This year’s threatened closure of the Chinese market to food-grade U.S. dairy exports was a wake-up call not only to the United States but to all global dairy suppliers, according to the latest report from the U.S. Dairy Export Council. Should China, for whatever reason, apply controls to its dairy import regime or should the country’s dairy appetite wane, farmers, processors, traders and all involved in milk production and marketing around the world would feel the effect.

To help manure handlers adopt new technologies and best management practices, Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences will host the 2010 Manure Expo, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 15 at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs. This annual event has been held for eight years, previously in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio and Iowa. Pennsylvania will host it for the first time this year, attracting a new audience from the Northeast. The expo’s theme, “Balancing Production and Conservation,” addresses how manure handlers must navigate federal, state and local regulations, public perceptions and scrutiny, and economic pressures, while trying to make the most of an important natural resource, said Expo Coordinator Robert Meinen, senior extension associate for Penn State Cooperative Extension.

The expansion of confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) is a controversial issue in many communities. Producers, residents and local decision-makers often clash over conflicting interests regarding new operations. Four researchers at Purdue University wanted to learn more about the nature of these local conflicts and the impacts of swine and dairy CAFOs on rural communities. The researchers went directly to the sources of information. They conducted face-to-face interviews with 50 large swine and dairy CAFOs owners in central Indiana to learn more about them and their operations, collected tax records from the courthouse to analyze impacts on county budgets, examined environmental violations and interviewed public officials. What they found was that the impact of CAFOs in rural communities is a mixed bag.

Dairy Producers of New Mexico (DPNM) held its 2010 Annual Convention/Trade Show and Golf Tournament a few weeks ago in Ruidoso, New Mexico. DPNM is a grassroots trade association for dairy producers in New Mexico and West Texas. DPNM has been having an annual trade show and golf tournament since 1990.