Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced $780 million in drought assistance for farmers and ranchers in 20 states. This funding includes a new $50 million program for livestock producers impacted by drought, focusing nearly $30 million in unused conservation funds on drought, and accelerating the delivery of an estimated $700 million in counter-cyclical payments. The new $50 million program for … Read More
Heat Effecting Milk Production
The heat is having an effect on milk production as evidenced by USDA’s July milk production numbers. USDA Chief Economist Keith Collins says it’s down thanks to the heat in major producing state California and it’s lowering annual production forecasts as well.
Bovine Genome Project Releases New Material
Researchers from the Bovine Genome Sequencing Project are nearing completion on sequencing the genome of the cow and have released on free public databases bovine genetic information, including the most current, complete and accurate genome sequence and an upgraded genetic map. According to a USDA-ARS release, the new bovine genome sequence contains 2.9 billion DNA base pairs and incorporated one-third … Read More
Biotech Work In Australia
I just received this photo from the folks with the Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference that’s just ending in Australia.
I wanted a picture to illustrate the work they unveiled at the conference which I posted about yesterday.
Those were on Bioactive Proteins In Milk and DNA Techniques.
Bioactive Proteins In Milk
Here’s some more news from the Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference, ‘Unlocking the potential of agricultural biotechnology,’ that’s going on in Melbourne, Australia. We know milk does a body good and apparently some researchers have discovered some new ways.
Australian Biotech Conference Features Dairy
There’s a big biotechnology conference going on in Australia this week. I was invited to attend but have to be in Kansas City and then on to Norway. Darn the luck, eh?
Proposed Cuts To WIC For Dairy
USDA was in the news a lot today. Another story has to do with proposed cuts to the WIC program for dairy products. This has concerned the IDFA and NMPF. Since it’s only a proposal at this point there is a comment period open for the next 90 days.
New Risk Management Tools From USDA
I know some producers who would like to have the new risk management tools announced by USDA today, available this year!
Senate Bill Would Affirm Manure Not Toxic Waste
The National Milk Producers Federation is supporting a bill introduced in the Senate that would clarify laws regulating industrial waste sites. At issue is whether dairy farms and other livestock operations should be governed by the same laws that were intended to address Superfund toxic waste sites. According to the latest NMPF newsletter, the new bill, S. 3681, amends the … Read More
Lots of Stuff in New USDA-ERS Report
A new report from USDA’s Economic Research Service outlines trends in the dairy industry in recent years and what the future might hold. Among the report’s findings: – Per capita domestic commercial use of all dairy products (milkfat basis) has grown only 0.4 percent annually since 1995. – Cheese has provided most of the dairy-product demand growth for many decades. … Read More