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Karen Bohnert

Dairy Editorial Director

Karen Bohnert is the Dairy Editorial Director at Farm Journal, overseeing Dairy Herd Management and Milk Business Quarterly since 2021. A lifelong advocate for dairy, Karen draws from both professional expertise and personal experience—she and her husband operate Bohnert Jerseys, a 750-cow dairy in East Moline, Illinois.

Raised on a dairy farm in Oregon, her editorial career spans freelance journalism and roles at organizations like Swiss Valley Farms and the American Jersey Cattle Association. She was named a Distinguished Alumni Leader by the Holstein Foundation.

Latest Stories
The USDA Milk Production Report highlighted a drop in milk production to 18.8 billion lbs. of milk. This reflects the sixth consecutive month of lower production and a decline of 0.3% from a year prior.
At the end of the day, solid communication between the processor and the farm is essential and firmly understanding the processor’s strategic long-term vision is vital.
Iowa Dairy Association has launched the Dairy Innovation Grant Program, which has been created to increase on-farm dairy processing, reduce farm labor costs, and expand the availability of dairy products for consumers.
Now that its mid-January, dairy producers are eagerly awaiting an announcement to sign up for the Dairy Margin Coverage program. The Farm Service Agency office has yet to reveal when the 2024 enrollment period will open.
With interest rates much higher than a year ago and inflation impacting almost every good and service, producers must crunch numbers frequently to understand their cost of production and be strategic with future debt.
Ask any dairy farmer how they feel about today’s markets and they will say that the economics don’t add up. This is true in any state, but certainly being highlighted in Wisconsin, as last year they lost 455 dairy farms.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is no stranger to supporting farmers and is known to hold a special place in his heart for dairy, having served as president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC).
With rising minimum wage and other industries competing for employees, labor prices have continued to creep higher. While we want to blame overtime rules, that isn’t necessarily the only culprit.
Midwest Dairy, and other promotional groups around the country, are meeting consumers where they are at, to tell them all about dairy’s goodness.
The High Plains Dairy Conference will be March 5-6 in Amarillo, Texas. The conference will explore alternative revenue streams, the future of exports and much more.
I challenge you to find another industry that offers the same blessings as the dairy industry. Editing will not only remind you of the goodness, but it also will provide you with the fuel to tackle the year ahead.
While we have flipped the calendar to a New Year, we didn’t necessarily say goodbye to low milk prices. 2023 was a tough year financially for dairy producers and 2024 isn’t off to a great start either.
All leading experts—from economists to cattle marketers, share that those producers with a surplus of heifer replacements are likely to capitalize on a pretty penny in the year ahead.
Minnesota ended 2023 with 146 fewer dairy farm permits than the state did at the beginning of the year. The big-ticket question is with dairy’s razor-thin financial margins, how many more dairies will exit in 2024?
According to the latest U.S. Milk Production Report the number of milk cows on farms in the U.S. was 9.36 million head, 44,000 head less year-over-year and 10,000 head less than in October 2023.