Section » Dairy
Helping out the Milk Board’s new PMS campaign
The California Milk Processor's Board, which brought us the Got Milk? campaign, urges men this week to tell their cranky, about-to-menstruate women: "You really need to drink more milk." Men can get their PMS education on a new website "Everything
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Goats: An overlooked pasture-raised animal
Goats grazing in Ethiopia (iStockphoto) Goat meat is already very popular around the world – the Washington Post claims that goat makes up almost 70 percent of the red meat eaten
Jimmy Stewart, cults, and a lot of broken glass: Remembering Straus Family Creamery’s opening day
By Michael Straus Pictures from opening night at Straus Family Creamery, February 4, 1994. (That's me with the goatee.) Straus Family Creamery recently turned 17, and I started thinking back to those crazy times. In 1989, my older brother Albert, who’d been managing the farm and doing some pretty
When push comes to chèvre at Lucky Penny Creamery
Before Local Roots Market opened late last year, we expected gaps in the products offered. One specific category of products –- cheese –- kept us from limiting our definition of "local" to "within 100 miles" as we weren't sure how many cheesemakers we
Dairy cows’ feed exacerbates air pollution in central California
Although it has a relatively low population density, California's San Joaquin Valley has some of the worst air pollution in the nation, especially when it comes to ozone (O3), a gas that can cause respiratory and cardiac problems. To
Dairy runoff in our tap water
Big dairies, big problems: Reporter Charles Duhigg of the New York Times has been on the rampage these past few weeks with a series of great articles highlighting the need for better government regulation, oversight and enforcement of clean water
Senator plans hearing on dairy crisis
Milking dairy farms for profit: The price that dairy farmers receive for their milk has been in free-fall — from $21.70 per hundred pounds in 2007 to just $12 in recent days — while production costs are holding steady or rising. The hundred pounds of milk that earns about $12 costs a few dollars
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NY Senator Schumer calls for clamp down on sketchy milk protein concentrates
Putting the squeeze on MPCs: We missed this a few days ago, but New York Senator Chuck Schumer has introduced a bill that would levy higher tariffs on imports of milk protein concentrates, or MPCs. (Little
Running dry: Time to save our nation’s dairy farmers
Did you see that movie "Flash of Genius"? It follows the unlucky Robert Kearns, played by Greg Kinnear, as he spends his life (and his savings) perfecting the intermittent windshield wiper, only to have his idea snared and used without credit by the Ford Motor Company. He pursues lawsuits against Ford
It’s about volume, not price: How Straus Family Creamery is weathering the organic dairy storm
U.S. dairy farmers are in a fight for their lives. Things are really bad, particularly in California, where there have already been two suicides, reports the LA Times. Conventional wisdom
Organic milk producers hit hard by economy
Someone needs to play dairy godmother: A NY Times "Most Emailed" (and heavily Tweeted) article about how organic dairy producers are in crisis makes some assumptions that could use some more explanation. The article refers several times to the "crushing debt resulting from the cost of turning organic,
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Kansas Senate leaves rBST milk labels on ag committee floor
No crying over milk labeling: The Kansas Senate apparently won't even attempt to override former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius's veto of legislation (as described in the Lawrence Journal-World) bearing
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Take the Raw Milk Consumer Survey
As many as 3% of consumers may prefer their milk unpasteurized, a growing trend that has spurred federal legislation to allow raw milk to cross state lines. As demand grows, we have
Digest: Times et al on food movement’s “arrival,” dairy drama, Murphy profiled
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No comment, no say: lend your voice to shaping four big food & ag policies
Photo from Iowa, courtesy of factoryfarm.org. It's easy to get cynical about our ability to influence policy or policymakers - especially when we don't have lots of money or a well-dressed K St. lobby firm to throw around. But I'd venture to say that with all the change-making, democracy-taking action
