Rick Roden of West Bend, Wisconsin, has been appointed to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee. His two-year term will begin at the AFBF YF&R Leadership Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Feb. 17-20.

State officials say a Japan-based firm will construct a new $73 million manufacturing facility in northeast Georgia, creating 200 new jobs. Gov. Nathan Deal said Kubota Corp. intends to build the plant in the Jackson County town of Jefferson.

In August 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s, Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS) released a draft of the “European Health Certification Program” to dairy industry trade associations (NMPF, the U.S. Dairy Export Council, the International Dairy Foods Association and the American Dairy Products Institute) for review and comment. After gathering member feedback, NMPF submitted comments and questions to AMS, expressing general support for the program and requesting additional clarification on specific points.

Note: The following are opinion commentaries. No: No way can I support the Dairy Security Act of 2011. It is short-sided, basically, for the processor – pay the lowest price, not pay components and give processors an automatic energy adjuster. Where is ours? Mr. Kozak has repeatedly said that it is unrealistic and politically unpopular to expect to get the cost of production for your milk, and that’s how FFTF is put forward. That does not work in the real world. I prefer to support S-1640. It is respectful of the dairy producer. It allows cost of production to be covered plus the ability to cover the dirty five – depreciation, interest, repairs, taxes and insurance – and, just maybe, a profit!

With the increasing volatility of dairy markets in recent years, and the increasingly difficult dairy industry, many proposals to restructure dairy policy have been introduced recently. Many of the proposals, most notably NMPF’s Foundation for the Future program, seek to maintain a profitable margin for all dairy producers throughout the country. While it is generally accepted that some reform is needed to update the dated dairy policy/pricing system, many aspects of the NMPF proposal have no place in the free market.

If you’re looking to hone your management skills while getting a glimpse of what’s on the horizon in dairy, join the more than 500 dairy producers and industry leaders who travel each year to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to attend the Pennsylvania Dairy Summit. The 2012 Summit will be held Feb. 8-9 at the Lancaster Host Resort and will feature discussions on the global dairy marketplace, management strategies and new technologies. Producer showcases and breakouts addressing on-farm dairy issues are also part of the two-day event.

The American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Discover Conferences were established in 1997 to provide a unique environment and format for addressing important contemporary issues in food animal production. Attended by international scientists, the industry, academia, consultants, veterinarians and government representatives, there have been 21 Discover Conferences to date. I had the opportunity to attend the 22nd Discover Conference, which was on “Milk Components: Opportunities for Maximizing Farm Gate Returns and Meeting Manufacturing Needs.”

Click here to download a pdf of the latest checkoff watch, provided by Dairy Management, Inc. PD

The seventh annual I-29 Dairy Conference will be held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Feb. 8-9. The conference begins with registration from 3:30 to 9 p.m. on Feb. 8 at the Best Western Ramkota Inn & Conference Center, 3200 W. Maple St.

The Missouri Dairy Forum and Trade Show is returning to Springfield Jan. 27-28 after a record crowd of dairy farmers and allied industry attended in 2011. The Forum will kick off at the University Plaza Hotel starting at 9:25 a.m. on Jan. 27.