Pork Industry Still Hurting From H1N1

From ABC NEWS

After a lifetime of farming and a long year of financial hardship, Danny Kluthe was ready for better days.

But then came April 24, the day the National Pork Producers Council considers the birthday of the "swine flu" as a household term.

"We were about to turn the corner and start making a profit," said Kluthe, 53, who owns a hog farm near Dodge, Neb. "And here somebody labeled H1N1 the 'swine flu,' and it just totally took a nosedive."

The earliest detected H1N1 virus was found in a 5-year-old boy who lived near a pig farm in Mexico, hence the name "swine flu." Almost instantly, concerns over pork safety spread around the world. Indonesia and Japan initiated a nationwide medical examination of their hogs. In Iraq, zoo hogs were killed. Egypt ordered that hogs across the country be slaughtered.

The United States, the world's largest pork exporter, felt the hit in the weeks following the first outbreak, when 27 nations blocked all U.S. pork imports. Domestic demand plunged as well. And all of that came "obviously from fears of H1N1," pork council spokesman Dave Warner said.

In the past two years alone, the U.S. pork industry has lost $5 billion, according to the NPPC. Pork producers lost 66 percent of their equity, meaning that a hog farm previously worth $100,000 is now worth only $34,000.

Of that $5 billion, $1.1 billion has been lost since April 24, continuing the downward trend started by the economy and high feed costs.

"I bet you my bottom line backed up good, probably a good 30 to 40 percent plus," Kluthe said of his 15,000-hog operation, comparing his actual profits this year to what he had expected.

Although there have been no documented cases of a pig passing H1N1 to a human, U.S. pork producers are "treading water that they've never tread before," Kluthe said, appealing to public officials, media and citizens to stop making the connection between "swine" and "flu."

"It's like you're getting blamed for something that's not your fault," said Terry O'Neel, whose 500-sow farm is near Friend in southeastern Nebraska. "It's not just a financial aspect, it's really disheartening, especially when the media use the label so loosely."

Since the first wave of panic, domestic consumption has picked up and many countries have resumed their import of U.S. pork. But one crucial market – China – remains closed. "Clearly, they are very concerned with H1N1," said Dr. John Lawrence, livestock economist at Iowa State University in Ames.

But China is also the world's largest pork producer, with a vast and growing demand, and Chinese domestic hog farming has been undermined by an animal disease outbreak and economic hardship. The Chinese industry is now pleading for government support. On top of everything, many U.S. restrictions on various Chinese imports such as tires and cooked poultry have complicated the trade relationship between the two countries.

"It's like you're getting blamed 

for something that's not your fault"

In this setup, Lawrence said, any economic or political issue may have contributed to China's decision to cite H1N1 fears as a reason behind a blanket ban on U.S. pork.

In 2008, China bought almost $690 million worth of U.S. pork products, according to the pork council. That made it the third largest pork export market for the United States, after Japan and Mexico.

Pork export to China for the first two quarters of this year was half that of 2008, the council reports, and Canada is now the third largest market, with China fourth.

Without exports to China, unsold pork piled up and prices plunged. Before the H1N1 outbreak, hog farmers were already losing $11 off each hog they sold. The loss grew to about $21 per hog.

"The pork industry is really, really in difficult shape," said Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., former secretary of agriculture. "It hasn't been profitable for a while. It's been one compounding crisis after another."

Johanns headed the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the trade embargo on beef after the spread of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as "mad cow disease." Restoring pork export markets now won't happen "unless the USDA gets on the road and beats the drum," he said.

"Literally, you have to go country by country," he said, calling for a developed strategy to send scientific expertise overseas and restore the good image of U.S. pork.

But, for now, the pork surplus continues to grow, even with the recovering domestic demand.

"Well, sure, things are looking a little better," said Larry Sitzman, CEO of the Nebraska Pork Producers Association in Lincoln. "But what are you going to do with all this supply we've got in the meantime?

"You can't just stop the system and say, 'Hey, we've got too many pigs," he said. "So when the people aren't buying, the system builds up, the prices go down; basic supply and demand."

The profits have dropped so much that Peggy Johnson and her husband, who farm near Nebraska City, Neb., have stopped raising hogs for now and will re-evaluate when the economy picks up. "The price just isn't there," Johnson said.

