Overall, 2006 was a tough year for Wisconsin farmers. The state’s total net farm income dropped by more than 40 percent, the lowest level since 2002. Still, 2006 also brought Wisconsin’s dairy industry one piece of very good news. After years of decline, the size of the state’s cow herd increased.

So, what is the skinny on trans fats? What are they? Why is this long-time food industry staple on the blacklist now? What will New York City eateries – and the rest of us – use in their place? Are the alternatives really healthier?

You wouldn’t think of working in the labs of a major pharmaceutical firm as the kind of job where you’d get your hands dirty. Not in the literal sense. But that’s how University of Wisconsin-Madison student Amanda Herzog refers to her experience last summer at Abbott Laboratories in Chicago.

More than 600 high school members of Future Farmers of America from 25 Wisconsin high schools gathered for a taste of life and sports at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Jan. 27.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences is leading efforts to bring a new federal bioenergy research and development center to Wisconsin

Brenda Bohan’s best learning experiences have taken place outside the classroom. Take, for example, when she and her sons went to Montana’s Northern Cheyenne Reservation to help build a playground for a childcare center.

When someone mentions Babcock Hall, you think “ice cream.” But the campus dairy plant is starting to make a name with another signature product: award-winning cheese.

Rick Klemme, associate dean of UW-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and Cooperative Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources program leader, will serve as Cooperative Extension’s Interim Dean and Director for a three-year period, beginning Feb. 1, 2007.

A fall 2007 pilot admissions initiative for the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences is working to retain Wisconsin students who are both highly qualified and deeply committed to long-term careers in Wisconsin agriculture.

Bacteria are a cunning foe; at a worrisome rate, they are developing resistance to the current arsenal of antibiotic drugs. Without new drugs, society may be approaching a world reminiscent of the pre-antibiotic era, when coming down with a bacterial infection was often a matter of life or death.