USDA’s Perdue predicts the collapse of small dairies. Farm income from solar panels.

The leading agricultural commodity in California is dairy. But the Golden State’s dairy operations have been beset by a large degree of uncertainty in trade relations with our neighbors as well as contraction of operations, to put it mildly. Recently, at the Wisconsin Dairy Expo, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue didn’t exactly please the crowd when he talked about the future of small dairy farms. We have that report. Can solar panels give a farmer economic certainty in these very uncertain times? We crunch the numbers. The chickens are coming home to roost, pardon the farm metaphor, for the USDA and its relocation of its scientific and research departments from Washington DC to the midwest. And there’s a lot of money and information that’s not getting to farmers and researchers as a result. All that, crop reports, the week ahead in weather, and more…on this week’s KSTE Farm Hour.