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JACKI LYDEN: If you’re just joining us, this is WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I’m Jacki Lyden.For the past 50 years, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center off the coast of New York was a research base for some of the world’s most lethal bacteria and viruses. The Department of Homeland Security took it over after 9/11. But the facility has deteriorated over the years, and they’ve chosen Kansas as a place to build a more modern lab. However, the new location has drawn the ire of nearby live stock ranchers and costs for the facility have skyrocketed. Laura Ziegler of Harvest Public Media visited the site, and she has this story.LAURA ZIEGLER: The National Bio and Agro Defense Facility or NBAF even sounds kind of scary, doesn’t it? And the Plum Island Animal Disease Center itself has a creepy Cold War image. Former wrestling star come Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura even did a YouTube expose.
Cooperatives Working Together has accepted 24 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Darigold, Foremost Farms, Land O’Lakes, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, Michigan Milk Producers Association and United Dairymen of Arizona.
Net sales up 15% in 2011; net earnings up 2%.
“What will surprise most people is that the bill...will actually increase the rate at which small farms are going out of business,” says IDFA official.
Western United Dairymen wants the department to amend the state’s Class 4b formula to “accurately capture whey value.”
New web resource maps USDA support for local and regional food projects, highlights business opportunities for farmers, ranchers and growers.
Cattle group says the legislation will prevent the government from picking minnow protection over agricultural production.
Effective July 1, herds larger than the trigger levels will be required to have 180 days of manure storage, up from the current 120-day limit.
Three dairy-related items make the list of top products at the 2012 World Ag Expo.
Cooperatives Working Together has accepted 20 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Darigold, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, Michigan Milk Producers Association and United Dairymen of Arizona.
Processors emphasize role of global markets in the industry’s future as world’s population soars.
Look for price setting opportunities. Take advantage when you can. Error on the side of protecting margins.
PepsiCo is looking to dairy ingredients and new product development to fill specific nutritional niches.
In my opinion, the largest cuts in the farm bill should come from the largest percentage of funds—the 77% that is centered around nutrition programs.
$206 million investment positions New York State as a global leader in yogurt production.
Mexico is the largest overseas market for U.S. milk powder, cheese and ice cream.
But it also cited ongoing concerns about pervasive anti-competitive practices by the New Zealand.
Co-op also posts second-highest earnings of $182 million.
There will be a greater incentive to cull low producers this month and next as lower milk prices make their way through the system.
If manure smells like money -- and in February 2012 the commodity markets say it does -- then Sioux County is one of the wealthiest places in America.Truckloads of cows and pigs rumble south every day on Highway 75 on their way to slaughterhouses in Omaha and Dakota City, Neb. Profit flows back into the towns of Rock Valley, Hull, Sioux Center and Orange City.
Cooperatives Working Together has accepted 17 requests for export assistance from Bongards, Dairy Farmers of America, Darigold, Michigan Milk Producers Association and United Dairymen of Arizona.
The largest losses came from herds with 50 to 99 cows, down 1,000 herds.
Proposed policy would impose an entirely new regulatory burden on dairy processors to enforce a new program to periodically limit milk production, she says.
Processors and traders moved 3.24 billion lbs. of total milk solids into export channels last year, 7% more than 2010, and 49% more than 2009.
2009 underscored the fact that a minimum Current Ratio is not sufficient for most businesses to continue to pay current obligations,
The needed level of cash flow depends on levels of income generated, expense incurred and whether or not the farm manager can sleep at night.
For the year, ERS expects the All-Milk price to average from $18.30 to $19.10/cwt.
It makes reporting completely web-based, which will speed the data collection process.
U.S. dairy exports are up 30% to $4.8 billion. Even December export values were up 23% over a year ago, and fourth-quarter sales were up 28%.
CWT has accepted 36 requests for export assistance from Bongards, Dairy Farmers of America, Darigold, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, Michigan Milk Producers Association, Upstate-Niagara subsidiary O-AT-KA and United Dairymen of Arizona.