The packers still get all of the pork, she said, but pay far less for it.

U.S. pork producers have reached out for help to the USDA, asking the federal government to purchase excess pork for food programs. It's common practice for the USDA. The government spent approximately $65 million on such purchases in 2008 and $165 million in 2009, a department spokesman said.

But from the $50 million pork producers requested in fiscal year 2009 to handle the so-called swine flu, they received $30 million. The decision on another $50 million requested for fiscal year 2010 has yet to come.

But even if the USDA granted U.S. pork producers all of the money they had asked for, "it wouldn't get us back into black," said Warner of the National Pork Producers Council.

On the state level, Sitzman of the Nebraska pork association agreed. "Basically, we're going to have to eat our way out of this," he said.

Name Confusion

Although the national pork council was leery of drawing conclusions about how much the mislabeling of H1N1 has affected the industry, Sitzman blames it for all the losses.

On a daily basis, he said, he gets phone calls from upset hog farmers: After hearing so many questions about pork safety, even those who raise pigs become confused and doubtful.

Sitzman and several other Nebraska farmers tell almost identical stories of a hog farmer who went to buy some pork at a grocery store and heard a whisper behind him as he put pork loin or pork chops in his shopping cart: "Don't buy it, it'll kill you, it's got that flu virus."

Such sentiments, whether based on actual conversations or not, rub pork producers wrong. They are optimistic about next summer, when prices may go up and export markets may reopen. But, for now, "you've got to backtrack" the tie between hogs and the spreading flu, Kluthe said. "But the damage," he said, "has been done."

Smaller Domestic Orange Crop Expected

AP Story

ORLANDO, Fla. — This season's U.S. orange crop is expected to be 10 percent smaller than last season's yield, agriculture officials said Friday, though consumers likely won't have to pay more for their orange juice.

Estimates released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture put the overall U.S. orange crop at 8.25 million tons, down 10 percent from last season's final count. If the estimate holds true, the 2009-2010 orange crop will be 18 percent lower than the one two seasons ago.

However, orange juice producers already have about a half-year's worth of inventory in storage from last season, offsetting any chance of a shortage given the expected smaller crop, experts said.

"There should be plenty of juice for consumers this year," said Mark Brown, a senior research economist at the Florida Department of Citrus. "Prices will continue in the range they are today."

The Florida orange crop this season is expected to be 136 million boxes, each weighing 90 pounds, down 16 percent from last season's final count. Florida is the nation's largest orange producer and grows about three-quarters of the U.S. crop. About 90 percent of the state's fruit is used to make orange juice.

Below-average rainfall and freezing temperatures earlier this year are to blame for much smaller amounts of fruit per tree this season.

The Florida frozen concentrated orange juice yield estimate is 1.63 gallons per box, down slightly from last year. The estimate from Florida grapefruit was 18.8 million boxes, each weighing 85 pounds, a 9 percent decrease. The crop estimate for Florida tangerines was expected to be 27 percent higher than last year at 4.9 million boxes.

The decrease in Florida's orange crop has little to do with citrus greening, an insect-borne bacteria that Florida growers had feared would devastate their crops, officials said. The disease requires costly spraying and screening, and is even then difficult to detect. The state and federal governments have diverted millions of dollars into potential research solutions.

The disease's spread has been slower than expected, said Ken Keck, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus.

"Greening is not necessarily tearing through the industry," Keck said.

The orange crop in California, which produces most of the fruit sold fresh, is expected to be 55 million boxes, each weighing 90 pounds, up 13 percent from last season. In Texas, orange production is expected to be down 1 percent from last season at 1.45 million 90-pound boxes.

Farmers In Ireland Staging Tractor Protests

From the Irish Times

Farmers today held tractor protests in 29 towns and cities in a nationwide action over Government cuts.

The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) staged “tractorcades” in the 29 county areas where it organises. Tractors gathered outside the towns this morning and drove slowly through the different centres.

Protests were held in towns and cities such as Limerick, Kilkenny, Sligo, Ennis, Tralee, Carlow, Loughrea, Clonmel, Tullamore, Cavan, Monaghan, and Swords in Dublin. Most of the events began at noon, with farmers assembling at 11.30am.

