ADSA TODAY

The Online Newsletter of the American Dairy Science Association

April, 2000 Update

This is a supplement to the March, 2000 issue of ADSA Today. It includes information updates on ADSA matters, as well as recent news and grant postings. The next complete issue of ADSA Today is due to be published in June.

Online Baltimore 2000 Meeting Registration Form Active Now!

A secure, online meeting registration form can now be found on the Baltimore 2K web site (click here: http://www.fass-secure.org/b2kregistration.htm). You can use it to register for the general meeting program, for the pre-meeting dairy foods or GMO workshops, and for any of the social or meal events offered in Baltimore (tour information is not on this form but will be mailed to you by Baltimore-area tour providers after you register). The full text of the meeting program should be posted on the website later in April, and the program will mail to all members in early May.

If you haven’t done so already, you can also secure your housing reservation from the same website. Also for your convenience, an 800 number is now open for housing reservations, to make changes to prior reservations, or to ask housing questions. The US number is 800-977-1563, and members outside the US can call 416-385-9258.

This summer’s meeting is going to be a very special one. The theme, from Research to Innovation, will throw a spotlight on technical advances in our industry throughout the last century. ADSA members will especially enjoy the historical exhibit that is planned in conjunction with our annual Foundation auction (auction items will be on display in the Convention Center from July 23 – 26, and will then be moved to the Hyatt Regency for the Wednesday evening auction). In addition to the world-class research scientists whom you would expect to find at our meeting, this year we anticipate you will also have an opportunity to meet important federal officials, legislative staffers, and European colleagues who have been invited through an exchange program arranged with the European Association for Animal Production.

Early indicators suggest that this will be a heavily-attended meeting. The number of abstracts accepted for presentation numbers upwards of 1300, and more than 30 symposia will be offered. The Baltimore Convention Center will provide a spacious, modern setting for our meeting, and the revitalized Inner Harbor area offers a wealth of restaurants and recreational opportunities. A special bonus: the Baltimore Orioles will be in town during the week of our meeting, facing the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees. So whether you come to Baltimore for the science, the professional growth opportunities, or the baseball, plan now to attend this rewarding meeting!

New Feature in the Online Journal of Dairy Science

You will find an up-to-date listing of recently accepted peer-reviewed articles scheduled for publication in future issues of JDS by clicking here. This will become a regular feature of the Journal and is intended to keep authors and readers aware of scholarship that will be disseminated through JDS. This is the latest in a series of recent changes designed to make the journal more accessible. Other new features include a “window” to the PubMed search link, designed to expedite literature searches of abstracts in the life sciences, and an IP addressing system for institutional subscribers, which permits every computer in a library or office facility to access online JDS. And the recently released compact disk including every issue of JDS published between 1997 and 1999 has facilitated access to back issues, as well. For CD ordering information, click here. Those who have already ordered the CD should expect delivery in mid-April.

Probiotics Will be the Focus of the Fourth DISCOVER Conference

The topic of probiotics, while relatively new to the general public, is not new to the scientific community. A number of symposia and conferences have been conducted addressing the use of probiotics in humans. Very little, however, has been done in the area of probiotic use in livestock. The ADSA Foundation/DISCOVER Conference Series is pleased to present the Fourth DISCOVER Conference on Food Animal Agriculture: Priobotics for Food Animals.

Program Chair Stanley Gilliland (Oklahoma State University) announced that the program will focus on the use of probiotic microbials to improve various aspects of growth and performance as well as control of undesirable microorganisms that might enter the food supply from animal sources. To review the program outline, click here. In-depth discussions among participants and speakers will enable all to gain a better understanding of factors that can result in the successful uses of probiotics in the livestock industry. Various species of microorganisms along with their potential benefits and applications will be discussed.

Scientists involved with farm animal nutrition or health, scientists working with probiotics, consultants for the livestock industry, veterinarians, livestock producers or feeders, companies involved in developing probiotics, suppliers of probiotics (direct-fed microbials), and suppliers of feeds and animal health products will find this program of particular interest. The program is not restricted to ADSA members.

If you are interested in participating in this Conference, visit the ADSA DISCOVER Web site at http://www.adsa.org/discover for complete programming, registration and travel information. The registration fee is $375.00, which includes all sessions and most meals. Registrations must be received by July 31, 2000 to ensure participation.

This fourth conference will be held at Abe Martin Lodge, nestled in the 15,000 acre Brown County State Park near Nashville, Indiana. Nashville is about one hour south of Indianapolis. The park and immediate area offer registrants miles of hiking trails, lakes and golf courses, as well as pool and tennis facilities. Nashville is a popular vacation site because of the pleasant countryside, abundance of artist studios and galleries, and variety of crafts.

