able to reduce its personnel and recognize other cost savings, he said.

They have also been able to pro-vide feedback and push data back out to its 137 independent egg pro-ducers in a matter of minutes, as well as create a dashboard for its board of directors.

From a food safety standpoint, the TM1 system has allowed BC Egg Marketing Board to have trace-ability down to the individual egg, he added.

In his presentation on “New Technology in Worker Safety,” Sim Harbert of Georgia Tech Research Institute described the advance-ments being made in ergonomic as-sessment systems.

Harbert observed that future sys-tems would incorporate exercises through the use of Wii Fit and a lap-top, as well as using smart phones to record data from modules.

He remarked that the idea is to make the systems easy to use, while not requiring a technician to put the device on a person.

The seminar also featured other IT sessions including, “What’s New in the IT Industry;” “Industry IT Experiences . . . Pros and Cons;” ‘A Network Infrastructure Panel: Connecting Remote Locations;” “E-Discovery . . . An Attorney’s Per-spective;” “Vendor Solutions;” and a series of open forums on mobile devices.

More information can be obtained from the U.S. Poultry & Egg Asso-ciation at www.uspoultry.org.

Mexico will not impose antidumping duties on U.S. chickenWASHINGTON — The Mexi-

can government has announced that it will not impose antidumping duties on imports of U.S. chicken leg quarters in the immediate term because of the negative impact that such duties could have on the econ-omy and on food prices for Mexican consumers.

A final determination by the Mex-ican Unit of Foreign Trade Practices (UPCI) of the antidumping investi-gation, which began 18 months ago, is to contain in its publication, the Mexican government’s conclusion that dumping had occurred, but the government will take no current ac-tion to impose punitive duties on U.S. imports.

The Mexican Foreign Trade Commission (COCEX), however, has intervened and announced its intention to waive dumping duties on imports of U.S. chicken leg quar-ters into Mexico, meaning trade will not be interrupted at this time.

Representatives of the National Chicken Council and the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council met recently in Mexico City with high-ranking officials at the Mexican Department of Economy to discuss the issue.

“We are pleased with the deci-sion by COCEX to prevent imple-mentation of any duties, but we strongly disagree with the finding

of dumping,” said NCC President Mike Brown who was part of the delegation. “We continue to main-tain that Mexico’s basis for making such a determination is flawed and that international bodies would not support such a finding.”

COCEX is an interagency group comprised of representatives from several Mexican government agen-cies that reviews such decisions that could impact Mexico’s economy.

The group cited the rising cost of staple foods in Mexico, caused in part by the outbreak of highly patho-genic avian influenza in Jalisco as well as high corn prices, as the basis for preventing implementation of

the duties. COCEX noted that it would mon-

itor market conditions and could re-evaluate the anti-dumping duties at a later date.

“COCEX’s announcement is a positive development for Mexi-can consumers and for unfettered trade between the United States and Mexico,” Brown concluded. “We look forward to carefully reviewing the final determination when it is officially announced in the coming days.”

NCC and USAPEEC also pledged to continue to work with the Mexi-can poultry industry to improve relations in efforts to avoid trade disputes and disruptions.


innovation as well as the identifica-tion of emerging business opportu-nities. While the transformation in IBM work processes took several years, the result was a significantly more efficient organization that sought to provide tailored solutions for each of its customers instead of a generic suite of hardware and soft-ware products. This was a signifi-cant culture change, which seems to be a key component of enterprise transformation being driven by a value deficiency crisis.

Anticipating a potential value de-ficiency in future growth, UPS made a conscious decision around 1995 to transform from a package delivery company into a supply chain solu-tions provider that by 2000 provided a wide range of services in consult-ing, integrated logistics, global freight and mail. This significantly expanded their market potential and provided UPS with the continued growth opportunity they felt would be needed for future success. Inter-estingly, many of these new services leveraged products the company had originally developed as internal services that they transformed into external customer facing offerings. However, the uniqueness of the UPS case was their ability to recog-nize an anticipated value deficiency and transform the work processes in a way that allowed them to leverage the unique capabilities and assets of the company.

The take away for the poultry community is that transformation usually requires significantly rede-signed or entirely new work pro-cesses. This is where real transfor-mational innovation occurs, and as we have been discussing, the future viability of the poultry industry will hinge on our ability to innovate or rethink our existing work processes. For IBM and UPS, transformation required a fundamental rethinking the current processes and changing them to meet the new envisioned objectives.

While we have discussed the driv-ers and enablers of enterprise trans-formation, there also appear to be several other ingredients that con-tribute to successful transformation.

First is the ability to envision what the enterprise should look like after the transformation. This requires constructively questioning assump-tions to understand the real under-lying problems and then creatively thinking outside-the-box to develop a vision that successfully addresses the real problem. Secondly, trans-formation usually (but not always) requires an empowered leader to champion the cause. GE, IBM, and Apple all had very strong leaders

during their transformation periods who were able to captivate the stake-holders, articulate the corporate vi-sion and motivate the workforce to achieve the resulting transforma-tion. They in essence either created or capitalized on the necessary cor-porate culture, the third ingredient, which allowed the stakeholders to embrace the transformation. Un-fortunately, excellent strategies for


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From Apple to poultry:Enterprise TransformationBy Doug BrittonSpecial to Poultry Times

ATLANTA — I recently had the pleasure of participating in an Enter-prise Trans-f o r m a -tion short c o u r s e , t a u g h t t h r o u g h the Ten-n e n b a u m I n s t i t u t e at Georgia Tech (1). The goal of the course was to pro-vide a high level understanding of what is involved in fundamentally changing (i.e. transforming) a com-pany, organization, agency or mar-ket sector. This seemed of particular interest to me given our recent con-versations in the poultry community about the future of poultry produc-tion and processing.

After being aptly led through a brief theory of Enterprise Transfor-mation by Dr. William Rouse (2), we delved into case studies of IBM, Apple, GE and UPS (3-4) among others, to gain a real world under-standing of the subject matter.

The result was a fascinating ex-ploration of corporate challenges and fundamental transformations. I thought that several key points and

Doug Britton is program manager and senior research engineer with the Georgia Tech Research Insti-tute’s Agricultural Technology Re-search Program.

observations might be valuable to the broader poultry sector as many within industry and academia are pursing various levels of transfor-mation.

In every case that we considered, there was a value deficiency that became the driving force for trans-formation. For some it was a value deficiency crisis: Apple (1997) and

IBM (1992) were driven by the threat of collapse with significant drops in revenues and market shares brought on by dramatic shifts in the personal computer market land-scape. For UPS (1995) on the other hand, transformation was driven by a value deficiency opportunity as they recognized a fundamental limi-tation in future growth in the “under 50 lb.” package delivery business model. Unfortunately, it often takes a value deficiency crisis rather than a value deficiency opportunity for companies and individuals to rec-ognize that change is needed. While value deficiencies may drive trans-formation, it is the work processes that enable it.

Work processes are the basic tasks that companies, organizations and individuals perform to achieve their business objectives. In poultry, this would include all of the func-tions from production through pro-cessing and distribution. In the case of IBM, the changes to the work processes involved a shift away from independent product-based business units toward multifaceted customer-based solutions. This in-cluded considerable restructuring and consolidation, as well as the development of new processes and standards to foster collaboration and

Britton

The future viability of the poultry industry will hinge on our ability to innovate or rethink our existing work processes.

See Britton, Page 5


transformational change often “die on the vine,” because the neces-sary stakeholder/corporate culture has not been adequately cultivated. This aspect of the social network of an enterprise whose stakeholders include stockholders, employees, customers and especially senior management is unfortunately often overlooked.

So how does all of this apply to poultry? Well, I think that if we are not careful, the poultry industry will find itself trying to respond a value deficiency crisis instead of a value deficiency opportunity.

I do believe we still have time to be looking toward the future and en-

visioning what our enterprise should look like. What are some of the lofty objectives we should be striving to achieve?

With these objectives in mind, we can begin to develop new work processes or methods that move us closer to our vision of a resilient fu-ture.

While it may or may not require a champion, there is no doubt that successful transformation will re-quire all of us to adopt a culture that is collaborative and embraces inno-vation in all of the different facets of poultry enterprise.

And maybe, just maybe, we can change the rules of the game by transforming the enterprise and cre-

ate a whole new system that is far better than we ever conceived; kind of like Apple Inc. and the iPhone.

References and further reading: (1) Tennenbaum Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology (2012, July 30). (Online) Available: http://www.ti.gatech.edu/ ; (2) W.B. Rouse et. al., Enterprise Transformation. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2006; (3) D.B. Yoffie and M. Slind, “Apple Inc., 2008,” Harvard Business Review, Boston, MA, Rep. 9-708-480, Sept. 2008; (4) L.M. Applegate, R. Aus-tin, and E. Colins, “IBM’s Decade of Transformation: Turnaround to Growth,” Boston, MA, Rep. 9-805-130, July 2009.

•Britton(Continued from page 4)

Calif. farmers file motion to intervene in Prop. 2 lawsuitLOS ANGELES — California

egg producers, through the As-sociation of California Egg Farm-ers (ACEF), filed a motion Aug. 2 to intervene in a federal lawsuit which challenges the legal validity of Proposition 2 — a law regulating egg-laying hen enclosures. The suit was filed by William Cramer, a Riv-erside County egg farmer who is not a member of ACEF.

While Cramer sets forth several grounds for his dispute with the law, ACEF’s challenge to Proposition 2 is focused on the claim that it is un-constitutionally vague and does not inform egg farmers how to confine their hens so as to avoid the criminal penalties that are part of the law.

The ACEF said the decision to en-ter this lawsuit was not made lightly but time has become a major issue for California egg farmers who need to know now the requirements for the enclosures they must build prior to the law taking effect on Jan. 1, 2015, when compliance with Propo-sition 2 becomes mandatory.

The lack of clarity regarding hen

enclosure standards has become dire because it will require an investment of $400 million from the state’s egg farmers and three years to construct new facilities in California.

AmendmentWhile California egg farmers

struggle to deal with Proposition 2, the recent passage of the “King Amendment” to the 2012 Farm Bill by the House Agriculture Commit-tee has only made matters worse.