Mr Walshe said farm income were expected to fall this year by up to 25 per cent and 35 per cent over a two-year period

According to AA Roadwatch, the protests have now ended, and traffic congestion is easing.

In a statement today, Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith said he "fully acknowledges" the difficulties facing the farming community this year and said he has been working within Government and at EU level, to alleviate those difficulties.

Mr Smith said a key element was the bringing forward of the Single Farm Payment and the support measures being put in place by the EU Commission for the dairy sector.

IFA president Pádraig Walshe, who led the protest in Portlaoise this morning, called on the Government to take immediate action to assist farmers. “Almost every town throughout rural Ireland is dependent on agriculture, and the income collapse will lead to significant downturn in business across the rural economy," he said.

Mr Walshe said farm incomes were expected to fall this year by up to 25 per cent and 35 per cent over a two-year period. He said the average farm income was below €15,000 this year.

The IFA head said support for the action was further evidence of the anger of farmers who face into a winter of cash shortages while trying to provide for their families and keep their businesses afloat.

The Minister for Agriculture recently met the major banks and the Irish Banking Federation (IBF) to discuss credit difficulties being experienced in the farming sector.

Mr Smith said the meeting had been “very useful and constructive” and expressed optimism "that ongoing efforts will impress upon and facilitate banks in providing more assistance to their farmer clients at this very difficult time, particularly having regard to low product prices this year”.

The Minister said he intends to continue talks with the IBF and the banks over agri-sector issues, including credit to farmers.

Tracking Food From Farm To Fork

From the Economist

Bar codes that let shoppers trace their food back to the field

DESPITE its preoccupation with hygiene, America’s dirty secret is that it is one of the most dangerous places in the developed world to eat. Every year 76 million Americans become ill because they have consumed contaminated food—a staggering 26,000 cases per 100,000 population. In Britain, where people consume far fewer hamburgers, generally eat out less often and buy nowhere near as many ready-meals, there are 3,400 cases of food poisoning per 100,000 population annually. France is safer still, with only 1,200 annual instances per 100,000 people.

Most cases of food poisoning are mild, with victims recovering in a day or two. Sometimes, however, foodborne illnesses kill or cause permanent health problems. In the United States around 5,000 people die and a further 325,000 wind up in hospital each year as a result of food poisoning. The annual cost to the country, in medical treatment and lost productivity, is more than $35 billion.

The wave of food scares that has swept America over the past few years has caused a crisis in the country’s $1 trillion food industry. One of the most notorious outbreaks, caused by the virulent Escherichia coli O157:H7 bacterium, happened in 1993. Four children died, dozens of people went to hospital with kidney failure and hundreds more became seriously ill after eating undercooked hamburgers from the Jack-in-the-Box chain of restaurants. Since then, the regulations governing the sale of ground beef have been tightened considerably.

The deadliest foods to be found on the stalls in street markets and the shelves of supermarkets, though, are not meat or poultry but leafy vegetables and fruit. That is because unlike ground beef, which is cooked at a temperatures which destroy bugs, fruit and leafy vegetables tend to be eaten raw. The outbreak of O157 in 2006, which killed five people and made a further 205 ill, was tied to raw spinach. Meanwhile, America’s largest epidemic of foodborne disease in over a decade—last year’s Salmonella infection that claimed two lives, hospitalised 250 people and affected more than 1,300 others—was traced back through the supply chain initially to tomatoes and then to jalapeño peppers. Now there are doubts whether either was really to blame.

Tracking down the source of a foodborne infection is notoriously difficult. The vast majority of incidents are transitory in nature—a leaky toilet, a wandering animal, a momentary lapse of hygiene in the field or factory. But mounting concern about this lack of traceability has prompted the food industry itself, as well as the American government, to take action.

In October 2007 producers in the United States and Canada joined forces to launch a plan called the Produce Traceability Initiative. This uses bar-codes to track fruit and vegetables through the distribution system. Although participation in this particular plan is voluntary, it may soon become compulsory to provide traceability of some sort.