The DISCOVER Conference Series is coordinated by Bill Baumgardt, and supported  by the ADSA Foundation and a variety of sponsors. The first DISCOVER Conference was held in June 1998. DISCOVER Conferences offer a retreat-type setting and maintain an informal format that encourages candid exchanges among scientists focusing on topics of importance in food animal agriculture. Sessions primarily are held mornings and evenings with afternoons available for discussion or recreation.

News/Professional Opportunities/Grants/Meeting Schedule

News and Notes 

These news articles have been forwarded from Jack Cooper's Food Industry Environmental Network Newsletter (FIEN) electronic newsletter. For subscription information, contact:

Jack L. Cooper
Food Industry Environmental Network (FIEN)
33 Falling Creek Court; Silver Spring, Maryland 20904
Phone: 301/384-8287 --- Fax: 301/384-8340
E-Mail: JLC@fien.com

· * Article on Antibiotic Use in Animal Feed Published on Page One of the March 17 Issue of the Washington Post, Titled: "Worries Rise Over Effect of Antibiotics in Animal Feed" - The article charges that there is " ... mounting evidence that the antibiotics widely used on farm animals are also diminishing the power of important antibiotics to help people. Giving animals antibiotics in their feed can cause microbes in the livestock to become resistant to the drugs. People can then become infected with the resistant bacteria by eating or handling meat contaminated with the pathogens." - A copy of the complete article is posted at the following Washington Post WWW Site: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24270-2000Mar16.html

· * US Organic Agriculture Gaining Ground, according to a USDA Economic Research Service Report, included in the March 22 issue of USDA's "Agricultural Outlook" - The report notes that U.S.-certified organic cropland more than doubled during the 1990's, and two organic livestock sectors--eggs and dairy--grew even faster; that U.S. producers are turning to organic farming systems as a way potentially to lower input costs, decrease reliance on nonrenewable resources, capture high-value markets and premium prices, and boost farm income; that markets for organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs have been developing for decades in the U.S., and organic grain and livestock markets are beginning to emerge; and that under USDA's new proposal for regulating organic production and handling in the U.S., announced March 7, 2000, purchasers of organic foods would be able to rely on uniform and consistent national standards for defining the term "organic." - A copy of the USDA Outlook Report is published at the following www site:

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/reports/erssor/economics/ao-bb/2000/ - The contact for the Organic Food article is Catherine Greene (202) 694-5541; cgreene@ers.usda.gov

· Utilization of Animal Manure and Organic By-Products as a Beneficial Resource - USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Extends the Comment Deadline to April 14 on the Agency's December 9, 1999 Draft "Technical Guidance for Developing Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans (CNMPs)," a document intended for use by NRCS and conservation partner State and local field staffs, private consultants, landowners/operators, and others that will be developing or assisting in the development of CNMPs - The purpose of the draft guidance is to provide technical guidance, not to establish regulatory requirements - A CNMP is a group of conservation practices and management activities which, when combined into a system, will help to ensure that both production and natural resource goals are achieved. It incorporates practices to utilize animal manure and organic by-products as a beneficial resource. A CNMP addresses natural resource concerns dealing with nutrient and organic by-products and their adverse impacts on water quality. The objective of a CNMP is to combine management activities and conservation practices into a system that, when implemented, will minimize the adverse impacts of animal feeding operations on water quality - NRCS Contact: Obie Ashford at 301-504-2197; fax: 301-504-2264; e-mail: obie.ashford@usda.gov - NRCS March 15 Federal Reg: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&docid=00-6411-filed

· * Animal Feed Regulations in the European Union - The EC Proposes Amendments Its Animal Feed Regulations Intended to Provide the Commission with Expanded Authority to Act Swiftly and Independently in an Emergency and to Establish a Rapid Alert System under which producers, importers and operators will be required to inform the authorities if they have any knowledge about contamination or any irregularity in a consignment of products to be used for animal feed. Member States will be required to have adequate contingency plans to deal with serious feed risks. They will also face new obligations to inform the Commission as soon as a serious contamination or risk in feed or the food chain is detected. Rules on annual reporting of occasional and limited contamination of feedstuffs are clarified and reinforced - EC March 22 News Release posted at the following EC WWW Site: http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/00/286|0|RAPID&lg=EN

Reinforcement of BSE monitoring and surveillance through tests

The European Commission has today endorsed a draft Decision which will reinforce the epidemio-surveillance of BSE in cattle by introducing a monitoring programme from 1st January 2001, through rapid post mortem tests. Three post-mortem tests have been validated by the Commission last year to this end1(1).

