In what could be a blow to Nebraska pork producers, the National Pork Producers Council reported Thursday that  the Canadian Senate  has given final approval to a free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia, “ensuring that exports of Canadian pork products and many other food and agricultural commodities will have immediate market-access advantage over U.S. products in the Colombian market.”

According to NPPC, the United States and Colombia signed a free trade agreement Nov. 22, 2006 , which the Colombian Senate in 2007 voted to approve the agreement by a margin of 55-3 and the House by a margin of 85-10. The U.S. Congress has not yet begun debate on the implementing legislation. 

According to Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes, the U.S.-Colombia FTA, when fully implemented, would raise live U.S. hog prices $1.15 above what would otherwise be the case.

With Canada’s action and with the failure of the U.S. government to implement the U.S.-Colombia FTA, trade benefits now will shift to Canadian pork producers, according to NCCP.

Hayes says that if the U.S. does not implement its FTA with Colombia, the U.S. will be completely out of the Colombian pork market within 10 years because of Canada’s FTA tariff advantage.

“It is unfortunate that our producers have to pay the price for U.S. inaction on trade,” said Sam Carney, president of the National Pork Producers Council and a pork producer from Adair, Iowa.

He said Canada will gain the inside track on future exportopportunities in the sizeable and growing Colombian market.

“The sad truth is that the hardest market to gain access to is the one that is lost to competitors,” Carney said. “ Business relationships between Canada and Colombia will become established, and when that happens, our only hope will be if we can offer a morcompetitively priced product,” Carney said. “But that will be virtually impossible if Colombian tariffs on Canadian products remain lower than on ours for years to come.”

The U.S.-Colombia FTA is one of three that are pending approval by Congress. Agreements with South Korea and Panama also have been awaiting action for more than three years. Panama also recently finalized an FTA with Canada, and South Korea is nearing completion on a deal with the European Union. Carney said those markets are also in jeopardy of being lost to competitors.

The U.S. FTA with South Korea alone would add $10 to the price of each U.S. hog sold, according to an analysis by Iowa State’s Hayes.

Carney said NPPC has been calling for action on all three FTAs for years, pointing out the enormous risk of letting other countries move forward first. Now that the risk is becoming reality, he said it is critical that the U.S. act quickly to at least keep its exports on a level playing field.

Now that summer’s here, the heavy spring rains may be over and the heat of summer is on its way.

AccuWeather.com Chief Long-Range Meteorologist Joe Bastardi said Thursday that he’s forecasting more scorching temperatures to occur over much of the nation through August.

Bastardi said average summer temperatures will rival some of the hottest summers ever recorded across the eastern half of the nation.

“It’s possible for record-breaking warmth in the first half of July for much of the nation,” said Bastardi.

Between I-80 and I-20 from the Rockies eastward, temperatures will hold between the mid-80s and low 90s F through mid-July, he said.

His forecast calls for humidity and uncomfortable heat covering the Great Lakes and much of the Northeast, and south from I-20 to the Gulf Coast through the same period. He said temperatures will be slightly above normal, lingering around the low 80s in the Northeast and in the 90s across the south.

“The core of the strongest heat is centered in the Tennessee Valley through June,” said Bastardi.

Temperatures in this region will be in the 90s F with ultra high humidity.

However, he said tropical systems brewing in the western Caribbean have the potential to cool most of the Southeastern states. Thunderstorms pushing through the Great Lakes and New England have the same cooling ability throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states throughout the summer.

Despite the overall trend for warmth this summer, regions of the western portion of the United States will stay cool.

“Temperatures near or below normal will be confined to the West Coast, Pacific Northwest and perhaps as far east as the western Dakotas,” said Bastardi.

August will feature similar temperatures as July, and September will begin the cooling into autumn.

“August will be similar to July, so much so, I have identical temperatures,” said Bastardi.

With vacation season ramping up and heat in the forecast for much of the nation’s summer, the demand on energy will also be in full force, he said.

