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Writer's crusade incites NCSU faculty
Faculty Senate
Spanish
studies might boost Latinos' English skills
Toby Brody, foreign languages and literatures
NC Lawmakers,
Farmers Praise Historic Tobacco Buyout Passage
Andrew Taylor, political science
Tobacco
buyout lacks FDA voice
Blake Brown, agricultural and resource economics
Buyout
gives farmers chance, tough decision
Blake Brown, agricultural and resource economics
Growers
welcome tobacco buyout
Jon Ort, extension service
Getting
involved
Open House
Long-range
needs focus of sessions
Institute for Transportation Research and Education
Noverant
Donates Software License for Biotech training
Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center
Southeast
Strawberry Expo offers production and marketing sessions for growers
Cooperative Extension
Future
prospects
College of Veterinary Medicine
Editorial:
Best choice at State comes from within
James Oblinger
Democrats
Running to Right in Many Tight Senate Races
Andrew Taylor, political science
October
crop report key to soybean market prospects
Nicholas E. Piggott, agricultural and resource economics
Writer's crusade incites NCSU faculty
Oct. 13, 2004
News & Observer
By TIM SIMMONS
© Copyright 2004
David Horowitz stirred up the crowd in a manner of minutes when he visited UNC-Chapel Hill three years ago.
This time, the conservative author and commentator didn't even get to town before faculty at N.C. State University made their feelings clear.
Horowitz, who will speak Saturday at the McKimmon Center on the NCSU campus, is touting a document called the Academic Bill of Rights. He says it is needed to keep the views of conservative students from being stifled on college campuses.
Members of NCSU's Faculty Senate beg to differ -- so much so that they approved a resolution this month to underscore their opposition.
"When this issue first came up, it seemed almost like a frivolity," said Robert Bruck, chairman of the Senate's Academic Policy Committee. "But I have come to appreciate that this is serious business -- as serious as this body can undertake."
At the heart of the faculty's concern -- and the push by Horowitz -- is the question of who should be in charge of making sure campuses welcome a full range of views on any topic. To give his effort more teeth, Horowitz has enlisted the help of sympathetic lawmakers throughout the nation.
Insulated by design to encourage independence, faculty members have harshly criticized Horowitz's efforts even as they have defended his right to speak. They see it as a sophisticated power-grab timed to take advantage of a growing conservative presence on many campuses.
Given the immense scope and size of higher education throughout the nation, NCSU faculty say some mistakes by instructors are inevitable. But they also think abuses are isolated.
When a UNC-Chapel Hill student, for example, was accused by his teacher in February of promoting hate speech because of comments he made about homosexuals, the repercussions rippled for months. But it was still one incident, faculty members say.
Horowitz responds to this by rattling off other examples from a well-rehearsed list. He likes to talk about a professor who announced to his class that the "R" in Republican really stands for racist. He tells of attending a class at Bates College in Maine a few years ago in which the sole text "was a 500-page tract put together by the editors of New Left Review."
Past controversy
He knows how to deliver these lines for maximum effect. A former radical activist, he is now a mainstay among conservative authors and commentators. "I'm the kind of guy who actually likes an argument," he said.
Underscoring his reputation as the outsider on campus, Horowitz was accompanied by bodyguards during a speech at UNC-CH in 2001. There was no violence, but it wasn't long before more than 100 students walked out, angry over newspaper ads he purchased earlier titled "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery is a Bad Idea -- and Racist Too."
Such conflict isn't likely when Horowitz joins several speakers at Saturday's full-day conference, "Freedom and the American Campus." The event is sponsored by the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, a politically conservative organization based in Raleigh. Registration for the conference is $20.
Although NCSU is not sponsoring the event, Faculty Senate members say they think it makes no sense to let the conference pass without comment.
"These are outright challenges to the function and structure of universities," said Bruck of the Faculty Senate. "For us to be arrogant and say no mistakes have ever been made ... would be the greater error in the scheme of the politics of this situation. But we have internal mechanisms to take care of them, and we do take care of them."
Horowitz does not agree. He said he thinks university professors do a poor job of policing themselves and that many incidents go unreported by students who fear retribution by teachers.
He has taken his fight to various state legislatures where he has asked lawmakers to approve non-binding resolutions supporting his Academic Bill of Rights. His most notable successes have come in Colorado and Georgia. He would be happy to work with legislators in North Carolina, he said.
On this point, the two sides agree.
"I'm sure he would be happy to introduce something here," said Cat Warren, an associate professor of English and a member of the Faculty Senate. "This is not a time for complacency. We are in a fight for the public opinion."
Oct. 13, 2004
News & Observer
By NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES
© Copyright 2004
DURHAM -- Mario Guifarro has spoken Spanish his entire life. Now, at 11, the Chewning Middle School student is finally learning to read it.
Each Monday and Wednesday, Mario sits in a classroom after school with nine other students and receives Spanish grammar and spelling lessons.
Some of the students are bilingual; others are just beginning to learn English. None of them is highly literate in his or her parents' native tongue.
Teaching Spanish literacy to Spanish speakers in public schools is a novel idea in North Carolina. The director of the organization that provides tutors for the Durham Public Schools program said that although he provides tutoring for several of the state's districts, this is the first time he's received a request to teach Spanish to Spanish speakers.
Founders acknowledge that the concept of the program -- called Heritage Language -- might irk those who would say any money and efforts should be spent on teaching these students English.
But school officials argue that educators nationwide understand that English-language learners benefit from literacy instruction in their native language.
"Research shows that if a student is literate in a first language, they learn their second language faster and better," said Sashi Rayasam, Durham's lead English as a Second Language teacher.
Basic skills translate
The Durham program is Rayasam's brainchild. Funded by federal money earmarked to assist English-language learners, it was launched by the district last year.
The program now serves Latino students at five Durham middle schools: Chewning, Neal, Rogers-Herr, Brogden and Githens. The classes have one tutor and 10 to 15 students. They get an hour of literacy instruction two days a week.
Nine percent of Durham Public Schools students are Latino, and their test scores have continued to lag behind those of their white and Asian counterparts.
Part of that could be because most of the Latino students who speak Spanish at home are not literate in that language, according to Paul Keene, director of ESL programs in Durham. That transfers to a difficulty in English literacy as well, he said.
