For most of us, 2020 can’t be over soon enough. Yet, in the digester development world, each day from today through 2024 is precious time to identify facilities, procure funding, and install digesters. Why? To capture methane and use it as valuable renewable compressed natural gas (RCNG) and meet ambitious manure methane reduction targets. How is the California digester portfolio doing? Since …
With a little time and effort, rangeland managers can have a dramatic impact on the resilience of California’s riparian areas, which are important to the state’s human, environmental and economic well-being. Rangeland ecologists at the University of California, Davis, found that when ranchers invest even one week a year in practices that keep cows away from creeks — like herding, …
Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, previewed the 2021 Food Systems Summit and its implications for U.S. agriculture during her keynote address of the 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Summit held virtually, Nov. 18-19. The sixth annual Sustainable Agriculture Summit attracted a record 800 attendees, with farmers making up about a fourth of the …
As winter weather quickly approaches, the Propane Education & Research Council urges producers to consider how propane can keep your operation running smoothly and livestock safe year-round, without worrying about peak pricing or power outages. Propane-powered building and water heating solutions offer reliable, consistent power independent of the grid—an invaluable asset for many agricultural operations. Propane equipment eliminates the risk …
Roughly 9,000 years ago, Native American farmers in southern Mexico began domesticating teosinte, the wild ancestor of modern corn. It would take a while — probably another few thousand years — but their efforts would eventually begin to bear more edible fruit. Whereas the ancient teosinte plant produces hundreds of slender, thumb-length ears with no more than a dozen rock-hard kernels, …
Researchers have long been interested in understanding the effects of different types of dairy products on cardiometabolic health. Studies have looked at the effects of consuming different types of dairy on metabolic markers such as body weight, body fat, lean mass, or cholesterol. Although some studies have found that dairy products are associated with lower cardiometabolic disease incidence, other study …
The U.S. animal protein sector is expected to face a 12% increase in feed costs in 2021, which will mark the highest year-over-year inflation since 2011. With corn futures above $4 per bushel and soybean meal futures around $350 per ton, cattle feeders, hog producers and chicken producers will pay higher prices for feed than they have in many years, …
The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy announced Starbucks intent to support the Net Zero Initiative (NZI), a partnership of the U.S. dairy community seeking to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions, optimize water usage and improve water quality on farms. Starbucks intended commitment will advance effective environmental and economically viable practices and technologies in feed production, manure handling, cow care …
In an International Dairy Food Association (IDFA) poll conducted by Morning Consult from December 4-7 among a national sample of 2,200 adults, 71% of adults support companies and employers partnering with public health agencies at local and state levels to aid in the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine to employees. The same poll found more than four in five adults …
United Dairy Families of California — Judge Timothy Aspinwall issued a recommended decision today that United Dairy Families of California’s petition to sunset the Quota Implementation Plan (QIP) and equalize Regional Quota Adjusters (RQAs) must move forward to a referendum. The judge’s decision confirmed that the petition submitted to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) met all legal …
