- On September 28 and 29, alpaca business owners throughout North America will celebrate the 12th annual National Alpaca Farm Days. Alpaca Owners Association, Inc. invites you to visit participating member farms and ranches during this fun-filled family event. For a complete list of participating farms and ranches, visit www.AlpacaFarmDays.com.
- Just 10 years after its inception, the Beef Checkoff-funded Masters of Beef Advocacy (MBA) program celebrated its 15,000th graduate in August. The program was created to equip and engage beef industry advocates to communicate about beef and beef production. It is one of the strongest beef advocacy efforts in the industry.
- The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, which brings the dairy community together to advance a shared social responsibility platform, is accepting nominations for the ninth annual U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards. Nominations are open through Nov. 15 and there is no fee to enter.
- Cargill is joining forces with dairy farmer Tara Vander Dussen, also known as New Mexico Milkmaid, to get more milk to families in need. Inspired by September being Hunger Action Month, Vander Dussen is using her social media following to encourage participation in a fun and light-hearted milk chugging challenge. For every person who posts a video or picture of themselves chugging milk on Instagram, with the hashtag #MilkChugChallenge, and tagging New Mexico Milkmaid, Vander Dussen will donate $1 (up to $500) to www.giveagallon.com throughout the month of September and Cargill with match her donation dollar for dollar.
- The Archer Daniels Midland Company announced a $2.5-million gift to assist with funding construction of the Feed Technology Center, a key asset that will advance educational and research opportunities within the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois, and will advance animal agriculture and companion animal nutrition across the globe.
- The time-tested Purina® Omolene® horse feed lineup now contains Outlast® Gastric Support Supplement. This addition to the Omolene® feed line provides gastric support in every meal.
- The American Feed Industry Association is pleased to announce Joe Harris, Ph.D., executive vice president of Westway Feed Products, as its 2019 Liquid Feed Hall of Fame inductee.
- R & D Life Sciences, LLC announces it has tapped Nathan Hillis to fill the position of National Sales Director.
- The National Pork Board announced plans to migrate Pork Checkoff remittances to its online platform. The online Checkoff remittance system is designed to significantly reduce the processing time, paper and other expenses for the Pork Board, while also providing pork producers flexibility with payment options, improve operational efficiencies and create cost savings.
- Hiland Dairy‘s Strawberry Yogurt made in Wichita, Kansas, Whole Chocolate Milk made in Little Rock, Arkansas, Bulgarian Buttermilk made in Chandler, Oklahoma, Natural Sour Cream made in Norman, Oklahoma, Sassy Salsa Dip made in Omaha, Nebraska and Vanilla Ice Cream made in Tyler, Texas were first-place winners, or “Best of the Best” at the 2019 World Dairy Expo (WDE) Championship Dairy Product Contest.
- To gather real-world insights into the professional landscape for women in agriculture, Alltech has announced its support of an industry-wide survey. Launched on Sept. 10, this global survey aims to collect feedback about the barriers that impede progress and to identify the resources needed to ensure workplace equality. The survey is open to women and men across all sectors of the agri-food industry, and the results will be revealed at the Women in Food & Agriculture Summit, to be held Dec. 3–4, 2019, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
- Congressional ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA), allowing the U.S. pork industry to maintain zero-duty market access to two of its largest export markets, remains a top priority for the National Pork Producers Council. More than 120 pork producers from across the country helped spread this and other messages on Capitol Hill this week during NPPC’s Fall Legislative Action Conference.
- The Dairy Business Association, Wisconsin’s largest dairy lobbying group, applauds three state lawmakers for a new legislative effort to stop the use of misleading labels on imitation milk and other “dairy” products. Legislation proposed by Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, and Reps. Travis Tranel, R-Cuba City, and Loren Oldenburg, R-Viroqua, would ban the labeling of products as milk or as a dairy product or ingredient if the food is not made from the milk of a cow, sheep, goat or other mammals.
- To help producers meet the unique nutritional needs of lactating sows, Nedap Livestock Management has introduced Nedap Activator, an add-on to Nedap Farrowing Feeding that automatically drops feed when sows trigger an electronic sensor with their snouts.