Toby Brody, director of N.C. State University's ESL program, said becoming literate in their fluent language allows students to more easily learn basic skills such as sentence structure and how to convey meaning through words. Students don't have to struggle through unfamiliar vocabulary; they can apply those skills to English as they become more familiar with the vocabulary.
Test scores for Latino students have increased in districts nationwide that offer Spanish literacy instruction, Rayasam said. Further, because many of the students' parents cannot read English, teaching students Spanish allows their parents to participate more in lessons.
Holding on to heritage
Jose Luis Maldonado, 11, fidgeted in his desk Monday, coming perilously close to losing his battle with concentration. It was 3:30 p.m., and he had sat through lessons all day.
To liven things up, his tutor, Javier Sinobas, played a song by Alejandro Sanz called "No es lo mismo" -- "It's Not the Same." Sinobas wrote the verses on the board, leaving long spaces. Then he had the children listen to the song and fill in the blanks.
Born in Los Angeles, Jose grew up only speaking Spanish. He even lived in Mexico for a year. Jose started learning English when he entered kindergarten.
Yet even now, as a sixth-grader, he struggles with English.
"It's easy to read, but you have to slow down at the harder levels," he said, a shy smile forming dimples in his chubby cheeks. "You can get confused."
Jose said he can read some Spanish, but learning to write it is helping him to write better in English.
"My parents wanted me to come so that I could get a good job and edu-, education," he said, stumbling over the word.
Jose's classmate Mario said his mother's motivation for signing him up was slightly different. Born in Miami to Honduran immigrants, the sixth-grader is perfectly fluent in English. He said he has no problem reading or writing it.
Though his parents speak Spanish at home, the Spanish writing on the board is like a foreign language to Mario.
My mother "doesn't want me to forget my culture," he said. "She talks a lot about her society, her culture. She said even though I can speak English, I should learn a lot more Spanish."
Rayasam said that is a common concern among Latino parents and many school officials. Latino students often feel as if they must shun their heritage, beginning with their language, to assimilate, she said. Sometimes that pressure comes from home.
"Some parents do that, often with a tinge of sadness," Rayasam said. "Because they themselves cannot speak fluently in English, they feel like they want their children to speak English and don't want to hold them back."
The Heritage Language program seeks to show Latino students that they can have it both ways.
"We teach them to take pride in your roots and who you are, and be able to adapt to a new language," Rayasam said. "We are teaching them you are no less of a good student by knowing your native language and taking obvious pride in your culture.
"You're at an advantage: You know two languages from the get-go."
Tobacco buyout lacks FDA voice
Oct. 13, 2004
News & Observer
By BARBARA BARRETT
© Copyright 2004
For many public health advocates, the $10.1 billion tobacco buyout awaiting President Bush's signature was the one that got away.
Until a few days ago, activists had a bill that included some regulation of the tobacco industry by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Instead, FDA oversight was stripped last week during closed-door negotiations between the Senate and House of Representatives.
Gone were provisions to restrict tobacco marketing, ban candy-flavored cigarettes and give the FDA authority to strengthen warnings on packages. Gone, too, were requirements for companies to list ingredients and disclose scientific information on their products to the FDA.
The FDA has no authority to require changes in the chemical makeup of cigarettes. The scuttled oversight provision would have provided that ability, advocates said.
"It's a sad day for public health," said Paul G. Billings, vice president for national policy and advocacy for the American Lung Association in Washington. "We had an opportunity to make change. It was squandered by the U.S. Congress."
Tobacco-related illnesses kill 440,000 people a year in the United States, according to anti-smoking advocacy groups.
In North Carolina, tobacco-related health costs run $1.9 billion a year, said Sally Herndon Malek, head of the Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch in the state's Division of Public Health.
Last year, nearly 25 percent of adults and 27 percent of high school students in North Carolina smoked, according to the state.
"That's just a huge drain on our wonderful population," Malek said.
The buyout that passed Congress on Monday was a historic moment for tobacco farmers. It will wipe out the depression-era quota program that regulated how much tobacco can be grown in the United States and artificially propped up tobacco prices.
Growers and quota owners will get cash from tobacco companies in return for the quota they owned or the leaf they grew in 2002. Farmers hope to sell more of their newly inexpensive leaf to tobacco companies, which now buy largely from overseas growers.
The buyout wasn't considered possible until it was attached to a massive corporate tax bill moving through Congress. But few supporters thought the buyout could get past the Senate without the FDA oversight provision.
That changed last week when House and Senate leaders went into a conference committee, hashing out final details of the corporate tax bill. When they emerged, the FDA provision was gone. The bill passed the House last week and the Senate on Monday.
The issue of FDA oversight is especially touchy in North Carolina, where anti-smoking activists are careful to say their public health battle is not with tobacco farmers, but rather the manufacturers of cigarettes.
"Tobacco farmers in North Carolina are good, hard-working people trying to make a living," Malek said. "Most of them have lost loved ones [to tobacco-related illnesses]."
On Tuesday, she and advocates from across the state gathered at a state conference in Durham to teach local anti-smoking organizations how to change tobacco policy in their communities.
"We're about changing social norms, and it's about having to work with the culture and history of tobacco in North Carolina," Malek said. "I think, in many ways, North Carolina is at a crossroads."
The state is home to farmers and tobacco companies, including R.J. Reynolds of Winston-Salem.
R.J. Reynolds opposed the most recent FDA provision because it sealed Philip Morris' dominance, said spokesman David Howard. The company would agree to regulations that would still allow it to market its products to adult smokers, he said, but would oppose anything that forces the company to release proprietary information about its cigarette blends.
$6 billion industry
Together, the industry and farmers have an economic effect on the state of nearly $6 billion, said Blake Brown, an agricultural economics professor at N.C. State University.
Still, advocates in North Carolina were working in recent months to influence the state's congressional delegation on the buyout's details. They sent hundreds of e-mails and phone calls to the state's congressional delegation about the FDA regulations, said Lynette Tolson, North Carolina director of advocacy with the American Heart Association.
Democrats generally supported FDA oversight; Republicans didn't unless it was required to get the buyout through, she said.
The impact of the FDA regulations would have been significant, Tolson said. The oversight focused largely on marketing and informing the public, but that's a critical front, she said, when advocates are trying to get vulnerable teenagers from taking up smoking.
