Jan. 25 2016
In routinely denouncing mainstream agriculture and its associated food systems, Chipotle Mexican Grill has become entangled in its own spider web of contradictions. It turns out that it is far easier for...
Dec. 15 2015
If consumer advocates have been in an uproar over genetically modified plants, the atmosphere gained substantial energy when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved AquaBounty's application to...
Sept. 25 2015
Fluid milk was once the undisputed king of the dairy aisle. That is no longer the case as cheese passed the milk jug a decade ago. Given the current trajectory, dairy exports could also pass the former...
Sept. 10 2015
Editorial: World Dairy Expo has been a "labor of love" Scores of people deserve credit for being the driving force that launched the World Food and Agricultural Foundation in 1967. Fort Atkinson, Wis.,...
Aug. 25 2015
Editorial: North American's future in a fog Dubbed the largest all-breed, purebred livestock exposition in the world, the 42-year-old North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE) now appears...
Aug. 10 2015
We recently moderated a dairy farmer panel discussion where a member of the audience turned the conversation from cowside concerns to family matters. "How do you handle conflict on your family-run farm?"...
Aug. 10 2015
Now that Congress has approved Trade Promotion Authority, negotiators from 12 nations have begun final deliberations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Those final talks will ultimately determine...
July 15 2015
From the heart of farm-centric Iowa, the Des Moines Water Works (a city department) has filed a lawsuit against three counties contending that drainage ditches that handle water collected by "engineered...
June 15 2015
It has been nearly a generation since dairy farmers last formally petitioned the USDA Secretary of Agriculture to establish a Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO). That fact alone makes the California petition...
May 25 2015
When it comes to feed prices and dairy trade, two "C" words have dominated conversations for more than a decade: for ethanol it's corn and for dairy products it's China. Since only one in five of our readers...
May 25 2015
Water is the chief building block of life. Without it, crops wither away and civilizations crumble
May 10 2015
Sustainability conjures numerous thoughts in people's minds. And rightly so. Just how efficient, long-lasting and repeatable a process can be will determine whether it is a sink or swim proposition
April 25 2015
In a product category that hasn't shown any sales growth for over a generation, Coca-Cola and Selec
April 10 2015
With the implementation of the five-year farm bill, agricultural minds have quickly turned their attention toward equally pressing matters including immigration reform, international trade pacts and revisions...
April 10 2015
While digesters could one day hold the economic key to capturing and transporting nutrients from a nutrients from a majority of livestock operations to fields far away from the home base, the financial...
March 25 2015
Editorial: Trade talks involve big stakes for Dairy
March 10 2015
When it comes to protecting health, all of humanity could learn a few lessons from their friends who raise livestock. In order for vaccines to be truly effective, the entire herd must be vaccinated to...
Jan. 25 2015
Dairy price discovery mechanisms have come a long way in recent decades. Not only do domestic futures markets offer an enhanced opportunity to both farmers and processors to lock-in milk prices, the resulting...
Jan. 10 2015
Organic food sales have been booming, paced by double-digit growth in each of the past five years. As food marketers look to expand that high-margin category, dairy will remain at the epicenter because...
Oct. 25 2014
Frustrated by the clear lack of progress after three years from the "Beef Checkoff Enhancement Working Group," USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced he would take matters into his own hands. The secretary's...