#milk production cooperatives

[townpostin]

Deputy Commissioner Reviews Cooperative Schemes for East Singhbhum

Focus on Self-Reliance in Fisheries and Milk Production Through Cooperative Societies Meeting outlines plans for warehouse construction and expansion of cooperative initiatives. JAMSHEDPUR – Deputy Commissioner Ananya Mittal chaired a crucial review meeting of cooperative departmental schemes, emphasizing the district’s path to self-reliance in fisheries and milk production. "Our goal is to…

[autism-freaks]

I think it's a common misconception that domesticating animals is somewhat like enslaving them. It really is more of a symbiotic relationship. No wild animal would have willingly put up with early humans if they didn't get something out of it. Wolves wouldn't have stayed with us and become dogs if they weren't getting food and safety out of it. Many large herbivores that are now domesticated could and would have easily trampled their early human captors or broken their enclosures open if they didn't have a reason to stay. Sometimes individual animals still do if we don't give them what they need.

The animals that have stayed with us for thousands of years have evolved to cooperate with us better. Dogs have additional facial muscles around their eyes that wolves lack in order to mimic human facial expressions. Sheep grow their wool perpetually while their wild counterparts don't because a bigger fleece means they're more likely to be allowed to breed and be kept around. Domestic dairy cows produce much more milk than wild bovine species and domestic hens lay more eggs. Do you know how energy costly producing eggs or milk is for an animal? It's pretty intense! They wouldn't be able to do that if we hadn't given them the food and safety from predators and the elements to.

And we really need to show these animals respect and gratitude for what they give us by taking excellent care of them. They gave up a lot to be with us, often including the means to take care of themselves in the wild. That's a huge reason why I'm not against using animal products, but I hate factory farming. They are still living, breathing creatures with needs and feelings. They deserve a comfortable life and, when the time comes, a humane death.

[farmerstrend]

Kenya’s Dairy Boom: What the 13.1% Increase in Milk Processor Purchases Means for Farmers

The quantity of milk purchased by processors from dairy farmers in Kenya has increased by 13.1 per cent in the nine months to September 2024, signalling a rise in milk production and a growing demand from consumers. According to data from the Kenya Dairy Board (KDB), processors bought 661.87 million litres of milk from farmers during this period, up from 585.08 million litres in the same months…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Petard (Part I)

Few things are more wrong than "if you're not paying for the product, you're the product." Companies sell you out when they can, which is why John Deere tractor milks farmers for needless repair callouts and why your iPhone spies on you to provide data to Apple's surveillance advertising service:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

When a vendor abuses you, that's not punishment for you being a cheapskate and wanting to use services for free. Vendors who screw you over do so because they know they can get away with it, because you are locked in and can't shop elsewhere. The ultimate manifestation of this is, of course, prison-tech. A duopoly of private equity-backed prison-tech profiteers have convinced prisons and jails across America to get rid of calls, in-person visits, mail, parcels, libraries, and continuing ed, and replace them all with tablets that charge prisoners vastly more than people in the free world pay to access media and connect with the outside. Those prisoners are absolutely paying for the product – indeed, with the national average prison wage set at $0.53/hour, they're paying far more than anyone outside pays – and they are still the product.

Capitalists, after all, hate capitalism. For all the romantic odes to the "invisible hand" and all the bafflegab about "efficient market hypothesis," the actual goal of businesses is to make you an offer you literally can't refuse. Capitalists want monopolies, they want captive audiences. "Competition," as Peter Thiel famously wrote, "is for losers."

Few lock-in arrangements are harder to escape than the landlord-tenant relationship. Moving home is expensive, time-consuming, and can rip you away from your job, your kid's school, and your community. Landlords know it, which is why they conspire to rig rents through illegal price-fixing apps like Realpage:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/27/ai-conspiracies/#epistemological-collapse

And why they fill your home with Internet of Shit appliances that pick your pockets by requiring special, expensive consumables, and why they tack so many junk fees onto your monthly rent:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/01/housing-is-a-human-right/

Tenants aren't quite as locked in as prisoners, but corporations correctly understand that you can really fuck with a tenant over a long timescale without losing their business, and so they do.

Ironically, monopolists love each other. I guess if you loathe competition, a certain kind of cooperation comes naturally. That's why so many landlords have forged unholy alliances with internet service providers, who – famously – offer Americans the slowest speeds at the highest prices in the rich world, trail the world in infrastructure investment, and reap profits that put their global cousins in the shade.

Many's the apartment building that comes with a monopoly ISP that has a deal with your landlord. Landlords and ISPs call this "bulk billing" and swear that it reduces the cost of internet service for everyone. In reality, tenants who live under these arrangements have produced a deep, unassailable record proving that they pay more for worse broadband than the people next door who get to choose their ISPs. What's more, ISPs who offer "bulk billing" openly offer kickbacks to landlords who choose them over their rivals – in other words, even if you're paying for the product (your fucking home), you are still the product, sold to an evil telco.

