“We embrace our diversity; it makes us a stronger organization at every level.” This message anchored a Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Summit session this year, led by three different people in different facets of the industry. Presenter Kate Turcotte is an artisan cheesemaker of more than 20 y...

Hannah Wieboldt of Orange County is doing her part to support Empire State dairy farmers as the 2026-27 NYS Dairy Ambassador. As an ambassador, Wieboldt will have the opportunity to be an “agvocate” for her local farmers and share their stories with the rest of the world. Wieboldt’s passion for dair...

Using robots for milking focuses on reducing labor costs; however, it can also increase precision in herd management, according to Trevor DeVries, University of Guelph. He presented “Harnessing Individual Cow Traits & Responses in Automated Milking Systems” at the recent Herd Health & Nutrition Conf...

The dynamics of fertilizer economics is not boring. Four years ago, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine seriously impacted the world’s natural gas (methane) playing field. Russia controls most of Europe’s natural gas resources. In 2022, Russia shut off Ukraine’s natural gas supply, trying to fre...

"There are horror stories from people about leases going bad. Often, when you dig deeper, it was a verbal agreement or it was a lease agreement that wasn’t written very clearly or didn’t have a lot of protections built into it,” said Jae Silverman. Silverman is the Massachusetts field agent for Land...

Part 1: Cyberthreats are real The reality of cybercrime for livestock farms is almost too easy. Most farms have internet access, which means they are tied to international supply chains, making them vulnerable. Andrew Rose, of the nonprofit Bioeconomy Information Sharing & Analysis Center (BIO-ISAC)...

As a growing body of research indicates, nitrogen fixing microbials may not help farmers significantly improve their corn yields. Dr. Charlie White, soil fertility and nutrient management at Penn State, presented “Nitrogen Fixing Microbials for Corn: What We’ve Learned from Four Years of Field Trial...

Boosting the quality of forage can directly affect a farm’s bottom line. Jessica Williams, marketing manager for green harvesting for Massey Ferguson North American, presented “Optimizing Forage Quality in Harvested Forages” as part of the recent Cornell Organic Field Crops & Dairy Conference hosted...

Ten days after spring 2026 started, a serious electric storm hit our part of Central New York. During the early pre-dawn, lightning bolts struck (fortunately not too close to us). This electric storm was caused by the southern branch of the northern jet stream surging northward. In such an event, a ...