The oversight provision drew controversy in recent weeks when it was reported that anti-tobacco advocates in Washington, D.C., had quietly negotiated with Richmond, Va.-based Philip Morris to support the regulations.
Critics said the oversight would have ensured Philip Morris' market dominance by restricting smaller companies' advertising.
"I was thrilled it wasn't included," said Adam Goldstein, an associate professor of family health at UNC-Chapel Hill and director of its Tobacco Prevention and Evaluation programs.
"The proposed benefits wouldn't do enough for public health," he said. "The public health gains were all theoretical."
Goldstein said the regulations also would have benefited Philip Morris by giving the company a stamp of legitimacy from the FDA.
Now, he said, Philip Morris has less leverage and public advocates can renew their fight for better FDA regulations.
And the buyout might result in fewer tobacco farmers in the state, giving them less leverage in public policy, he said. "It allows us to dream," he said.
That's already begun. Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Mike DeWine of Ohio managed to get a unanimous voice vote from the Senate on Sunday night on a separate bill that would let the FDA regulate tobacco. The bill was sent on to the House, but it isn't expected to find much of a foothold there.
In North Carolina, health advocate Adam Searing sees the buyout as an opportunity during next year's General Assembly session.
Now that tobacco farmers have their buyout money, perhaps legislators will be more welcoming of an increase in the cigarette tax, said Searing, project director of the N.C. Health Access Coalition.
"I wonder how that will play out," he said.
Editorial: Best choice at State comes from within
Oct. 13, 2004
Greensboro News & Record
By staff writer
© Copyright 2004
N.C. State appears to have chosen the right man from the right place: its own campus.
James L. Oblinger will take office as chancellor Jan. 1, replacing Marye Anne Fox, who left for the University of California, San Diego. Since May 2003, Oblinger has been provost and executive vice chancellor, the top academic post at the 30,000-student institution in Raleigh. For 17 years before that, he helped run State's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
All but a handful of the chancellors in the 16-campus University of North Carolina system were hired from out of state. It's a credit to the strength of the system that it can attract creative administrators like N.C. A&T's James Renick and UNCG's Pat Sullivan. Sometimes the right person to head a university is one who brings fresh ideas from outside. Yet the system also should develop its own leaders. Something was wrong when vice chancellors on UNC campuses were bypassed for promotion time after time.
Oblinger stands out for his commitment to the university. In remarks following his selection last week, he stated repeatedly, "This is not about me. This is about us. We are N.C. State."
"When I came here 18 years ago, my goal was not to become chancellor one day," he said. "My goal was to be a part of an academic community that put its students and faculty first."
Oblinger has not made a career of leaping from one university to another. At 58, he's not likely to use his new job as a springboard to a higher-paying position in California or somewhere else.
Fox's departure for a $350,000-a-year job in San Diego alarmed members of the UNC Board of Governors, who fear salary competition for top administrators. They proposed setting a salary of $304,392 for the chancellor at N.C. State. But Oblinger will be paid $274,797. That's still generous but doesn't contribute to an unreasonable escalation. Hiring from within generally can avert the need to engage in a costly bidding war for talent.
Chancellors are well paid because they carry enormous responsibilities. Oblinger has set important goals, including completion of a billion-dollar capital campaign. The university plays a global role, he said last week. "Whether it is supply chain economics, environmental sustainability or furthering the study of animal health, our mission and scholarship is geared toward service to society." The creation of a biomanufacturing training center will advance the state's economic development, he added.
The university faces challenges. It must improve its graduation rate of 63 percent over six years. It must maintain an outstanding faculty. It must continue to attract research funds. As costs rise, it must provide educational value for every dollar.
Oblinger believes in N.C. State's future because he's been there for 18 years working to make it happen.
Buyout gives farmers chance, tough decision
Oct. 13, 2004
Greenville Daily Reflector
By Ginger Livingston
© Copyright 2004
An estimated $189 million could enter Pitt County during the next 10 years now that Congress has passed a tobacco buyout program, experts said.
The buyout, part of a $143 billion corporate tax package approved by the Senate on Monday and House last week, ends the decades-old way of growing and selling tobacco through a quota system.
The passage means area farmers have a lot of soul-searching during the next several months as they decide whether they will continue growing tobacco, said Mitch Smith, director of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service's Pitt County Center.
"These are unchartered waters for the industry, and it will have major ramifications about how farming is done in North Carolina," Smith said.
The quota system limited the number of people who could grow tobacco and regulated how much they could grow. The Depression-era regulation kept prices high and allowed family farms throughout the South to make a living off small crops.
But U.S. cigarette makers began buying cheaper tobacco from foreign growers as the quality of leaf overseas improved. Add to that declining demand for leaf because of health concerns at home, and the amount of tobacco grown under the quota system fell nearly 60 percent since 1997, with further cuts expected.
That began squeezing farmers out and forced others to rent from quota holders their allotments to grow tobacco — rights originally distributed by the government and inherited or sold like property since then.
Farmers have to be able to grow more tobacco now to make the crop profitable, but quota holders wanted to be compensated for losses they face by the system's demise.
Thirty-eight percent of the $10.1 billion the government will pay quota holders is expected to come to North Carolina, making the state the largest recipient of the money, said Blake Brown, a NC State University economist and tobacco industry expert.
Historically, Pitt County has been either the first or second largest producer of flue-cured tobacco in the nation, meaning it should receive a large portion of money.
The payments will be made over a 10-year period, funded by a fee on tobacco manufacturers. The payment amounts will be based on 2002 production levels.
The government will pay $10 for each pound of quota, The Associated Press reported. In cases where quota holders rent allotments to other people to farm, $7 will go to the quota owner and $3 to the farmer who rents it.
Early estimates indicate that could come to $189 million for growers and quota holders here, Smith said.
Based on 2002 figures, Pitt County has 250 active tobacco farmers and about 800 quota holders, Smith said. While some quota holders are active farmers, most holders are retired farmers or individuals who inherited land with quota attached to it.
Tobacco experts predict the buyout will allow larger amounts of tobacco to be grown now that the government no longer sets production amounts.
"Eastern North Carolina, Pitt County will be very competitive in tobacco production once things are deregulated," Brown said.
"A farmer who is known for good production and has a contract with a company will have a good chance at survival."
Farmers who don't want to continue growing can use the buyout money to pay off debts, retire or pursue other interests. Others will use new-found economies of scale to leverage profits in post-price regulation farming.
