Agribusiness Update for Tuesday 3/26/13

This is the Agribusiness Update...I’m Greg Martin...

In response to the EPA’s release of raw data from farms in 30 states that included - in some instances - home addresses, phone numbers and email addresses - to several activist groups in February, ag groups have requested that the EPA take steps to prevent such a release in the future.The groups also asked that the agency obtain assurances from the recipients of the information that they won’t release or distribute the private data of farmers.

A meat plant in New Mexico aims to be the first to slaughter horses in the U.S. since 2007. Roswell’s Valley Meat Co. may be operational in three weeks and is one of several companies that have applied to USDA to slaughter horses. USDA has said that it will have no choice but to go forward with inspections once the company meets technical requirements and inspector training has taken place.

Oregon’s Ron Wyden, the Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, is asking the EPA for data that may help determine if ethanol trading credit price volatility has anything to do with a recent run-up in gasoline prices. Prices over the last six months climbed to their highest-ever autumn and wintertime levels - even as U.S. oil production reached a 20-year high and consumption fell.

That’s today’s Agribusiness Update from the Ag Information Network.