That is because lawmakers on Capitol Hill want to give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sweeping new powers to oversee food production. A bill introduced in the House of Representatives by John Dingell, a Democratic congressmen from Michigan, was passed in July, though it has yet to be taken up by the Senate. But with the White House, the food industry and the FDA behind it, the bill could be law before the end of the year. If it is, then companies selling food in America will have to adopt a tracking system that can identify the farmer, the field, the picker, the packer, the shipper, the wholesaler and the shop—all within two business days of a case of food poisoning being reported.

The technology for doing so is readily available. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags used for tracking items like shipping containers and pallets of goods have been around for years. The attraction of these tiny passive chips, which emit a stream of digital data only when energised by a radio beam, is that it is not necessary to see a tag to read it.

Unfortunately, though simple RFIDs cost less than 30 cents apiece, they are still way too expensive for tagging a bag of cut lettuce or a bunch of grapes. By contrast, the bar-codes printed on supermarket products cost less than half a cent each. Their disadvantage is that they have to be scanned physically by a line-of-sight reading device. It is also tricky to capture the data in the field and stick the bar-code labels on the produce as it is picked and packed. Managing the supply-chain database is no trivial matter either.

The Consumers Union, which campaigns on behalf of individual customers, wants Congress to require food producers to use an electronic tracking system like the one Federal Express employs for parcels. But tracking produce is not that simple. A parcel delivered by Federal Express, or any other courier service, stays under one firm’s control all the way. By contrast, a bunch of grapes travels from the farm to a packer, to a shipping centre, to a warehouse, to a shop and finally to a consumer’s fridge. Each stage is handled by a different organisation with a different way of doing things.

That has created opportunities for new firms like YottaMark of Redwood City, California, and FoodLogiq of Durham, North Carolina. Both have developed sophisticated software for tracing the origin and freshness of food. If their technology is deployed, the next time a big food scare occurs, the damage done to consumers and producers alike should be far more easily contained.

But apart from safety, the new traceability software should also allow packers and shippers to combine their tracking functions with marketing exercises. Both YottaMark and FoodLogiq offer systems that let shoppers type a text code into a mobile phone or home computer, or scan a bar-code using a phone’s built-in camera, to find out when the tomatoes on the shelf were picked and which field they came from.

That can be an attractive proposition for producers. YottaMark’s traceability label (“HarvestMark”) has been attached to almost a billion food items so far. What the food industry has learned in the process is that it not only gives consumers the confidence to buy, but also builds customer loyalty and trust in a particular brand, a region and even an individual producer. Some 85% of consumers polled by YottaMark said that, all things being equal, they would choose a traceable item over an untraceable one.

Bringing the farmer electronically into the kitchen this way can make the experience of buying produce as personal as shopping in a local farmer’s market—but with a far wider range of products to choose from. As Elliott Grant of YottaMark observes, marketing foodstuffs these days is becoming more a matter of “locale” and less about being merely “local”.

USDA Launches 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food'

Story from High Plains Journal

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan recently announced a new initiative--'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food'--to begin a national conversation to help develop local and regional food systems and spur economic opportunity. To launch the initiative, Secretary Vilsack recorded a video to invite Americans to join the discussion and share their ideas for ways to support local agriculture. The video, one of many means by which USDA will engage in this conversation, can be viewed at USDA's YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/usda. Producers and consumers can comment on the 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food' YouTube playlist, as well as submit videos or provide comments on this initiative by e-mailing KnowYourFarmer@usda.gov.

"An American people that is more engaged with their food supply will create new income opportunities for American agriculture," said Vilsack. "Reconnecting consumers and institutions with local producers will stimulate economies in rural communities, improve access to healthy, nutritious food for our families, and decrease the amount of resources to transport our food."

The 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food' initiative, chaired by Deputy Secretary Merrigan, is the focus of a task force with representatives from agencies across USDA who will help better align the Department's efforts to build stronger local and regional food systems. This week alone, USDA will announce approximately $65 million in funding for 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food' initiatives.

"Americans are more interested in food and agriculture than at any other time since most families left the farm," said Merrigan. "'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food' seeks to focus that conversation on supporting local and regional food systems to strengthen American agriculture by promoting sustainable agricultural practices and spurring economic opportunity in rural communities."