Under Biden, the FCC banned the practice of ISPs paying kickbacks to landlords, over squeals and howls of protests from industry bodies like the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), National Apartment Association (NAA), and Real Estate Technology and Transformation Center (RETTC). These landlord groups insisted – despite all the evidence to the contrary – that when your landlord gets to choose your ISP, they do so with your best interests at heart, getting you a stellar deal you couldn't get for yourself.

This week, Trump's FCC chair Brendan Carr – who voted for the ban on kickbacks ��� rescinded the rule, claiming that he was doing so to protect tenants. This is obvious bullshit, as is evidenced by the confetti-throwing announcements froom the NMHC, NAA and RETTC:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/fcc-chair-nixes-plan-to-boost-broadband-competition-in-apartment-buildings/

Reading Jon Brodkin's Ars Technica coverage of Carr's betrayal of millions of Americans, I was reminded of a short story I published in 2014: "Petard: A Tale of Just Desserts," which I wrote for Bruce Sterling's "12 Tomorrows" anthology from MIT Tech Review. It's a fun little sf story about this same bullshit, dedicated to the memory of Aaron Swartz:

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262535595/twelve-tomorrows-2014/

Realizing that there were people who were sounding the alarm about this more than a decade ago was a forceful reminder that Trumpism isn't exactly new. The idea that government should serve up the American people as an all-you-can-eat buffet for corporations that use tech to supercharge their predatory conduct has been with us for a hell of a long time. I've written a hell of a lot of science fiction about this, and sometimes this leads people to credit me with predictive powers. But if I predicted anything with my story "Radicalized," in which furious, grieving men murder the health industry execs who denied their loved ones coverage, I predicted the present, not the future:

https://prospect.org/culture/books/2024-12-09-radicalized-cory-doctorow-story-health-care/

Likewise in my story "Unauthorized Bread," which "predicted" that landlords would use "smart" appliances to steal from their poorest, most vulnerable tenants:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

It's not much of a "prediction" to simply write a story in which "Internet of Things" companies' sales literature is treated as a straightforward idea and writing about how it will all work.

The same goes for "Petard." The most "predictive" part of that story is the part where I take the human rights implications of internet connections seriously. Back then (and even today), there were and are plenty of Very Serious People who want you to know that internet service is a frivolity, a luxury, a distraction:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell

They deride the idea that broadband is a human right, even after the pandemic's lesson that you depend on your internet connection for social connections, civic life, political engagement, education, health and employment:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/30/medtronic-stole-your-ventilator/#fiber-now

Writing sf about this stuff isn't predictive, but I like to think that it constitutes an effective rebuttal to the people who say that taking digital rights seriously is itself unserious. Given that, I got to thinking about "Petard," and how much I liked that little story from 2014.

So I've decided to serialize it, in four parts, starting today. If you're impatient to get the whole story, you can listen to my podcast of it, which I started in 2014, then stopped podcasting for four years (!) before finishing in 2018:

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_278

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_292

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_293

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_294_-_Petard_04

#

It's not that I wanted to make the elf cry. I'm not proud of the fact. But he was an elf for chrissakes. What was he doing manning — elfing — the customer service desk at the Termite Mound? The Termite Mound was a tough assignment — given MIT's legendary residency snafus, it was a sure thing that someone like me would be along every day to ruin his day.

"Come on," I said, "cut it out. Look, it's nothing personal."

He continued to weep, face buried dramatically in his long-fingered hands, pointed ears protruding from his fine, downy hair as it flopped over his ivory-pale forehead. Elves.

I could have backed down, gone back to my dorm and just forgiven the unforgivably stupid censorwall there, used my personal node for research or stuck to working in the lab. But I had paid for the full feed. I needed the full feed. I deserved the full feed. I was 18. I was a grownup, and the infantalizing, lurking censorwall offended my intellect and my emotions. I mean, seriously, fuck that noise.

"Would you stop?" I said. "Goddamnit, do your job."

The elf looked up from his wet hands and wiped his nose on his mottled raw suede sleeve. "I don't have to take this," he said. He pointed to a sign: "MIT RESIDENCY LLC OPERATES A ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICY TOWARD EMPLOYEE ABUSE. YOU CAN BE FINED UP TO $2000 AND/OR IMPRISONED FOR SIX MONTHS FOR ASSAULTING A CAMPUS RESIDENCE WORKER."

"I'm not abusing you," I said. "I'm just making my point. Forcefully."