The King Amendment would exempt out-of-state egg farmers selling eggs into California from complying with Proposition 2, something which would threaten the interests of California consumers as well as place California egg farmers at a severe economic and competi-tive disadvantage, the egg farmers group noted.

“Passage of the King Amendment will devastate California’s fresh egg industry by removing all quality and safety standards and enable out-of-state egg producers to avoid having

to comply with Proposition 2,” said Arnie Riebli, president of ACEF. He added, “Consumers need to realize that the availability of safe, fresh California eggs they have come to expect may no longer exist. Given the risk of criminal prosecution for violating Proposition 2 and the risks created by the King Amendment, we have no choice but file this motion to enable our industry to survive.”

In 2010, California enacted As-sembly Bill 1437 to protect Cali-fornia consumers by requiring all eggs sold in California, including those from out of state, to meet the requirements of Proposition 2. California imports approximately 40 percent of the eggs consumed in the state.

While the meaning of Proposi-tion 2 is unclear in most respects, it is clear that it would ban the sort of battery cages currently used in Cali-fornia and most other states.

ExpectationsThe ACEF pointed out that Cali-

fornia consumers have the right to expect that all eggs bought in Cali-

fornia are produced under the same conditions as eggs produced within the state.

And, California producers have the right to expect that their out of state competitors must meet the same production requirements. The King Amendment seeks to remove these protections.

ACEF supports the goal of pro-viding appropriate space to egg lay-ing hens. ACEF has joined with the Humane Society of United States (HSUS) and the United Egg Produc-ers (UEP) to support Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) Egg Products Inspection Act amendments which would establish preemptive na-tional standards on egg laying hen enclosures, including dimensions and other key elements that are not found in Proposition 2.

ACEF also joined HSUS and UEP in supporting the House coun-terpart, HR 3798, which is co-spon-sored by California Representatives Jeff Denham (R), Elton Gallegly (R) and Sam Farr (D).

While the Senate Agriculture Committee recently held a hearing

on this legislation, it failed to in-clude it in the Farm Bill and it is un-clear whether the bills will be taken up this year.

ACEF will continue to work toward a national standard for egg laying hen enclosures, but this may take years to achieve. California egg farmers are between “a rock and a hard place” and have no option but to now seek to invalidate Proposi-tion 2, the ACEF said.

“We simply cannot wait until ACEF members are criminally pros-ecuted to find out what Proposition 2 means and we cannot live with the King Amendment which would ef-fectively put California egg farmers out of business,” said Debbie Mur-dock, executive director of ACEF.

The Association of California Egg Farmers (ACEF) is a statewide trade association representing Cali-fornia’s egg farmers. ACEF serves as the voice for the egg farmer and the state’s egg industry which pro-duces approximately 5 billion eggs per year with approximately 20 mil-lion laying hens.


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McCay to oversee Aviagen U.S./U.K.breeding programs

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Avia-gen has announced the promotion of production executive Keith McCay to director of Pedigree and Great-Grandparent (GGP) Opera-tions.

In his new role, McCay will oversee all operational functions for Aviagen’s breeding programs in the United States and United Kingdom.

He most recently was vice president of operations at Aviagen North America.

Reporting directly to Aviagen CEO Randall Ennis, McCay will be responsible for managing the production of Pedigree and GGP stock for the company’s U.S. and U.K. programs.

He will focus on the continu-ous improvement of stock quality both internally and externally, the company noted, adding that, Mc-Cay will also drive innovations to improve the output through efficiencies in the Pedigree and GGP operations, working closely with Aviagen’s Research & De-velopment operation to establish, test and implement best practices across the program.

“With Keith’s experience and knowledge of the breeding pro-gram and his focus on operational excellence, he will bring a new dimension to our elite level breed-

ing opera-tions.” En-nis said.

“ K e i t h has been involved with op-e r a t i o n s at various levels for nearly two d e c a d e s here at Aviagen, and will work closely with R&D and the Executive Board to incor-porate unique and exciting tech-nology into the existing program,.” he added.

During his 22 year career in the poultry industry, McCay has spent 18 years at Aviagen and held senior management posts in grandparent operations, quality assurance, sales and production.

McCay grew up on family broiler farms with ConAgra, and pursued a bachelor of science de-gree in biology from Athens State University.

Prior to joining Aviagen he held the position of broiler flock su-pervisor at Wayne Farms for four years.

More information about Avia-gen can be obtained at www.avia-gen.com.

McCay

Ceva NA to expand Kansas campus

LENEXA, Kan. — Ceva Hold-ings Inc. on Aug. 2 announced the consolidation of all North America headquarters operations to its Lenexa, Kan., campus.

The move is expected to result in better synergies between key busi-ness functions and allow Ceva to serve its customers more efficiently for both Ceva Biomune and Ceva Animal Health, the company said.

Some business functions had previously been located in Ruther-ford, N.J.

“Ceva is one of the top three fast-est growing veterinary pharmaceu-tical companies and the ninth larg-est in the world. We look forward to growing our footprint in the North America market by leveraging the wonderful assets of an exemplary workforce, and academic and sup-ply side infrastructure in the Kan-sas City Animal Health Corridor,” said Craig Wallace, CEO of Ceva Holdings Inc.

The transition process to Lenexa is expected to be completed by fall 2012 and several job openings are anticipated. The move comes on the heels of Ceva Biomune’s recent announcement of a $7 million ren-ovation to its research and develop-ment facility in Lenexa.

“Locating our North America headquarters in the Midwest was a strategic decision. Ceva’s contin-ued investment and consolidation in Lenexa, in the heart of the Ani-mal Health Corridor, will continue to create jobs, business synergies, and most importantly solidify our foundation for continued growth in the corridor,” said Daryl Pint, CEO of Ceva Biomune.

More information can be ob-tained at www.ceva.us.

Cal-Maine reports quarterly results

JACKSON, Miss. — Cal-Maine

Foods Inc. on July 30 announced financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended June 2, 2012.

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, net sales were $275.2 million compared with net sales of $242.4 million for the fourth quarter a year ago. The company reported net earnings of $37.3 million, or $1.56 per basic share, for the fourth quar-ter of fiscal 2012 compared with net earnings of $7.3 million, or 30 cents per basic share, for the same period last year.

Results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 include a one-time gain of approximately $27 million, or $1.12 per share, after tax, as a result of a distribution from Eggland’s Best Inc. related to the new joint venture between Eggland’s Best and Land O’Lakes Inc., announced on May 1, 2012. The fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 had 14 weeks com-pared with 13 weeks in the prior year period.

For the fiscal year 2012, net sales were $1.1 billion compared with net sales of $942 million for fiscal 2011. The company reported net income of $89.7 million, or $3.76 per basic share, for fiscal 2012 compared with net income of $60.8 million, or $2.55 per basic share, in fiscal 2011. Fiscal 2012 had 53 weeks compared with 52 weeks in fiscal 2011.

“Our financial and operating re-sults for the fourth quarter marked a strong finish to fiscal 2012,” said Dolph Baker, president and CEO of Cal-Maine Foods Inc. “These results reflect higher volumes with an 8.6 percent increase in eggs pro-duced and 11 percent increase in eggs sold compared with the same period a year ago. While we had an extra week of sales compared with the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, we also had less Easter-related business fall in the fourth quarter due to the earlier holiday schedule in 2012.”

“For the year, we were pleased to exceed $1 billion in sales for the

first time in our history,” Baker added. “Retail demand was strong and helped the market absorb a slightly higher egg supply than we experienced in fiscal 2011. Sales of specialty eggs have continued to rise, accounting for 16.3 percent of our total number of eggs sold and over 24 percent of sales revenue for the year. Specialty eggs generally have a higher and more stable aver-age retail selling price and the 9.1 percent increase in specialty egg volume helped push our average selling prices up 9.7 percent for the year. We expect specialty eggs will continue to gain market share over regular eggs as consumer demand trends shift toward the perceived health benefits of organic and natu-ral food alternatives.

“Our operations have continued to run well in fiscal 2012. While our feed costs were high and vola-tile during the year, our manage-ment team has remained focused on executing our strategy of being an efficient, low cost producer. We expect feed costs will continue to rise for the near term, especially in light of the severe drought this summer and the damage to the na-tional corn crop.

“Overall, we are very pleased with Cal-Maine’s performance in fiscal 2012 and believe we have opportunities for continued growth in the year ahead,” he said. “Our strong balance sheet provides us with the flexibility to pursue our strategic initiatives. We believe we will continue to improve our product mix and expand our sales of specialty eggs, both in our cur-rent markets and through the new joint venture with Eggland’s Best Inc. and Land O’Lakes. Our recent acquisition of the Pilgrim’s Pride egg operations is expected to fur-ther enhance our sales efforts in the important Texas markets. We will continue to look for additional strategic acquisition opportunities and pursue a growth strategy that we believe will reward both our customers and shareholders.”

Other Business News

(Continued on next page)


Kreider notes system anniversary

MANHEIM, Pa. — A cleaner en-vironment, new local jobs and lower costs . . . Kreider Farms is celebrat-ing the one year anniversary of its successful livestock waste treatment system, a joint collaboration with Bion Environmental Technologies Inc., the company announced.

The first of its kind directly on a farm in the U.S., the venture con-verts animal waste from the farms’ 1,400 dairy cows to renewable re-sources, the company said, adding that, it’s a technology that’s poised to make significant environmental and economic impacts, while ad-dressing a challenging issue.

Kreider Farms notes that in one year’s time, it has realized reduc-tions in nutrient and environmental impacts, therein lowering environ-mental impact costs to local, state and federal authorities.

“Our new Bion system has dem-onstrated an environmentally and economically beneficial way to generate Chesapeake Bay nitro-gen reductions,” said Ron Kreider, president and CEO and the third-generation family leader of Kreider Farms.

Recently, Bion has also imple-mented new solids separation tech-nology at Kreider Farms.

This system provides verified nitrogen reductions based upon its Pennsylvania Department of Envi-ronmental Protection approved ver-ification plan at a cost of 10 percent to 50 percent of existing municipal waste and storm water costs, the company said.

More information about Kreider Farms can be obtained at www.kre-iderfarms.com.

More information about the waste treatment facility can be obtained at www.bionpa.com.