What will make the difference for farmers on the fence is how much tobacco companies will pay them to grow the crop.
As news of the buyout's passage seeped into the community Monday, farmers like Garland and Wes Mozingo of Farmville contemplated their futures.
The Mozingos, father and son, are the third and fourth generation to grow tobacco on their Pitt County farm.
Garland Mozingo, the father, said before he recommends the family continuing in tobacco he wants to know leaf buyers will offer a contract that allows the family to earn a profit.
"If it wasn't for Wes, I'm sure I wouldn't grow any more tobacco. At my age, I see a way out without getting into any more debt. Tobacco is a crop that stresses you to death, and 31 years is enough," the elder Mozingo, 57, said. "But because my father afforded me an opportunity to farm, I want to try to stick with him (Wes) and offer him the same opportunity."
His son agrees the family needs more details about the buyout before finalizing a decision, but hopes they keep growing tobacco.
"I have the resources, the equipment and farms we owned, that we have rented, so I think we would have plenty of land. But it's something Dad and I will have to talk over," he said.
He believes the buyout will make U.S. tobacco more competitive because its price will now reflect real-world market conditions. But that isn't the main thrust of the program.
"The way I look at it ... it is retirement for some of these older farmers, not necessarily my dad, but the ones that have been sticking it out. I'm tickled to death more for them than anything else," the younger Mozingo, 31, said.
The buyout was a major issue in the 2002 Senate and House campaigns and hovered over the current election year.
Senatorial candidate Richard Burr, a Republican representative who served on the conference committee that negotiated the tax package, wasted no time trumpeting his role in the negotiations.
"When I first started working on this legislation ... we were not sure if a tobacco buyout was possible," Burr stated in a press release. He boasted he secured the buyout without the Food and Drug Administration regulation of tobacco which many senators sought.
"Six months ago I would have told you that a tobacco buyout bill had zero percent chance of passing through the House," said Ferrell Blount, N.C. Republican Party chairman and Bethel resident.
Burr, along with the state's Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole, made the buyout a reality, he said.
Democratic Senatorial candidate Erskine Bowles touted his efforts to lobby legislators for the buyout's passage. Bowles said he supported a buyout with or without FDA regulations, but said Burr's maneuver to do away with the regulations cost North Carolina farmers $790 million.
Democratic vice presidential nominee and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was campaigning Monday and didn't vote, The Associated Press reported.
With the bill projected to pass by a wide margin, Edwards didn't see the need to return to Washington, said Mike Briggs, the senator's spokesman.
Growers welcome tobacco buyout
Oct. 13, 2004
Jacksonville Daily News
By CHRIS DE NITTIS
© Copyright 2004
Jacksonville farmer Daniel Morton started growing tobacco on 200 acres near Kellum Loop Road in 1973.
Last year, he farmed only 38 acres.
"Since 1997, I've lost 50 to 60 percent of my quota," he said. "That cuts the margin of profit to a minimum."
During the last few years, Morton has also watched his retirement fund shrink.
"For about 20 years I bought tobacco allotments and was going to sell them and retire on that, but now I've lost a lot of quota."
But this week, after U.S. Senate approval of a tobacco buyout program, Morton now has a way to get out with more than just the shirt on his back.
The program, funded through fees levied on tobacco manufactures, will pay North Carolina tobacco growers $3.9 billion over the next 10 years.
Revenue to diversify
Jon Ort, director of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service and associate dean of agricultural and life sciences at N.C. State University, said the windfall will allow tobacco farmers across the state an opportunity for change.
"It will give farmers the kind of cash flow they need to diversify," he said.
Ort's not talking about stock portfolios, but what he calls "alternative crops."
The extension service is encouraging farmers to grow lettuce, blueberries, grapes, peanuts and watermelons.
"In certain markets, those are niche crops," he said.
But Morton said he's probably done growing tobacco - or anything else.
"I'll be able to get out now without feeling such a great loss," he said. "Maybe I'll even be able to subsidize what I've lost. This lets me start something new."
Nearly $43 million will be paid to farmers throughout Onslow County and its surrounding towns. Morton will receive about $373,000 from the buyout.
According to the Environmental Working Group, a Washington think tank, Larry Riggs of Maysville will get more than $1.3 million in buyout money - more than any other grower in the greater Onslow area.
Others high on the list include:
Some farmers may decide to expand their crops, Ort said. Others will have to take careful consideration before they commit to growing tobacco next year.
"Anytime a window like this comes about, farmers have to look at the size of their families, the value of their land and they'll have to decide if they'll expand, diversify or go out of the business," he said.
But Ort doesn't believe this will be the end of tobacco in North Carolina.
"In Eastern North Carolina we have one of the largest concentrations of flue-cured tobacco in the country," he said. "Experts believe that the total tobacco poundage may not be much different from when we had the quotas. There'll just be fewer farmers growing the tobacco."
Bryant Spivey, an extension agent in Duplin County, has counseled concerned growers about the economics of the change.
"There will always be some people caught in a different situation," he said. "I know a fellow who has 4 acres of tobacco. He felt that after the buyout he won't be able to compete with other growers because he doesn't have a contract."
After more than 70 years of federal regulations binding up the free market economy, tobacco growers and buyers will now have to re-learn the system.
Morton doesn't think the adjustment period will be pretty.
"The buyout will probably be good for a lot of farmers and now maybe we'll be able to compete in a world market," he said. "But what scares me is there will be no regulations. What happens when there is a surplus of tobacco? I don't know how the tobacco companies will treat the farmers. Tobacco growing may be a thing of the past."
Spivey said some farmers will take advantage of the buyout to get out of the business while they can.
"Some see this as a favorable time to get out," he said. "Some of them may be approaching retirement age or just don't want to continue growing tobacco."
Ort predicts things will remain largely unchanged.
"I think we will still be an agribusiness economy," he said. "The buyout is certainly something that these farmers have been waiting a long time for."
Long-range needs focus of sessions
Oct. 13, 2004
Asheboro Courier Tribune
By Kathi Keys
© Copyright 2004
ASHEBORO - City of Asheboro residents will have two opportunities to learn about Asheboro City Schools' long-range facilities needs.
The first presentation will take place Thursday night during the Asheboro City Board of Education's regular monthly meeting which begins at 7:30 p.m.
