AGRICULTURE
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:
Agriculture secretary Mike Espy
resigned on October 4, effective December 31,
amid allegations that while moving to more closely
regulate red meat sanitation, he improperly
accepted gifts and favors from Tyson Foods, of
Arkansas, the biggest U.S. poultry producer.
Grazing on public lands, reports the
National Wildlife Federation, has contributed to
the decline of at least 346 species of fish, birds,
and mammals that are either officially endangered
or have been nominated for endangered status.
USDA researcher Robert Wall predicts
that a way to make cows’ milk simulate the health
benefits of breastfeeding will be developed soon by
inserting human genes into cows. The first obsta-
cle will be finding a way to create a transgenic cow
for less than the present cost of $300,000 per head.
Vegetable production is taking over
the Missouri “bootheel,” and proving more prof-
itable than growing fodder crops, previously the
regional agricultural staple, says University of
Missouri extensive agronomist Tim Schnakenberg.
More than 1,200 veal calves from at
least three Wisconsin farms have been confiscated
and killed by the USDA over the past three years,
the Milwaukee Journal says, because they were
given clenbuterol, an illegal drug that enhances
anemia in calves, producing white meat––and can
poison humans in even trace amounts.
Anton Pohlmann, the biggest poultry
producer in Europe, is building barns for 3.4 mil-
lion hens and pullets in Hardin County, Ohio,
while appealing a lifetime ban on raising chickens
in his native Germany, imposed by the agriculture
ministry of Lower Saxony state because he alleged-
ly inhumanely gassed 60,000 chickens who had
salmonella.
The USDA says U.S. poultry consump-
tion will hit a record 71 pounds per person in 1994.
New York state milk production
increased 2% during the first seven months after
BST was approved for general use, but the state
dairy herd decreased by 20,000 cows, according to
the N.Y. Agricultural Statistics Service. How
much was due to BST and how much due to nor-
mal seasonal fluctuation, however, is still unclear.
