KnowACaliforniaFarmer.com is an interactive website for the general public and is being created by hundreds of farmers, including Western United Dairymen members. At Kno-wACaliforniaFarmer.com, farmers and ranchers post personal photos, upload videos and write blogs. Visitors have the chance to learn what farmers do and how they do it. It's an opportunity to start a conversation with some who think their food comes from the back-room of a supermarket, as well as opinion leaders who continue to promote an ever-growing load of regulations.
Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) accepted six requests from members for assistance in selling cheese and butter to customers in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The products will be delivered this month through February 2011. Dairy Farmers of America will receive help in exporting 240,300 pounds of cheese. Land O'Lakes had one request for 555,600 pounds of butter and one request for 123,500 pounds of cheese accepted by CWT. Since CWT reactivated the Export Assistance program in March, it has assisted members in making export sales of Cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Gouda cheese totaling 19,019 metric tons (41.9 million pounds) to 23 countries on four continents. In addition, sales of butter and anhydrous milkfat totaling 14,886 metric tons (32.8 million pounds) have been made to eleven countries on three continents.
Unhappy cows marketing campaign unhappy. The California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) wants to set the record straight regarding two factual misstatements that were included in an Associated Press story last week on Senate bill AB 1778. Both are confusing to consumers: The CMAB is funded by California's dairy producers through a check-off program. It is not funded by taxpayer dollars as the story stated. Because this money is administered through the California Department of Food and Agriculture, it can be called “public funds.” But it does not come from taxes. It comes out of the pockets of California's 1,752 struggling dairy families. This is an important clarification that needs to be made. The CMAB has never filmed a “Happy California Cow” anywhere but in the state of California. It did shoot a portion of the “Unhappy Cows Auditions” campaign – which features unhappy foreign cows auditioning to come to California – in New Zealand. This production decision realized a savings of more than $750,000 to California's dairy families who paid for the making of the commercials. There have been a number of misperceptions about the CMAB, its campaign and where the funding comes from. These are damaging to the state's dairy families – we appreciate your making a correction to any current stories or using this information in any future stories about this issue.
UC Cooperative Extension will hold a Silage Corn Variety Trial open house from 8-11 a.m. on Sept. 8 in a field on Hanford-Armona Road at the corner of Avenue 1 ½. Sixteen varieties, each replicated three times, were planted in the field on June 1. Information: 582-3211 or 684-3300.
Table grapes grown in Tulare County are being exported to Chile, Canada, China, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Thailand, and New Zealand.
Farmers who raise tomatoes for canneries say they've reached full harvest mode. The cool spring and mild summer delayed tomatoes. Both farmers and processors say they're concerned that too much fruit may ripen at the same time, leading to backups at the canneries. If those problems arise, that would likely occur in the next two weeks. California leads the nation in production of processing tomatoes used for salsa, ketchup and other products.
About a month from now, the U.S. government will impose a ban on pistachios from Iran as part of the response to Iranian nuclear policies. In the past year, Iran has sent up to a million pounds of pistachios to this country. When the ban takes effect, California pistachio farmers will have the domestic market to themselves … but the Western Pistachio Association says California farmers may face more competition from Iran in export markets.
California Farm Bureau Federation contributed to this report.