FCBT is reporting quarterly increases

AUSTIN, Texas — Farm Credit Bank of Texas (FCBT), a coop-eratively owned wholesale funding bank in the nationwide Farm Credit System, reported increased loan volume and net income for the sec-ond quarter of 2012.

The bank’s gross loan volume at June 30, 2012, totaled $10.98 bil-lion, an increase of 6.7 percent from Dec. 31, 2011. The increase was mainly attributed to growth in the bank’s participation loan portfolio, offset by a decrease in direct loans to its affiliated financing coopera-tives.

Credit quality also improved in the second quarter, with 94.2 per-cent of the loan portfolio classified as “acceptable” or “other assets especially mentioned” at June 30, 2012, compared with 91.2 percent at Dec. 31, 2011. Nonaccrual loans decreased 27 percent from year-end 2011, to $75 million at mid-year.

Net income for the three months ended June 30, 2012, was $54.3 million, an increase of 9.8 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. The increase was largely attributed to $9.8 million in refunds from the Farm Credit System Insurance Corp. Net income for the six months ended June 30, 2012, was $88.5 mil-lion, down 3 percent from the same period in 2011.

“We are very pleased with the progress achieved in the area of credit quality and our very positive earnings performance,” said Larry Doyle, FCBT chief executive offi-cer. “Our earnings allow our affili-ated lending cooperatives to fulfill our mission to extend competitive financing to rural America.”

The Austin-headquartered Farm Credit Bank of Texas is the source of funds for 17 rural financing cooper-atives in Alabama, Louisiana, Mis-sissippi, New Mexico and Texas. These lenders, which own the bank, in turn make loans to their owners — farmers, ranchers, agribusiness companies, rural landowners and country homeowners.

Together, the bank and its affili-

ated lending cooperatives make up one of four regions within the 96-year-old Farm Credit System, the nation’s largest source of financing for agriculture and rural America. Combined, the Texas Farm Credit District has $16.4 billion in out-standing loan volume and is the largest rural lending network in the five-state region.

The institutions in the Texas District reported $126.6 million in combined net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, a 26.8 percent increase over the same quarter of 2011. District net income for the first six months of this year totaled $222.6 million, up 16.8 percent from the same period last year. District loan volume was up 4.9 percent at June 30, 2012, from year-end 2011.

“Rains have made a welcome return to much of our territory, im-proving pasture and growing condi-tions significantly since last year,” said FCBT Board Chairman Jimmy Dodson. “While ongoing effects of the drought and volatility in com-modity prices remain concerns for many of our customers, risk mitiga-tion tools such as USDA loan guar-antees and crop insurance continue to provide stability to the district portfolio.”

Nationally, the system reported combined net income of $1.067 billion and $2.119 billion for the re-spective three-month and six-month periods ended June 30, 2012. This compares to combined net income of $982 million and $1.986 billion for the same periods last year.

More information can be obtained at www.farmcreditbank.com.

Tyson Foods recalls some canned items

SPRINGDALE, Ark. — Tyson Foods Inc. is voluntarily recalling 70,500 pounds of canned Premium Chunk Chicken produced by a co-packer, company officials said on July 27.

The product is packed in 12.5-ounces cans.

Approximately 24 cans produced on May 18, 2012, were mislabeled and actually contained Beef with

Gravy. The gravy contains wheat and is a potential allergen.

Tyson Foods has accounted for 14 of the 24 cans, however as a precau-tionary measure, the company is re-calling all 12.5-ounce cans of chunk chicken produced that day.

There have been no illnesses as-sociated with this mislabeling.

Tyson adds that it should be noted the product is fully cooked and there is no danger to consumers as long as this or any beef or chicken product is properly handled.

The mislabeled product can be identified by the date code 8965 248A 12139 printed directly on the end of each can.

The can also has a “best by” date of May 18, 2015.

Tyson Foods shipped the affected cans to the following food retailers and distribution centers in the fol-lowing states:

Affiliated Foods (Neb.)Amazon.com (Pa., Nev., Tenn.) Associated Wholesale Grocers-

DFW (Texas)Central Grocers Ellis (Ill.)Certco, Inc. (Wis.)Coastal Pacific Canned (Calif.)Defense Commissary Agency

(Va., Okla.)

Fareway Stores (Iowa)Giant Eagle/American Seaway

(Ohio)Giant Eagle/OK Grocery (Pa.)Grocery Supply (Texas, Ga.)H.E. Butt Grocery (Texas)Hy-Vee Food Stores, Inc. (Iowa)Ingles Markets, Inc. (N.C.)King Soopers Distribution Center

(Colo.)Meijer Wholesale (Mich.)Nash Finch – Bellefontaine

(Ohio)Peyton (Kroger) (Tenn., Ind.)Publix Super Market (Fla., Ga.)Sherm’s Thunderbird Market

(Ore.)Supervalu (Wash., Ill.)Tony Downs (Minn.)Wal-Mart (Wis., Va., N.H., Iowa,

N.C., Utah, La., Del., Ill., Colo., Pa., Kan., Texas, Tenn., Ariz. Ark., Ala., Calif., Ohio, Ky., Miss., Ore., N.Y., Ind., Ga., Mich., Fla., Ill., Mo.)

It’s important to note the product may have been shipped from distri-bution centers to states other than those listed, Tyson said.

Consumers with questions may contact Tyson Consumer Relations at 866-328-3156 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Business(Continued from previous page)

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8 POULTRY TIMES, August, 13, 2012

Understanding and controlling litter beetlesBy Robert Rowland, Ken Macklin, Gene Simpson, Jim Donald & Jess CampbellSpecial to Poultry Times

AUBURN, Ala. — Litter beetles are common pests in poultry houses and are well known for eating feed, disturbing chickens, harboring dis-eases and causing damage to hous-ing.

The darkling beetle is also often referred to as litter beetle or black beetle and in the scientific com-munity as Alphitobius diaperinus (panzer). The origin of the litter beetle is suspected to be from bird and bat colonies in sub-Saharan Af-rica. From there this pest has spread to colonize most of the temperate and tropical areas of the world. In the U.S. it is considered an exotic species that was introduced from Europe during the colonial period.

Since coming to the U.S. they can be found throughout the environ-ment; however, they are typically found in large numbers in poultry houses. Unfortunately, a modern poultry house is a nearly perfect en-vironment for these pests.

Understanding life cycleTo gain adequate control of litter

beetle infestations, it is important to understand a little bit more about lit-ter beetle biology.

Litter beetles are nocturnal, cos-mopolitan, have no natural enemies in the environment, and because of

their long association with birds, are attracted to ammonia. Yes, birds and small mammals do eat them, but there are no predators in the U.S. that actively hunt them.

They have a well defined life cycle, reaching maturity in 40 to 80 days under typical conditions. The 40 to 80 day life cycle of litter beetles can be further broken down to indi-vidual stages. Typically a mature fe-male lays 200 to 400 eggs with the eggs hatching in four to seven days. The emerging larva will go through several growth stages known as lar-val instars; this will last anywhere from 35 to 65 days. Toward the end of this stage the larva will start to search for an ideal area to pupate. This area is typically dark and out of the way, like along the sidewall, in insulation and in lumber or other soft materials.

The pupa stage lasts four to seven days, after which a litter beetle will emerge. Six to seven days after emerging from the pupa stage the beetle will become sexually mature. Females will start laying eggs every one to five days. The typical adult beetle can live about a year.

Doing some simple arithmetic and assuming the lowest number of eggs (200) and the longest time between lay (five days, a female can easily lay 1,200 or more egg per month.

House conditionsIt is easy to see why litter beetles

are common in a modern broiler house. Survival and reproduction of the beetles depends primarily on temperature, with the ideal tempera-ture being in the range of 70 degrees F to 95 degrees F. Litter beetles pre-fer an environment with about 12 percent moisture; however they do still thrive in moisture levels higher than this.

In a modern broiler house the en-vironment is kept fairly dark, there is an abundance of feed and water, plenty of ammonia produced from

the bird’s droppings, and the tem-perature range maintained in the house is ideal for beetle’s reproduc-tion. In a typical poultry house, it is not unusual to have 1,000 beetles per square yard.

Beetles consume feedOne thousand beetles per square

yard equate to more than 2 million beetles in one 40x500 foot house. That many beetles can consume a significant amount of feed. Assum-ing that each beetle weighs 100mg and they consume as much feed by weight as a chicken, a typical infes-tation of beetles can easily consume at least 1 point of feed conversion. That alone is a significant hit on the bottom line; however beetles do more than eat feed.

Litter beetles also directly affect the birds by pestering them, causing unnecessary movement, which will reduce feed efficiency. Additionally, moisture starved beetles have been observed to crawl onto the birds and chew at the base of the feathers. The resulting lesions have sometimes been mistaken for skin leukosis at the processing plant. These skin bites may also predispose the birds to contracting gangrenous dermati-tis and cellulitis.

If the infestation in the house is heavy enough, beetles are known to kill weakened chicks in their search for moisture and food. Chickens will readily consume beetles instead of feed, sometimes hundreds per day. The consumption of this many beetles will have a negative impact on feed efficiency, since beetles are filling, but not as nutritious as the provided feed. In addition to re-duced feed efficiency, consumption of beetles may lead to other intesti-nal problems, such as impaction of the gut and enteric diseases.

Carry diseasesLitter beetles have been associated

with transmitting many diseases, including IBDV (infectious bursal

disease virus), Marek’s disease, LT (laryngotracheitis), RSS (runting-stunting syndrome), E. coli, salmo-nella, dermatitis, necrotic enteritis, aspergillosis and coccidiosis, just to name a few.

Essentially any disease that the beetles come into contact with can be transmitted throughout the house. The disease-causing agent is carried either on the exterior of the beetle or inside the beetle’s gut. Beetles pick up the disease-causing agents by either crawling through an infected environment or by consuming an in-fected meal, like a dead bird. Typi-cally the disease-causing organism can be carried for two to three weeks and for some agents even longer.

House damageIn addition to directly affecting

the birds, beetles can cause signifi-cant damage to houses. While they are searching for food and a place to pupate it is common for them to damage wood and insulation.

