The USDA announced on Jan. 2 that it would permanently allow schools to use flexibility in serving larger portions of lean protein and whole grains in the federal school lunch program, following months of complaints from students and parents about fewer calories in meals.

Michaela Spring Sales and Mareting Manager, Northwest U.S. Nampa, IdahoImmuCell

The following is a presentation summary of some of the topics from the 2013 Illinois Farm Economics Summit (IFES) that occurred Dec. 16-20, 2013 at locations across Illinois. Employer insurance mandate
This mandate became effective Jan. 1 with enforcement of any penalties delayed until 2015. Whether a farm business is subject to this mandate and its potential penalties depends upon the number of full-time persons the farm business employs.

Greek yogurt, specifically of the Chobani kind, proved to be a big hit with school students in four states, according to the USDA, which tested the company’s Greek yogurt during the schools’ lunch periods.

The 2013 numbers are in and they show the importance of voluntary, locally-based conservation. Data recently released by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) shows how the USDA agency, in partnership with farmers and ranchers across the country, conserved and protected natural resources on millions of acres of America’s privately-owned lands last year.

Real-world research utilizing Hereford bulls has led to documented real-world results in baldie female demand compared to straight-bred Angus females.    During the Circle A Ranch Sale Oct. 19, 29 black-baldie heifers averaged $2,960, and the top-selling lot was black-baldie heifers bred with heifer-calf-confirmed pregnancies at $3,450 each. The average price paid for the 269 straight-bred Angus heifers was $2,431. That’s a Hereford-sired advantage of $529 per head in price.     

An animal rights group is once again petitioning farmers. The Humane Society of the United States, in a letter to the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, called upon dairy farmers to abandon the practice of tail docking on cows, saying it is “inhumane” to crop the tails of bovines.

A years-long drought is wreaking havoc on the Colorado River and the manmade reservoirs from southern Arizona to the Rocky Mountains that feed from it. The ripple effect: farmers and others across the region may need to tighten their conservation efforts.