And an information session is planned for Tuesday, Oct. 19, from 5:30-7 p.m., especially for the public to hear the report.
Both sessions will be held at the Professional Development Center, located at the corner of West Walker Avenue and South Church Street, on the Asheboro High School campus.
Both of the 90-minute presentations will be made by John Sinnett and Ed Gordon of Smith Sinnett Associates architectural firm and representatives of the Operations Research/Education (OR/Ed) Laboratory at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education at N.C. State University.
OR/Ed will provide demographic data related to student enrollment forecasting to help determine future attendance boundaries and where new schools may be needed in the future.
Sinnett will give an evaluation of existing school facilities and identify the potential for additions and/or renovations at these schools.
The board gave the go-ahead for the long-range facilities study in January to assist the school district with determining future building needs.
Using this latest information, the school board will be able to prioritize future school construction needs.
School officials have previously informed the Randolph County Board of Commissioners of the need for $9.7 million over the next five years for future construction costs, but noted that their priorities could change after completion and a review of the long-range plan.
The projects previously identified include additions at Guy B. Teachey Elementary and North Asheboro Middle schools as well as funds for infrastructure needs such as roofs and parking lots.
The board received a preliminary report from Sinnett in August which put the city school district's facility needs at an estimated $20 million, not including any new schools over a seven-year period.
The school board, at Thursday's meeting, is to receive information related to the bond referendum which county commissioners will put on the ballot next year for voters to decide on funding school construction needs. The $43.7 million total includes nearly $10 million for Asheboro, as well as funds for Randolph County Schools and Randolph Community College.
Also, at Thursday's meeting, the Asheboro school board will receive an update on the Staggered Schedule Task Force Committee and development of the 2005-06 school year calendar. The board spotlight on "Positive Behavior Support" will be presented by Pam Johnson.
Southeast Strawberry Expo offers production and marketing sessions for growers
Oct. 13, 2004
Elizabethtown Bladen Journal
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
Strawberry growers from across the Southeast and beyond will gather in High Point November 3 - 5 for the Southeast Strawberry Expo. The annual conference, held by the N.C. Strawberry Association, has been recognized as the leading forum in the Southeast for information on strawberry production and marketing.
Wednesday morning, November 3, will feature a special workshop titled "Understanding Your Strawberry Plants: Learn to Plan, Predict, and Troubleshoot." This three-hour limited-registration workshop will help both new and experienced growers build their powers of observation and develop a plant-based, problem-solving approach.
Wednesday afternoon will feature tours of two local strawberry farms and Homeland Creamery, a dairy that has expanded into local direct marketing. The tour will be followed by an informal, down-home dinner prepared by the Montecello United Church of Christ Women's Fellowship.
November 4 and 5 will feature a full schedule of speakers and educational sessions. Topics include "Grower Spotlight" sessions featuring successful local producers, "GAPS: THE Key to Produce Food Safety," "Issues and Advances in Pest & Disease Management," and "Principles, Practical Strategies, and Equipment for Frost Freeze Protection and Evaporative Cooling."
Other sessions will cover the new AGR-Lite insurance program, successful school tours from a teacher's perspective, and wholesale marketing. Growers will share their techniques for managing their harvest and for keeping customers coming throughout the year.
A special "Plant Supply Forum" will discuss efforts to create a high-quality plant supply. For a full schedule of sessions, visit www.ncstrawberry.com.
Also, NCSA will unveil its new promotional campaign for N.C. strawberries that is slated to begin in the spring. This campaign will feature a new slogan, logo and promotional materials that will be used by the organization and made available to NCSA members to use in their own publicity and on the farm. Advertising experts will lead sessions t0 help growers learn how to use these materials and promote their farms.
The Southeast Strawberry Expo trade show includes suppliers of plants, irrigation equipment, pest control products, packaging, farm market products and more.
The conference will be held at the Radisson Hotel in High Point. Attendees can receive a special rate by mentioning the Strawberry Expo when making reservations at (336) 889-8888.
The expo is co-sponsored by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, N.C. State University Cooperative Extension Service, N.C. Farm Bureau, and the Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium.
Oct. 13, 2004
Hickory Daily Record
By Suzanne Jackson
© Copyright 2004
Staci Wall, 15, said animals are her No. 1 thing.
The St. Stephens High School sophomore attended a career showcase Tuesday at Catawba Valley Community College to learn about her options for the future.
At the Conover Veterinary Hospital booth, Staci asked technician Jennifer Sigmon about colleges that teach animal care. Sigmon suggested North Carolina State University.
“They’re the only one in the state that has programs catered to people wanting to go into the veterinary field,” Sigmon said.
Staci was among 2,296 students from eight high schools in Alexander and Catawba counties who came to the showcase.
The event was geared toward giving students information about what job options are available.
Kathy Carey, a counselor with CVCC’s student services, hopes students walked away better prepared for their career future.
“When the students are ready to make a choice, they can make an informed choice,” she said.
Jelen Sandoval, 15, was a part of the St. Stephens group that came to the event. She’s interested in doing something in the medical field.
“I’m not sure exactly what I want to do, but I know I want to help people,” she said.
Noverant Donates Software License for Biotech training
Oct. 12, 2004
Local Tech Wire
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Noverant is donating a license for its compliance software to the Biomanufacturing and Pharmaceutical Training Consortium of North Carolina.
Noverant’s Compliance Framework automate compliance with requirements from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The Consortium links the UNC system and the NC Community College System to provide skills training and degrees for students and incumbent workers. Included are North Carolina Community College System BioNetwork, the Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center at North Carolina State University and the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Training Enterprise at North Carolina Central University.
"The Compliance Framework will allow the member institutions of the BPTC to educate students on biomanufacturing and biotechnology using the latest technology," said Kimo Kong, president and CEO of Noverant.
The group will use the Compliance Framework to develop a curriculum focused on biomanufacturing and biotechnology linked to FDA requirements.
NC Lawmakers, Farmers Praise Historic Tobacco Buyout Passage
Oct. 11, 2004
Charlotte Observer; NBC 17.com; WCNC; Wilmington Morning Star; Winston-Salem Journal; WTVD; Dateline Alabama, AL; WVEC, VA
By Gary D. Robertsont
© Copyright 2004
North Carolina lawmakers and farmers praised final congressional passage Monday of a tobacco buyout deal that was years in the making and will pay $3.9 billion to the state's growers and quota holders over the next decade.
