The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced $11.04 million in funding to support dairy businesses and producers under the Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives (DBI) grant program, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. The initiatives support small and mid-sized dairy businesses in the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products.
As National School Lunch Week begins, the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) reports that its Healthy School Milk Commitment is responsible for reducing added sugar levels by 10 percent in flavored school milk between the 2023 and 2024 school years. The Commitment was launched in April 2023 by 37 school milk processors representing approximately 95 percent of the school milk volume in the United States. Since that time, added sugar in flavored school milk, such as chocolate milk, has declined from 8.2 grams per serving to 7.4 grams per serving. In the past year alone, school milk processors have removed 2.7 billion grams of added sugar, equal to 5.9 million pounds.
Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc., took top honors in the National Milk Producers Federation’s annual cooperative communications contest, winning five categories and the competition’s “Best in Show: Writing” award. A farmer-owner of Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA), Doug Chapin, received NMPF’s Farmer Communicator of the Year award. Edwardsville, IL-based Prairie Farms also took one second-place finish and two third-place finishes in the competition, which recognizes the top communications efforts among NMPF’s member cooperatives. The Best of Show: Writing award was given for Prairie Farms’s article, “R-Homestead Holsteins – 150 Years of Family Tradition.”
Following a successful Protein PACT Summit focused on turning sustainability goals into action, the Meat Institute elected key new officers, Executive Board members and full Board of Directors members for 2025. James Snee, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hormel Foods, was elected to serve as the Meat Institute’s incoming Chairman in January of 2025. He has been a Meat Institute Executive Board Member since 2017 and an officer since 2022.
Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative will present an informational webinar on navigating permitting challenges on October 29 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. CST. The webinar will discuss common challenges farmers face when applying or reapplying for WPDES permits. Those interested in attending the webinar can register online.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) released a report analyzing data collected in a nationwide tax survey of America’s cattle producers. With the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act set to expire at the end of 2025, NCBA collected this survey data to better understand how key tax provisions, such as Death Tax relief and business deductions, impact family-owned cattle operations.
The National Cattlemen’s Foundation (NCF) is now accepting applications for the 2025 CME Group Beef Industry Scholarship. Ten scholarships of $1,500 each will be awarded to outstanding students pursuing careers in the beef industry. The application deadline is Nov. 8, 2024, at midnight Central Time. For more information and to apply, visit www.nationalcattlemensfoundation.org. Scholarship winners will be announced during CattleCon 2025, Feb. 4-6, in San Antonio, Texas.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a division of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), will now fund Virtual Fencing (VF) projects for producers. VF is a precision livestock management tool that creates an enclosure, barrier, or boundary without a physical fence. VF allows real-time automation of grazing management from a smartphone or computer. Livestock are fit with a collar that generates audio warnings and electrical stimuli. Already used in Europe, New Zealand, and Australia for many years, VF rollout is currently underway in the United States. Several domestic vendors recently completed pilot projects and have begun supplying VF to United States producers. In partnership with NRCS, Green Lands Blue Waters (GLBW) developed a set of materials providing an introduction to VF for NRCS field staff, grazing educators, and other conservation agriculture professionals.
USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation announce the completion of a funded research project, aimed at developing six vaccines for reovirus in turkeys, by researchers in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Made possible by an endowing Foundation gift from West Liberty Foods, the research is part of the Association’s comprehensive research program encompassing all poultry and egg production and processing phases.
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide immediate assistance for Wisconsin farmers impacted by the sudden closure of Pure Prairie Poultry, which has left poultry farmers in Wisconsin staring down crippling financial losses without feed and a processor for their birds.
