Week 7- Up in the U.P.

This week was a lot of fun getting to see new farms and learn new things. Earlier in the week I attended MMPA's advisory committee meeting. It was interesting listening to the market update about dairy products and getting a better idea of how the prices of corn, soybeans, crude oil, and natural gas are affecting the market. I learned some more about food price inflation and how the average U.S. consumer spends less than 10% of disposable income in food. With inflation that will increase $100-120 a year which isn't a considerable amount. There also was a lot of talk about ethanol production in the midwest and the affect on the price of corn and gasoline. I didn't realize that it's been estimated that if there wasn't ethanol production in the midwest gas prices would be $.40 higher than they are. With a new Brazilian roommate, it was interesting to learn at this meeting and later talk to her about the sugar cane industry in Brazil. Ethanol produced by sugar cane and electricity generated has made Brazil an independent country for energy. It was also interesting to listen to the three finalists for MMPA's applied research fund. One of the candidates was an Animal Science professor I had worked closely with during my undergraduate studies.

Later in the week I headed to the upper peninsula to survey some dairy farms up there. During the day on Thursday I traveled around to Daggett, Bark River, and Stephenson. I was welcomed into many homes and was able to get a feel for the dairy industry in the western U.P. I was pleasantly surprised to find one farm that was milking over 600 cows and had a long conversation with the producer about how MMPA has helped him expand his operation, his studies at both Michigan State and the University of Wisconsin, and the need for large animal veterinarians. At another farm I learned more about a producers' struggle with stray voltage and how that has affected his cows' production. Overall, I learned a lot more about the U.P. and its agricultural industry.