The crossover of this H5N1 virus from birds to dairy cattle has presented some extraordinary challenges to animal and human health regulators in Washington.

This week the arduous process of modernizing the Federal Milk Marketing Order system reached another milestone, with participating organizations submitting their final statements summing up their arguments for why USDA should adopt their proposals as part of a new federal order.

Within dairy and throughout agriculture, the refrain that will be often repeated is that this will be the year of protein.