Cathleen Williams, associate professor in the Louisiana State University AgCenter School of Animal Sciences, has been named winner of the Land O’Lakes/Purina LLC Teaching Award in Dairy Production. The award is presented annually by the American Dairy Science Association to recognize outstanding teaching of undergraduate students in dairy science.

The parent company of a Vermont cheese producer has agreed to scale back claims about whether its dairy farmers use an artificially produced hormone to help their cows produce more milk, Vermont's attorney general said Wednesday. The Vermont Attorney General's office said that in 2009 and 2010 the Cabot Creamery Cooperative overstated claims that none of its farmers used the artificial hormone known as rBST. The attorney general's office said some of the products made by Cabot cannot be certified as free of rBST.

In the May 21 issue of Progressive Dairyman, Editor Karen Lee came up with a poll question that sparked much interest: “Should the sale of unpasteurized (raw) milk be legalized in all 50 states?” “Raw milk pairs with the local and slow food movements that are of interest to today’s consumers,” Lee says. “As I researched it, I found that nearly a dozen states were considering or would potentially be considering legislation related to the sale of raw milk this year alone. Progressive Dairyman was curious to see how our readers weighed in on the topic.”

What’s a building block in the food pyramid that’s important for building and maintaining bone mass? It’s milk. Whether it’s from cows, goats, sheep or another mammal, milk and milk products are an important source of calcium throughout a person’s life.

Feihe International Inc., formerly known as American Dairy, said Monday that it plans to sell its two dairy farms in China to a Chinese investment company. The investment firm, Haerbin City Ruixinda Investment Company Ltd., will pay about $18 million in cash for the two farms. It will also supply Feihe with milk for the next year and a half, which Feihe estimates will be worth about $114 million.

Environmentalists are making a new push for stricter regulations on large livestock operations in Indiana, even as the number of such farms with thousands of animals continues to decline. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management recorded a decrease of 57 permitted farms in the past year to 1,994 – part of a decline of nearly 10 percent over the past four years, The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne reported (http://bit.ly/qx134Y).

Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) today announced that its Board of Directors intends to create two independent public companies: A high-growth global snacks business with estimated revenue of approximately $32 billion and a high-margin North American grocery business with estimated revenue of approximately $16 billion. The company expects to create these companies through a tax-free spin-off of the North American grocery business to Kraft Foods shareholders.

North Dakota's Farm Bureau is promoting a state constitutional amendment that says no one may restrict "modern livestock production and ranching practices." The Farm Bureau intends to circulate an initiative petition to put the amendment on the statewide ballot. The proposed initiative was delivered to Secretary of State Al Jaeger's office.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton says he hopes to boost the state's farm exports when he goes on a couple of trade missions this fall. Dayton spoke at the annual Farmfest show in southwestern Minnesota. He says Minnesota's agricultural economy generates about $16 billion a year and that exports are a big part of that.