Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the following comments about notification received Feb. 20 from the Scientific Commission for the World Organization for Animal Health recommending that the United States' risk classification for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) be upgraded to negligible risk: "This is a significant achievement for the U.S., American beef producers and businesses, and federal and state partners who work in coordination to maintain a system of three interlocking safeguards against BSE that protect our public and animal health.

Nearly four years ago, IDFA and the National Milk Producers Federation filed a citizen's petition with the Food and Drug Administration requesting a modification of the standards for milk and other dairy products to allow the use of non-nutritive sweeteners. Last week, the FDA published the petition in the Federal Register along with the agency's request for public comment.

The Oregon Dairy Products Commission has launched the Oregon Dairy Export Consortium, a collaborative initiative with the goal of increasing the volume and value of the state’s dairy product exports. The commission developed the effort in close cooperation with the Oregon Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing and Development Program and several organizations and government agencies.

This video was shown during the Progressive Dairyman World Ag Expo Seminars in Tulare, California, on February 14, 2013. Brian talks about how their dairy has developed into a vertically integrated business. From growing their own crops to utilizing technology in their feeding routines, Medeiros and Son Dairy works on the little things to make sure that their dairy is as successful as possible in Hanford, California. PD Click here to read the feature about Brian Medeiros and Medeiros and Son Dairy, published in the Jan. 21, 2013 issue of Progressive Dairyman. Click here to visit Progressive Dairyman's YouTube channel for more videos.

Progressive Dairyman editors Walt Cooley and Dario Martinez attended World Ag Expo in Tulare, California, Feb. 12-14, 2013. In addition to hosting video farm tours and seminars, the duo walked about the show looking for interesting ideas that might useful to dairy producers and industry news. Below are their thoughts and comments about what they saw. Click here or on the image at right to view this panaromic view of World Ag Expo seminars in a new window.

Western New York dairy farmers are concerned about a proposal by the Canadian government to further restrict milk imports. The 400 farmer-members who send their milk to the O-AT-KA Milk Products Cooperative in Batavia, New York, are especially worried.

The Iowa Supreme Court says farmers who host educational tours are not shielded from personal injury lawsuits under Iowa's recreational use law. The court ruled 5-2 last week that the owners of a dairy farm can be sued by a chaperone injured when she fell through a hole in a hayloft during a kindergarten class field trip.

A year ago the center set out with the help of its partners to better understand what Pennsylvania’s dairy industry will look like in 2020. The results from the analysis are telling. Dairy is clearly not immune to the cultural and market-based shifts affecting nearly every industry and every business around the country. PD Click here to read the full column at the Center for Dairy Excellence website.