Our friend, Keith Good, is the founder and editor of our next “Bookmarkable Blog” – FarmPolicy.com. Keith’s site provides a daily summary of news relating to U.S. farm policy. FarmPolicy.com covers issues associated with the U.S. and global agricultural economy, including the Farm Bill, production agriculture, trade, biofuels and crop insurance.
Keith has an extensive background in Midwest agriculture, having grown up in Central Illinois where his family has successful farming operations. He has worked for the Illinois Agriculture Mediation Program, a dispute resolution service that assists agricultural producers affected by the actions or decisions of the USDA in resolving disputes arising under various USDA programs. He also worked as an Agricultural Statistician with USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service and as a Research Associate in the Dept. of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Check out his latest post, it’s very timely!
The Associated Press reported yesterday that, “Hundreds of thousands of America’s dairy cows are being turned into hamburgers because milk prices have dropped so low that farmers can no longer afford to feed the animals.
“Dairy farmers say they have little choice but to sell part of their herds for slaughter because they face a perfect storm of destructive economic forces. At home, feed prices are rising and cash-strapped consumers are eating out less often. Abroad, the global recession has cut into demand for butter and cheese exported from the U.S.
“Prices for milk now are about half what it costs farmers to produce the staple, and consumer prices are falling. Unless the market can be bolstered, industry officials project that more than 1.5 million of the nation’s 9.3 million milking cows could be slaughtered this year as dairy operators look to cut costs and generate cash.”
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