Dairy market information and analysis is now available on a new free app for mobile devices using Apple or Droid platforms. Daily and weekly spot and futures settlement prices are available in an easy-to-read format from the app’s main page. For deeper analysis, users touch “Futures Markets” to access CME Group futures, Daily Dairy Reports (for subscribers only) and the latest statistics.

The online votes have been tallied and Betty Rosson, a Virginia grain and cattle farmer, is Monsanto’s 2013 America’s Farmers Mom of the Year. Betty’s nomination, submitted by her son, Charles, was chosen by judges of American Agri-Women as regional winner for the Southeast.

Oscar winning and two-time Emmy winning filmmaker James Moll has announced the production of a feature-length documentary about the next generation of American farmers and ranchers. The yet-to-be-titled film will profile farmers and ranchers in their twenties, all of whom have assumed the responsibility of running the family business.

Golden Guernsey, the Wisconsin dairy plant that closed unexpectedly in January, may re-open this summer. The plant was purchased during a bankruptcy auction by Lifeway Foods Inc. of Morton Grove, Illinois, for $7.4 million. The only other bidder was Superior Dairy LLC from Canton, Ohio.

Construction of the $85 million dry milk processing plant in Fallon, Nevada, is more than halfway complete, according to Northern Nevada Business Weekly. It was originally planned to open this summer but winter weather and other complications delayed the project by 6 months.

The USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) resumed farm payments, which had been temporarily suspended due to sequestration, on May 8. This includes payments for the Milk Income Loss Contract Program (MILC), 2011 Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE) and the Noninsured Crop Assistance Program (NAP).

Heather Hunt Archbold, Ohio Dairy Business Development Specialist Agri-Nutrition Consulting

The following came in response to the article 'Drying forage for hay and haylage' which appeared in the May 2011 edition. Click here to read the original article.

Sarah E. Peterson Stout BioTracking LLC Moscow, Idaho Marketing and Sales Specialist

New crop cottonseed supplies available to dairies are expected to remain tight as U.S. farmers swap cotton acres for corn and soybeans across many parts of the Cotton Belt. U.S. cotton production will likely drop 19 percent from 2012 to 2013, according to the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates Report released May 10, 2013.