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GEORGIA CHECKOFF REFERENDUM - Send Ballots by Mar. 30

Georgia Dairy Producers are reminded that your ballots regarding the 10 cents portion of your check-off should be mailed to the ACCM offices (Andy Harrison) by MARCH 30th! Remember, 5 cents (of the 15 cents/cwt total deduction) is automatically sent by mandate to the National Checkoff program, while you do have a say about where your state directs the remaining dime for promotion and education.

If you have not received a ballot in the mail, contact Paul Johnson at 229-220-3170, and he can see that you get one.

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TOTAL PRODUCTIVITY FACTOR - ERS Term for Dairy Evaluation

March 7th, 2022:  Sources, Trends, and Drivers of US Dairy Productivity and Efficiency, by Eric Njuki for USDA-ERS, a 52-pg. pdf report.  

This Feb. 22 report focuses on the term ’Total Productivity Factor’ as a means of evaluating individual dairy farms and the collective dairy farm sectors of various states and herd sizes.

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UKRAINE: The Challenge of Farming in War

March 11, 2022: "Russia's Invasion Forces Ukrainian farms to become Food Factories for the Army, Cities," by Clint Jasper, for ABC Rural, published at ABC Australia

As Ukraine is dealing with unimaginable supply chain challenges both in delivering products to market, and acquiring supplies to keep farms running, farms and their employees are processing their goods to keep people fed.

Meat animals are being harvested on farms and the meat being delivered to people in cities in bomb shelters.

Dairy farmers are on-farm processing their milk into quark, cottage cheese, sour cream and butter

March 9, 2022: PODCAST "Imagine Planting Corn and Seeing Fighter Jets Coming at You," Rob Sharkey, otherwise known as The Shark Farmer, interviews Kees Huizinga, a diverse Ukrainian farmer who has several large enterprises in his operation, including a dairy operation.

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CONSUMER OUTREACH & PROMOTION

March 3rd, 2022: Be Ready to Answer the Tough Questions, by Georgia's own Caitlin Rodgers, for Hoard's Dairyman. Caitlin explains that learning to answer consumer questions in terms the general public can relate to is an important part of making friends for dairy and agriculture.

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March 11: Southeast Dairy Checkoff Check-In (The Dairy Alliance)

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Order POWER OF GEORGIA DAIRY Swag!

T's! Hoodies! Totes! Tanks! and More!

Portion of Proceeds Benefits the GA Dairy Youth Foundation

HR 1861: The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act 2021

Many of you are aware that there have been ongoing efforts to allow school systems to once again bring whole milk back to their menus as a high-nutrition beverage choice. The Food and Nutrition Service is currently accepting comments from the public on this matter.

BACKGROUND: Why Whole Milk Should be Returned as a Choice in Schools; information compiled by folks at 97milk.com, an easy to read 3 pg. assessment with additional links.

THE BILL's TEXT: Read the Bill itself, view the 88 bi-partisan co-sponsors, and track the bill's activities through the legislative process at Congress.gov. A number of representatives from several southeastern states, including Georgia Representatives Rep. Rick Allen (GA-12), Rep. David Scott (GA-13) and Austin Scott (GA-8) have signed on as co-sponsors. If your representative has not signed on, please contact their individual offices.

COMMENT: Comment Portal at Regulations.gov: You may directly post your comments about choice of whole milk in schools in the portal. It may be helpful if you draft or write your comments ahead of time, and then you can copy or paste directly into the portal.

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COMING IN NEAR FUTURE: A Special Edition of the Georgia Dairy E-News with scenes and highlights of the 2022 Georgia Dairy Conference!

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SUBMISSIONS to the GA Dairy E-News are welcome! If any of you have any submissions (photos or events) which you would like to have included in a future issue of this newsletter, please feel free to contact Julie, the Interim Editor, at agrivoice@yahoo.com. Suggestions or comments about future topics are also welcome! Please include 'For GA Dairy' in the subject! THANKS!

Southeast Milk will host their 2022 SMILE (Southeast Milk Inc. Leadership Experience) Conference at Biltmore Estate at Asheville, NC. Biltmore has a storied dairy history! According to an SMI Instagram post, program topics will center on profitability, sustainability, and diversification.