Paul Martin Petaluma, California Deputy Director, Permit Assistance California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz)

Dick Monfort, scion of one of the West’s most prominent cattle families, will be honored by Colorado State University’s Department of Animal Sciences as 2012 Livestock Leader for his role as a champion of the nationwide beef industry and for high-impact philanthropy that benefits agriculture.

The costs for growing alfalfa, corn, soybeans and wheat in Wisconsin are predicted to be about 14 percent higher in 2013 than in 2012. Fertilizer and pesticide prices are expected to be over 5 percent higher. Seed prices are expected to be higher due to the drought, according to Ken Barnett, University of Wisconsin – Extension educator.

“When deciding how much of an input to apply, producers can maximize their investment in that input by considering its marginal rate of return,” said Barnett.

On Dec. 17, Chobani celebrated the grand opening of its second domestic manufacturing facility. Located in Twin Falls, Idaho, Chobani invested $450 million to build this one-million-square-foot operation in less than 11 months. More than 2,000 men and women put in over 1.7 million man hours to build the state-of-the-art facility. Click here to view photos of the grand opening from Progressive Dairyman's InFocus section.

Members of Family Dairies USA, Manitowoc Milk Producers Cooperative and Milwaukee Cooperative Milk Producers successfully voted today to merge the three cooperatives, creating the largest dairy marketing cooperative in the Midwest. The new, combined cooperative, known as FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative, will begin business function as a unified entity on Jan. 1, 2013.

Progressive Dairyman is proud to present a video tour of Todd Moore's farm as part of our 2013 World Ag Expo seminars on February 12, 2013 at 1 p.m. Watch the first clip of our interview with Todd as he talks about creating and marketing his own products. Join us at World Ag Expo for all our seminars or check back here or our YouTube Channel for the complete interview with Todd in February.