This year’s finalists for the title of Princess Kay of the Milky Way have been named. The 12 young women from dairy farm backgrounds were selected at the conclusion of a three-day event for county dairy princesses held in St. Joseph, Minnesota. Each of the 12 will be sculpted in butter during the 2011 Minnesota State Fair. Princess Kay is crowned each year the night before the State Fair opens.

Everyone is invited to attend Breakfast on the Farm on June 11, 8 a.m. to noon at The Dairy Center in Calmar, Iowa. The menu includes pancakes, sausage, eggs, coffee and milk. The family-oriented event includes a tour of the 250-cow dairy farm at The Dairy Center and a farm animal petting zoo.

Mechanicsburg FFA of Mechanicsburg, Ohio, has been named Grand Champion in the Weeding out Hunger FFA Video Challenge. Mechanicsburg competed against four National FFA chapters representing Tennessee, Colorado, Ohio and North Carolina for the title and the $3,000 grand prize.

The first of five farm-based biogas plants that convert manure and food scraps into electricity for hundreds of homes will be dedicated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday, May 31st at the Jordan Dairy Farm in Rutland, Massachusetts. Governor Deval Patrick will join local farmers and other project partners to officially open the plant that helps solve several problems for the state's dairy industry: it will allow farms to better manage their manure, lower their energy and operating costs, and sell electricity to the grid to provide a new source of revenue. (One cow will create enough electricity to power a single home for a year.)

Computer simulation studies by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suggests that a dairy cow living year-round in the great outdoors may leave a markedly smaller ecological hoofprint than its more sheltered sisters. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) agricultural engineer Al Rotz led a team that evaluated how different management systems on a typical 250-acre Pennsylvania dairy farm would affect the environment. ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency, and this work supports the USDA commitment to promoting sustainable agriculture. Rotz works at the ARS Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit in University Park, Pennsylvania.

The state Environment Department is reviewing plans to investigate soil and groundwater pollution at dairies in southeastern New Mexico. The department's groundwater quality bureau required Cheyenne II and Wild West Farms Dairies to submit plans for addressing pollution associated with their operations. The plans could be approved within the next few weeks. Wastewater from the Dexter-area dairies is discharged to lined lagoons and is used for irrigation. Monitoring wells show nitrate, chloride and dissolved solids in the area's groundwater has exceeded state standards.

The Wisconsin Legislature's budget committee has voted to stop accepting applications under a program designed to preserve Wisconsin's farms. The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee voted Wednesday to essentially end the purchase of agricultural conservation easements program and $12 million in borrowing that was approved in 2009 to help fund it.

Camco International Limited (CAO.L), a developer of clean energy projects, has begun construction on the largest dairy biogas project in North America. The project, which will be operated by the consortium AgPower Group LLC, involves the installation of anaerobic digesters to convert cow manure at an Idaho dairy farm into enough biogas to fuel 4.5 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity. Construction of the project is expected to cost under $25 million, and it has been fully financed, according to Camco.

On May 10, the President traveled to El Paso, Texas, where he delivered a speech on the need for immigration reform. In his speech, the President touted his administration’s work on securing the border and said that, while some politicians will never be satisfied, it is time to tackle comprehensive reform of the broken immigration system. (In advance of the President’s address, the National Immigration Forum convened a background briefing for press, with national security and border security experts. You can listen to a recording of the press briefing by clicking here (mp3 file)).