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“Even the best performing financial result showed not enough revenue to cover variable costs. The lowest breakeven price was $23.41/cwt.” Robert Tigner, University of Nebraska Extension.

Here’s what the new procedures are, and how they can impact dairy operations.

August-planted oats can yield two to three tons of dry matter per acre, more than double that of other fall-seeded small grains or winter wheat.

“The first significant rainfall to moisten the upper soil profile will stimulate microbial activity, causing a flush of nitrate nitrogen to be released into the soil system,” says Kurt Steinkewith Michigan State University.

Sixteen cattle experts will travel to Madison, Wis., to judge the most elite cows in North America Oct. 2-6.

A two-ton per acre forage yield is worth about $300 in forage feed value.

US: Rain, Cooler Weather Helping Crops; Drought Not OverVOA NewsAugust 14, 2012U.S. officials say cooler weather and recent rain showers in the drought-stricken Midwest have largely stabilized crop conditions, but add that the drought is not over.

The race to create a better, less controversial biofuel has spawned plenty of research into a variety of potential new sources - including switchgrass, cornstalks and algae. One goal behind the next generation of ethanol fuel is to end the debate over whether crops that could be used for food or animal feed are being converted into fuel. It’s a debate that’s dogged traditional ethanol, made from corn. A team of Wisconsin researchers say they may have found an abundant and eminently Dairyland ingredient for ethanol - cow manure from the state’s dairyfarms. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a coalition of state firms have been awarded $7 million for bioenergy research that would use a manure byproduct to produce ethanol at a dairyfarm in Manitowoc County.The funding was awarded by the U.S. Energy and Agriculture departments through their joint biomass research-and-development initiative.

ROBERT SIEGEL: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I’m Robert Siegel.AUDIE CORNISH: And I’m Audie Cornish. We begin this hour with the drought and how it could affect your grocery bill. Today, the U.S. Agriculture Department designated 76 more counties as disaster areas because of the drought and excessive heat. And it said that severe drought will likely affect prices for corn and other field crops, although it’s too soon to know how much prices will go up.We have two stories on drought and food. Our first comes from NPR’s Allison Keyes.

Paul Rovey, Glendale, Ariz., leads Dairy Management, Inc.; Stephen Maddox, Riverdale, Calif., leads the National Dairy, Research and Promotion Board.