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Minnesota dairy farm linked to E. coli outbreak from raw milk.

Four in Minnesota sickened, including children, from E. coli in raw milk.

The recent Health Care Reform law has created a new tax credit for certain employers who pay for their employee's health care premiums.

The U.S. unemployment rate is now at 9.9%.

Water deliveries to farmers in California's San Joaquin Valley are on the rise this year. Both the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the federal U.S. Bureau of Reclamation yesterday announced they would increase 2010 water allocations to 40% for water contractors south of the Delta.

Farm Journal Media project helps producers take their operations to the next level for sustainability, higher profits

GPS-guided auto-steering has not caught on as fast for dairy farmers as it has for their corn and soybean brethren who farm tabletop-flat prairies. But that's changing, as pioneering dairy producers try to squeeze every advantage out of this constantly evolving technology.

After three years of well-publicized drought, California has received near-normal precipitation this year.

Dairy producers in California's Central Valley who have identified deficiencies in their nutrient management infrastructure or need other improvements can apply for funds to address those issues under the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP).

EPA and USDA's enhanced collaboration will provide up to $3.9 million over the next five years to help the farms overcome obstacles preventing them from recovering and using biogas.

The most recent agriculture census counted more than 20,000 farms and ranches that were producing renewable energy via solar panels, wind turbines and methane digesters. This spring's survey will further explore how this energy is generated and used.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Citizens' Board voted unanimously yesterday to pull the permit of Excel Dairy, Thief River Falls, Minn. It is the first time MPCA has taken such an action against a dairy under its jurisdiction.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Citizens' Board voted unanimously yesterday to pull the permit of Excel Dairy, Thief River Falls, Minn.

The Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations announced today the arrest of two Hondurans for importing 170,000 of contaminated cheese worth more than $322,000.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's announcement today that $2 million will be made available to dairy, beef, poultry and swine producers to help cut energy-related production costs

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations pegs the global dairy sector contribution to greenhouse gas emissions (GHC) at 2.7%. If you add in the meat production of the sector, the contribution climbs to 4%.

In New Mexico, where groundwater is the major source of water for humans as well as farms, the state's dairy industry has been negotiating with the Environment Department to determine the specifics of new water-quality regulations.

Washington State's Snohomish River just downstream from French Slough is once again meeting state water quality standards for fecal coliform and dissolved oxygen, according to Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) testing. French Slough was directly impacted by a large manure spill last week and continues to show evidence of water quality problems.

Federal water supplies to agricultural producers in California's lower San Joaquin Valley have been increased to 30%, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Thursday.

A 21-million-gallon capacity dairy waste lagoon has failed, releasing an unknown quantity of manure into farm fields near the town of Snohomish, Wash.

A Cargill-built and -operated anaerobic digester on the Bettencourt Dairy B6 Farm in Jerome, Idaho, is converting manure from the farm's 6,000 cows into 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a month.

In a down economy, smart young folks may return to the farm or choose to never leave

Pasture-grazing operations are becoming less foreign to Missouri as they prove to be a profitable trend.

Purchasers of GM’s 2011 heavy-duty diesel pickups can look forward to putting B20 in their tank. B20 fuel is a blend of 20% biodiesel and 80% conventional diesel.

Meet Gibb Steele, of Hollandale, Miss., one of the winners of Upstream Heroes.

Dairy Farmers of America, Inc.'s (DFA) board of directors and management are taking a series of proactive steps to emphasize its commitment to proper treatment of animals.

Budget Cuts Strike Ag New Specilaty Soybean insurance 9 Billion population on the way; good news for ag New H-2A Immigration Rules Watch the dollar; use options

A California-based concept could create a way to reward environmentally conscious farmers

The international herd improvement organizations NCBC and CRV have launched a joint venture to help customers who run grass-based farming systems.

The international herd improvement organizations NCBC and CRV have launched a joint venture to help customers who run grass-based farming systems.

One trip to look at an anaerobic digester on a dairy in central Minnesota was all it took to convince Lee Jensen that the technology would be a good fit for his 900-cow Five Star Dairy near Elk Mound, Wis.

In 2007, Cargill's Environmental Finance Group began building a plug-flow digester on Bettencourt Farms' new Dry Creek Dairy, a 10,000-cow operation near Murtaugh, Idaho. Since going online in September 2008, the 5-million-gallon digester has generated electricity for the Idaho grid, reduced manure odor, cut manure handling costs and produced digester solids for the dairy's bedding.

Jerry Jennissen has proven that you can benefit from a methane digester even when you milk 150 cows.

Dairy Today has covered numerous U.S. dairy digester and cap-and-trade projects in recent years. These producers tell what they've learned since we first featured them.

The dairy industry was addressing global warming long before that was cool. We're producing 59% more milk with 64% fewer cows than in 1944. We use 77% less feed, 65% less water, 90% less land, produce 76% less manure and have a 63% smaller carbon footprint per gallon of milk produced than we did 66 years ago.

I attended the Sustainability Summit for U.S. Dairy in June 2008, put on by Dairy Management Inc. The topic was reducing the carbon footprint of the U.S. dairy industry.

Carbon emissions and going green definitely seem to be tied to everything these days and dairy farms are in the thick of the debate. Agriculture as a whole has always been at the forefront of efficiency and maximizing productivity to survive. The economic challenges of this past year have put any and all inefficiencies and wasteful practices under a microscope.

Today's technology has greatly improved our ability to decrease our carbon footprint. As stewards of the land, farmers care more for the environment than anyone else in the world. We make our living off of the land; why wouldn't we take care of it?

Forage quality also contributes to an operation's carbon footprint. We put significant research into selecting hybrids that give us good tonnage as well as high digestibility. If we can maximize forage digestibility, the cows will more efficiently turn nutrients into milk.

Dairy Today's Dollars and Sense contributors discuss their farms' approach to reducing carbon footprints.

USDA announced today it was extending the comment period for the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on Roundup Ready alfalfa by 15 days to March 3.

California's water problems are more than a fish-versus-people struggle or the fall-out from weather-related drought.

A three-year, $1.6 million project on six Wisconsin dairy operations is shedding light on management practices that control odors and emissions—and those that don't.

The 60-day public comment period for the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on Roundup Ready (RR) alfalfa ends on Feb. 16. Even so, there's still some uncertainty about when USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will finally give the go-ahead to put the genetically engineered crop back on the market.