Successful Farming – August 2019

stock production, according to USDA’s Census of Agriculture.
It’s the second time in a row that the district, which covers all
or part of 73 counties, has led the nation. The corn, soybean,
and cattle district deposed the wheat- and cattle-producing Big
First District of Kansas in the 2012 census, when the commodity
boom boosted the value of row crops. The 3rd Congressional
District in Nebraska has 33,294 farms, more than any other
district.
Just like in 2012, Iowa’s 4th Congressional District is second
on USDA’s list with $16 billion in production. Dotted with small
towns, the district in northwest and north-central Iowa shares
the Missouri River as a boundary with Nebraska 3. Iowa 4 is
home to huge pork packing plants, hog farms, and egg farms.
The Big First District of Kansas is third on the list, with
$14.3 billion in production. Stretching 300 miles from the
state’s western border with Colorado to the outskirts of Topeka
in eastern Kansas, the district is a huge wheat producer, but
cattle are its agricultural mainstay, accounting for $9 billion
of production. Dodge City, Garden City, and Liberal (in
southwestern Kansas) are sometimes called the Golden Triangle
of Meatpacking.
Rounding out the top five are California 21 in the San Joaquin
Valley, with $9.8 billion in production, and South Dakota,
which has only one congressional district, with $9.7 billion in
production.
In a geographical oddity, four of the five top districts –
Nebraska 3, Iowa 4, Kansas 1, and South Dakota – are
contiguous.

UPComing

AUGUST

• 29: USDA quarterly estimate
  of ag exports


• 29: International Grains Council
  monthly estimate of global crops


• 30: USDA updates forecast of
  2019 farm income
  SEPTEMBER


• 8-12: National Association of
  State Departments of Agriculture
  annual meeting, Albuquerque, NM


• 21: Farm Aid annual music and
  food festival, East Troy, WI

USDA or FDA

for gene-edited

livestock?

T

he National Pork Producers

Council went to the top

when it launched a Keep America

First in Agriculture campaign to

put USDA in place of FDA as the

regulator of gene-edited livestock.

“We’re looking for leadership

from the White House,” perhaps

in the form of a meeting to adjust

regulatory roles, says Dan Kovich,

NPPC science director. The Pork

Council says countries such as

Canada, Brazil, and Argentina

are embracing gene-editing

technology, and the U.S. needs

to pick up its pace if it wants

to remain a leading exporter of

breeding stock and pork.

Since the early days of GMOs,

USDA has been in charge of

biotech plants, while the FDA,

with roles in food and medicine,

oversees gene-altered animals. In

2015, after years of controversy,

it approved the AquAdvantage

salmon, the first genetically

engineered animal allowed

into the U.S. food supply. The

agency saw no reason to cede

ground in a Washington turf

war. It announced a risk-based

regulatory framework for plant

and animal biotech last October.

“FDA does not regulate an

animal as a drug,” says Anna

Abram, FDA deputy

commissioner, rebutting a

common complaint from the

livestock industry. The Pork

Council was not reassured.