In the months to come, cross-cutting efforts at USDA will seek to use existing USDA programs to break down structural barriers that have inhibited local food systems from thriving. Today, USDA announced a small initial group of moves that seek to connect local production and consumption and promote local-scale sustainable operations:

USDA's Risk Management Agency announced $3.4 million in funding for collaborative outreach and assistance programs to socially disadvantaged and underserved farmers. These programs will support 'Know You Farmer' goals by helping producers adopt new and direct marketing practices. For example, nearly $10,000 in funding for the University of Minnesota will bring together experts on food safety and regulations for a discussion of marketing to institutions like K-12 schools, colleges, universities, hospitals and other health care facilities.

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service proposed regulations to implement a new voluntary cooperative program under which select state-inspected establishments will be eligible to ship meat and poultry products in interstate commerce. The new program was created in the 2008 farm bill and will provide new economic opportunities for small meat and poultry establishments, whose markets are currently limited.

USDA's Rural Development announced $4.4 million in grants to help 23 local business cooperatives in 19 states. The member-driven and member-owned cooperative business model has been successful for rural enterprises, and bring rural communities closer to the process of moving from production-to-consumption as they work to improve their products and expand their appeal in the marketplace.

USDA's Rural Development will also announce a Rural Business Opportunity Grant in the amount of $150,000 to the Northwest Food Processors Association. The grant will strengthen the relationship between local food processors and customers in parts of Idaho, Oregon and Washington, and will also help the group reduce energy consumption, a major cost for food processors.

As the 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food' initiative evolves, USDA will continue to build on the momentum and ideas from the 2008 farm bill and target its existing programs and develop new ones to pursue sustainable agriculture and support for local and regional food systems.

Fear Of Early Frost Heats Corn Market

Story from the Wall Street Journal

An emerging frost threat breathed life back into the moribund Chicago Board of Trade corn futures market Tuesday, sending prices sharply higher.

Front-month December corn gained 28.75 cents, near the exchange-imposed daily 30-cent trading limit, to settle at $3.465. The market had been previously trading below $3.20 all month, and had fallen near the $3 area last week.

The catalyst was weather-forecast models indicating that parts of the U.S. corn belt could get a frost late next week. The market is especially sensitive to a frost threat because crop development has been delayed due to a late spring planting and a generally cool summer and needs more time than usual to reach full maturity.

The weather forecast was enough to give the market an initial push, analysts said. The rally accelerated as the market climbed above key technical chart points, and as speculators scrambled to buy back the previously sold, or short, positions they had accumulated over the past several weeks.

"You've got large [speculators] that are short in this market," said Chad Henderson, analyst with Prime Ag Consultants. "You got above a technical point, and away we went."

The December contract closed above its 40-day and 50-day moving averages for the first time since June 12.

Shawn McCambridge, senior grains analyst for Prudential Bache, said the rally was 25% on the weather forecast with the rest attributable to technical-chart buying and buying back of sold positions, known as short covering. Analysts said the market could see more short covering on Wednesday, but that the rally could be limited.

Although the crop looks good, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that only 12% of it was mature as of Sunday, compared to a five-year average of 37%. It is behind last year's pace, which was considered abnormally late due to the historic Midwest flooding that delayed planting.

Soybeans, which are planted at the same time and region as corn, are not as far behind in development as the corn crop but also rallied sharply on the weather threat. CBOT November soybeans finished 51 cents higher, or up 5.6%, at $9.60 per bushel.

John Deere Goes Olive-Drab at Robotics Rodeo

As Posted to cNet

John Deere's R-Gator autonomous utility vehicle in the back country at Fort Hood, Texas.

FORT HOOD, Texas--John Deere, a household name in the Lone Star state, is hoping the brand will carry over into the market for military unmanned runabouts.

At the Robotics Rodeo taking place this week here at this massive Army post, the company is demonstrating its R-Gator standalone, autonomous mule, which is based on its M-Gator model already in the field. Applications include reconnaissance, patrol, hauling supplies (up to 1,400 lbs.), casualty evacuation, and the "marsupial" capability--namely the ferrying and remote deployment of smaller, specialized robots.

