Farmers and ranchers from 11 Western states were invited to enter the 2013 World Ag Expo Forage Challenge.

The two-year drought inflicted upon ranchers and farmers is only the beginning of crop production challenges the beef industry faces going into 2013. Energy prices, ethanol production demands and worldwide rationing of corn and grain will also contribute to the lowest stocks-to-use measure seen in years, said CattleFax analyst Chad Spearman. Speaking at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Industry Convention in Tampa, Florida, on February 8, Spearman identified several factors causing stocks of corn and soybeans in the U.S. to drop and influence the higher prices.

Author of this post Dana Coale is the AMS Dairy Programs Deputy Administrator. Follow the USDA blog at: http://blogs.usda.gov Last year marked the first time in U.S. history that our dairy farmers produced more than 200 billion pounds of milk. This was the highest year over year increase since 2004-2005 and a 5.7 billion pound increase from the previous year. In recent years, more than two-thirds of the growing demand for U.S. farm milk has been for dairy exports.