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Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) have introduced a bipartisan bill that would place a hard cap on farm payments and close current loopholes to ensure payments flow to working farmers.
The Rural America Preservation Act (RAPA) was previously introduced in June 2011. Key revisions have been made to ensure that the bill is relevant to likely farm bill changes in commodity programs, which may include an end to direct payments and enactment of new types of payments to take their place.
The following excerpt is from Val Wagner’s blog. Wagner farms with her husband and four young sons in North Dakota. http://wagfarms.com
I’ve heard a lot of talk about the #OccupyOurFoodSupply movement. I read a lot of articles on the downfall of our modern agriculture practices, the need to “get back to the basics,” and the need to reconnect to our food supply.
So I thought that instead of blaming some unknown enemy for placing my farm in a bad light, or blaming consumers for not taking the initiative to actually visit where their food comes from, I would show you, just as I have for the last year and a half.
Lameness is one of the leading reasons for milk loss on any dairy.
It is also a hot animal welfare topic, according to Dr. Gerard Cramer, who is a bovine hoof care consultant, educator and researcher from Ontario, Canada. Cramer recently discussed his hoof health program via webcast.
State Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch announced that BIOFerm Energy Systems and Allen Farms have been awarded a grant to help fund a feasibility study for the "plug and play" digester EUCOlino.
This project, made possible by a partnership with the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UW Oshkosh) and its Foundation, will be the first U.S. installation of this new technology.
EUCOlino was developed to improve the on-site environmental and energy sustainability of small-herd family dairy farms. The system can be implemented at farms with a dairy herd size of 50 to 500; the average Wisconsin dairy farm has about 300 cows.
World Dairy Expo promises even more for dairy producers to experience in 2012. A new major sponsor has stepped up to the plate for naming of the newly expanded indoor exhibit space. The New Holland Trade Center will feature a mix of new and returning exhibitors from across the dairy industry.
Dairy enthusiasts attending the event will have the opportunity to view the very latest cutting-edge equipment, research and services that might be incorporated into their operations.
Idaho Milk Products, located in Jerome, Idaho, and owned by three Idaho dairy families, is the country's largest domestic producer of milk protein concentrates.
Ralph Fisher, a former Idaho state agronomist with the NRCS, explains the nine minimum requirements a dairy’s nutrient management plan must have during the Idaho Nutrient Management Conference in Jerome, Idaho, in early March.
Fisher explained that a nutrient management plan which met the requirements must be submitted with a request for a CAFO permit under soon-to-be-released new guidelines. Fisher is the regulator who reviews plans submitted to the EPA for compliance.
This issue we celebrate our 25th anniversary of the magazine. As one who has only been a part of the history of the magazine for 20 percent of that time, I am grateful to the many who came before me and laid the foundation for today’s Progressive Dairyman, including and most especially, founder and emeritus publisher Leon Leavitt.
In 1921, cooperatives and cheese factories in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, and surrounding areas created the Farmers Call Board. Weekly dealers would attend the meeting and bid on cheese. Dealers’ bids for cheese were written on a blackboard.
The highest bid would get the sale and often that price set the price for all of the cheese offered. The creators of the Farmers Call Board argued it as a necessary counterpoint to the Wisconsin Cheese Exchange (WCE), formerly the Plymouth Central Call Board of Trade.
The arguments were that the prices of the WCE represented collusive pricing between dealers, reflected a thin market and were an undue influence on the price of cheese and, therefore, milk.
As much as I’ve always enjoyed reading, my short attention span makes it impossibly difficult to finish really long books like Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. And chances are you’ve never made it all the way through the 1,208 pages either.
But if you ever took a basic economics course in school, you’re probably familiar with the economic term from Smith’s timeless writings called “the Invisible Hand.”
Now, I’m definitely not an economist. But if you don’t mind, humor me as I attempt to give my simple understanding of how the Invisible Hand works. Essentially, it represents the way human nature affects how the economy functions ... whether it’s humankind’s self-interest, fear, competitiveness, greed, uncertainty or even common sense, the Invisible Hand is our basic humanness at work.
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