The unit uses John Deere's NavCom technology, GPS, and an inertial navigation system to find its way around. Two laser range sensors detect obstacles up to 65 feet away in both tele-operation and autonomous mode.

The R model can navigate its way to a concealed location, turn its engine off, and then conduct surveillance until approached, recalled, or the batteries run out eight hours later, according to the Moline, Ill.-based company. John Deere staff was quick to point out that all the gear on this model is COTS (for "commercial off-the-shelf"), including the batteries.

The robo-cart can be operated via Windows-based laptop or vest-mounted control unit, along with a game controller, and that unit can display four video streams. It comes with mast-mounted pan/tilt/zoom-capable cameras and and front- and rear-mounted drive cameras. Power comes from a compact 18-horsepower, overhead-valve, 3-cylinder, liquid-cooled, 4-cycle diesel.

The Robotics Rodeo is sponsored by the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and by the U.S. Army's III Corps, headquartered here. The event is billed as a demonstration of technology that could be of benefit to the Army's robotics programs, and specifically its quest for unmanned ground systems.

Where the Grass Is Made Greener

By The Wall Street Journal

I'm standing in the midst of a grassy, windswept field holding what could be the next killer app in lawn care. It's a vial of herbicide made from a sustainable, natural source—Canadian thistle fungus—and it's designed to wipe out clover, dandelions and other broadleaf weeds without damaging grass.

If plans stay on track, the product—code-named CBH, for Canadian Bioherbicide—could reach America's lawns as soon as 2011. If so, it will be a pivotal moment in the fast-moving evolution of naturally derived lawn and garden products in the U.S. In no small way, success will hinge on the marketing heft of its formulator, lawn and garden giant Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., whose labs supply much of what the world's homeowners buy each year in a quest to keep their grass green, plants plentiful and homes pest-free.

It's an industry in transition, and Scotts is preparing everything from an insect repellent derived from wild tomatoes to mulch uses automotive-surfactant technology to help water penetrate soil faster. Nearly 40% of the nation's 100 million households with a yard or garden say they are likely to use all-natural methods in the future due largely to environmental and health concerns, says the National Gardening Association.

A key hurdle for Scotts, whose roots lie deep in synthetic chemical products, is meeting that new demand while not sacrificing the effectiveness that keeps sales up and shareholders happy.

Recently I spent time at Scotts's headquarters. Experiments take place on 120 acres of rolling turf and inside an 18,000-square-foot greenhouse that can mimic any environment in North America. In a nearby humid "rearing room," bugs are bred for sacrificial duty and white-coated researchers pepper their speech with phrases like "knockdown time" (how long it takes a bug to stop moving).

Much of the company's $45 million annual research and development budget is devoted to formulating technology to benefit those who partake in green lawn services. What applicator is best? Will it freeze, thaw and still work? While the company manufactures the majority of its products, it often licenses or buys intellectual property from smaller companies and research institutions and then tweaks it—a trickier task with naturals, a broad term for ingredients derived from plants, animals and minerals. There are just not as many people working on green products for lawn care. And the ones that are don't always understand the biology of pests.

This year, for instance, Scotts introduced an insect killer under its new Ecosense label whose active ingredient is soybean oil. Scotts bought the technology from a small North Carolina company and set about speeding up its pest knockdown time, which was clocking in at an uncomfortable one minute. (Under 30 seconds is the goal, and 10 seconds is on par with non-natural solutions). A popular test subject: the hearty American cockroach, which Scotts keeps in large supply and feeds a diet of mostly dog food and apples.

Scotts used the Ecosense insecticide to demonstrate knockdown time of less than 30 seconds on a fat cockroach that jerked about briefly before growing still. (Researchers believe soybean oil thwarts pests' breathing.) The speed is an achievement for scientists, who, through repeated reformulations, halved the number of ingredients needed—making it less expensive to produce—while also improving its efficacy.



The bioherbicide, which interrupts the plants' ability to photosynthesize, is also looking promising. Scotts's researchers point to 3-by-3-foot plots of ailing dandelions and clover treated with the product adjacent to plots treated with Scotts's tried-and-true chemical weapon, Weed-B-Gon. The "injury," as scientists call it, is nearly identical.

