Twenty years ago, farming’s carbon footprint was not a main item of debate, but today that has changed. Farmers want to know how governmental regulations will affect them. Alltech took a closer look at this issue during a breakout session at the Alltech 29th Annual International Symposium, which was held May 19-22 in Lexington, Kentucky.

Forage genetics and variety selection? Covered that. Seed classes and certification? Covered that, too. Seedling grass identification? Learned about it. Plant physiology? Examined it. Determining forage mass? Ditto.

To improve on last year’s symposium, Pearse Lyons, founder and president of Alltech, and his team thought of the 2012 symposium as “boring.” “We never review what we did right,” Pearse Lyons said. “Last year’s symposium was fantastic, but we wrote down one word and only one word. We should take the approach that last year’s [symposium] was boring. Start again and create something different.” This year’s symposium was held May 19-22 in Lexington, Kentucky. Nearly 2,400 people attended the event from 72 different countries.

This year brings us to the 29th Annual Dryden Dairy Day. The parade is part of a full celebration of June Dairy Month.

Seventy-five people with 49 boats competed in the fifth annual Dairy Farmers of Oregon Milk Carton Boat Race, June 9 at Westmoreland Park Casting Pond. “Many of the boats paid homage to the event with dairy themes including a dairy bus, dairy cows and a ‘lactose tolerant boat’,” said Pete Kent, executive director of the Oregon Dairy Products Commission. “Oregon’s dairy farm families enjoy hosting the boat race and supporting their local community.”