Usda - Articles - Page 31

State of Dairy: A panoramic view

Four organization leaders share outlooks for the year ahead.

March 1, 2023

In addition to state and regional dairy producers, organization leaders, processors and others, Progressive Dairy reached out to industry representatives with a broader view of the state of dairy entering 2023. Here are summaries of their comments.

Department of Labor to modify method for setting H-2A adverse effect wage rates

February 28, 2023

Tyrell Marchant

The U.S. Department of Labor on Feb. 27 announced it would publish a final rule to amend how the adverse effect wage rates for the H-2A program are set to improve the rates’ consistency and accuracy based on the actual work performed by H-2A workers and to better prevent their employment negatively affecting the wages of similarly employed U.S. workers.

USDA announces new plans to address water supply challenges for Western producers

February 16, 2023

Tyrell Marchant

The USDA announced on Feb. 13 new investments and strategies to help farmers and ranchers conserve water, address climate change and build drought resilience in the West, supported in part by funding from the Inflation Reduction Act.

Weekly Digest: Southeastern U.S. FMMOs hearing set

Here is a brief look at the news affecting dairy producers for the weeks of Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2023.

January 30, 2023

Dave Natzke

Digest highlights

Hearing set to consider southeast U.S. FMMO proposals
Farmers sought for study about how they balance children and work
JDS: Milk’s packaging influences its flavor
Other news, briefly

Vilsack lays out farm bill vision in meeting of USDA officials

January 24, 2023

Tyrell Marchant

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on Jan. 18 gathered some three dozen Department of Agriculture staff to discuss the future of U.S. agriculture and upcoming farm bill talks.

Weekly Digest: USDA announces second round of PMVAP payments

Here is a brief look at the news affecting dairy producers for the weeks of Jan. 15-28, 2023.

January 24, 2023

Dave Natzke

Digest highlights

USDA announces second round of PMVAP payments

$100 million Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program announced

WOTUS lawsuit filed

IDFA adds economist, policy support

USDA updates organic enforcement rule

2025-30 Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee named

USDA seeks comment on proposed animal disease traceability regulations

Animal welfare group wants increased regulation of ‘custom-exempt’ slaughter operations

Other news, briefly

Proposal seeks to strengthen disease traceability regulations

The proposed USDA rule would require some cattle crossing state lines to have eartags that are both visually and electronically readable.

January 18, 2023

Tyrell Marchant

On Jan. 18, USDA-APHIS announced a proposed rule to amend animal disease traceability regulations. The public comment period regarding the proposal is open through March 22, 2023. If the proposal becomes law, official USDA tags would be defined as those that are both visually and electronically readable.

December FMMO uniform prices down as Class IV pooling remains low

Here is Progressive Dairy’s monthly review of the numbers to provide some additional transparency on your milk check.

January 13, 2023

Dave Natzke

Class IV pooling across all FMMOs represented about 8% of the total milk pooled. It was the 10th month in 2022 that Class IV pooling was below 10% of total milk pooled.