Although Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is the lowest in decades, many local officials are still trying to figure out what their communities can do to attract new businesses and add jobs. Among their best choices are investments in their roads, sewage plant and schools, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison expert.

More than 1,800 students from 169 Wisconsin schools participated in the State FFA Agri-Science/Natural Resources Career Development Event on April 25 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Almost 600 three-person teams participated in the 15 contest divisions.

In Wisconsin, 70 percent of dairy farmers surveyed haul manure daily, most without accurately knowing the amount they are applying to fields. A prototype manure spreader, developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, can deliver a predetermined amount of manure to the field and may lead to better manure management.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison received the Outstanding Chapter Award at the National Agri-Marketing Association Conference in Nashville, Tenn. on Wednesday, April 16. Each year 36 student chapters compete for the award based on the chapters’ ability to coordinate programs for members’ career development, to interact with professional agricultural marketers, and to achieve chapter-specific goals.

Compared with conventional moldboard plowing and no-tillage, a ridge-tillage system for corn approximately halved the fertilizer and herbicide movement to ground water while producing comparable yields in a four-year study on a sandy Wisconsin soil.

Members of the foodservice industry must consider changing and evolving consumer attitudes and trends. Consumers are spending less time in the kitchen and want consumer-oriented service when purchasing their meals away from home. Foodservice operators, food industry consultants, individuals interested in foodservice, and people involved in the livestock and meat industry are invited to explore creative marketing techniques at a seminar Tuesday, May 6 in Madison, Wis.

Soil scientist Kevin McSweeney has been named the new director of the School of Natural Resources at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine has awarded Certificates of Proficiency in Dairy Herd Health Management to 32 Wisconsin veterinary practitioners from across the state. The veterinarians, who are the first group to complete the course, received their certificates March 20 at an awards banquet on the UW-Madison campus.

Some small farms in Wisconsin may soon become antibody factories, raising laying hens that produce growth-stimulating antibodies in their egg yolks. When fed to farm animals, the customized yolks increase growth rates, and the animals become more efficient at converting feed to meat.

How could you improve on the immune system? It fights off bacteria and viruses that invade our bodies. How about a new type of vaccine – one that stops dangerous viruses from even entering the body?