Warm summer days are the perfect time to clean up the grill, dust off the tongs, stir up your favorite marinade and prepare a delicious meal on the grill. But, with the current economic conditions, fewer people are choosing to toss steak and burgers into their shopping carts, right? Wrong.

According to a recent survey conducted by IPSOS Public Affairs for the Beef Checkoff Program, Americans aren’t willing to cut costs this summer when it comes to grilling beef. Seventy-four percent of Americans plan to grill more this summer than in the past. Why, you ask? Families are spending less time eating out at restaurants and more time grilling healthy, lean beef at home.

For summer grilling tips and healthy grilling guidelines, check out the NCBA’s summer grilling website.

Don’t worry, we’re not delving into anyone’s personal lives. It’s a question that arose after reading our #Ag Tweet of the Week from @wagfarms. She made the analogy that working on a farm (not owning) is like dating. In her words, “All the benefits, minus the headaches”. Hey now! Doesn’t that depend on your “spouse”? As always, let us know if you see any great tweets in the coming week and we’ll consider them for next week’s award.

It doesn’t take a crown to make you a dairy spokesperson, but for the 2009 Miss America, it sure doesn’t hurt. Katie Stam, Indiana’s first Miss America, is the newest spokesperson for the American Dairy Association of Indiana. Stam grew up on a dairy farm in Indiana where she learned to care for dairy cows and promote dairy products.

As part of her spokesperson role with the American Dairy Association of Indiana, Stam will be recording radio commercials, appearing in ads and educating consumers on the importance of a healthy diet, including milk and other dairy products.

One thing I’ve noticed while monitoring for #Ag Tweet of the Week is just how many tweets relate to weather. Some of you are plagued with too much rain. Some too little. The result? A lot of discouraged farmers, some of whom have even switched crops.

Here’s just a sampling of what’s out there:

• Rhonda Werner’s wheat was scorching and wet all at the same time
• Mike Jackson shared some photos of corn damage via twitpic
• And Ryan Weeks and Zach Hunnicutt? Well, they were tweeting during a tornado watch—hope they really were in the basement

My parents always lived by the saying “No Farmers, No Future.” That’s becoming more of a reality as the world population continues to increase and food demand rises. It’s a scenario that’s following through to the dairy industry. A recent Dairy Herd Management article states that global milk and other liquid dairy products are on the rise. It’s projected that milk consumption will increase 2.2 percent throughout the next three years according to the Tetra-Pak Dairy Index.  

While consumption continues to rise, milk production has stayed at relatively the same level. And, according to another Dairy Herd Management article, milk production for the top 23 states in May 2009 increased by only 0.2 percent compared to May 2008. However, all 50 states saw a mere 0.1 percent gain in milk production compared to a year ago. As dairy cattle numbers in each state continue to decline dairy producers are trying to produce more milk with fewer cows.   

June is Dairy Month and it’s important to inform consumers how important the dairy industry is to our nation and world. Celebrate by purchasing dairy products to help support dairy producers this month and every month.

Most everyone knows about the Got Milk? campaign. But fewer know there’s a Hispanic equivalent named Toma Leche?. To further reach a Hispanic market with a buying power of nearly $1 trillion, the creator of the campaign—The California Milk Processor Board—is releasing a series of viral “video poems” targeting bilingual Hispanics in their late teens and early 20s. Why use viral media? According to a recent report, this segment is “21 percent more likely to download media content online than American adults in general”. 

The 45-second narrated videos are the equivalent of bad romance novel advertisements—they’re cheesy (appropo) and sappy but entertaining nonetheless. Like the Got Milk? campaign, they tout the health benefits of milk but also emphasize the beauty benefits like shiny hair and smooth skin. Hint: beauty and fashion are two fast-growing Hispanic consumer markets. The first poem is an ode to a woman who, according to an Hispanic-speaking Fabio, would have teeth “as yellow as the radiant sun” if it weren’t for milk. 

If you’re up for some entertainment and know Spanish (or want to brush up), check out their Facebook page and YouTube channel. You can also find them on the Hispanic social media sites Migente and Quepasa.

Congratulations are in order for Troy Hadrick—a cattle producer from South Dakota—who earned #ag Tweet of the Week status. It seems Troy attended the Iowa Ag Youth Institute Conference in Ames last week and came away pretty self-assured that the young people headed into ag are bound to make us proud.

That’s good news in itself but also in light of some USDA statistics, which show a definite need for youth in ag-related careers. You can read more about that in today’s AgWired blog post “Who Are the Next Generation of Food Producers?”. We’d love to hear from some up-and-coming aggies. Give us a tweet and let us know what you’re up to.

A recent study conducted by Cornell University looked at the environmental impact of dairy farming and found today’s U.S. dairy farms leave a smaller carbon footprint than those operating in the 1940s. Improvements in technology, management, nutrition, genetics and animal welfare have created a more efficient production system, decreasing the carbon footprint.

In 2007 U. S. dairies produced 186 billion pounds of milk from 9.2 million cows while dairymen in 1944 milked 25.6 million dairy cows and produced only 117 billion pounds of milk. This resulted in a 41 percent decrease in total carbon footprint for U.S. milk production and a 63 percent decrease when measured per gallon of milk.

The study also found modern dairy operations use 10 percent of the land, 23 percent of the feed and 35 percent of the water required to produce the same amount of milk in 1944. Even better—dairies today produce 24 percent less manure and 43 percent less methane per gallon of milk compared to 1944.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel just reported there’s more “food on a stick” coming to the Wisconsin State Fair. This time it’s chocolate-covered bacon. I’m not sure whether that sounds yummy or just plain gross—it sounds a bit like chocolate-covered pretzels in terms of the sweet and salty part. A quick Google search unveiled a number of recipes including one from the Food Network, although it has almonds and there’s no mention of a stick. Looking for more stick food ideas? Take a look at the video above from our neighbors to the west.  

There’s been a lot of twitter chatter lately regarding June Dairy Month—if you haven’t signed up yet, I suggest you do. Otherwise, you’re missing out on some great dairy facts, recipes, humor and general banter about what’s for breakfast, lunch, dinner and those hungry times in-between. A few of our favorites so far: 

• We wonder if @lisabeth515 had an early morning ice cream craving given her 7:06 a.m. tweet
• @AgriBlogger (reporting from last week’s World Pork Expo) stated the obvious, especially to most Wisconsinites
• @aAa123456 gave us a laugh from Woody Allen
• And @MidwestDairy shared the simplest of all dairy recipes