Other natural herbicides are sold in the U.S. from well-known brands such as Jonathan Green and Safer, though many must be applied in significant quantities as pre-emergent weed suppressants or are non-selective, meaning they also kill grass. A Montreal-based company sells a fungus-based selective weed killer aimed at dandelions.

Scotts says its bioherbicide will be aimed at a variety of broad-leafed weeds and won't harm grass. It plans to launch the product first in a granular spot-control format to apply after weeds come up and is working on a pre-emergent formulation and a "weed and feed" product with fertilizer.

These new natural weed killers are the holy grail of organic lawn care. It's not about how to grow grass. It's about how not to grow weeds.

Some environmental advocates remain circumspect about Scotts's plans, suggesting a better natural route is to improve soil conditions so grass and plants can fight weeds and disease on their own.

Many environmentalists have been calling to replace lawns with native plants that don't consume as much water or fertilizer—a direct assault on Scotts's core business. Its response? New grass seeds and soils that conserve moisture, and fertilizers that require lower application rates. For instance, its "Water Smart" EZ Seed introduced this year contains coconut-fiber "coir technology" that helps seeds absorb eight times their weight in water.

Also, Americans spend more than three billion hours per year using lawn mowers and garden equipment. Our lineup of Scotts reel mowers, brill reel mowers, sunlawn reel mowers, push reel mowers and classic reel mowers is leading the eco-friendly reel mower movement, making it easy and enjoyable for any individual to eliminate their climate impact and transform lawn mowing to a clean future and more enjoyable experience. Please help us shift the consumer turf care industry towards more sustainable practices with reel lawn mowers and green lawn mowers.

Hiring Pros for a Lusher Lawn

By The Wall Street Journal

In some parts of the country, patches of lawn are peeking through mounds of snow. So we're preparing for one rite of spring: The quest to turn some noticeable brown spots into lush lawn.

For this task, we turned to professional lawn care companies -- both national and local -- to hear their plans for our yard. We were looking for personal attention and a customized plan to treat a few problem spots in our yard. We also wanted to explore options for organic lawn-care products.

About 25% of Americans pay for professional lawn care services, according to Bruce Butterfield, research director of the National Gardening Association. These companies specialize in periodic fertilizer applications, along with weed and pest control. Some also offer things like tree pruning, snow removal, mowing and gardening.

Many companies offer organic options to lawn care, but it can be confusing as to what that means. Organic fertilizers are available, but it can be more expensive. The options are fewer for organic weed and insect controls, so some lawn-care customers request a partially organic approach, with organic fertilizers and minimal amounts of synthetic weed and pest controls.

The five companies we contacted -- TruGreen, Lawn Doctor, Scotts LawnService, SavaTree and Second Nature -- said this is a good time for homeowners to do their research, because the first treatments in the Northeast are usually applied in late March or early April. Mr. Butterfield of the gardening association advised us to find a company that looks at the "lawn system" holistically, instead of "just doing the treatment, coming back in six weeks, and doing it again." So that's what we set out to do.

First we contacted TruGreen, a company we've used at our Connecticut home for the past seven years. The company has been responsive when we've had particular problems -- like those annoying brown spots, but technicians haven't suggested organic options or customized lawn care tailored to our problem areas. This year, our annual contract arrived in the mail with an option to prepay and get a discount. It was a nice option, but we would have liked some personal contact.

TruGreen is a national professional lawn care company based in Memphis, Tenn., with 278 locations across the country -- and more than 3.4 million residential and commercial customers. For our lawn, we were quoted a rate of $71.69 each for six fertilizer applications a year. The annual treatment plan also recommends grub and insect prevention, aeration and seeding to promote new growth, for an additional $448.26. In our area, TruGreen says, the application fee for its organic option is the same as for the non-organic blend, but that in other parts of the country, the organic option can cost as much as 60% more.

The TruGreen spokeswoman said fewer than 5% of its customers use their organic program nationally. "We're beginning to be able to communicate more with our customers on options for lawn care," she added.

The next national professional lawn care chain, Marysville, Ohio-based Scotts LawnService, gave us a proposal over the phone without seeing the property. A Scotts spokeswoman later explained that technicians typically don't visit a home to give quotes for seasonal applications, since the lot-size information is "easily calculated" using Google Earth and other online tools.