He glared at me from behind a curtain of dandelion-fluff hair. "Abuse includes verbal abuse, raised voices, aggressive language and tone –"

I tuned him out. This was the part where I was supposed to say, "I know this isn't your fault, but –" and launch into a monologue explaining how his employer had totally hosed me by not delivering what they'd promised, and had further hosed him by putting him in a situation where he was the only one I could talk to about it, and he couldn't do anything about it. This little pantomime was a fixture of life in the world, the shrugs-all-round nostrum that we were supposed to substitute for anything getting better ever.

Like I said, though, fuck that noise. What is the point of being smart, 18 years old and unemployed if you aren't willing to do something about this kind of thing. Hell, the only reason I'd been let into MIT in the first place was that I was constitutionally incapable of playing out that little scene.

The elf had run down and was expecting me to do my bit. Instead, I said, "I bet you're in the Termite Mound, too, right?"

He got a kind of confused look. "That's PII," he said. "This office doesn't give out personally identifying information. It's in the privacy policy –" He tapped another sign posted by his service counter, one with much smaller type. I ignored it.

"I don't want someone else's PII. I want yours. Do you live in the residence? You must, right? Get a staff discount on your housing for working here, I bet." Elves were always cash-strapped. Surgery's not cheap, even if you're prepared to go to Cuba for it. I mean, you could get your elf-pals to try to do your ears for you, but only if you didn't care about getting a superbug or ending up with gnarly stumps sticking out of the side of your head. And forget getting a Nordic treatment without adult supervision, I mean, toot, toot, all aboard the cancer express. You had to be pretty insanely desperate to go elf without the help of a pro.

He looked stubborn. I mean, elf-stubborn, which is a kind of chibi version of stubborn that's hard to take seriously. I mean, seriously. "Look, of course you live in the Termite Mound. Whatever. The point is, we're all screwed by this stuff. You, me, them –" I gestured at the room full of people. They all been allocated a queue-position on entry to the waiting room and were killing time until they got their chance to come up to the Window of Eternal Disappointment in order to play out I Know This Isn't Your Fault But… before returning to their regularly scheduled duties as a meaningless grain of sand being ground down by the unimaginably gigantic machinery of MIT Residency LLC.

"Let's do something about it, all right? Right here, right now."

He gave me a look of elven haughtiness that he'd almost certainly practiced in the mirror. I waited for him to say something. He waited for me to wilt. Neither of us budged.

"I'm not kidding. The censorwall has a precisely calibrated dose of fail. It works just enough that it's worth using most of the time, and the amount of hassle and suck and fail you have to put up with when it gets in the way is still less than the pain you'd have to endure if you devoted your life to making it suck less. The economically rational course of action is to suck it up.

"What I propose is that we change the economics of this bullshit. If you're the Termite Mound's corporate masters, you get this much benefit out of the shitty censorwall; but we, the residents of the Termite Mound, pay a thousand times that in aggregate." I mimed the concentrated interests of the craven fools who'd installed the censorwall, making my hands into a fist-wrapped-in-a-fist, then exploding them like a hoberman-sphere to show our diffuse mutual interests, expanding to dwarf the censorware like Jupiter next to Io. "So here's what I propose: let's mound up all this diffuse interest, mobilize it, and aim it straight at the goons who put you in a job. You sit there all day and suffer through our abuse because all you're allowed to do is point at your stupid sign."

"How?" he said. I knew I had him.

#

Kickstarter? Hacker, please. Getting strangers to combine their finances so you can chase some entrepreneurial fantasy of changing the world by selling people stuff is an idea that was dead on arrival. If your little kickstarted business is successful enough to compete with the big, dumb titans, you'll end up being bought out or forced out or sold out, turning you into something indistinguishable from the incumbent businesses you set out to destroy. The problem isn't that the world has the wrong kind of sellers — it's that it has the wrong kind of buyers. Powerless, diffused, atomized, puny and insubstantial.

Turn buyers into sellers and they just end up getting sucked into the logic of fail: it's unreasonable to squander honest profits on making people happier than they need to be in order to get them to open their wallets. But once you get all the buyers together in a mass with a unified position, the sellers don't have any choice. Businesses will never spend a penny more than it takes to make a sale, so you have to change how many pennies it takes to complete the sale.

Back when I was fourteen, it took me ten days to hack together my first Fight the Power site. On the last day of the fall term, Ashcroft High announced that catering was being turned over to Atos Catering. Atos had won the contract to run the caf at my middle school in my last year there, every one of us lost five kilos by graduation. The French are supposed to be good at cooking, but the slop Atos served wasn't even food. I'm pretty sure that after the first week they just switched to filling the steamer trays with latex replicas of grey, inedible glorp. Seeing as how no one was eating it, there was no reason to cook up a fresh batch every day.

