, June 25-27 in Rochester, Minnesota. This was the second North American conference on the topic, the first of which was held three years ago in Toronto, Ontario.

Our federal Constitution, now closing in on 230 years since its drafting, stands as a sterling exemplar of how a carefully drafted framework of guiding principles can serve as a long-term framework for governance, even as the society that it governs continues to develop and evolve.

Have you ever found yourself captivated by the sales pitch of a late-night infomercial? As much as I’d like to believe their bold claims, I’m a realist.

The following are statements from the House floor debate June 20 on the Goodlatte-Scott Amendment to remove supply management from proposed dairy reforms. The amendment was eventually passed 291-135.

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the right balance between civil liberties and national security. To wit: the revelation that the Justice Department had seized telephone records of journalists who had reported leaked information and the ongoing saga of Edward Snowden, the NSA analyst who revealed that the government collects wholesale “metadata” of nearly every domestic phone call.

With feed prices escalating rapidly in recent years, many dairy producers have cut back on certain ingredients in order to minimize their ingredient costs. Of course, a cheaper and, more importantly, less energy-dense ration is often associated with reduced milk production.

As more and more technologies are introduced to the dairy industry, researchers, allied industry and producers are learning whether or not they are a good fit. The first-ever U.S. Precision Dairy Conference and Expo served as a meeting place to discuss many of these new technologies. Here are highlights from the conference held recently in Rochester, Minnesota.

Peter Van Warmerdam of Van Warmerdam Dairy farms 800 acres in central California with his brothers, Leo and Benny. This operation puts up more than 12,000 tons of corn silage each year to feed its 1,100 cows.

Approximately four to five years ago, we saw a steep change in the ingredient markets. Feed prices, particularly corn, skyrocketed. The whole cost structure of operating a dairy jumped without a corresponding increase in milk prices. The impact of these changes continues to play out today.

Dairy producers have recently expressed interest in feeding corn as shredlage. At the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Randy Shaver has been conducting feeding trials to see what makes it tick inside the cow.