U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced that Nevada has met USDA’s rigorous “at least equal to” food safety standard and will be joining the State Meat and Poultry Inspection (MPI) Program. Nevada’s participation expands local inspection capacity, food safety oversight, and boosts market access for small and very small processors. This vital partnership builds on USDA’s recently released suite of actions to strengthen the American beef industry.
Kent Bamford with Bamford Feedyard in Haxtun, Colorado, and Bob Foote with Foote Cattle Company in Bucyrus, Kansas, are the 2026 inductees in the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame. Honorees will be recognized at the 17th annual banquet on Feb. 4 during CattleCon 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee.
The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) announced that Chelsie Keys has been named senior vice president, government relations, succeeding a position held by Dave Carlin who announced his retirement from IDFA earlier this year. Keys comes to IDFA from the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, where she served as policy director for Chairman John Boozman of Arkansas. Keys has been with the Senate Agriculture Committee for a decade.
TARGAN, an animal AgTech company delivering next-generation solutions for the global protein production industry, has appointed Lily Parshall Wachter as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The new leader will direct the company’s financial strategy as TARGAN advances its technology priorities and expands commercially.
Creekstone Farms, in conjunction with Marble, is revolutionizing the meat industry’s processing capability using AI-powered automation within their Kansas facility. The addition of Marble’s Pack-Off and Box Verification technologies is reducing inefficiencies, allowing for increased sales opportunities, better decision-making with product-level analytics, and improved customer satisfaction with automated sorting, box verification, and claim traceability.
Holstein Association USA’s Board of Directors has approved several updates for the 2026 National Holstein Shows, following recommendations presented during the Association’s Board Meeting held November 19–20 in Louisville, Kentucky. As part of the Show Committee Report, the Board approved a newly developed Holstein Association USA Judges List Code of Conduct. This document provides guidance for all judges who are on the Holstein Association USA Judges Lists and establishes a clear process for addressing ethical matters should they arise. It will be distributed to all judges currently listed on the lists and is available online at holsteinusa.com/shows/judges.html.
As disease challenges like highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), New World screwworm (NWS) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) continue to mount, biosecurity remains a critical concern for the U.S. dairy industry. A survey of U.S. dairy farms conducted by Farm Journal gives the industry a chance to elevate its overall biosecurity standards. Read the full story about Farm Journal’s biosecurity research here.
The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) testified before the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) during a public hearing on the operation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Becky Rasdall Vargas, senior vice president for trade and workforce policy at IDFA, called on U.S. negotiators to preserve the benefits of USMCA while rectifying violations and operational challenges. In addition to Rasdall Vargas’s oral remarks, IDFA submitted more detailed written comments to USTR in November, providing further recommendations for strengthening enforcement mechanisms, modernizing specific USMCA chapters, and addressing operational shortcomings that have limited the Agreement’s effectiveness. IDFA also continues to provide USTR with ongoing feedback related to U.S. dairy’s concerns with USMCA and participate in coalitions aimed at preserving a trade agreement within North America.
The USPOULTRY Foundation has awarded over $330,000 in student recruiting grants to 27 colleges and universities across the U.S. with poultry science or industry-related programs. Among the awardees are Cleveland Community College (CCC) in Shelby, N.C, University of Delaware, Wilkes Community College (WCC) in Wilkesboro, N.C., and Sam Houston State University (SHSU) in Huntsville, Texas.