The amount of damage is de-pendent upon the level of infesta-tion and the construction material used; however, even a fairly mild infestation can cause hundreds of

dollars worth of repair costs to a poultry house annually. This is the visible cost and does not take into consideration the hidden cost of re-duced house efficiency because of air leakage and a reduction in the insulation’s R value.

For example, damage to blue-board insulation throughout the house — as it often does when beetles are not controlled — will seriously impair house heating and cooling efficiency. This means poor flock performance resulting from less than optimum in-house condi-tions.

Keys to controlBiosecurityLitter managementInsecticides

Good beetle control can be achieved through a combination of management approaches and the use of insecticides. Although man-agement practices will not eliminate the beetles, they will help to discour-age them.

Some of these suggestions are re-ally about practicing good biosecu-

Robert Rowland is director of tech-nical services with Ivesco; and Ken Macklin, associate professor and Extension scientist; Gene Simpson, Extension economist and professor; Jim Donald, professor and Exten-sion specialist; and Jess Campbell, housing specialist, program man-ager, National Poultry Technology Center, are all with Auburn Univer-sity in Auburn, Ala. More informa-tion can be obtained at www.poul-tryhouse.com.

Pest and Diseases Image Library, Bugwood.org

Litter beetles: Beetles are a major pest of poultry, and their control is vi-tal to maintain flock health, as well as to minimize damage to housing.

See Beetles, Page 11

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CalendarCompiled by Barbara Olejnik, Associate Editor


AUG 16-17 — WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP CONF., Hilton Sandestin Beach Resort & Spa, Destin, Fla. Contact: U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, 1530 Cooledge Road, Tucker, Ga. 30084-7303, Ph: 770-493-9401; [email protected]; www.uspoultry.org,

AUG 20 — UEP AREA MTNG., Atlanta, Ga. Contact: United Egg Producers, 1720 Windward Concourse, Suite 230, Alpharetta, Ga. 30005. Ph: 770-360-9220; [email protected]; www.unitedegg.com.

AUG 22 — UEP AREA MTNG., Philadelphia, Pa. Contact: United Egg Producers, 1720 Windward Concourse, Suite 230, Alpharetta, Ga. 30005. Ph: 770-360-9220; [email protected]; www.unitedegg.com.

AUG 23 — UEP AREA MTNG., Columbus,

Ohio. Contact: United Egg Producers, 1720 Windward Concourse, Suite 230, Alpharetta, Ga. 30005. Ph: 770-360-9220; [email protected]; www.unitedegg.com.

AUG 28 — UEP AREA MTNG., Des Moines, Iowa. Contact: United Egg Producers, 1720 Windward Concourse, Suite 230, Alpharetta, Ga. 30005. Ph: 770-360-9220; [email protected]; www.unitedegg.com.

AUG 29 — UEP AREA MTNG., Ontario, Calif. Contact: United Egg Producers, 1720 Windward Concourse, Suite 230, Alpharetta, Ga. 30005. Ph: 770-360-9220; [email protected]; www.unitedegg.com.

AUG 30 — UEP AREA MTNG., Seattle, Wash. Contact: United Egg Producers, 1720 Windward Concourse,

Suite 230, Alpharetta, Ga. 30005. Ph: 770-360-9220; [email protected]; www.unitedegg.com.

SEP 4-6—ARKANSASNUTRITIONCONF.Contact: Poultry Federation, P.O. Box 1446, Little Rock, Ark. 72203. Ph: 501-375-8131; www.thepoultryfederation.com.

SEP 9-13 — IEC MARKETING & PRODUCTIONCONF., London, England. Contact: International Egg Commission, Second Floor, 89 Charterhouse St., London EC1M 6HR, England. Ph: 44-020-7490-3493; [email protected]; www.internationalegg.com.

SEP 12-14 — AFIA LIQUID FEED SYMPM., Grand Hyatt, Denver, Colo. Contact: American Feed Industry Association, 2101 Wilson Blvd., Suite 916. Arlington, Va. 22201. Ph: 703-524-0810; [email protected]; www.afia.org.

SEP 13-14 — CPF ANNUAL MTNG. & CONF., Monterey Plaza Hotel, Monterey, Calif. Contact: California Poultry Federation, 4640 Spyres Way, Suite 4, Modesto, Calif. 95356. Ph: 209-576-6355; [email protected]; www.cpif.org.

SEP 13-16 — MPA ANNUAL CONV., Hilton Sandestin Beach Hotel, Destin, Fla. Contact: Mississippi Poultry Association, 110 Airport Road, Suite C, Pearl, Miss. 39208. Ph: 601-932-7560; beard!mspoultry.org.

SEP 17-19 — NAT’L. MTNG. POULTRYHEALTH & PROCESSING, Clarion Resort

Fontainebleau Hotel, Ocean City, Md. Contact: Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., 16686 County Seat Hwy., Georgetown, Del. 19947-4881. Ph: 302-856-9037; [email protected]; www.dpichicken.org.

SEP 21-22 — PF TURKEY COMMITTEEMTNG. Contact: Poultry Federation, P.O. Box 1446, Little Rock, Ark. 72203. Ph: 501-375-8131; www.thepoultryfederat ion.com.

SEP 25-26—GEORGIAPOULTRYCONF.,Classic Center, Athens, Ga. Contact: Dr. A. Bruce Webster, Department of Poultry Science, 226 Poultry Science Building, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. 30602-4356. Ph: 706-542-1325; [email protected].

SEP 25-26 — POULTRY PRODUCTION &HEALTH SMNR., The Wynfrey Hotel, Birmingham, Ala. Contact: U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, 1530 Cooledge Road, Tucker, Ga. 30084-7303, Ph: 770-493-9401; [email protected]; www.uspoultry.org,

SEP 26-27 — PA. SALES & SERVICE CONF. /N.E.AVIANDISEASESCONF., Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, State College, Pa. Contact: Patti Burns, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa. Ph: 814-865-5573; [email protected].

OCT 3-4—PFPROCESSORSWKSHP.Contact: Poultry Federation, P.O. Box 1446, Little Rock, Ark. 72203. Ph: 501-375-

8131; www.thepoultryfederation.com.OCT 4-5 — POULTRY PROTEIN & FAT SMNR.,

Doubletree Hotel, Nashville, Tenn. Contact: U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, 1530 Cooledge Road, Tucker, Ga. 30084-7303, Ph: 770-493-9401; [email protected]; www.uspoultry.org,

OCT 4-7 — NPFDA FALL MTNG., San Diego, Calif. National Poultry & Food Distributors Association, 2014 Osborne Road, St. Marys, Ga. 31558, 770-535-9901, [email protected], www.npfda.org.

OCT 6—CALPOLYANIMALSCIENCEREUNION, Animal Nutrition Center, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. Contact: Wendy Hall, College of Agriculture, Food & Environmental Sciences, Cal Poly State University. Ph: 805-756-5398; [email protected].

OCT 9-12 — UEP ANNUAL BOARD MTNG. &EXECUTIVE CONF., Loews Coronado Bay, San Diego, Calif. Contact: United Egg Producers, 1720 Windward Concourse, Suite 230, Alpharetta, Ga. 30005. Ph: 770-360-9220; [email protected]; www.unitedegg.com.

OCT 10-11—NCCFALLBOARDOFDIRECTORSMTNG., & ANNUAL CONF., The Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C. Contact: National Chicken Council, 1015 15th St., N.W., Suite 930, Washington, D.C. 20005. Ph: 202-296-2622; www.nationalchick-encouncil.cm; www.eatchicken.com.

NuggetsCompiled by Barbara Olejnik, Associate Editor


Meeting examineshealth, processing

GEORGETOWN — The 47th National Meeting on Poultry Health and Processing will be held Sept. 17-19 at the Clarion Resort Fontaineb-leau Hotel in Ocean City, Md. The meeting is sponsored by the Del-marva Poultry Industry Inc.

A general session on Sept. 18 will be followed by concurrent poultry health and processing sessions.

The general session will discuss making safe, affordable and abun-dant food a global reality; export challenges and opportunities for

the chicken industry; and managing a poultry welfare crisis. A policy update from USDA’s Food Safety & Inspection Service will also be presented.

Topics in the poultry health ses-sion include alternative chicken house flooring research, alterna-tive litter opportunities and the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association research program. The processing session will hear an update on the modern-ization of poultry slaughter and me-chanically separated poultry as well as updates from USDA on labeling and the future of inspection.

A final poultry health session on Sept. 19 will look at vaccinations, molecular epidemiology of contem-porary viruses and chick quality as-sessments.

More information can be obtained by contacting the Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc. at 302-856-9037 or [email protected]. Online reg-istration is available at www.dpich-icken.org.

Diamond V to holdtech. symposium

CEDAR RAPIDS — Noted poul-try experts will focus on key aspects of nutrition and immunology during the Sept. 4, 2012, Diamond V Tech-nical Symposium which will pre-cede the Poultry Federation’s 2012 Arkansas Nutrition Conference at the Embassy Suites in Rogers, Ark.

Dr. Jason Frank of Diamond V noted that “At the technical sympo-sium, industry-leading researchers will share insights every poultry nutritionist, every poultry producer, will want to know.”

Presenters include: Dr. Phillip Maynard, nutrition-

ist, Tyson Foods, “An integrators perspective of nutrition and immu-

nology” Dr. Hyun Lillehoj Sr., research

immunologist, USDA, “Dietary strategies to enhance gut innate im-munity against enteric pathogens”

Dr. Douglas Korver, professor of poultry nutrition, University of Alberta, Canada, “Implications of changing immune function through nutrition”

Kurt Zuelke, director, USDA

Agricultural Research Service National Animal Disease Center, “Metagenomic applications for im-proving animal health”

Dr. Jason Frank, director of swine research and technical sup-port, Diamond V, “Strive for bal-anced immunity.”

Register at www.thepoultry-federation.com/calendar-of-events?event_id=57.

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To help ease the burden on the nation’s farms, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Aug. 2 opened up 3.8 million acres of con-servation land for ranchers to use for haying and grazing. Under that conservation program, farmers have been paid to take land out of produc-tion to ward against erosion and cre-ate wildlife habitat.

“The assistance announced today will help U.S. livestock producers dealing with climbing feed prices, critical shortages of hay and deterio-rating pasturelands,” Vilsack said.

