Recently, I attended the 20th International Silage Conference in Gainesville, Florida – an event that brought together more than 330 leaders in silage research, innovation and sustainable agriculture from 37 countries.

The dairy industry is continually evolving, from the Surge Bucket Milker to rotary parlors and automated milking equipment, from pen and paper records to stall-side cow information. And now, with technology advancing further and more quickly, paired with the onset of artificial intelligence (AI), the industry is tasked with the lofty goal of keeping up.

“Ag has changed yesterday, it’s changing today, and it will surely change tomorrow,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a speech to attendees at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) Convention on April 12. “What has stayed the same for far too long are the broken systems in Washington, D.C. – including systems at the USDA that haven’t been updated in decades.”

Sparkling new farm equipment, the latest agriculture technology and a plethora of educational seminars were just a few of the many attractions for the 100,000-plus attendees at the 2025 World Ag Expo, held Feb. 11-13 in Tulare, California.

Academia, industry allies and dairy producers each brought unique perspectives for how to best manage dairy waste at the 2025 Midwest Manure Summit Feb. 26 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. From anaerobic digesters to in-season applications to fiber bedding and more, manure has gone from a waste to a valuable resource on dairy farms of all sizes, as highlighted during the one-day event.

In mid-July 2024, a team of extension staff, farmers, manure applicators and agency staff from New York and Vermont partnered with Annex Media and the North American Manure Expo (NAME) Board to bring NAME to central New York.

At no time in the history of livestock agriculture have producers been more efficient at producing beef than they are now. Just in the last half-century, global beef production has nearly doubled, despite a historically small herd size.

As we prepare to build back the U.S. beef herd and reduce the diseases threatening U.S. beef production, farmers and ranchers should consider how to protect their animals and operations before it is too late.

Professional Dairy Producers (PDP) Executive Director Shelly Mayer set the tone for an engaging three days when she stated, “You can’t have a winning team with a losing mindset.”