New York Milk Production Up in April; Farmer Price Down

Here is news from the National Agricultural Statistics Service in New York:

New York dairy herds produced 1,138 million pounds of milk during April, said Blair Smith, State Statistician of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office.

This is up 1.7 percent from a year earlier but down 1.9 percent from March.

Dairy farmers in the Empire State received an average of $20.20 per hundredweight of milk sold during April, down 20 cents from March but $2.30 more than April a year ago.

Milk production in the 23 major states during April totaled 16.1 billion pounds, up 0.3 percent from April 2012. March production, unrevised at 16.4 billion pounds, was down 0.1 percent from March 2012.

Calf Welcomed at Jordan Dairy Farm

So adorable.

Meg and Bruce Schader at Wake Robin Farm in Jordan found this new little bull calf when they were bringing the Jerseys in for milking on Monday.

Thanks to Meg for sharing the photo.

19-year-old Hopes To Retire and Farm

This shows there is hope in the future of agriculture after all.

Read this http://blogs.usda.gov/2013/05/10/19-year-old-hopes-to-retire-and-farm/ fabulous story from the USDA blog.

Stock Market Take on Agriculture from The Motley Fool

Go to http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/05/14/the-governments-favorite-agriculture-company.aspx to read the story.

On-Farm Workshop on Pesticides May 30

Go to http://blogs.cornell.edu/ccefieldcropnews/2013/05/17/on-farm-workshop-pests-of-seedling-corn-may-30-2013/ to find out more.

New York Farm Bureau Responds to Farm Bill Moving out of Committee

Norton

This is from the New York Farm Bureau President Dean Norton:

“New York Farm Bureau is pleased to see the quick work performed by both the Senate and House Agriculture Committees in moving the 2013 Farm Bill.  The expediency both houses demonstrated this week reinforces the need to get this passed on the floor of both houses this summer. 

"The Farm Bill invests in a stronger, more efficient safety net for New York’s dairy and specialty crop farmers and continued protections for commodity growers. It simplifies conservation programs and provides additional farmland protection efforts and new market opportunities for local food.  All of this will support New York farms as leading economic drivers in their rural communities.

"NY Farm Bureau is also grateful we have a strong delegation working on our farmers’ behalf in Congress. Sen. Gillibrand, along with Congressmen Chris Gibson,  Sean Patrick Maloney and Chris Collins, all serve on the agriculture committees in their respective houses and fought for a number of programs and policies that will strengthen the farm economy in New York.

"For that, we sincerely thank them for advocating for our farms.”
 

Hops Growers Ready for Challenges

From Madison County Tourism

Check out http://poststar.com/news/local/hops-growers-ready-for-challenges/article_3ea91ee6-c0f5-11e2-bb27-001a4bcf887a.html this story.

A lot of farmers in Central New York are growing hops and will face these same challenges.