Dairy farmers from as far away as Latvia gathered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for a two-day presentation focused on the elements of establishing or expanding a dairy operation earlier this year.

Alltech and its founder and president Pearse Lyons invited more than 1,700 employees, clients, reporters, researchers and nutritionists from around the world to its annual symposium in Lexington, Kentucky, in April.

It was a clean sweep for the Big 10 at this year’s North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge (NAIDC), held April 4-5, in the Madison, Wis. area.

Hype and opposition from anti-animal agriculture groups and misleading marketers led a group of dairy producers to organize and launch a new grassroots organization.

The 2007 World Ag Expo featured a few changes from the previous 40 years of operation; a new Dairy Technology Center and online registration. These changes have added value for the dairy industry in particular.

The fourth annual Midwest Dairy Challenge, which ran Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, attracted 102 students from 13 universities and colleges to Merrillville, Indiana. A blizzard forced the group to forge new territory in the history of the Dairy Challenge.

Fourty-eight students from 11 Southern colleges and universities participated in the second annual Southern Regional Dairy Challenge held at the Cook Hotel & Conference Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in November 2007. Two new schools competed in this year’s event.

In November 2007, 126 students from 14 Northeast colleges and two Canadian universities participated in the fifth annual Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge held at the Holiday Inn in Concord, New Hampshire.

With more than 1,700 exhibitors and 100,000 attendees from 67 countries all on 2.6 million square feet of showgrounds, World Ag Expo is the largest ag expo of its kind worldwide. During this year’s show February 12-14, the grounds will expand again with the addition of the Dairy Technology Center (DTC) and surrounding outdoor dairy exhibit space.

There’s more room at World Ag Expo this year. A new venue, named the Dairy Technology Center, will house an extra 130 dairy exhibits under an indoor canvas tent on the southern side of the International AgriCenter showgrounds.