The announcement came at the end of the last Friday before Christmas break, chiming across all our personal drops with a combined bong that arrived an instant before the bell rang. The collective groan was loud enough to drown out the closing bell. It didn't stop, either, but grew in volume as we filtered into the hall and out of the building into the icy teeth of Chicago's first big freeze of the season.

Junior high students aren't allowed off campus at lunchtime, but high school students — even freshmen — can go where they please so long as they're back by the third period bell. That's where Fight the Power came in.

WE THE UNDERSIGNED PLEDGE

TO BOYCOTT THE ASHCROFT HIGH CAFETERIA WHILE ATOS HAS THE CONTRACT TO SUPPLY IT

TO BUY AT LEAST FOUR LUNCHES EVERY WEEK FROM THE FOLLOWING FOOD TRUCKS [CHECK AT LEAST ONE]:

This was tricky. It's not like there were a lot of food trucks driving out of the loop to hit Joliet for the lunch rush. But I wrote a crawler that went through the review sites, found businesses with more than one food truck, munged the menus and set out the intersection as an eye-pleasing infographic showing the appetizing potential of getting your chow outside of the world of the corrupt no-bid edu-corporate complex.

By New Year's Day, 98 percent of the student body had signed up. By January third, I had all four of the food-trucks I'd listed lined up to show up on Monday morning.

Turns out, Ashcroft High and Atos had a funny kind of deal. Ashcroft High guaranteed a minimum level of revenue to Atos, and Atos guaranteed a maximum level to Ashcroft High. So, in theory, if a hundred percent of the student body bought a cafeteria lunch, about twenty percent of that money would be kicked back to Ashcroft High. They later claimed that this was all earmarked to subsidize the lunches of poor kids, but no one could ever point to anything in writing where they'd committed to this, as our Freedom of Information Act requests eventually proved.

In return for the kickback, the school had promised to ensure that Atos could always turn a profit. If not enough of us ate in the caf, the school would have to give Atos the money it would have made if we had. In other words: our choice to eat a good lunch wasn't just costing the school its expected share of Atos's profits — it was having to dig money out of its budget to make up for our commitment to culinary excellence.

They tried everything. Got the street in front of the school designated a no-food-trucks zone (we petitioned the City of Joliet to permit parking on the next street over). Shortened the lunch-break (we set up a Web-based pre-order service that let us pick and pre-pay for our food). Banned freshmen from leaving school property (we were saved by the PTA). Suspended me for violating the school's social media policy (the ACLU wrote them a blood-curdling nastygram, and raised nearly $30,000 in donations of $3 or less from students around the world once word got out).

Atos wouldn't let them re-negotiate the contract, either. If Ashcroft High wanted out, it would have to buy it's way out. That's when I convinced the vice-principal to let me work with the AP Computer Science class to build out a flexible, open version of Fight the Power that anyone could install and run for their own student bodies, providing documentation and support. That was just before Spring Break. By May 1, there were 87 schools whose students used Ftp to organize Atos alternative food-trucks for their own cafeterias.

Suddenly, this was news. Not just local news, either. Global. Atos had to post an earnings warning in their quarterly report. Suddenly, we had Bloomberg and Al Jazeera Business camera crews buttonholing Ashcroft High kids on their way to the lunch-trucks. Whenever they grabbed me, I would give them this little canned speech about how Atos couldn't supply decent food and were taking money out of our educational budgets rather than facing the fact that the children they were supposed to be feeding hated their slop so much that they staged a mass walkout. It played well with kids in other schools, and very badly with Atos's shareholders. But I'll give this to Atos: I couldn't have asked for a better Evil Empire to play Jedi against. They threatened to sue me — for defamation! — which made the whole thing news again. Stupidly, they sued me in Illinois, which has a great anti-SLAPP law, and was a massive technical blunder. The company's US headquarters were in Clearwater, Florida, and Florida is a trainwreck in every possible sense, including its SLAPP laws. If they'd sued me in their home turf, I'd have gone bankrupt before I could win.

They lost. The ACLU collected $102,000 in fees from them. The story of the victory was above the fold on Le Monde's site for a week. Turns out that French people loathe Atos even more than the rest of us, because they've had longer to sharpen their hate.

Long story slightly short: we won. Atos "voluntarily" released our school from its contract. And Fight the Power went mental. I spent that summer vacation reviewing Github commits on Ftp, as more and more people discovered that they could make use of a platform that made fighting back stupid simple. The big stupid companies were whales and we were their krill, and all it took was some glue to glom us all together into boulders of indigestible matter that could choke them to death.

