How Secure Is Our Food Supply Chain? If Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) were to appear in the US, what would farmers, ranchers, and business do? This presentation reviews the Secure Pork Supply Plan, who is involved, what needs to be done, and how producers need to develop their biosecurity plans [video]? Related: Secure Milk Supply Project Update - An update on the status of the Secure Milk Supply Project supplemental to ongoing Foot and Mouth Disease prevention and response planning with Dr. Pam Hullinger, currently with UC-Davis Department of Veterinary Medicine and Epidemiology [audio].

Are There Economic Impacts? What is the economic impact of swine respiratory diseases? Dr. John Waddell, Professional Services Veterinarian, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., shares information on the economic outcomes of the diseases, and a 5 step process to discover, understand, and take action on handling these diseases based upon the farm's management goals [video].

Taking PRRS Out of the Breeding Herd PRRSv costs US swine industry $664M. With this level of impact on the economics of pork production, much effort has gone into understanding the disease and how best to eliminate the virus. Bob Morrison, D.V.M., University of Minnesota, shares procedures for taking PRRS out of the breeding herd and presents data as to the effectiveness of these procedures [video].

What is it with the Grain Situation? I am NOT opposed to ethanol. I do prefer it aged in oaken barrels or pretty glass bottles! sums up how Dr. Meyers feels about corn used in ethanol. This presentation (with lots of charts for the data included) shares some other thoughts about the markets, grain, and the future of animal feed [video].

How is Weather Playing A Part in Agriculture? High temperatures across the USA have been a departure from the 1981 2010 average. The persistent heat from the summer of 2011 had more than 70 days over 100 degrees in some spots across the USA and every state has had temps over 100 degrees. What are the impacts on agriculture going forward? What should we do? [Video] [Photo Watts Up With That?]