The $10.1 billion buyout deal was part of a $136 billion corporate tax package approved 69-17 in the Senate and now headed to President Bush to be signed into law.
"We have crossed the finish line," U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., said after the Senate gave final approval. "And a dream has come true for North Carolina."
The buyout is poised to end decades of leaf production under a Depression-era quota system that kept prices artificially high and critics said put U.S. growers at a disadvantage.
Under the quota system, a person has had to hold a quota to be able to grow a specific number of pounds of tobacco. Overall U.S. production has been limited to what domestic cigarette makers intended to buy, with unsold tobacco going into reserve.
Over the years, high prices and declining domestic demand for tobacco have caused U.S. cigarette makers to look to foreign growers for cheaper tobacco. The amount of tobacco that can be grown under a quota has tumbled nearly 60 percent since 1997, and tobacco growers worried the quota would fall even further in 2005.
With President Bush's signature, the government will pay $10 for each pound of quota. In cases where quota holders rent their allotments to other people to farm, $7 will go to the person who holds the quota and $3 to the farmer who rents it.
Payments, to be made over 10 years and funded by a fee on tobacco manufacturers, will be based on 2002 production levels. Those who quit farming before 2002 will receive nothing.
With about 76,000 tobacco farmers and allotment holders, North Carolina should receive the largest portion of the $10.1 billion buyout. About $500 million of the money will be used to buy all tobacco left in reserve from the quota system.
Farmers have said that with a buyout, those who want to get out of growing tobacco will be able to leave the business with dignity; those who remain will be able to pay off debts and buy equipment to better compete in the free market.
The payments also are expected to inject a financial shot in the arm for the state's anemic rural economy.
N.C. lawmakers on Capitol Hill who had ardently sought a buyout for years basked Monday in their triumph. "Passing the tobacco quota buyout has been my top priority since arriving in the U.S. Senate and I'm thrilled that we were able to get this done," said Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., who voted for the bill Monday.
Added Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., a part-time tobacco farmer who voted for the compromise bill in the House late last week: "Years of hard work by farmers, legislators and many others have paid off. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!"
Democratic vice presidential nominee and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was campaigning Monday and didn't vote. With the bill projected to pass by a wide margin, Edwards didn't see the need to return to Washington, said Mike Briggs, an Edwards spokesman.
Jimmy Lee, a Johnston County quota holder worried that the buyout comes too late to save the state's tobacco industry. "It didn't have to wind up this way," said Lee, who this year rented out his allotment for the first time since starting to grow leaf 32 years ago. "It would have been a lot better if we had gotten it three or four years ago."
The buyout has been an issue in several North Carolina political races this year, including the tight U.S. Senate campaign between Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Richard Burr.
A five-term congressman from Winston-Salem, Burr served on the conference committee that recommended the compromise package.
He drew Bowles' ire last week when he voted against the Senate's proposed $13 billion buyout, which Bowles said would have meant $790 million more for North Carolina growers. That version also would have allowed the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco as a drug, unlike the version passed Monday.
Bowles, who said he wanted a buyout with or without FDA regulation, traveled to Washington to lobby Democratic senators to support the buyout provisions. But Burr argued Bowles was ineffective because several senators he spoke to still didn't vote for the bill.
Andy Taylor, a political science professor at North Carolina State University, said the buyout's passage "takes the wind out of the sails of the issue" in the Senate race.
While the buyout affects a relatively small number of North Carolina residents, Taylor said the approval may help Burr in the election.
"There's still this notion that tobacco ... is at the heart of North Carolina interests," said Taylor, and that a Republican Congress and president got it passed.
Oct. 13, 2004
News & Observer
By Joyce Sykes
© Copyright 2004
N.C. State University will have an open house from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday to give high school students and families, school counselors and teachers an opportunity to visit the campus and learn about academic programs and student life at the university.
Visitors can get information about specific majors, admissions, housing, dining, arts, athletics and more. Campus tours will begin at 9:30 a.m. and run continually, starting from the fountain on the north side of Talley Student Center. Free and open to the public. Information: 515-2434 or www.ncsu.edu/openhouse.
Tobacco buyout heads for president's signature
Oct. 13, 2004
Southeast Farm Press
By Cecil H. Yancy, Jr
© Copyright 2004
The Senate on Monday passed a tobacco buyout bill. The legislation, which was approved 69 to 37, now heads to the president’s desk for his signature.
The tobacco buyout was included in a $316 billion major rewrite of corporate tax law. The House had passed the legislation last Thursday, Oct. 7.
The tobacco buyout contains $10.1 billion for buyout quotas: $7 per pound for quota owners, $3 for growers. Some $9.6 billion will be paid to growers and quota owners. Payments, over 10 years, are based on 2002. The remaining $500,000 will be used to dispose of stocks held by the grower associations and the Commodity Credit Corporation.
Cigarette manufacturers will fund the buyout based on their share of the U.S. cigarette market. The bill did not contain FDA regulation of cigarettes.
Growers and quota owners are allowed to assign their payments to a financial institution. “The significance of this provision,” writes Blake Brown, North Carolina State University ag economist, “is that some financial institutions have indicated an interest in providing growers and quota owners with up-front, lump-sum payment in exchange for the stream of the buyout payments. Growers and quota owners will need to carefully weigh the cost of this option since the financial institutions will retain a portion of the stream of payments in return for making a lump-sum payment.
In addition to eliminating the tobacco program, the buyout lifts restrictions on where tobacco can be grown and ends price support and quotas.
Phase II payments will be eliminated.
The Southeast Farm Press will have extensive coverage of the tobacco buyout in its Nov. 3 print edition.
Congress approves defense projects for Northwest Arkansas
Oct. 12, 2004
Arkansas News
By Alison Vekshin
© Copyright 2004
WASHINGTON -- Congress approved $5 million for military research at the University of Arkansas as part of a defense bill it passed over the weekend.
The university funding was among $115.2 million for Arkansas programs contained in a nearly $450 billion defense bill authorizing spending in fiscal year 2005.
Congress approved the bill Saturday, sending it to President Bush for his signature.
The bill contained $2 million for university research and development in nanotechnology to support the U.S. Army's efforts to bolster its electronics capability.
