Virtual Fencing & The Milk Man

This week, we learned about the breakthrough in livestock control known as virtual fencing, the first bird flu death in humans, the history of National Milk Day, and so much more.

Read on to learn what else the week had to offer.

Virtual Fencing: A Breakthrough in Livestock Control

Imagine a world where the boundaries of your farm are no longer defined by miles of costly, weathered fencing. Picture instead a seamless, invisible network that allows you to reshape pastures with the click of a button, effortlessly guiding livestock. This isn’t science fiction anymore; it’s the reality of virtual fencing, a revolutionary innovation redefining modern agriculture. Read more about it in our Virtual Fencing: A Breakthrough in Livestock Control article.

Biocontrol Breakthrough Offers Hope Against Mosquitoes

A revolutionary new biological pest control method that targets the lifespan of female insects could significantly reduce the threat of insect pests such as disease-carrying mosquitoes by offering faster and more effective results than current methods. As described in?Nature Communications, the technique developed by researchers in Applied BioSciences and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology at Macquarie University is a new approach called the Toxic Male Technique (TMT). Read more about it in our Biocontrol Breakthrough Offers Hope Against Mosquitoes and Agricultural Pests article.

National Milk Day: The Milk Man's Legacy

The story of National Milk Day is intertwined with the remarkable journey of milk delivery in America. In an era before refrigeration and modern transportation, delivering fresh milk to families required ingenuity and dedication. The introduction of glass milk bottles revolutionized this process, making milk safer, more convenient, and more accessible. Read on to explore the origins of milk delivery in America, how it became a symbol of comfort and community, and the changes that led to the decline of the milkman tradition. Read more about it in our National Milk Day: The Milk Man’s Legacy article.

First H5 Bird Flu Death Reported In U.S.

CDC is saddened by Louisiana’s report that a person previously hospitalized with severe avian influenza A(H5N1) illness (“H5N1 bird flu”) has passed away. While tragic, a death from H5N1 bird flu in the United States is not unexpected because of the known potential for infection with these viruses to cause severe illness and death. As of January 6, 2025, there have been 66 confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu in the United States since 2024 and 67 since 2022. Read more about it in our First H5 Bird Flu Death Reported in United States article.

Sustainable Agriculture

On Jan. 3, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the automatic addition of nine per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to the list of chemicals covered by the Toxics Release Inventory. TRI data is reported to the EPA annually by facilities in designated industry sectors and federal facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise use TRI-listed chemicals above set quantities. The data include quantities of such chemicals that were released into the environment or otherwise managed as waste. Information collected through TRI allows communities to learn how facilities in their area are managing listed chemicals. Read more about it in our EPA Adds Nine Additional PFAS to the Toxics Release Inventory article.

In other news, when Russell Maichel started growing almonds, walnuts, and pistachios in the 1980s, he didn’t own a cellphone. Now, a fully autonomous tractor drives through his expansive orchard, spraying pesticides and fertilizer to protect the trees that have for decades filled him with an immense sense of pride. “The sustainability of doing things perfectly the first time makes a lot of sense,” the first-generation farmer told The Associated Press at CES 2025, where John Deere unveiled a fleet of fully autonomous heavy equipment, including the tractor Maichel has been testing on his northern California farm. Read more about it in our Farming Tech Is on Display at CES as Companies Showcase Their Innovations article.

Also, a new study from USDA’s?Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and?Iowa State University (ISU) reveals that generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help expedite the search for solutions to reduce enteric methane emissions caused by cows in animal agriculture, which accounts for about 33 percent of U.S. agriculture and 3 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Read more about it in our Scientists Leverage AI to Fast-Track Methane Mitigation Strategies in Animal Agriculture article.

Crop and Food World

Pollination by animals contributes to a third of global food production, but little research has been done into the extent to which the identity of pollinators, pollen, and crop varieties influence fruit quality when it comes to the nutritional, sensory, and commercial value of crops. Pollinators influence the quality of crops through their movement patterns on the plantations and through the plant variety they visit. Read more about it in our Pollinators, Pollen, and Varieties Determine Fruit Quality article.

In other news, scientists have long sought ways to help plants turn more carbon dioxide (CO?) into biomass, which could boost crop yields and even combat climate change. Recent research suggests that a group of unique, often overlooked plants called hornworts may hold the key. Read more about it in our Tiny Plants Reveal Big Potential for Boosting Crop Efficiency article.

Also, the story begins under our feet: soils are not only a complex habitat, but also a battlefield where tiny nematodes fight against fungi and plant roots. Agriculture in particular suffers as a result. Out of concern about crop losses, the worms are conventionally controlled with chemical pesticides. However, these are increasingly being criticized for potentially damaging the soil and water. With a view to the future, alternatives must be found for sustainable agriculture. Read more about it in our A Fungus to Save Plants? article.

