Thirty-five years ago, US President Ronald Reagan proclaimed July as National Ice Cream Month. Since then, people across the country have celebrated the creamy treat and its ability to brighten almost anyone’s mood. Last year the Center worked with Pennsylvania’s Tourism Bureau and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to launch the Pennsylvania Ice Cream Trail,…
The other day I received a request from a local newspaper for a quote on “Why I still believe in dairy.” The reporter who sent the request explained that they were writing a positive article offering encouragement to struggling farmers during June Dairy Month. When I read that question, I considered all the reasons I…
Milk futures prices on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) are showing more movement recently, with the average Class III milk price for the next 12 months averaging $16.53 per hundredweight as of May 8th. That’s up about $1.70 per cwt. from where Class III milk prices averaged the past 12 months. Class IV milk futures…
A couple of years ago, the Center joined with the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania to introduce a safety initiative that included Safety Shares at our meetings and a Safety Corner on our website. The idea was to encourage producers to share “near-miss” situations they have had on the farm that reminded them how important…
A while ago I was reading through the paper and came across this quote: “The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us but those who win battles we know nothing about.” I thought to myself how much this resonated with where we are in the dairy industry right now. Every…
In dairy, fluid milk sales are a hot topic right now. There is a lot of concern, rightfully so, about declining fluid milk sales. The USDA released its Estimated Fluid Milk Products Sales Report in February, fluid milk sales fell 2 percent in 2018 to 47.1 billion pounds. In fact, for the past eight years, fluid milk…
Earlier this month I attended the Pennsylvania Dairy Summit in Lancaster, Pa. The event is hosted annually by the center and the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania, and it draws a mix of producers, farm employees and industry professionals. Despite the frustrations in the industry right now, people come to the Summit looking for positive…
Earlier this month the Center for Dairy Excellence joined the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, American Dairy Association North East, Team Pennsylvania and others to host a Dairy Innovation Forum in State College. The forum drew about 60 representatives from the dairy processing, retail and production segments of the industry to inspire a mindset of innovation…