I dropped out of Ashcroft High in the middle of the 11th grade and did the rest of my time with homeschooling shovelware that taught me exactly what I needed to pass the GED and not one tiny thing more. I didn't give a shit. I was working full time on Ftp, craiglisting rides to to hacker unconferences where I couchsurfed and spoke, giving my poor parental units eight kinds of horror. It would've been simpler if I'd taken donations for Ftp, because Mom and Dad quickly came to understand that their role as banker in our little family ARG gave them the power to yank me home any time I moved out of their comfort zone. But there was the balance of terror there, because they totally knew that if I had accepted donations for the project, I'd have been financially independent in a heartbeat.

Plus, you know, they were proud of me. Ftp makes a difference. It's not a household name or anything, but more than a million people have signed up for Ftp campaigns since I started it, and our success rate is hovering around 25 percent. That means that I'd changed a quarter-million lives for the better (at least) before I turned 18. Mom and Dad, they loved that (which is not to say that they didn't need the occasional reminder of it). And shit, it got me a scholarship at MIT. So there's that.

#

Network filters are universally loathed. Duh. No one's ever written a regular expression that can distinguish art from porn and no one ever will. No one's ever assembled an army of prudes large enough to hand-sort the Internet into "good" and "bad" buckets. No one ever will. The Web's got 100-odd billion pages on it; if you have a failure rate of one tenth of one percent, you'll overblock (or underblock) (or both) 100,000,000 pages. That's several Library of Congress's worth of pointless censorship — or all the porn ever made, times ten, missed though underfiltering. You'd be an idiot to even try.

Idiot like a fox! If you don't care about filtering out "the bad stuff" (whatever that is), censorware is a great business to be in. The point of most network filters is the "security syllogism":

SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.

I HAVE DONE SOMETHING.

SOMETHING HAS BEEN DONE.

VICTORY!

Hand-wringing parents don't want their precious offspring looking at weiners and hoo-hahs when they're supposed to be amassing student debt, so they demand that the Termite Mound fix the problem by Doing Something. The Termite Mound dispenses cash to some censorware creeps in a carefully titrated dose that is exactly sufficient to demonstrate Something Has Been Doneness to a notional weiner-enraged parent. Since all the other dorms, schools, offices, libraries, airports, bus depots, train stations, cafes, hotels, bars, and theme parks in the world are doing exactly the same thing, each one can declare itself to be in possession of Best Practices when there is an unwanted hoo-hah eruption, and culpability diffuses to a level that is safe for corporate governance and profitability. #MissionAccomplished.

And so the whole world suffers under this pestilence. Millions of times every day — right at this moment — people are swearing at their computers: What. The. Fuck. Censorware's indifference to those minute moments of suffering is only possible because they've never been balled up into a vast screaming meteor of rage.

#

"Hey there, hi! Look, I'm here because I need unfiltered Internet access to get through my degree. So do you all, right? But the Termite Mound isn't going to turn it off because that would be like saying 'Here kids, have a look at this porn,' which they can't afford to say, even though, seriously, who gives a shit, right?"

I had them at 'porn," but now I had to keep them.

"Look at your tenancy agreement: you're paying twenty seven bucks a month for your network access at the Termite Mound. Twenty seven bucks — each! I'll find us an ISP that can give all of us hot and cold running genitals and all the unsavory religious extremism, online gaming, and suicide instructions we can eat. Either I'm going to make the Termite Mound give us the Internet we deserve, or we'll cost it one of its biggest cash-cows and humiliate it on the world stage.

"I don't want your money. All I want is for you to promise me that if I can get us Internet from someone who isn't a censoring sack of shit, that you'll come with me. I'm going to sign up every poor bastard in the Termite Mound, take that promise to someone who isn't afraid to work hard to earn a dollar, and punish the Termite Mound for treating us like this. And then, I'm going to make a loud noise about what we've done, and spread the word to every other residence in Cambridge, then Boston, then across America. I'm going to spread out to airports, hotels, train stations, buses, taxis — any place where they make it their business to decide what data we're allowed to see."

I whirled around to face the elf, who leapt back, long fingers flying to his face in an elaborate mime of startlement. "Are you with me, pal?"

He nodded slightly.

"Come on," I said. "Let 'em hear you."

He raised one arm over his head, bits of rabbit fur and uncured hides dangling from his skinny wrist. I felt for him. I think we all did. Elves.

He was a convincer, though. By the time I left the room, I already had 29 signups.

