Dairy world

An extended period of favourable international prices has meant that publically financed inventories of dairy commodities have been drawn down and are now at minimal levels in the EU and the United States. Consequently, international dairy quotations for the coming year will remain particularly sensitive to climatic conditions in relation to pasture growth, the availability and price of fodder and feed, and their effect on milk production.

Analysis of dairy intake and heart attack risk found no statistically significant relation in thousands of Costa Rican adults. Dairy foods might not harm heart health, despite saturated fat content, because they contain other possibly protective nutrients, researchers say.

Trend and outlook for the international dairy market, March 2011. Dairy commodity prices have generally risen in the first quarter of 2011, but increasing grain prices and the recent events in Japan have started to push prices down.

A center for innovation, education and research will be built in Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. The Dairy Campus will offer livestock farmers, agricultural educational institutions, agricultural scientists and entrepreneurs from the sector a base from which to work together on innovations and solutions for dairy farming.

There is certainly a resemblance: the dairy farmer juggling all the skills needed to produce milk in a sustainable and profitable way, standing on the uncertainties of policies and markets. Therefore, it is important that advisors, academics and suppliers in the industry support them with knowledge and tools to help making the right decisions, says Anna-Karin Modin Edman from the Swedish Dairy Association when we talked to her about dairy farming and sustainability.

The wrap-up component of the Green house Gases and Animal Agriculture conference 2010 featured summaries from each of the session chairs, which included a number of perspectives and ideas to help drive future progress.

The World Dairy Situation Report 2011 is a yearly publication by the International Dairy Federation, a collaboration between experts and key organisations around the globe and within the IDF. This year’s report showed some very positive developments.

Dairymen are calling Netanyahu's decision cruel and idiotic, and said that it will destroy dairy farming in Israel.

CLAL, an Italian consultancy firm in the dairy sector has made an interactive map that provides an immediate overview of Milk Production or Deliveries of some of the Key Player Countries.