The draft decision will require the Member States to carry out an annual monitoring programmes on a targetted sample of animals, with a particular focus on animals which die on farms, sick animals slaughtered as emergencies and animals displaying behavioural or neurological signs. The test results will provide a more complete picture of the incidence of BSE in the Community and of the patterns of infectivity in the animal population. Similar tests carried out in Switzerland have led to a significant improvement in BSE monitoring in that country.

"It is of utmost importance to learn as much as possible about the scale of the disease in Europe. I encourage all Member States to introduce these test", said David Byrne, European Commissioner responsible for Health and Consumer Protection. Mr Byrne pointed out that he would like to see Member States move ahead with the adoption of a decision (proposed by the Commission in November) to remove specific risk materials (SRM) from cattle. "SRMs, which include the brain, spinal cord, and spleen, carry the greatest risk of infectivity for BSE and possible risk for human exposure to nvCJD. These tissues should not enter the food chain".

Some Member States remain reluctant to accept the proposed measures while others support the introduction of the monitoring programme and the removal of SRMs. Eight Member States already have national rules in place to remove SRMs. The Commission has launched a new call to present tests for evaluation, looking notably for tests which can identify pre-clinical BSE in live animals or differentiate between BSE and other transmittable spongiform encephalopathies.

The current proposal takes the form of an amendment of Decision 98/272 of 24 April 1998 on epidemio-surveillance of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. The Commission will put the proposal to the Standing Veterinary Committee of the EU on 5th April for decision.

· USDA COMMISSION ON 21ST CENTURY PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE TO MEET APRIL 10 - 12 IN WASHINGTON, DC - To Address Dairy Policy Issues and Development of the Commission's Final Report - USDA Contact: Mickey Paggi at 202-720-3139 - USDA March 22 Federal Register:

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&docid=00-7036-filed

· UN FAO to Conduct an E-Mail Conference (Electronic Forum) during the time period of March 20 through May 19, titled: "How appropriate are currently available biotechnologies in the crop sector for food production and agriculture in developing countries?" - The FAO www site provides background information on the topic and individuals are encouraged to join the discussion by sending an e-mail message which everyone will be able to read and respond - Go to the following UN Food and Agriculture Organization www site for details: http://www.fao.org/biotech/Conf1.htm on this and the following other conferences which are expected to be run April 15 through June 15 on the topics: “How appropriate are currently available biotechnologies in the animal sector for food and agriculture in developing countries?”; and “How appropriate are currently available biotechnologies in the forestry sector for food and agriculture in developing countries?”; and June 15 through August 15: “How appropriate are currently available biotechnologies in the fish sector for food and agriculture in developing countries?”

Grants Available

The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES)

is announcing a new program entitled the Initiative for Future

Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS). The purpose of this Initiative is

to support research, extension, and education across topic areas defined

in Section 401 of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education

Reform Act of 1998. These priority areas include: agricultural genomics,

agricultural biotechnology, food safety, food technologies and human

nutrition, new uses for agricultural products, natural resource

management, including precision agriculture, farm efficiency and

profitability.

SUPPORT PROVIDED: About $113 million is available for

grants through this Initiative in 2000. The initiative will give priority

to proposals that successfully integrate research, extension and

education and/or address the concerns of small and mid-sized producers

and land managers (especially in natural resource management and farm

efficiency and profitability). The goal of IFAFS is to award large grants

to multi-state, multi-institutional, and multi-disciplinary projects;

preference will be given to those projects. If a grant provides for

applied research that is commodity specific and not of national scope,

the grant recipient is required to provide funds or in-kind support to

match the amount of Federal grant funds provided.

APPLICANT INFORMATION:

All Federal research agencies, national laboratories, colleges,

universities, research foundations, and private research organizations

are eligible to apply. There will be set-aside funds for small and mid-

sized institutions. Interested parties may subscribe to the Initiative's

electronic mail-list to receive e-mail notification of RFP publication

and other Initiative announcements. Simply send an e-mail message to

majordomo@reeusda.gov. Leave the subject blank. In the message area

write: subscribe ifafs-pubs. For more information about the Initiative

for Future Agricultural and Food Systems, contact: Rodney Foil,

(202)401-4921; e-mail: rfoil@reeusda.gov), Director or Cindy Huebner, (202)401-

4114; e-mail: chuebner@reeusda.gov, Assistant Director.