Vilsack also said crop insurers have agreed to provide farmers fac-ing cash-flow issues a penalty-free,

30-day grace period on premiums in 2012.

As of the week of Aug. 2, nearly half of the nation’s corn crop was rated poor to very poor, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. About 37 percent of the U.S. soybeans were lumped into that category, while nearly three-quarters of U.S. cattle acreage is in drought-affected areas, the sur-vey showed.

The potential financial fallout in the nation’s midsection appears to be intensifying. The Mid-America Business Conditions Index, re-leased on Aug. 1, showed that the ongoing drought and global eco-nomic turmoil is hurting business in nine Midwest and Plains states, boosting worries about the prospect

of another recession, according to the report.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the in-dex, said the drought will hurt farm income while the strengthening dol-lar hinders exports, meaning two of the most important positive factors in the region’s economy are being undermined.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

The Aug. 2 expansion of federal relief was welcomed in rain-starved states like Illinois, where the US-DA’s addition of 66 counties leaves just four of the state’s 102 counties — Cook, DuPage, Kane and Will,

all in the Chicago area — without the natural disaster classification.

The Illinois State Water Survey said the state has averaged just 12.6 inches from January to June 2012, the sixth-driest first half of a year on record. Compounding matters is that Illinois has seen above-normal temperatures each month, with the statewide average of 52.8 degrees F during the first six months logged as the warmest on record.

“While harvest has yet to begin, we already see that the drought has caused considerable crop damage,” Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said. In his state, 71 percent of the corn crop and 56 percent of soybean acreage is considered poor or very poor.

In South Dakota, where roughly

three-fifths of the state is in severe or extreme drought, Vilsack earlier had allowed emergency haying and grazing on about 500,000 conser-vation acres, but not on the roughly 445,000 acres designated as wet-lands.

Vilsack’s decision to open up some wetland acres in a number of states will give farmers and ranchers a chance to get good quality forage for livestock, federal lawmakers said.

“The USDA cannot make it rain, but it can apply flexibility to the con-servation practices,” Sen. Tim John-son, a South Dakota Democrat, said on Aug. 1. The USDA designated 39 of his state’s counties disaster areas.

•Drought(Continued from page 1)

USDA: Drought will push up food prices in 2013The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — The drought gripping more than half the country is a major reason why consumers can expect to pay 3 percent to 4 per-cent more for groceries next year, the USDA said on July 25.

Milk, eggs, beef, poultry and pork prices will all be affected be-cause the drought has pushed up prices for feed, and that will eventu-ally translate into higher prices for steaks, hamburger, pork chops and chicken. The good news for cost-conscious consumers is that prices for fruits and vegetables, as well as processed foods, aren’t affected as much by the drought.

Exactly how much more people might pay for a pound of hamburger, for example, isn’t known because those prices are affected by lots of factors, including how much of the increase a given supermarket might pass along to the consumer. But beef prices as a whole are expected to see the biggest jump at 4 percent to 5 percent, according to the USDA.

Dairy product prices are forecast to climb 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent;

poultry and egg prices are projected to rise 3 percent to 4 percent; and pork prices are expected to rise 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent in 2013, the agency said.

“In 2013 as a result of this drought we are looking at above-normal food price inflation . . . Consumers are certainly going to feel it,” USDA economist Richard Volpe said.

Normal grocery price inflation is about 2.8 percent a year, Volpe said, so even a 3 percent increase is slightly higher than usual. The USDA kept its projected food price increase for 2012 steady at 2.5 per-cent to 3.5 percent, saying average retail food prices were flat for the first half of 2012 thanks to unusu-ally low fruit and vegetable prices as well as lower prices for milk and pork.

The new forecasts are the agen-cy’s first food price projections to factor in the drought, though ex-perts have been warning for weeks that prices will rise. As fields dry out and crops wither across much of the country’s midsection, prices for corn, soybeans and other commodi-ties have soared in anticipation of

tight supplies. That means farmers and ranchers will have to pay more to feed their livestock, and those costs eventually get passed on to consumers. Food prices typically climb about 1 percent for every 50 percent increase in average corn prices, according to agricultural economists.

Processed foods aren’t affected as much because feed costs don’t account for as much of their price tag. And fruits and vegetables aren’t expected to be any more costly be-cause they are irrigated even in nor-mal weather. The USDA is project-ing an overall 2 percent to 3 percent increase for all fruits and vegetables next year, the same as it expects this year.

USDA economists were aware of the drought in June when they did their last projections, but didn’t know how bad it would get, Volpe said.

“This drought was a surprise for everybody,” Volpe said. “The USDA was forecasting a record year for the corn crop until this drought materialized. Now we’re not going to get that.”

The drought now covers around 60 percent of the continental U.S., the largest area since the epic droughts of the 1930s and 1950s.

“It’s a disaster,” said Rick Tol-man, CEO of the National Corn Growers Association, who noted farmers started out the season an-ticipating a record 14 billion bushel corn crop. The drought is expected to cut production by roughly 3 bil-lion bushels.

“We would have had adequate supplies, prices would have gone down. Instead we have the drought,” he said.

Poultry pricesPoultry prices will be the first to

rise because chickens and turkeys need only a few months to grow to market size, Volpe said. Beef and pork take longer, and the agency actually revised its beef price pro-jection for 2012 downward because producers are sending more cattle to the market as they reduce their herds in response to the drought, he said.

Meat and poultry prices will be more affected than processed food prices because feed prices represent

the biggest part of their cost of pro-duction. Processed food prices are less affected because corn and other ingredients typically make up just a fraction of their production costs compared with expenses such as transportation and marketing.

Food companies are already re-acting, even turning abroad in some cases to blunt the impact of higher corn prices and tight supplies. Smithfield Foods Inc., the world’s largest pork producer, has bought corn from Brazil, spokeswoman Keira Lombardo confirmed.

The drought is creating multiple problems for dairy farmers that con-sumers will eventually feel, said Ed Jesse, an emeritus professor of agri-cultural economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Farmers have begun culling their herds, which will mean less milk down the line. Jesse predicted that milk prices for consumers will rise by 10 percent or more, and he ex-pects those prices to stay high into next year until herds start to re-cover.

“I don’t think farmers are in a very happy state right now,” he said.


rity. This includes restricting food available to beetles by picking up mortalities on a daily basis and cleaning up any spilled feed, even if it does not look like a large amount.

Packing litter after decaking and top dressing before chicks are placed will discourage beetles from enter-ing the litter and will make the house environment just a little more hostile to the beetles and their larva. Most frequent cleanouts help prevent bee-

tle populations from growing overly large, and may be justified if infesta-tions are severe. Litter beetles do not like temperatures below 40 degrees F, so leaving a poultry house open between flocks in winter will help in driving beetles off.

Various commercially available insecticides, if used properly, will do a good job of controlling beetle populations. One key to success in using these products is rotating between the different classes of chemicals at least every two flocks;

and not being discouraged by the lack of quick kill with some of the chemicals.

If one product is used for an ex-tended period of time, resistance to it will build in the beetle population. Once the population is resistant to that class of chemical, it will no lon-ger provide control and must be re-moved from the rotation for several years. It is important that the chemi-cals are used wisely to ensure their effectiveness for years to come.

A combination of management

and chemical treatment is using in-house windrow composting in con-junction with a chemical. Initially form a windrow pile in the house. After it is formed, apply a chemical insecticide in a band about 1 foot wide down either side of the wind-row pile. Then spray the chemical insecticide over the top of the pile so that any insects trying to escape from the pile are exposed and killed.Bottom line

In summary, beetles are a ma-

jor pest of poultry, causing serious financial losses from damage to houses, reduced bird efficiency and disease.

Their control is important in sav-ing money, your poultry houses, and possibly your flock. While the variability of conditions from house to house and complex to complex makes it impossible to put an exact dollar value on the problem, it has definitely been shown that achiev-ing good beetle control does result in improved flock performance.

•Beetles(Continued from page 8)

Encoding expert knowledge for food processing tech.By Dr. Ai-Ping HuSpecial to Poutlry Times

ATLANTA — People are ver-satile and can learn to function ex-pertly in many different capacities.

As we move forward into con-ceiving a poultry processing plant of the future — which will be made up of highly adaptable and scalable systems that are simultaneously ca-pable of handling “lot sizes of one” — this kind of versatility will be invaluable.

New robotsIn the context of automation, we

invite the reader to envision a new breed of all-purpose robots working inside a poultry processing plant.

These robots would be made of almost generic hardware (in the same way that human beings are all physiologically similar), but their control algorithms (their “training,” from which expertise in using one’s five senses is derived) would be custom-tailored for accomplishing a myriad of different processing tasks. In all likelihood, some of the tasks in the poultry processing plant of the future have yet to be foreseen.

The tradition of apprenticeship is an age-old practice by which expert knowledge and skills are passed from one generation to the next.

As robots are beginning to as-

sist in increasingly sophisticated tasks that were once the exclusive domain of human practitioners (sur-gery, navigating in unstructured en-vironments, complex decision mak-ing, to name just a few), there has been much research devoted to the subject of how to teach these new machines old tricks.

A new project just initiated through the Agricultural Technol-ogy Research Program at the Geor-gia Tech Research Institute will explore how expert knowledge in the food processing industry may be encoded and then used to teach robots to perform more like their hu-man counterparts.

OperationsThough plants are increasingly

automated, there remain in the food processing industry a surfeit of operations that require expert knowledge in order to function ef-ficiently and cost-effectively. In the poultry industry, there exist at least two such operations: deboning and trimming.

Taken together, these two opera-tions tend to require the largest con-tingent of manual on-the-line labor inside poultry processing plants. Fixed automation solutions exist for deboning, but their use in plants perennially results in a loss of yield when compared to humans perform-

ing the same task. Researchers in GTRI’s Food Processing Technol-ogy Division have been working on an Intelligent Deboning project for several years — this new research project will complement that exist-ing project.

Likewise, trimming is comprised of a number of actions that are fairly simple for human beings to perform, but that are especially difficult for machines to implement robustly, namely: visually inspecting natu-rally variable product and iden-tifying regions of interest, tactile manipulation of non-rigid objects, support/fixturing and cutting of de-formable material.

