Welcome to May! Corn futures were fractionally to 2 cents higher and Chicago wheat was 2 to 5 cents higher, while soybeans were 1 cent lower to 1 cent higher in overnight trade.

Influenza A/H1N1 situation. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have both agreed that the current flu virus situation should be referred to as Influenza A/H1N1. "There is no evidence that the new virus is circulating in pigs in Mexico or anywhere else and that pork consumption poses no increased risk of contracting the virus," FAO said. Meanwhile, despite those assurances on pork being safe, Reuters reports that 16 countries have barred imports of at least some U.S. pork due to the situation.

EU study on land use. A study released in the European Union (EU) indicates that using traditional agricultural land to grow bioenergy crops instead of traditional crops could contribute between 13% and 52% of the EU's 20% greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target. This issue will continue to be a focus in the U.S. and it will be interesting to see how U.S. studies compare to this EU result.

Extension shifts in Iowa. While Iowa will still maintain its 97 county extension offices, there won't be county extension directors as a result of budget-cutting decisions by Iowa State University. The 100-year-old system will see a shift from county directors to 20 regional directors and a supervisor. That's despite the extension offices reporting nearly 1 million contacts with the public.

Enjoy!

Roger Bernard
Pro Farmer News Editor