Livestock World

Dairy replacement heifer numbers have fallen almost 15% over the last six years, reaching a 20-year low, according to the USDA. With this smaller-than-ever replacement herd, a strong fresh?cow program has never been more critical. Now more than ever, optimizing lactation?performance and minimizing health challenges is essential to keeping cows productive for longer. Leveraging?data-driven insights is the key to proactively managing?fresh cows and achieving your herd goals. Read more about it in our Boost Fresh Cow Performance by Turning Data Into Actions article.

In other news, consumer desires, restaurateur demands, and packer necessities have dictated that an individual steer has the capacity to do more with less relative to his ancestors. We are well south of 30 million beef cows in this country, and it is very probable that most of us will never see that number again in our lifetimes. On the other hand, we produce more beef (and of a higher quality) than ever before. How? Read more about it in our Exploring Beef Carcass Dynamics in Today's Industry article.

Farming Economy/Policy

There are more motivated land buyers in today’s market than there are willing sellers, according to Farmers National Company. Despite the pressures created by lower net farm income, declining commodity markets, higher interest rates, and increased input costs, land values have remained quite stable across the Midwest. While most university and industry land value reports published at year’s end reflect a flat or slight downward trend compared to production expenses, the stability in those values reveals the resiliency of the land market and its ability to maintain the high values set over the past five years. Read more about it in our Limited Supply, Strong Demand Fuels Ag Land Market article.

In other news, farmer sentiment drifted lower in December as the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer dropped 9 points to a reading of 136. The decline was driven by producers’ weaker perspective on current conditions in U.S. agriculture and their farms, with the?Index of Current Conditions falling 13 points to 100. Although the?Current Conditions Index declined this month, it remains 24 points above its low in September and 5 points higher than in October. The?Index of Future Expectations also fell 8 points to 153, remaining 59 points above its September low and 29 points higher than the October reading. Read more about it in our Farmer Sentiment Drifts Lower While Producers Remain Optimistic About the Future article.

Also, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) commended President Biden for signing into law the?Beagle Brigade Act, which provides statutory authority and reliable funding to the?National Detector Dog Training Center. “Pork producers employ a variety of biosecurity measures to keep foreign animal diseases, like African swine fever, out of our herds. Further away at our nation’s ports of entry, the Beagle Brigade helps ensure these diseases don’t travel past our borders,” said Lori Stevermer, NPPC president and pork producer from Easton, Minnesota. Read more about it in our Beagle Brigade Act Signed into Law, Boosting Efforts to Keep Out Foreign Animal Diseases article.

Finally, farm owners across the U.S., including in Missouri, struggle with significant economic losses as the toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contaminate their farmlands, diminish their crops, and compromise the health of their livestock. The Environmental Working Group estimates that nearly 20 million acres of farmland in the country could be polluted by these so-called “forever chemicals.” PFAS enters the environment, including farm ecosystems, mainly through wastewater and water sources. Considering that approximately 83% of the U.S. sampled waterways contain PFAS, the likelihood that even more farmland across the country is polluted by these dangerous chemicals is high. Read more about it in our Op-Ed: New Bill Promises Aid for Farmers Hit by PFAS article.

USDA Update

This week, the USDA increased Funding for New Specialty Crop Program, collaborated with UNL to Create Web-based App to Optimize Soil Sampling, invested in Additional Domestic Biofuels and Clean Energy Projects, and announced that More States Joined National Milk Testing Strategy for H5N1.

Other Top Stories

U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Penn.) and Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-Minn.) expressed support for the new Congress passing the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act in 2025 during remarks this weekend at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Chairman Thompson is the lead sponsor of the bill, which Ranking Member Craig has cosponsored. The legislation would reinstate whole and 2% milk in federal school meals programs. Congressman Thompson is also a senior member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, which oversees child nutrition programs in the U.S. House of Representatives. Read more about it in our IDFA: House Leaders Hopeful New Congress Can Reinstate Whole and 2% Milk in School Meals article.

In other news, the United States generates more food waste than all but two countries. To address this, the federal government set a goal to cut food waste in half by 2030 compared to 2016 levels, to about 164 pounds per person annually. But a new study published in Nature Food?and led by the University of California, Davis, reveals that current state policies are falling short. Since 2016, per capita food waste has increased instead of decreasing. Read more about it in our States Struggle to Curb Food Waste Despite Policies article.

Come Back Next Week!

Be sure to check in next week for our national news roundup, and?don't?forget to follow us on all our socials! We?can't?wait to see what next week holds for agricultural news.