This new project will have direct application to the support/fixturing and cutting aspect of the trimming operation.

To properly perform debon-ing and trimming, i.e., to do them quickly, accurately and efficiently (with minimal energy), human prac-titioners undergo a period of learn-ing, during which time they develop experience and expertise in manipu-lating a knife.

The environment in this case is the bird. The input states to the hu-man controller are made up of prop-erties of the environment that can be sensed and measured.

These are, principally, in the case of biomaterials: textural compliance (differentiating among meat, tendon

and bone) and orientation (how is the bird fixtured?). The control out-puts include the position and orien-tation of the knife (three Cartesian coordinates and three angles) and the forces and torques applied to (about) the knife handle.

The input-output mappings — for a given bird (input), how does a line worker wield a knife (output)? — corresponding to especially skilled practitioners comprise a valuable fund of expert knowledge. For the new project, this expert knowledge (or finesse) will be encoded and learned by a robot attempting to take the place of the human controller.

MeasurementsTwo types of measurements will

be required: kinematic (geometry and motion) and dynamic (forces and torques). In each case, the hand-held knife is the conduit. To make the kinematic measurements, we propose to use the Microsoft Kinect. To make the dynamic mea-surements, the project will use the instrumented knife testbed utilized by the Ergonomic Work Assessment System (EWAS) project.

For the encoding and teaching, we intend to explore a combined neural network and fuzzy logic technical approach. Neural networks are ad-ept at using numerical information (e.g., data obtained from multiple

sensor measurements) to drive the creation of highly nonlinear, inter-connected mappings.

Fuzzy logic is a good choice for translating linguistic rules (such as “IF the force on the blade feels hard, THEN ease off the knife handle.”) into quantifiable actions.

Taken together, the two methods will (1) permit a numerical encod-ing of expert knowledge and (2) provide the capability for a robot to refine its performance in real time through practice, so that its actions during deboning and trimming may more closely replicate that of a hu-man expert.

Of course, the physical embodi-ment of an all-purpose robot that can learn from such encodings may look quite different (and cost much less) than existing robots.

GTRI researchers are tackling this complementary aspect of the problem, as well — a topic we will reserve for a future article.

Dr. Ai-Ping Hu is a senior research engineer in the Georgia Tech Re-search Institute’s Food Processing Technology Division. Article re-printed from PoultryTech, a pub-lication of the Agricultural Tech-nology Research Program of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, a program conducted in cooperation with the Georgia Poultry Federa-tion with funding from the Georgia Legislature.

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U.S. supporting Mexico’s efforts to control AISTONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — The USA

Poultry & Egg Export Council, in a recent release, noted that the U.S. poultry industry expresses its support for Mexican poultry pro-ducers as they wage their battle against avian influenza (AI), and pledges its support to help them win this war.

Under the auspices of the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) Egg and Poultry Partnership (NEPP), the U.S. and Mexican poultry industries have a long his-tory of dialogue and cooperation on issues of common concern, particularly animal health, the council noted.

A virus that is endemic in migratory birds, AI sometimes spreads to commercial poultry flocks. It can affect, and has affected, poultry

production in many parts of the world. Recently, a particularly serious form of

highly pathogenic AI appeared in commercial egg laying hen flocks in a region in the state of Jalisco.

The Mexican government and Mexican poultry industry are currently fighting back against this natural disaster.

Working groupUSAPEEC and Mexico’s Union Nacio-

nal de Avicultores (UNA) have established a NEPP working group on AI to identify issues and projects on which the two industries can coordinate to help Mexico deal with this out-break.

This working group is supported by various

U.S. organizations, including the American Egg Board, the National Chicken Council, the National Turkey Federation, the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, United Egg Producers and the USAPEEC International Poultry De-velopment Program, as well as the Interna-tional Egg Commission and the International Poultry Council.

Fortunately, there are also internationally-recognized standards established by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) that identify strategies and protocols for control-ling and eliminating the disease, the groups added.

These procedures include containment, management of poultry movement, zoning and compartmentalization, humane stamp-ing out and vaccination when appropriate.

The OIE strategies, when fully and properly implemented, will provide an effective path for handling this crisis.

With depopulation of affected flocks as the primary focus, Mexico is incorporating the OIE strategies and the U.S. industry stands ready to help Mexico in its efforts.

The outbreak of AI in Mexico could have occurred in any NAFTA country, indeed in any country in the world, the council noted, adding that, no industry is entirely immune to the movement of infectious animal diseases.

It is everyone’s interest to work together to stamp out AI wherever and whenever it oc-curs, the groups noted, adding that, the U.S. industry wants to assure its Mexican col-leagues that they have our staunch support.

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POULTRY TIMES, August 13, 2012 13

USDA Agricultural Research Service

House flies & salmonella: USDA researchers have conducted ex-periments looking into the role that house flies may play in spreading salmonella to chickens.

The role house flies play in spreading salmonellaBy Sharon DurhamSpecial to Poultry Times

BELTSVILLE, Md. — It’s com-mon knowledge that house flies are carriers of disease. That’s why there’s such widespread effort to keep them out of our kitchens and away from our food.

But could the common house fly, Musca domestica, also play a role in spreading food poisoning bacte-ria such as Salmonella enteritidis to chickens — and their eggs — even before the foods get into the market-ing chain?

Microbiologis Peter S. Holt and entomologist Christopher J. Geden were curious. Holt works in the Egg Safety and Quality Research Unit at the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s Richard B. Russell Re-search Center in Athens, Ga., while Geden is at the agency’s Center for Medical, Agricultural and Vet-erinary Entomology in Gainesville, Fla.

“We decided to investigate whether infected hens could pass the infection on to flies,” said Holt, “and whether those flies could then infect healthy birds. If so, we wanted to see how that happens and where

the salmonella bacteria appear on — and in — the flies.”

In three experiments, Holt placed chicken in individual, adjacent lay-ing cages. Geden delivered fly pu-pae just 48 hours short of their emer-gence as flies; these were placed in an open box in the bird room. Three days later the hens were challenged with salmonella.

“We found that about half the house flies became colonized with salmonella soon after emergence,” Holt said. The bacteria were de-tected in and on 45 percent to 50 percent of the flies within the first 48 hours, and levels remained at 50 percent or higher for the following five days.

Best if ingestedNext, the researchers exposed un-

infected hens to the newly infected flies. They found that just being around the contaminated flies didn’t cause healthy birds to become in-fected, but eating infected flies did.

And though the studies showed minimal bacterial contamination of the hens’ crops, intestinal coloniza-tion occurred in about 38 percent of the birds by days six and 13 of the

experiment. The crop is the small sack in the digestive system that stores predigested food.

“We found that simple physi-cal contact may not be the primary method of transfer of salmonella bacteria to different surfaces in a poultry house,” Holt said. “But a hen’s eating of contaminated flies does seem to be the primary mecha-nism of transmission of salmonella from flies to birds.”

Holt has shown that flies in poul-try houses are not only a nuisance, but also a threat to the safety of poul-try products.

“Though there is much more to learn about the relationship between salmonella, flies and poultry, this re-search shows that growers need to pay special attention to fly control using methods of surveillance and treatment that are already avail-able,” said Holt.

This research is part of Food Safety, an ARS national program. More information about this pro-gram can be obtained at www.nps.ars.usda.gov.

Sharon Durham is a public affairs specialist with the USDA Agricul-tural Research Service in Beltsville, Md.

ASA comments on House Ag Committee’s proposed Farm BillST. LOUIS — The U.S. House of

Representatives Committee on Ag-riculture on July 5 released the draft Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (FARRM), the House version of the Farm Bill, which would trim $35 billion in spending from agriculture, con-servation and nutrition programs through 10 years as compared to current law.

American Soybean Association President Steve Wellman, a farmer from Syracuse, Neb., released the

following statement on the legisla-tion:

“ASA is very pleased to see the House’s progress on the farm bill, and we appreciate the leadership from House Agriculture Commit-tee Chairman (Frank) Lucas (R-Okla.) and Ranking Member (Col-lin) Peterson (D-Minn.) in releasing this draft. We are encouraged to see the House Agriculture Committee moving toward mark-up next week, as ASA continues to strongly urge Congress to finish the farm bill this year. ASA knows that the budget

challenges facing the nation are indeed serious and we remain com-mitted to a bill that bears agricul-ture’s fair share of deficit reduction responsibilities.

“With regard to commodity pol-icy, the House proposal would offer farmers a choice between two com-modity programs: a target-price pro-gram or a revenue-based program. A key priority for ASA throughout the farm bill deliberations has been to ensure that commodity policies do not distort farmers’ planting deci-

sions, and we look forward to work-ing with the House to ensure that soybeans are treated equitably and that planting decisions would not be distorted by farm programs offered under the House bill.

“ASA supports a number of pro-visions throughout the House pro-posal, including reauthorization and funding of important trade and mar-ket development programs, reau-thorization of agricultural research programs, and the focus within the conservation title on working-lands conservation and a gradual reduc-

tion of acres enrolled in the Con-servation Reserve Program. While no mandatory funding is provided, we are glad that ASA’s Energy Title priorities, the Biobased Market Pro-gram and the Biodiesel Education Program, are reauthorized. Finally, we are pleased to see the House bill include H.R. 872, which will ensure that farmers aren’t required to obtain duplicative permits for pesticide ap-plications.”

More information on the Ameri-can Soybean Association can be ob-tained at www.soygrowers.com.

USDA funding to improve rural electric WASHINGTON — U.S. Agri-

culture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Aug. 9 announced that rural elec-tric utilities in 18 states will receive loan guarantees to make improve-ments to electric lines, transmission facilities and to reduce peak electric loads by deploying smart grid tech-nologies.

USDA Rural Utilities Adminis-trator Jonathan Adelstein made the announcement on Vilsack’s behalf while visiting the offices of one of the recipients, Southside Electric Cooperative in Crewe, Va. The co-operative is using funds to build and

improve a distribution line, trans-mission line and will invest almost $7.4 million for smart grid system enhancements.

“Maintaining and upgrading rural electric systems improves system reliability, creates jobs and supports economic development,” Vilsack said. “With these loans, we are con-tinuing to help cooperatives provide reliable service to rural residents. A significant portion of this funding will go to smart grid technologies, helping consumers lower their elec-tric bills and reducing peak demand for producers.”