Bastardi said as the heat will be cranking over much of the nation, the 2010 hurricane season will also be more active.

Bastardi predicts 18-21 storms, with at least eight impacts and six hurricanes, and two or three of those hurricanes having major landfalls.

And with the oil still spilling in the Gulf, that’s not good news.

A retired University of Nebraska-Lincoln research geologist, Duane Eversoll, said recent rain over much of Nebraska may increase the danger of property-damaging and potentially life-threatening landslides in parts of the state where waterlogged soil overlays hard shale or clay.

“We certainly have the potential for more landslides across the state, due to our recent heavy rains, particularly in areas that are prone to them,” Eversoll said.

He said hundreds of landslides have occurred in Nebraska and “though they don’t have the visual drama of those in say, California, or the make-believe movie variety that devastate everything in their path, they do threaten roads, homes, utilities and possibly lives throughout Nebraska.”

“Right now we have all the elements in place that can cause landslides,” Eversoll said. “Geological formations prone to landslides, such as the Pierre Shale in northeastern Nebraska that contains clay soils that expand when wet, or loess soils overlaying glacial materials mainly in eastern Nebraska; slope — even five degrees or less; and plenty of precipitation, which increases pressures within the mass and also adds weight. When those conditions are met, slides can occur on their own, or following a suitable “trigger” such as a clap of thunder, a heavy truck bouncing down a roadway, or an earth tremor.”

When landslides occur in Nebraska, he said they often destroy or cover sections of roads, break buried utilities, destroy utility poles, cause depressions in the earth and have other adverse effects.

According to Eversoll, landslides occur mostly in eastern Nebraska’s glacial soils that are overlaid by loose loess soil and exposed Pierre shale, a type of clay that occurs at intervals statewide, but they historically cause the most damage in northeast Nebraska. Only the Sandhills, he said, are relatively immune from landslides.

They are particularly common along the Niobrara River, Eversoll said, where Pierre Shale is exposed, and in many parts of eastern Nebraska, where one of the prominent geologic formations is glacial clay overlaid by loess soil.

Rain increases the pore pressures within the soils and adds weight to soils causing it to destabilize, according to Eversoll. As a result, much of the state currently has a higher risk for landslides due to the recent and repetitive heavy rainfalls, he said.

“No major slides have been reported but there is very high probability for them and that will continue for as long as soils are saturated with water,” he said.

For more information on Nebraska’s landslides, including detailed information on individual slides, go online to UNL’s School of Natural Resources .

For a state like Nebraska, which grew nearly 1.6 billion bushels of corn last year, a recent report about China receiving its first shippment of U.S. corn in nearly 15 years is good news.

According to the U.S. Grain Council, for the first time in almost 15 years, a shipload of U.S. corn arrived and is being unloaded in China.

THe USGC said that the vessel, carrying 55,000 metric tons (2.2 million bushels) of U.S. No.2 yellow corn, arrived at the Longkou Port in Shandong Province of China on June 21, 2010.

“Without delay, the vessel cleared customs and berthed for commencement of discharge on June 22, 2010,” the USGC said.

“The documents passed promptly through customs and cleared for discharge into the port warehouse by the Customs Inspection and Quarantine Service,” said Dan Keefe, USGC marketing specialist. “The cooperation throughout the supply chain — from the U.S. supplier, to the vessel agent, to the port management, to the buyer, to the customs office, to the inspector and finally to the feed mills — appears to be very good. This is a very positive indication for future corn imports.”

The port, USGC said, operates five cranes discharging at the rate of about 700 metric tons (28,000 bushels) per hour with very little port congestion. The discharging operations is expected to be completed in four days time, weather permitting.

“Samples were being drawn on a regular basis. There were no negative comments or observations made of the corn. The quality was consistent with a No.2 U.S. FGIS grade and the corn was in good condition,” said Keefe. “We are pleased with the success of this shipment.

Another vessel of U.S. corn is scheduled to discharge in July 2010.