Dairy producers will learn how to protect what they’ve worked for and how to provide a pathway for the success of the next generation during a series of three upcoming World Class webinars offered by Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin. Dates for the webinars are Jan. 9, Feb. 6 and March 5. All three of the webinars will be on a Monday, start at noon CST and last for 60 minutes.

Designing and managing dairy feed and water systems will be the topic of the next session of the Technology Tuesdays webinar series offered by the Penn State Extension Dairy Team. The webinar will be held Jan. 10 from 8:30 to 10 a.m., Eastern time, free of charge.

Midwest Dairy Association’s Minnesota Division District annual meetings begin Jan. 5, in conjunction with county American Dairy Association (ADA) meetings. The meetings are designed to bring dairy producers up to date on activities and results from their dairy promotion checkoff program. At each meeting, a district producer director for the Minnesota Division of Midwest Dairy will provide a report and answer questions.

Ten young people were honored Nov. 5 for their accomplishments in the National Jersey Youth Achievement Contest. The contest recognizes outstanding achievement by junior Jersey breeders in four areas: work with Registered Jerseys, related dairy activities, relative progress and future goals. They were selected from 17 outstanding youth nominated by state Jersey associations, based on their cumulative record through Dec. 31, 2010.

Rick Roden of West Bend, Wisconsin, has been appointed to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee. His two-year term will begin at the AFBF YF&R Leadership Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Feb. 17-20.

State officials say a Japan-based firm will construct a new $73 million manufacturing facility in northeast Georgia, creating 200 new jobs. Gov. Nathan Deal said Kubota Corp. intends to build the plant in the Jackson County town of Jefferson.

In August 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s, Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS) released a draft of the “European Health Certification Program” to dairy industry trade associations (NMPF, the U.S. Dairy Export Council, the International Dairy Foods Association and the American Dairy Products Institute) for review and comment. After gathering member feedback, NMPF submitted comments and questions to AMS, expressing general support for the program and requesting additional clarification on specific points.

Note: The following are opinion commentaries. No: No way can I support the Dairy Security Act of 2011. It is short-sided, basically, for the processor – pay the lowest price, not pay components and give processors an automatic energy adjuster. Where is ours? Mr. Kozak has repeatedly said that it is unrealistic and politically unpopular to expect to get the cost of production for your milk, and that’s how FFTF is put forward. That does not work in the real world. I prefer to support S-1640. It is respectful of the dairy producer. It allows cost of production to be covered plus the ability to cover the dirty five – depreciation, interest, repairs, taxes and insurance – and, just maybe, a profit!

With the increasing volatility of dairy markets in recent years, and the increasingly difficult dairy industry, many proposals to restructure dairy policy have been introduced recently. Many of the proposals, most notably NMPF’s Foundation for the Future program, seek to maintain a profitable margin for all dairy producers throughout the country. While it is generally accepted that some reform is needed to update the dated dairy policy/pricing system, many aspects of the NMPF proposal have no place in the free market.

If you’re looking to hone your management skills while getting a glimpse of what’s on the horizon in dairy, join the more than 500 dairy producers and industry leaders who travel each year to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to attend the Pennsylvania Dairy Summit. The 2012 Summit will be held Feb. 8-9 at the Lancaster Host Resort and will feature discussions on the global dairy marketplace, management strategies and new technologies. Producer showcases and breakouts addressing on-farm dairy issues are also part of the two-day event.