Category: Media Coverage

Feedstuffs In May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced its intent to publish a new rule under the Packers & Stockyards Act (PSA), also known as the GIPSA rule. The rule would specify criteria the secretary of agriculture could consider in determining whether conduct or action by packers, swine contractors or live poultry dealers constitutes an undue or unreasonable preference or advantage and a violation of the PSA. Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI-USA), the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), the Read More …

Tri-State Livestock News By Deanna Nelson-Licking OCM’s list of six actions President Trump and Secretary Perdue can take to save the U.S cattle market. Buy American. Stop foreign meat from being labeled “Product of the USA” by ruling in favor of the OCM and American Grassfed Association petition to USDA’s Federal Safety Inspection Service. Withdraw from the United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement (USMCA) until such time as County of Origin Labeling (COOL) is included in the USMCA. Reduce Read More …

CNN By Katie Lobosco and Vanessa Yurkevich Hundreds of cattle ranchers rode into Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday — some on horseback — hoping to get a message to President Donald Trump: They’re not happy. Cole Avery, who’s been running a cattle ranch for three years in Mississippi, said he drove 18 hours to be at the rally. He said he works a second job in order to provide for his family. “I hope that we can be seen and Read More …

Oklahoma Farm Report Last week the Beef Checkoff Program budget for 2020 was released, outlining how cattle producers’ $40,900,000 in research and promotion funds will be spent in the coming year. The Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) Beef Promotion Operating Committee (BPOC) named eight organizations as contractors that will be granted the beef checkoff funds. Once again, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) won the top award, of $27,383,347 beef checkoff dollars. More than half of NCBA’s annual budget is made Read More …

Ag Journal By Candace Krebs Earlier this year Sarah Lloyd, a dairy farmer who works for Wisconsin Farmers Union, organized a national roadshow that included a stop in Clovis, N.M., to rally solutions for what many now consider a full-blown dairy crisis. The problem she wanted to highlight wasn’t a shortage of milk. The U.S. is producing more milk per cow than ever before. But what Lloyd refers to as “no brakes” expansion is pushing out traditional family Read More …

USA Today Cary Spivak As the number of dairy farms nationwide has plummeted by nearly 20,000 over the past decade, there’s one corner of the industry doing just fine: The top executives at Dairy Management, who are paid from farmers’ milk checks. The Illinois-based nonprofit is charged with promoting milk, cheese and other products – spending nearly $160 million a year collected through federally-mandated payments from dairy farmers. In 2017, a year in which 503 dairy farms closed in Wisconsin and 1,600 were shuttered nationwide, IRS records Read More …

Feedstuffs By Jacqui Fatka Former contract poultry farmer Craig Watts made headlines when he teamed up with Compassion in World Farming USA to expose issues he faced, from receiving sick chicks to animal welfare conditions to carrying the full financial burden of maintaining and upgrading facilities. In 2016, his contract was terminated by the poultry company he had served long term, and today’s he’s trying to ensure that farmers have government protection against retaliation from companies. “As American farmers, we deserve Read More …

Successful Farming Gil Gullickson “Oh, one more thing,” says Ray Gaesser, as he holds out two fingers pointing to his shiny green 24-row corn planter on a bluebird April day. “Would you believe when I began farming over 50 years ago, I started with a two-row planter? Then I went to four, then 12, and now 24 rows.” The mix of largely family-owned and some national seed companies from which the Corning, Iowa, farmer bought seed from in Read More …