Notice

The National Association of Graduate-Professional Students (NAGPS) has

recently received a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to conduct a

survey of doctoral students on their graduate school experiences. The

survey will be completed on the Web <http://survey.nagps.org/> by current

and recent doctoral students from February - June 2000, and the results

made publicly available on the Web on a department specific basis in

September.

The survey is based upon best practices and covers issues in a number of

areas, including information for prospective students, curriculum breadth

and flexibility, career guidance and placement services, faculty

mentoring, time to degree, department climate, teaching, professionalism,

and overall satisfaction. In other words, the sort of best practices and

concerns outside of the reputation. The NAGPS survey itself will run

until June 1, 2000, and will be available on the Web at

<http://survey.nagps.org/> (which already has a number of resources).

For this survey to be useful, it is vital that we reach as many current

and recent doctoral students (anyone who has been enrolled for at least

one semester in the past five years) as possible. We are hoping that we

can encourage a significant percentage of students to respond so that the

results will represent a broad range of experiences and a realistic

picture of department and institutional practices.

Upcoming Meetings

Plant-Derived Biologics for Human and Veterinary Applications; Public

Meeting

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

SUMMARY: This is to notify producers and users of human and veterinary

vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, as well as other interested

persons, that a public meeting will be held to provide a forum for

discussion on the regulatory and policy issues related to the

manufacture, distribution, and use of biological products derived from plants. The

meeting is being organized by the Food and Drug Administration and the

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and is sponsored by the

Institute for International Cooperation in Animal Biologics.

DATES: The meeting will be held on Thursday, April 6, 2000, from 1 p.m.

To 5 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held in the Scheman Building at

The Iowa State Center, Ames, IA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about the meeting,

Contact Dr. Bruce Carter, Center for Veterinary Biologics, Licensing and Policy

Development, VS, APHIS, 510 South 17th Street, Suite 104, Ames, IA

50010; phone (515) 232-5785, fax (515) 232-7120, or e-mail:

Bruce.A.Carter@usda.gov.

For registration information, contact Ms. Dawne Buhrow, Institute

For International Cooperation in Animal Biologics, 2160 College of

Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011; phone (515) 294-7632,

Fax (515) 294-8259, or e-mail: iicab@iastate.edu.

In addition, information regarding the meeting and registration is

available on the Internet at http://www.vetmed.iastate.edu/iicab/transpl.htm

The Midwest Cooperative Dairy Program is holding a conference on

"Revitalizing the Upper Midwest Dairy Industry" on April 13-14 at the

Radisson South, Bloomington, Minn. The program is sponsored by the

Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives and Minnesota Association of

Cooperatives in partnership with the University of Wisconsin Center for

Cooperatives. The conference is geared toward directors of dairy and ag

co-ops and other organizations, as well as other producers and interested

industry folks. The conference will get underway at 11 a.m. on April 13

and conclude at 1:30 p.m. on April 14. For more information and

registration materials, contact Lori Weaver, Director of Dairy Policy,

WFC/MAC, at LKEWEAVER@aol.com

Other Upcoming Conferences

New England Dairy Feed Conference, April 6, West Lebanon, NH 207-622-3940

IDFA Wastewater Management Workshop, April 19, Chicago, phone: 202-737-4332

Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference, April 18 - 19, Fort Wayne, IN, phone: 765-494-7220

World Congress of Veterinary Science, April 25 -29  Amsterdam, Netherlands

American Dairy Products Institute Annual Meeting, April 30 - May 3, Chicago, IL phone: 312-782-4888

36th Annual Dairy Production Conference, May 2 -3, Gainesville, FL Phone: 352-392-5594

2000 Mid-South Ruminant Nutrition Conference, May 18 – 19, Arlington, TX, Phone: 972-952-9210, e-mail: e-jordan2@tamu.edu.

Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting 2000, June 10-14, Dallas, Texas, USA Phone 312/782-8424, Fax 312/782-8348 Internet: www.ift.org

Dairy Ingredient Science 2000, June 28-30, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

International Association for Food Protection 87th Annual Meeting, August 6-9, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Phone: 800.369.6337; 515.276.3344

Beltsville Symposium XXIV: Healthy Animals 2000, September 10-12, Beltsville, Maryland, USA Telephone: (301) 504-8201

Fax: (301) 504-5306

4th Discover Conference on Food Animal Agriculture: Prebiotics and Probiotics for Food Animals,

September 10-13, Nashville, Indiana, USA

World Dairy Expo, October 4-8, 2000, Madison, Wisconsin 608-224-6455