Industry Stock ReportThe following chart provides an annual high and a comparison of recent activity of major poultry company stocks.

Company Annual High Aug. 3 Aug. 7

Cal-Maine 42.40 38.88 38.81Campbell Soup 34.58 32.79 32.76ConAgra 27.34 24.57 24.70Hormel 30.70 28.00 27.77Pilgrim’s Pride 8.68 4.59 4.62Sanderson Farms 55.87 37.22 38.11Seaboard 2600.00 2327.69 2327.14Tyson 21.06 15.40 14.77

(Courtesy: A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc.) Turkey MarketsWeighted avg. prices for frozen whole young turkeysWeighted average (cents/lb.) F.O.B. shipper dock

National Week ending Aug. 3 Last yearHens (8-16 lbs.) 108.12 102.15Toms (16-24 lbs.) 106.70 106.40

Week ending Jul. 27 Jul. avg.Hens (8-16 lbs.) 107.50 106.43Toms (16-24 lbs.) 106.34 106.96

Nat’l. Broiler Market:(Aug. 6): Whole broiler/fryer prices are trending steady in all areas. Final majority prices were unchanged to higher in the Midwest, unchanged in

the East and West when compared to the previous week. Offerings were light to moderate for current trade needs. Retail demand was light to good, mostly light to moderate. Foodservice demand was light to moderate following the weekeind.

Floor stocks were closely balanced to long. Market activity was slow to moderate. In the parts struc-ture, demand was light to moderate. Prices were steady to firm for ten-ders, steady for wings and no better than steady for breast items and dark meat items. Offerings were light to moderate for tenders, mod-erate to heavy for wings, breasts and dark meat items. Market activ-ity for parts was slow to moderate. In production areas, live supplies were moderate at mixed, but mostly desirable weights.

Fowl:Aug. 3: Live spent heavy fowlFinal prices at Farm Buyer Loading (per pound): range 9½-21¢

Parts:Georgia: The f.o.b. dock quoted prices on ice-pack parts based on truckload and pool truckload lots for the week of Aug. 6: line run tenders $1.97½; skinless/boneless breasts $1.55½; whole breasts $1.01; bone-less/skinless thigh meat $1.29; thighs 73½¢; drumsticks 74½¢; leg quarters 51¢; wings $1.87½.

National Slaughter:Broiler: Estimated slaugh-ter for week ending Aug. 4 is 159,099,000.Actual slaughter for the week end-ing Jul. 28 was 159,514,000.Heavy-type hen: Estimated slaugh-ter for the week ending Aug. 4 is 1,802,000.

Actual slaughter for the week end-ing Jul. 28 was 1,721,000.Light-type hen: Estimated slaugh-ter for the week ending Aug. 4 is 1,121,000. Actual slaughter for the week ending Jul. 28 was 783,000. Total: Week of Aug. 4: 162,022,000. Week of Jul. 28: 162,018,000.

Estimates:

The estimated number of broiler-fryers available for slaughter the week ending Aug. 4 is 157.8 million head, compared to 160.6 million head slaughtered the same week last year. For the week of Aug. 11, the estimated available is 157 million head, notes the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, Poultry Programs.

Grain PricesOHIO COUNTRY ELEV. Jul. 24 Jul. 31 Aug. 7 No. 2 Yellow Corn/bu. $8.29 $8.35 $8.03Soybeans/bu. $16.52 $16.74 $15.94(Courtesy: Prospect Farmers Exchange, Prospect, Ohio)

Broiler/Fryer MarketsUSDA Composite Weighted Average

For week of: Aug. 6 80.54¢For week of: Jul. 30 79.87¢ Chi.-Del.-Ga.-L.A.-Miss.-N.Y.--S.F.-South. StatesFor delivery week of: Jul. 23 Aug. 6 Chicago majority 65--81¢ 69--80¢Mississippi majority 82--86¢ 82--86¢ New York majority 80--83¢ 77--80¢ For delivery week of: Jul. 24 Aug. 6Delmarva weighted average 72¢--$1.01 65--98¢Georgia f.o.b. dock offering 94.75¢ 94.75¢Los Angeles majority price $1.04 $1.04San Francisco majority price $1.04½ $1.04½ Southern States f.o.b. average 64.54¢ 64.08¢

Broiler Eggs Set/Chicks Placed in 19 States EGGS SET (Thousands) CHICKS PLACED (Thousands)

AlaArkCa,Tn,WvDelFlaGaKyLaMdMissMo.N.C.OklaPaS.C.TexVa

19 StatesTotalPrev. year% Prev. yr.

Jul. 7

27,31320,27810,6933,3711,35332,4967,5163,2587,04517,6557,38819,8256,7983,6165,30614,1395,854

193,904194,961

99

Jul. 14

27,94619,74210,7703,2951,35232,2847,7543,4097,35118,0638,06819,8166,4653,6625,29814,6125,919

195,806196,576

100

Jul. 21

27,81319,93110,7203,5031,34131,7957,8273,1077,22017,6918,02419,6286,6963,5355,31914,5006,217

194,867195,141

100

Jul. 28

28,14920,91510,8703,5011,35231,5737,7953,1677,60017,8387,83519,6386,7143,6225,60314,2556,182

196,609194,434

101

Jul. 7

19,94120,38111,8494,7201,23426,5995,9292,9135,71614,9155,11115,8444,2483,0204,83112,1294,294

163,674165,957

99

Jul. 14

20,30119,20911,1894,9891,16826,9175,6732,9615,58215,4855,06415,7144,3433,0034,52412,1584,712

162,992164,445

99

Jul. 21

20,52520,50210,6754,2501,17926,6416,3223,0987,13115,2164,70816,2274,3352,9624,14211,9314,312

164,156162,828

101

Jul. 28

19,41719,31310,2593,1531,21128,2465,8132,9356,09314,9335,15915,8984,1512,9984,27311,9065,383

161,141162,898

991/Current week as percent of same week last year.

Egg MarketsUSDA quotationsNew York cartoned del. store-door: Aug. 1 Aug. 7Extra large, up 1¢ $1.57--$1.61 $1.58--$1.62 Large, up 1¢ $1.55--$1.59 $1.56--$1.60 Medium, down 4¢ $1.10--$1.14 $1.06--$1.10Southeast Regional del. warehouse: Aug. 1 Aug. 7Extra large, up 19½¢ $1.35½--$1.63 $1.55--$1.69¼Large, up 19½¢ $1.31½--$1.55 $1.51--$1.64Medium, up 2¢ 97½¢--$1.10 99½¢--$1.07¼

MarketsCompiled by David B. Strickland, Editor

[email protected]

USDA Shell EggsAMS weekly combined region shell egg pricesAverage prices on sales to volume buyers, Grade A or better, White

eggs in cartons, delivered warehouse, cents per dozen.Aug. 3 Extra Large Large MediumRegions: Northeast 155.50 147.00 107.00Southeast 152.50 150.50 105.00Midwest 144.50 142.50 103.50South Central 164.50 153.50 108.50Combined 154.77 148.60 106.11Computed from simple weekly averages weighted by regional area popula-tions


AMERICANEGG BOARDHOTLINE

AEB Hotline appears regu-larly in Poultry Times and provides an update on pro-grams and services provided for egg producers by the American Egg Board. Details on any item mentioned may be obtained by contacting AEB at 1460 Renaissance Dr., Park Ridge, Ill. 60068. Phone: 847-296-7043.

The Incredible Edible Egg Jingle is coming BACK this fall, and AEB is tapping into its nos-talgia to leverage this beloved classic and drive egg sales. The surround-sound approach in-cludes satellite radio, traditional and social media outreach, ring-tones and more.

The Egg Nutrition Center continues to fund more than $1.3 in annual research. On av-erage, each researcher receives $126,000 that allows ENC to fund eight to 10 projects each year. This influx of new research allows ENC to maintain a con-stant pipeline of research that is the core of AEB’s public relation efforts. ENC’s research on a pro-tein-rich egg breakfasts resulted in 11 million media impressions. News on metabolic syndrome and satiety earned almost 1 mil-lion impressions.

The Foodservice Commu-nications Program focuses on the growing opportunity for eggs at Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) breakfast. This program utilizes data and statistics to demon-strate the dramatic growth of QSR breakfast over the last sev-eral years. One example of this is the banner ads for the online program with QSRmagazine.

com. Three new banner ads are under development, the first of which will debut this month. It focuses on the growth in serv-ings of breakfast sandwiches at QSRs over the last five years. Photos of on-trend egg break-fast sandwiches are featured in the banner and the last frame links to the new recipes section of the website, one of the most popular areas of the site. Simi-lar banner ads will be featured on AEB.org/foodservice. Other elements of the communications program include:

— Five banner ads on QSR-Magazine.com in January, May, July, September and November provide a total of 300,000 im-pressions.

— QSR Magazine.com Breakfast microsite sole sponsor for 2012, including two banner ads plus Breakfast Portal Data section.

— Four issues of the Breakfast Beat newsletter-February and May issues have been distrib-uted and August and November issues are to come. E-versions have also been tested.

— Blog and Twitter programs continue throughout 2012.

USA Poultry & Egg Export Council took part in Tokyo’s FA-BEX Food and Beverage Expo with a booth and display focus-ing on U.S. egg products funded by the American Egg Board. The booth was a popular stop-ping point for show-goers, who looked over the display of U.S. products and sampled breads made with U.S. dried egg prod-ucts.