#

All evil in the world is the result of an imbalance between the people who benefit from shenanigans and the people who get screwed by shenanigans. De-shenaniganifying the world is the answer to pollution and poverty and bad schools and the war on some drugs and a million other horribles. To solve all the world's problems, I need kick-ass raw feeds and a steady supply of doofus thugs from central casting to make idiots of. I know where I can find plenty of the latter, and I'm damn sure going to get the former. Watch me.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/30/landlord-telco-industrial-complex/#captive-market

[mpreglover225]

[Exhibit Document from the Birth & Reproductive History Museum, Washington, D.C.: Excerpt from Dr. H. Farnsworth’s Private Journal, Dated August 9, 1944]

Patient Name: Mr. Thomas Cooper Spouse: Captain Leonard Cooper, United States Navy Date of Delivery: August 8, 1944 Labor Duration: Approximately 48 hours Birth Outcome: Healthy male infant, 10 pounds, unmedicated natural delivery Immediate Postpartum Notes: Initiation of moobfeeding

Notes on Delivery and Postpartum (By Dr. H. Farnsworth)

The final phase of Mr. Cooper’s pregnancy culminated in an intensive two-day labor at our clinic. Throughout the protracted labor, he declined pharmacologic pain relief, citing his strong personal conviction in a fully natural birthing process. Progress was slow yet consistent: cervical dilation advanced steadily, and fetal heart tones remained robust, even as Mr. Cooper’s contractions intensified in both frequency and duration.

Captain Leonard Cooper arrived in the latter stage of labor, having been granted emergency leave from his naval command. His presence appeared to buoy Mr. Cooper’s morale significantly. Despite extreme fatigue, Mr. Cooper exhibited unwavering fortitude when bearing down, spurred by his husband’s encouragement and the attentive aid of the nursing staff.

The newborn presented with a notably large frame (10 pounds) but in optimal position, allowing for a safe, albeit strenuous, delivery. Mr. Cooper’s pushing phase was lengthy, compounded by the infant’s size; however, he managed to deliver without any medical interventions beyond standard warm compresses for perineal support. Following an initial cry and brief examination, the infant was declared healthy, with commendable Apgar indicators.

Postpartum Condition and Moobfeeding Initiation

Upon delivery, Mr. Cooper—though visibly exhausted—expressed relief and elation, particularly once the infant was placed upon his chest. Per his request, we facilitated immediate skin-to-skin contact. Within the hour, Mr. Cooper initiated moobfeeding, which the infant latched onto effectively after a brief period of encouragement and guidance. This early feeding proved beneficial in promoting uterine contraction and bonding.

Mr. Cooper’s vital signs stabilized promptly post-birth, despite the prolonged labor. He displayed mild perineal swelling, yet no significant lacerations were identified. During routine observation overnight, Mr. Cooper required only cold compresses and rest to manage soreness. He continued moobfeeding on demand, approximately every two to three hours, which helped stimulate milk production and offered the infant consistent nourishment.

Captain Cooper remained at his husband’s bedside throughout the night, assisting with positioning the infant for moobfeeding and ensuring Mr. Cooper remained adequately hydrated. The close involvement of Captain Cooper evidently fostered a calm environment, allowing Mr. Cooper some respite between feedings. By morning, both father and child were reported to be resting comfortably, with moobfeeding well established and the infant producing satisfactory wet diapers.

Additional Observations

Mr. Cooper exemplified notable resolve under challenging circumstances, laboring unmedicated for a full 48-hour period. The infant’s weight (10 pounds) affirms our earlier assessments of a robust gestational course. It is our recommendation that Mr. Cooper maintain a nutrient-rich diet to support ongoing moobfeeding, and that he practice gentle perineal care to expedite full recovery.

The successful outcome of this birth, paired with the renewed presence of Captain Cooper after weeks at sea, underscores the profound impact of family unity on the birthing process. In an era shaped by wartime separation, the Coopers’ experience stands as a testament to resilience, partnership, and the efficacy of consistent prenatal care.

Signed, Dr. H. Farnsworth Obstetric & Reproductive Medicine Washington, D.C.

[hornyjailbreaking]

ꕤ⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘ꕤ

Minors do not interact! This post is NSFW and dd:dne!

ꕤ⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘ꕤ

This is the follow-up to this drabble that I've written on June 23rd 2024. It's around 1,2k words and is dedicated to that one pregnancy kink Kylar lover who really wanted to read more about the pregnancy itself (there's still some sex tho), and to every other Kylarfucker who's into (step)cest and breeding! I love y'all, keep being nasty <3

Written in second person POV (you/your)

WARNINGS: Fem! Reader x Kylar, stepbrother!Kylar, older brother!Kylar, stepcest/pseudoincest, fucked-up family dynamics, breeding, (slightly inaccurate) pregnancy, giving birth (mentioned in passing), nipple play, lactation, proud dad Kylar (still a pathetic pervert)

Getting knocked up by your big brother wasn't what you imagined would happen when you got adopted into a seemingly nice family. But one thing led to another, and now you're sat in Kylar's lap while he's sucking on one of your engorged tits. He's latched on so tightly that you actually wince from time to time, pulling on his hair when he bites down on your poor nipple too hard in his excitement. He seems to enjoy the hair pulling a bit too much.

