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Efforts to encourage more students to major in food-animal veterinary care

Opportunities abound for food-animal vets

If you were graduating from veterinary college now with a plan to care for food animals, you'd find plenty of jobs awaiting you. The American Veterinary Medical Association reports that demand for food-animal specialists outstrips the supply. The University of California, Davis, is developing incentives to encourage more students to major in food-animal care. A bill in Congress would help schools expand and offer aid to students who specialize in food-animal care.

Hundreds of new meat products introduced

A burst of new products has hit supermarket meat sections. A company that monitors food trends says more than 400 new meat or poultry products have been introduced since the first of the year. That's on top of more than 700 new products launched last year. The new offerings include many ready-to-cook and all-natural products. That includes such items as pre-sliced, roasted chicken breast or similar beef or pork products.

Forecast shows rebound in prune harvest

It will be a recovery year for California prune production, but a forecast (issued Friday) says a rainy spring reduced the crop's potential. The government estimate predicts farmers will harvest about 145,000 tons of prunes, which will be marketed as dried plums. That's up sharply, 61 percent, from an unusually small crop the previous year. Central Valley orchards produce all the prunes grown in the United States.

Kiwifruit vines carry a good-sized crop

Kiwifruit farmers report a good crop is developing after the bloom. However, they say they don't anticipate another record crop like last year, when they harvested almost 67 million pounds of fruit. Farmers say kiwifruit vines may rest a bit after the record year, so they anticipate a more typical crop of about 42 million pounds. Growers also say fruit size may be more average this year, after an abundance of large-sized kiwifruit a year ago.

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