- Holstein Association USA recognizes David Harvatine of King Ferry, New York, as the 2018 Distinguished Young Holstein Breeder. Havartine is co-owner and dairy manager of Aurora Ridge Dairy, located north of Ithaca, New York, in the heart of the Finger Lakes region. Aurora Ridge Dairy is owned by four partners: Bill Cook, Dan Westfall, Jason Burrows and Harvatine.
- The Washington State Conservation Commission has awarded a $930,305 grant to install and operate a clean water membrane technology system provided by Regenis, an agricultural waste solutions company, to be located at Coldstream Farms in Deming, WA. This state-of-the-art system will generate 12,000 gallons of clean water daily from the 22,000 gallons of cow manure the farm produces through a unique combination of nanofiltration and reverse osmosis. Once treated, the water is suitable for farm animals to drink or even to benefit local salmon runs by increasing streamflow.
- The American Feed Industry Association is pleased to announce the addition of Louise Calderwood as its director of regulatory affairs, effective July 2.
- Hiland Dairy Foods Company continuously seeks new ways to recycle, reduce and reuse at its production plants. Hiland Dairy’s most extensive effort to date took years to reach its current magnitude as a closed-loop sustainability initiative at the company’s plant in Chandler, Oklahoma. At last month’s ProFood Live conference in Chicago, Hiland’s initiative received a ProFood World 2017 Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Award.
- The USPOULTRY Foundation awarded a $20,345 student recruiting grant to the University of Georgia. The grant was made possible in part from an endowing Foundation gift from the Leland Bagwell Education & Innovation Fund, named in honor of the founder of American Proteins.
- The automated milking trend continues to tick upwards in the U.S. GEA introduced the first fully automated robotic rotary parlor, DairyProQ, and installations quickly gained momentum with two completed at the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018, and four on track for completion by end-of-year.
- Idaho Lieutenant Governor Brad Little, University of Montana Professor Dr. Dave Naugle, and Arizona Farm Bureau President Stefanie Smallhouse provided testimony to the Subcommittee on Federal Lands hearing entitled “The Essential Role of Livestock Grazing on Federal Lands and Its Importance to Rural America” during a recent House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing.
- Already bearing the brunt of global trade retaliation against American agriculture, U.S. pork producers now face additional headwinds in the form of a regulatory land grab by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The National Pork Producers Council called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assert its proper oversight of two emerging issues critical to the future of animal agriculture: laboratory-produced cultured protein and gene editing in livestock production.
- U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that the government of Japan has finalized technical requirements that will allow U.S. sheep and goat exports into the country for the first time in more than 14 years.
- Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has announced the appointment of 13 members to fill vacancies on the 37-member National Dairy Promotion and Research Board. More information about research and promotion programs is available on the Research and Promotion Programs page on the AMS website.