You'd started lactating recently, and your big brother has been absolutely relentless about "encouraging milk production for the baby" as he put it. You're fairly certain he's bullshitting and just wants you to breastfeed him daily until your planned delivery date. He may be greedy, but he's not entirely unreasonable. He knows your child will need the milk soon enough... He just isn't ready to give it up yet. You'd heard him whining to your mother about how much he hopes that your kid will leave some milk for him, too. Your darling mother helpfully told Kylar that it's possible to induce lactation at any point if it has already happened before, so he'll be able to drink your milk even once you stop giving birth to his children. To say he was elated is an understatement.

As much as you're willing to indulge your pervert of a brother, your pregnant body isn't quite willing to cooperate. You've been, for the most part, spared the constant throwing up. That doesn't mean you don't get back pains and your feet don't swell so much you can't put on your shoes. Kylar doesn't see that last one as a bad thing since it means you are mostly confined to the house where he can watch over you and dote on his pretty little sister. But the back pains are definitely not something you can ignore. So you whine and complain until he finally pops your nipple out of his mouth with the expression of a kicked puppy and helps you lie down.

Seeing how sad he is about not being able to keep you in his lap, you decide to humor him and ask for various adjustments to make you more comfortable. You suspect he gets off on seeing you so helpless and being the one to take care of you while you're carrying his child. He'd popped more than one boner just from watching you waddle into the kitchen for a snack to satisfy your cravings. Of course, being the good sister that you are, you'd taken care of his erection every single time. Pregnant or not, he still needs your body more than he needs food and water.

Well, being pampered doesn't feel so bad. And your parents are supportive too! Your mother made sure that the nursery was absolutely perfect before you even entered your second trimester, and your father ended up building more than just the crib for it. He became genuinely interested in woodworking! Just recently, he'd built you a rocking chair that will most certainly come in handy when the baby is finally born. Your entire family honestly can't wait to actually meet your child. It was agreed that you wouldn't ask about the gender during your check-ups and consultations. There's some charm in only finding out whether it's a boy or a girl on the day you give birth, according to Kylar and your parents. The nursery is gender-neutral anyway since you most certainly will not stop at one child, and the baby name list your mother had compiled is so thorough you'd enter menopause before you actually used up every name on it.

You're blessed with a relatively short labor and easy delivery that happens right around your due date. Kylar weeps the entire time. So loud and hard, in fact, that the nurses give him some kind of tranquilizer to shut him up and let the delivery happen without his wails in the background. He still sobs when he's told he is now a father of a healthy baby girl, even with the medication still calming him. You're used to your big brother falling to his knees in front of you. He does that all the time, really. But that teary-eyed, revent expression on his face is not one you're used to. He kisses your forehead and gently takes your daughter into his arms, then immediately crumbles into another fit of crying. Frankly, he cries a lot during the first week. He's just so happy! He's a dad now! Seeing you nurse his child somehow doesn't make him jealous and greedy for your affection, it makes him want to crawl on the ground at your feet and worship you like a goddess. You'd actually brought a new life into this world, and he played a role in it! He's the proudest you've ever seen him.

And also the horniest. He starts with eating your pussy daily while you heal, but as soon as you're finished, he's fucking you raw. Your mom and dad are elated to be grandparents and happily take care of your daughter to give you two a break. Kylar uses the free time you two get to fuck his seed into you again and again. It's not uncommon for you to walk around with cum dripping down your thighs because he is absolutely relentless. Your tits hurt and leak because of how much milk you're producing which leads to him often making you nurse him while he stuffs you full of his cock. He fucks you everywhere and anywhere he can get away with, whining into your ear about how much he wants to get you pregnant again. Maybe you'll give him a son this time. Or another daughter. He'd be happy with either. Just get pregnant for him again, please. When he isn't busy pumping your womb full of his cum, he's talking to your parents about how much he loves you and your daughter, and how much wants to have a big family with you. Your parents offhandedly mention the possibility of twins or triplets one evening and it results in an absolute marathon where your big brother begs you to get pregnant while he fucks both you and himself into overstimulation.

You take a pregnancy test less than two months after you've given birth. Positive. Kylar is on his knees again, crying and hugging you while kissing your belly. Your parents are already planning a trip for more baby clothes. You distantly wonder just how many times you'll get knocked up by your big brother in the coming years. But the sheer happiness of your family makes you abandon the thought and embrace the elated glow you feel. Didn't you read somewhere that children who grow up with siblings are often more well-adjusted socially? Maybe you should give your baby girl a few, just to be sure... The more the merrier, no?

[yzegem]

A couple of witch hunters travelling from town to town.

Two domesticated creatures of the setting.

