The Beef Quality Assurance program has been around for a while, but it's always evolving.  Jill Welke finds out from one of the best!  Dr. Sandy Stuttgen, Associate Professor and Ag Educator with UW-Madison Extension in Taylor County leads coordination of the states program.  She tells Welke that it's a serious responsibility, providing food for consumers.  Through the BQA program, beef producers can perform at the level that consumers and processors expect.

Milder weather today gives Wisconsinites a break.  Stu Muck says what's missing is rain.  Although there were storms that moved through the state, it brought with it very little rain.  Muck says there's not much on the horizon either.

Christmas in July may seem like excessive planning, but auction planning in July is not.  Ashley Huhn with the Steffes Group joins Pam Jahnke to talk about it.  He says July has routinely turned out to be their busiest booking month.  Huhn says that kind of advance planning allows his team to work ahead on everything from pictures to descriptions.  Paid for by Steffes Group.

The Wisconsin State FFA Officer team just returned from Washington, D.C. and the annual Leadership Conference.  Cheryl Zimmerman, state executive director of the WI FFA Association, says they had an accelerated course on advocacy before heading to "the hill" for conversations.

It's all about weather and tariffs in the marketplace this morning.  John Heinberg with Total Farm Marketing out of West Bend says heat and dry are the buzz words.  Crop quality ratings slipped a bit in some areas this week at a key time when some crops are at critical growth stages.  At the same time, the government has announced a 25% increase in tariffs against Brazilian soybeans/oil. That's caused the market to surge higher on domestic supplies.