Friday, Dec. 25, 2009

Ag briefs: Dairy farmers will earn more, medfly quarantine expands

Dairy farmers will earn more

Signs that the economy is slowly improving include an increase in the prices California dairy farmers earn for milk. As demand rises for cheese, butter and other dairy products milk prices have moved upward.The state Department of Food and Agriculture sets on-farm milk prices and said they will rise by an average of 18 cents a gallon next month.

Medfly quarantine expands

Additional areas of Escondido have been added to a Mediterranean fruit fly quarantine. The California Department of Food and Agriculture added 12 square miles to the restricted zone after finding two wild male and one female fly in traps. There are small farms in the quarantine zone.