- The Center for Dairy Excellence has named Emily Barge as communications and marketing manager to support the work of both the Center and the Center for Dairy Excellence of Pennsylvania. Isaac Clements, a senior at Penn State University, also joined the Center as an education and communications intern.
- The National Pork Board released its latest findings from the comprehensive Insight to Action research, this time examining trends in consumer behavior related to dining out. The Pork Board’s All About Dining Out: What’s on Trend report uncovers why consumers decide to eat the proteins they do and explores tactics so that foodservice operators can meet those needs, such as exploring new flavors, dishes and menu formats.
- Instead of using dietary antibiotics to help the piglets cope and avoid illness, scientists with the Agricultural Research Service are now investigating a naturally occurring amino acid known as L-glutamine. The effort, which was supported by the National Pork Board, arose from a need to provide livestock producers with alternatives to using dietary antibiotics as a growth-promoting agent in swine.
- Hundreds of dedicated members of the U.S. dairy community will gather again Jan. 22-23, 2020, at the Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center, in Madison, Wis., for the sixth annual Dairy Strong conference. Updates and announcements about Dairy Strong can be found at dairystrong.org. Registration will open September 1.
- Livestock producers now have access to a new yellow-flowered alfalfa variety. Developed by South Dakota State University to thrive in less than optimal conditions, Sholty exhibits high drought tolerance, is winter hardy and, because of its indeterminate growth habit, this new alfalfa is ideal for interseeding into pasture and rangeland.
- In response to President Trump’s plan to impose five percent tariffs on all Mexican imports as of June 10, 2019, David Herring, president of the National Pork Producers Council and a pork producer from Lillington, North Carolina, issued a statement promoting ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, preservation of zero-tariff pork trade in North America for the long term; completion of a trade agreement with Japan; and resolution of the trade dispute with China, where U.S. pork has a historic opportunity to dramatically expand exports given the countries struggle with African swine fever.”
- The U.S. Court for the Southern District of Texas on Tuesday, May 28, remanded the Environmental Protection Agency/Army Corps of Engineers 2015 “Waters of the U.S.” rule that greatly expanded the regulatory reach of the agencies’ authority to thousands of isolated or small (e.g., depressions, ditches, etc.) waters and drainage features. While several courts have issued injunctions on implementing the rule pending the outcome of several lawsuits, this was the first decision to rule on the legitimacy of the process to finalize the 2015 rule. The Southern District of Texas decision, to which U.S. Poultry & Egg Association was a party, concluded that the agencies erred in following legal guidelines when the agencies issued the 2015 regulation without giving an opportunity to comment on a key report cited for much of the more controversial provisions of the new rule.