Based on Scotts' estimates, our professional lawn care treatment plan would consist of a first fertilizer treatment at $59.95, then four more at $97, plus a grub preventive at $205. Like TruGreen, Scotts has organic options, but we had to ask about them. Organic fertilizer treatments would start at $59.95, just like the fertilizers with weed control, but then would cost either $170.90 each (which includes pest control) or $143.40 (without pest control) for the four remaining treatments. The company says grub control is a non-organic treatment.

Overall, the company representatives were friendly and seemed informed about local conditions, but the process felt a bit bureaucratic, rather than personal.

The third national professional lawn care chain we spoke with, Lawn Doctor, offered the best combination of service and pricing of all the services we tested. The assistant general manager who came to our house was attentive and promised that his brother would be our technician. He stressed that the company was able to customize its products based on our lawn type and said it could use organic fertilizers for four of the six treatments. (The first two treatments are only partially organic because they include a weed killer.) He also said the treatments would specifically target problem areas for weeds and insects. The price: $70.55 each for six basic fertilizer treatments, with free service calls.

In our region, SavaTree, with 20 branches in eight states along the East Coast, has made a name for being green. Greg Huse, an arborist, came to our home and explained that his company offers fully organic and partially organic treatment plans -- in addition to traditional treatments that use weed and insect controls. Mr. Huse was the only lawn-care person we met who specifically raised the idea of treating different parts of our yard differently, pointing out that we should have "shade seeding" under a white pine in our backyard.

SavaTree's proposal was far more expensive than TruGreen's and Scotts', with an application costing $134. Add $476 a year for the aeration and overseeding treatment. But we really liked the personal attention. Mr. Huse also said he would take a free soil sample if we signed up with his company, which would help the company further refine our treatment plan.

Another call went to Stamford, Conn.-based Second Nature. This company's approach initially felt similar to SavaTree's, though they seemed particularly eager to provide a broader range of services, and stressed their scientific approach to the biology of the lawn. The company uses "synthetic control products" -- again non-organic weed and insect controls -- if the homeowner wants them. But the company says its emphasis is on making sure the lawn is healthy down to the roots and not just green on the top. To that end, technicians apply a special "compost tea" that is used to feed the lawn, says company President Jeffrey Thrasher.

We wound up requesting a proposal for Second Nature's basic professional lawn care service, as well as its property-management program, which includes everything from lawn care to snow blowing. The fertilizer applications came in at $116 each, less than SavaTree but significantly higher than the national chains. The lawn aeration and overseeding treatment came in at $735.

In the end, we were disappointed with the limited options for a truly organic lawn. And we were equally dismayed that no one who came to look at our lawn took a soil sample before giving us a proposal -- something Mr. Butterfield says would help lawn-care companies figure out what really should be put down on each lawn. Still, two of the companies -- Second Nature and SavaTree -- said technicians always take soil samples before starting to treat lawns. And Lawn Doctor said it takes soil samples when the customer requests it -- or when the lawn looks off to the salesperson or the technician.

Deere Sets Access Terms For Russian Investment

Story from Des Moines Register

Deere & Co. said Monday that it is prepared to invest up to $500 million in its Russian operations "under the right market access conditions."

Deere's statement marked negotiating at the commercial level as President Barack Obama meets with Russian leadership this week. A Russia-U.S. business forum is scheduled in conjunction with the summit in Moscow.

The phrase "market access conditions" is key because since the fall of communism in 1991 many U.S. companies have approached Russia only to be disappointed by Moscow's attitudes toward open markets.

Deere already has about 2,000 employees in Russia at factories and it also has a U.S.-style dealer network there, too.

The company has a manufacturing operation in Orenburg in southwestern Russia that makes seeding and tillage equipment for the Russian market and exports to other locations. In addition, John Deere is developing an operations, training and parts center near Kaluga in western Russia.

Deere President Samuel Allen said the company "could envision a series of significant investments over the next five to seven years in expanded capacity for manufacturing and supporting all types of Deere equipment," with the support of the Russian government. Allen said the investment could reach $500 million, according to Reuters.