Index of AdvertisersAcme, 8D .......................................................................................................................................................... 918-682-7791; www.acmeag.comAgrifan, 2 ....................................................................................................................................................... 800-236-7080; www.envirofan.com American Proteins, 8D ............................................................................................................................................. www.americanproteins.comBayer, 8E....................................................................................................................................................................................... www.bayer.comBeneficial Insectary, 8B .................................................................................................................................................................... 800-477-3715 Car Mac, 7 ..........................................................................................................................................................................................800-424-8108CID Lines, 8C .............................................................................................................................................................................www.cidlines.com Cumberland, 8C..............................................................................................................................217-226-4401; www.cumberlandpoultry.comElanco, 8B........................................................................................................................................................... 800-428-4441; www.elanco.comFPM, 8D ..............................................................................................................................................................402-729-2264; www.fpmne.comJones-Hamilton-PLT, 8A ...................................................................................................................800-379-2243; www.joneshamiltonAg.comMotomco, Cover III ....................................................................................................................................... 800-237-6843; www.motomco.comPreserve, Cover II ..............................................................................................................................................................................800-995-1607Pro Tech, 9 .................................................................................................................................................. 800-438-1707; www.pro-techinc.comRandy Jones, 8G ...............................................................................................................................................................................800-648-6584Reeves, Cover IV ......................................................................................................................................888-854-5221; www.reevessupply.comStar Labs, 8B....................................................................................................................................................800-894-5396; www.primalac.comTabor Group, 5 ........................................................................................................................................................................... www.aglights.comWeigh Tech, 8C ........................................................................................................................................ 800-457-3720; www.weightechinc.com

Dr. C.R. Creger Jr.COLLEGE STATION, Texas —

Dr. Clarence Richard (Dick) Creger Jr., whose career spanned 34 years in agriculture leadership roles at Texas A&M University, died Aug. 4. He was 78.

Dr. Creger received his bachelor of science degree and his masters of science degree in nutrition from Kansas State University.

In 1958, he came to Texas A&M as a doctoral student and worked as a research assistant in what were then the departments of biochem-istry and nutrition and poultry sci-ence. After earning his doctorate, he became an assistant professor in those departments, later advanc-ing to full professor and head of the Department of Poultry from 1982 to 1992.

In 1992, Dr. Creger became in-terim associate deputy chancellor for agriculture and interim execu-tive associate dean and professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He later became deputy chancellor and associate dean, later executive associate dean through 2000.

In 2001, he was named associate

vice chancellor agriculture and life sciences and associated director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, now named Texas AgriLife Research. In 2004 he returned to the Department of Poultry Science as a professor.

Dr. Creger received the Deputy Chancellor Award for Excellence in Administration in 1992; the Texas Poultry Federation’s Golden Feather Award in 1995; and the Poultry Science Association Fel-lows Award in 1997.

Dr. Creger also served in the United States Army and the Army Reserves, retiring with the rank of colonel.

He is survived by several nieces and nephews.

Donald A. PerryATLANTA — Donald A. (Don)

Perry, vice president of corporate public relations for Chick-fil-A Inc., died July 27. He was 60.

Mr. Perry joined Chick-fil-A in 1983 as the chain’s first public re-lations professional as manager of corporate PR. He helped take the company from a regional player

in the southeast to a national brand with sales approaching $4 billion.

He has served as president of the Georgia Chapter of the Public Rela-tions Society of America (PRSA) in Atlanta and was later inducted into the chapter’s Order of the Phoe-nix and the Georgia PRSA Hall of Fame.

A graduate of the University of Georgia Henry W. Grady College of Journalism, Mr. Perry served on the Professional Advisory Board to the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications, the UGA Foundation board of trustees and the Editorial Advisory Board for the university’s Georgia Magazine.

Mr. Perry received the Grady College’s John Holliman Jr. Alumni Award for Lifetime Achievement in Mass Media and was inducted into the Grady’s Fellowship of Top Grady Graduates. In 2011, UGA’s Blue Key Honor Society presented Mr. Perry with its Blue Key Service Award for his professional and civic contributions.

Survivors include his wife, Mari-lyn Baker of Conyers, Ga.; three sons, Brandon, Jason and Kristian; and a grandson.

Obituaries


Saving energy using ‘green’ renewable resourcesBy Gary FloydSpecial to Poultry Times

ATLANTA — In the Spring 2008 issue of PoultryTech, an arti-cle on heat recovery was written to provide information on the potential savings from taking waste heat from refrigeration systems.

The last two paragraphs of the article also pointed out the poten-tial reduction in greenhouse gases. Waste heat recovery is still a win-win solution today, but I would like to discuss other opportunities to invest in clean energy technologies that support renewable resources.

Anaerobic digestionAnaerobic digestion is one of

those opportunities. This digestion process occurs naturally through which organic matter such as ma-nure, feed spills, poultry wastes and crop residues are fed, heated and mixed.

During the process, in the absence of oxygen, the anaerobic bacteria thrive by consuming the solid waste resulting in the release of methane and carbon dioxide known as bio-gas.

The biogas can then be used as fuel for boilers, which can offset the cost of natural gas usage.

Sanderson Farms has installed a digester at one of their poultry plants that captures methane gas from the anaerobic lagoon that treats the plant’s wastewater. The captured gas is piped back to the plant and then used to fuel the gas boiler. The plant, according to Sanderson Farms, has reduced their natural gas usage by 80 percent.

BiogasBiogas itself is typically com-

posed of 60 percent methane and 40 percent carbon dioxide. Natural gas is 97 percent methane. There are technologies that can remove carbon dioxide from the biogas and then convert it to renewable natural

gas, enabling it to be injected into a natural gas pipeline for resale.

The technology to upgrade bio-gas is becoming more popular be-cause it does not have the heat loss and emission issues related to an internal combustion engine.

And, since the final product is natural gas, it can be moved effi-ciently using the existing natural gas grid. Finally, unlike natural gas, which contributes gas emissions to the atmosphere, the combustion of upgraded biogas actually reduces greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere by displacing natural gas.

Electricity can also be produced from biogas using internal combus-tion engines and generators.

Plants that install these systems may be able to off-set their plant electrical energy costs and be eli-gible to sell back to their electric grid provider.

Two types of biogas engines are available: diesel and gas. Gas en-gines are designed to burn a gaseous fuel instead of liquid. In a diesel biogas engine, 5 percent of the pro-duced energy will come from diesel oil, which will be used as a pilot fuel to ignite during combustion.

Biogas generators are relatively simple systems, but their efficiency is close to 40 percent at best when converting the biogas to electrical energy.

The remaining biogas is con-verted to heat and noise. The heat can be recovered and used for other plant processes.

ElectricityGas turbines are used in the elec-

tric utility industry to convert natu-ral gas into electricity; however, bio-gas, which has a lower BTU (British termal unit) value than natural gas, is wet and corrosive, and therefore, not the best fuel for the turbine. Also, the biogas would require ad-ditional conditioning, which makes it not economically feasible.

Economics should be considered

if an anaerobic digester is to be used solely to produce electricity or off-set a plant’s electricity usage.

Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company located in the Southeastern United States, will purchase the energy produced from renewable generation that meets the Federal Energy Regulatory Com-mission (FERC) requirements to be a Qualifying Facility (QF) (greater than 100 KW, less than 80 MW).

The payment for energy is cal-culated on an hourly avoided cost rate.

The avoided cost rate represents the value of the electricity the utility avoids generating or purchasing.

When a poultry plant delivers electricity from its generating sys-tem, the electric utility will reduce the equivalent amount of electricity generated at its most expensive op-erating unit.

The costs avoided consist of the cost of fuel needed to produce that electricity and unit’s operation and maintenance costs. This is the energy component of the electric utility’s avoided cost.

The electricity supplied by the poultry plant also contributes to the electric utility’s system reliability. As demand (KW) grows in the elec-tric provider’s service area, the re-serve margin decreases and at some point the electric utility will need to add capacity to meet demand.

The poultry plant’s contribution to the electric utility system allows the utility to defer the addition of capacity.

A component of the avoided en-ergy rate gives credit for the genera-tion and transmission capacity that is avoided.

And, when Georgia Power has a capacity need, QFs can bid their ca-pacity into Georgia Power Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and may re-ceive payment for their capacity.

Because avoided cost depends on system operations and needs,

the avoided cost for each utility is unique and the amount determined to be a utility’s avoided cost changes over time. Georgia Power pur-chases energy at the hourly avoided cost rate, currently forecasted to be around 5.6 cents per kWh in 2012.

Anaerobic digesters are complex biological systems requiring careful planning and operation. Well-de-signed systems require considerable capital investment and operational costs, but there are tax credits and incentives available.

Tax creditsIncentives in the form of federal

and state tax credits, accelerated de-preciation and low-interest financ-ing may be available.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 increased the business renewable investment tax credit to 30 percent and is not set to expire until 2016.

Another incentive available is Georgia’s Clean Energy Property Tax Credit that provides up to a 35 percent tax credit for renewable generation assets.

This tax incentive is reaching its upper limit, so contact the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) to find out if funds are still available (www.gefa.org/index.aspx?page=423). The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency website provides all current state and federal incentives available.

‘Green’ programsFinally, electricity through

“Green” energy programs may be another investment opportunity for poultry plants. Georgia Power’s Green Energy Program enables industrial customers to support the growth of renewable energy re-sources in Georgia.

The Large Volume Purchase Op-tion offers customers the opportu-

nity to buy Green Energy at a lower, customer-specific price. This option is available to businesses that wish to purchase a minimum of 90,000 kWh (900 blocks) of renewable en-ergy per month.

Customers must purchase at least 400 blocks of either Standard Green Energy ($3.50 plus tax per block) or Premium Green Energy ($5.00 plus tax per block). In addition, they must purchase at least an additional 500 blocks of renewable energy under the Large Volume Purchase Option at a reduced price.

Georgia Power will contract with customers to determine the price, quantity, term and source of the ad-ditional certified Green Energy.

Also, customers who act as a single brand under common owner-ship or under common control via a written franchise agreement with a single controlling entity may ag-gregate their load for the purposes of participating under the Large Volume Purchase Option.

More informationMore information on Green

Energy’s Large Volume Purchase Option can be obtained at www.georgiapower.com/earthcents/green/commercial.asp.

Investing in “Green” renewable technologies and resources is a win-win to energy efficiency, strength-ening the economy,and protecting the environment.

Gary Floyd is an alumnus of Geor-gia Tech and an industrial seg-ment manager for Georgia Power Co. He serves as a member of the Georgia Tech Research Institute’s Agricultural Technology Research Program Advisory Board. Article reprinted from PoultryTech, a pub-lication of the Agricultural Tech-nology Research Program of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, a program conducted in cooperation with the Georgia Poultry Federa-tion with funding from the Georgia Legislature.

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Poultry Times August 14 Edition