Catherine Merlo

Whether or not you attend World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., you won’t want to miss Catherine Merlo’s daily dispatches from this international dairy show. Starting at the end of September, she’ll share her insights about the event that draws the dairy world’s attention for a hectic week. Visit this blog to read Merlo’s reports on what she sees and hears, who she meets, and the behind-the-scenes discussions that really make Expo worthwhile. As Dairy Today’s Western editor, Catherine Merlo is based in Bakersfield, Calif. She travels widely across the United States covering national and Western dairy issues. Merlo has more than 25 years of experience as an agricultural writer, journalist and photographer.

Latest Stories
The U.S. is entering its steepest, most severe recession since the early 1980s, but the nation’s productivity plus strong global demand for American commodities will revive the economy by late 2009, Wells Fargo senior economist Michael Swanson predicted today.
California’s improved snowpack and runoff forecasts led Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to announce Friday that farmers on the west side of California’s Central Valley could receive up to 30% of their federally contracted water supplies this year.
The California dairy industry has “a tremendous opportunity” in the China market, says Western United Dairymen CEO Michael Marsh, who’s just returned from a 10-day trade mission sponsored by the California Milk Advisory Board.
OSHA says that dairies account for a higher incidence of accidents over the general workforce. The most frequent dairy injuries involve hands and fingers, backs, legs and knees. These often result in employees missing work and, ultimately, higher insurance premiums.
Hilmar Cheese Company’s processing plant in Dalhart, Texas, is back in operation after a fire broke out yesterday afternoon in a refrigerated storage building that was under construction at the facility.
California’s 1,700 dairies have cut their milk production for eight consecutive months, underscoring what some call the worst economic climate the state’s dairy producers have ever seen.
The pain felt by California’s financially strapped dairy producers was evident yesterday as they gathered to hear about a new growth management program proposed by Holstein USA Association.
In 2003, as burdensome European regulations and limited expansion opportunities were squeezing the viability out of his small dairy in northern Ireland, Rodney Elliott read in his local newspaper of an agricultural investment tour of South Dakota.
Larry Simon and his son, Brent, told the World Dairy Expo audience how they’ve built a successful 705-cow dairy near Westphalia, Mich.
Although most operations are back to normal, some dairies are dealing with barn damage from roofs that collapsed under heavy snow loads.
With prices slashed to below their cost of production, UK dairy producers fear for their future.
Nevada dairy producers now have security, say the Perazzo brothers.
Two dairy processors put animal welfare evaluation requirements into place in California.