Another $2 million would support three-dimensional packaging research involving the University of Arkansas, North Carolina State University, University of Florida and the International Technology Center.
The program develops 3-D microcircuit packages to help the military lower the size and weight and improve the thermal and electrical performance of radio communications equipment.
An additional $1 million was earmarked to continue support of the U.S. Air Force's crew systems and personnel protection program. The university is developing new technology to improve logistics, design, performance and support of current and future weapons systems.
The measure also contained $2 million for Rogers-based Vision Technology to develop a machine control surveillance system for the Navy's gas turbine ships.
Also, Fayetteville-based Space Photonics was slated for $1.5 million to develop space communications systems for the Air Force.
The authorization bill also contained $65.9 million for the Arkansas National Guard, including $33 million for a new helicopter repair facility at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock.
"These projects are critical to our nation's long-term defense strategy, but are equally important to Arkansas' economy and our military personnel's quality of life," Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.
Democrats Running to Right in Many Tight Senate Races
Oct. 12, 2004
Los Angeles Times
By Richard Simon
© Copyright 2004
WASHINGTON — Democrats face an uphill climb in their campaign to regain control of the Senate. If they have a fighting chance, it's because some of their candidates are sounding like Republicans.
The Democratic candidate in Alaska supports President Bush's call to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The Democrat running in South Carolina supports Bush's call for a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, and the Democratic candidate in Oklahoma is in favor of repealing the District of Columbia's tough gun control law.
The strategy reflects the fact that Democrats must win several states carried by President Bush in the 2000 election.
The battle is important because the party that controls the Senate could influence the success of the next president's legislative agenda. It may decide whether to confirm one or more Supreme Court nominees.
But the math is against the Democrats.
Republicans hold a narrow majority in the Senate, which has 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and one independent who typically votes with the Democrats. But of the 34 seats up for election this year, Democrats must defend 19 — including Barbara Boxer's in California — and Republicans only 15.
Of the eight "open" seats — those without an incumbent seeking reelection — five are Democratic and three Republican. These are generally the easiest to capture from another party.
The South presents the Democrats' greatest challenge. The five Democratic open seats are all in the South, in states that Bush carried in 2000. But Democrats believe they stand a good chance of holding onto four of the seats, in Florida, Louisiana, and North and South Carolina. They are reconciled only to losing the Georgia seat Zell Miller is vacating.
Offsetting the loss in Georgia is the Democrats' expected gain in Illinois, where state Sen. Barack Obama is far ahead of Alan Keyes to fill the seat that Republican Peter Fitzgerald is vacating. Democrats believe they could also capture two other Republican-held seats, in Colorado and Oklahoma, and unseat Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Alaska, a state that has not elected a Democratic senator since 1974.
"The latest developments in Senate races around the country have all accrued to the benefit of the Democrats," Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, told reporters recently. "The race for control of the Senate remains a tossup."
Some of the Democratic candidates have sought to distance themselves from the party's presidential nominee, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts.
"The main reason you're hearing Democratic candidates talk like Republicans is that most of the highly competitive Senate races this year are taking place on GOP turf," said Andrew Taylor, a political scientist at North Carolina State University.
No state was more Republican in 2000 than Alaska, which cast 59% of its ballots for Bush. Tony Knowles, the former two-term governor who is campaigning to unseat Murkowski, supported the expiration of the federal assault weapons ban. Kerry supported extending the ban, which expired last month.
Like Knowles, two other Democratic candidates who hail from energy-producing states — Reps. Brad Carson in Oklahoma and Christopher John in Louisiana — have supported Bush's call to allow oil drilling in the Arctic refuge. Kerry has helped lead Senate filibusters to block the drilling.
Carson and John also voted last week for the constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. Bush backs the measure. Kerry does not.
"We need more Democrats in the Senate willing to work across the political aisle," explained Carson, who has given out fliers reading "not your typical Democrat." He has sided with Bush in supporting legislation to shield gun makers and sellers from lawsuits and banning a later-term abortion procedure.
Even Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, who faces a tough challenge in South Dakota from former Rep. John Thune, has run a TV ad showing a glimpse of him and Bush hugging. The Republican National Committee asked the Daschle campaign to stop using the video image, which was taken immediately after Bush's address to Congress after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
A Daschle campaign spokesman, Dan Pfeiffer, said Daschle is "a leader who will work with Bush when he is right and stand up to him when he is wrong."
In the Oklahoma Senate race, the Republican National Committee sent Carson a letter asking him to stop running TV ads picturing himself with Bush. Separately, former Rep. Tom Coburn, an obstetrician who is the Republican candidate in Oklahoma, is embroiled in charges that he involuntarily sterilized a patient.
In South Carolina, Adam Kovacevich, a spokesman for Democratic Senate candidate Inez Tenenbaum, the state superintendent of education, said, "People are looking for a senator who puts the state first and is not a partisan rubber stamp."
Republicans predict they will not only hold onto their majority but expand it, possibly ousting Daschle — especially if Bush wins big in the states in play.
"I'm confident we'll maintain the majority," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who took the unusual step this year of visiting South Dakota to campaign against his Democratic counterpart.
Republicans are trying not to let the Democrats get away with their strategy.
In the Oklahoma race, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is running a TV ad assailing Carson as "a big-time liberal" who has voted against the president's agenda "more than Hillary Clinton or John Kerry." In Alaska, the committee has run a TV ad attempting to link Knowles to Kerry and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).
"Try as they might to run from their records as well as their national party, Democrats will learn once again that the voters know that there is no substitute for the real thing when it comes to President Bush and our Republican candidates," said Dan Allen, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He added: "Bush is going to run strong in a lot of these states, and the top of the ticket is definitely going to help our guys."
William Lunch,, an Oregon State University political scientist, is not so sure. He said some voters who favor Bush might vote for a Democratic Senate candidate for "political insurance."
In one way, a Bush victory would help Republicans retain Senate control. If the new Senate is split 50 to 50, the vice president will break the tie. So the Democrats would have to add two new seats if Dick Cheney is still the vice president, but only one if Kerry wins and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, becomes the vice president.
Either way, political analysts say the Democrats face long odds in their quest to regain control. And in any scenario, the Democrats would clearly welcome a Republican defection. Some hope that Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island — who said last month that he does not plan to vote for President Bush on Nov. 2 — may eventually find enough in common with Democrats to make the switch. Chafee has described himself as a "pro-choice, antiwar, antideficit Republican," but also said he has no plans to change his affiliation.
"Democrats do have a chance to recapture the Senate, but it is still less than a 50-50 chance," said Norman Ornstein, a political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute, a predominantly conservative research organization in Washington.
"It obviously improves if Kerry wins, not the least reason being that they would then need a net gain of only one," he continued. "And it might mean a larger mood for change that could give them some coattail effect. But still it will be tough for them to win more than three of the five Southern seats."
Which party controls the Senate may not be known until December. If no candidate captures a majority in the Nov. 2 vote in Louisiana, the top two vote-getters will meet in a runoff Dec. 4.
October crop report key to soybean market prospects
Oct. 11, 2004
Delta Farm Press, NE
By Forrest Laws
© Copyright 2004
USDA’s October crop production report, typically a bellwether for new crop soybean futures, is taking on even greater significance as farmers ponder their next move in this year’s highly volatile market.
The November 2004 soybean futures contract, set to expire in mid-to-late November, has given growers a wild ride, climbing from its 2003 harvest time low of $4.83 per bushel to a 2004 planting time high of $8.02 before dropping back to late September levels of $5.40 per bushel.
Producers may see more of the same, depending on the Oct. 12 crop report and growing conditions for the crop farmers in Argentina and Brazil are beginning to plant, according to a North Carolina State University economist.
“Several marketing newsletters are claiming that the bottom is in (at $5.40), but it is this analyst’s opinion this claim is premature and not supported at this stage,” says Nicholas E. Piggott, associate professor and Extension specialist with NCSU’s Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics.
“The market has been trading more recently in a tight range trying to decide exactly what the production in the United States this year will be, and it might not be until the October report that we have a clearer picture.”
Speaking at the Southern Region Agricultural Outlook Conference in Atlanta, Sept. 28, Dr. Piggott urged farmers who have not priced their 2004 crop to pay close attention to the Oct. 12 crop production report, which, he said, should reflect field data measurements more so than earlier reports.
“Once a clearer picture on the yield prospectus is obtained, look for the market to break out of its current tight range of $5.40 to $5.50 we have seen this week (the last week in September),” he said. “If the consensus is that the crop is smaller than expected we should see the market rally and make a run for the filling the gap that begins at the $5.94 level.
“If the news is favorable – the crop is larger than expected – we should see the market decline further and test a second support level at around the $5.28 per bushel level.”
Farmers who have not sold any new crop soybeans should look to any rally from the October report to do some pricing “with realistic expectations around the $5.90 level. This is especially important for farmers who have little on-farm storage given the poor carries on offer.”
If the rally fails to materialize and prices decline, marketing options will be limited, he said.
“A wait-and-see-approach storing soybeans and holding out for planting woes in the South American market might offer the most promise,” says Piggott. “Something less than perfect growing conditions will lead to a tightening of world supplies.
“Herein lies the key to post harvest price prospects for the U.S. soybean market. Any adverse weather in the South American growing season should have a positive and significant impact on post harvest U.S. prices.”
Piggott says the October report is likely to show lower yield prospects than USDA’s initial projection of an average yield of 40 bushels per acre last May.
“This projection has tempered since, downgraded in the June and July reports to 39.9 bushels per acre, 39.1 in August and in the most recent September report to 38.5 bushels,” he said.
“The reasons cited for the overall lower yield prospects were less than perfect conditions in the Midwest. This reduction of 1.5 bushels per acre represents a decline in total production of 111 million bushels (on the 73.7 million acres to be harvested). Interestingly, this projected reduction is more than half of the anticipated ending stocks of 190 million bushels for 2004/05.”
Last spring’s higher prices helped reverse a three-year decline in U.S. soybean acres, prompting growers to plant an estimated 74.8 million acres or 1.4 million acres more than in 2003. If on target, the 74.8 million acres will be the largest U.S. planted acreage on record.
A national average soybean yield of 38.5 bushels per acre and 73.7 million harvested acres would translate into a soybean crop of 2.836 billion bushels, which would be 13.3-percent larger than last year and just shy of the record 2.891 billion bushels harvested in 2001.
Piggott expects the demand side of the soybean balance sheet to increase 10.5 percent in 2004/05 (September-August), due to a 5.2-percent rise in U.S. soybean crush and a 13-percent jump in soybean exports.
“This turnaround in use represents a departure from the two previous marketing years where total use, crush and exports were significantly below the previous record levels of 2001/02,” he noted. “Although 2004/05 use levels do not represent a full recovery, falling 175 million bushels short of the record 2.933 billion bushels in 2001-02, it does represent a substantial rebound.”
Analysts predict the total world crush for soybeans will increase 8.7 percent to 6.608 billion bushels in 2004/05. The breakdown provides some disturbing numbers for the U.S. soybean industry.
South America has taken the lead with Argentina processing 963 million bushels and Brazil 1.274 billion bushels for a total of 2.236 billion bushels. The United States is next with 1.615 billion bushels followed by China at 1.021 billion bushels and the European Union at 570 million bushels.
The 8.7-percent increase in world crush from 2003/04 stems from a 5.19-percent increase in the United States, a 10.76-percent increase in South America, a 9.32-percent increase in China and a 6.02-percent increase in the EU-25.
“It is noteworthy that the increase in crush in South America and China for this year compared to the previous year is about twice that of the United States,” says Piggott. “This observation should act as a heads up to the U.S. soybean complex and livestock industry about more longer-run consequences and strategic implications of these value-added players and the location of the world’s crushing capacity.”
Besides being the largest crusher, South America has also become the largest exporter with 2004/05 shipments projected at 1.137 billion bushels compared to 1 billion for the United States. The majority of those exports are destined for China, which is projected to import 827 million bushels and the EU, 594 million bushels.
“Clearly, China is positioning itself as a supplier of crush capacity or value-added with imports of 827 million bushels and a crush of 1.021 billion bushels,” he noted.
Overall, the projected 9.52-percent increase in total use in 2004/05 will not be enough to full offset the substantial projected supply increase of 18.28 percent, meaning an increase in world ending stocks of 37.96 billion bushels, says Piggott. “This increase in world ending stocks releases some of the pressure on world price that transpired the previous year.”