The yakors are the most popular mount of this world, since horses don't exist. (Some previous art is outdated). Yakors are camelids that have convergently evolved with earth's horses and have adaptations such as stronger and shorter legs and neck, bigger stronger toenails in their feet (wich resemble hooves) and a more social attitude. Even thought they are more obedient than our dromedaries, they are still most similar to them regarding behaviour and share many atributes such as some pointy teeth, reproductive behaviour and just being a bit too independent sometimes with camels. They are the backbone of many societies and are bred for many purposes such as:

Draft animals: Stronger bodies, more obedient, and bigger feet.

Fast riders: Smaller more slender bodies with longer legs and stronger character.

Milk: smaller and more milk production and more frequent pregnancies.

Whool: harier and smaller (pretty much a llama)

Overall, the fastest yakors are not as fast as the fastest horses but both species are very comparable in speed. Yakors have in general more stamina than horses and are better on uneven terrain, so they can cover more land in a day and carry more weight.

The ogrehounds are a kind of small and fast entelodont that shares many traits with our warthogs, such as their unpleasant, earning them the name of ogrehounds.

In nature, ogrehounds sometimes live alongside wolfpacks and cooperate with them in hunting, since they have a very strong biteforce, ideal for the large and sturdy animals of the setting. Because of this, it is thought that it was wolves that first domesticated ogrehounds and, when humans domesticated wolves, the hounds came with them.

Ogrehounds are used for many of the same uses as dogs, except herding. They are ideal as guard dogs or wardogs and in the image above the couple owns one for security in the roads and for tracking witches in the forest. For hunting, its ideal to for a pack of both dogs and ogrehounds that have been raised together, as ogrehounds are very hostile to unknown dog packs.

Some messier sketches of these creatures:

[mariacallous]

Milton Orr looked across the rolling hills in northeast Tennessee. “I remember when we had over 1,000 dairy farms in this county. Now we have less than 40,” Orr, an agriculture adviser for Greene County, Tennessee, told me with a tinge of sadness.

That was six years ago. Today, only 14 dairy farms remain in Greene County, and there are only 125 dairy farms in all of Tennessee. Across the country, the dairy industry is seeing the same trend: In 1970, more than 648,000 US dairy farms milked cattle. By 2022, only 24,470 dairy farms were in operation.

While the number of dairy farms has fallen, the average herd size—the number of cows per farm—has been rising. Today, more than 60 percent of all milk production occurs on farms with more than 2,500 cows.

This massive consolidation in dairy farming has an impact on rural communities. It also makes it more difficult for consumers to know where their food comes from and how it’s produced.

As a dairy specialist at the University of Tennessee, I’m constantly asked: Why are dairies going out of business? Well, like our friends’ Facebook relationship status, it’s complicated.

The Problem with Pricing

The biggest complication is how dairy farmers are paid for the products they produce.

In 1937, the Federal Milk Marketing Orders, or FMMO, were established under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act. The purpose of these orders was to set a monthly, uniform minimum price for milk based on its end use and to ensure that farmers were paid accurately and in a timely manner.

Farmers were paid based on how the milk they harvested was used, and that’s still how it works today.

Does it become bottled milk? That’s Class 1 price. Yogurt? Class 2 price. Cheddar cheese? Class 3 price. Butter or powdered dry milk? Class 4. Traditionally, Class 1 receives the highest price.

There are 11 FMMOs that divide up the country. The Florida, Southeast, and Appalachian FMMOs focus heavily on Class 1, or bottled, milk. The other FMMOs, such as Upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest, have more manufactured products such as cheese and butter.

For the past several decades, farmers have generally received the minimum price. Improvements in milk quality, milk production, transportation, refrigeration, and processing all led to greater quantities of milk, greater shelf life, and greater access to products across the US. Growing supply reduced competition among processing plants and reduced overall prices.

Along with these improvements in production came increased costs of production, such as cattle feed, farm labor, veterinary care, fuel, and equipment costs.

Researchers at the University of Tennessee in 2022 compared the price received for milk across regions against the primary costs of production: feed and labor. The results show why farms are struggling.

From 2005 to 2020, milk sales income per 100 pounds of milk produced ranged from $11.54 to $29.80, with an average price of $18.57. For that same period, the total costs to produce 100 pounds of milk ranged from $11.27 to $43.88, with an average cost of $25.80.

On average, that meant a single cow that produced 24,000 pounds of milk brought in about $4,457. Yet, it cost $6,192 to produce that milk, meaning a loss for the dairy farmer.

More efficient farms are able to reduce their costs of production by improving cow health, reproductive performance, and feed-to-milk conversion ratios. Larger farms or groups of farmers—cooperatives such as Dairy Farmers of America—may also be able to take advantage of forward contracting on grain and future milk prices. Investments in precision technologies such as robotic milking systems, rotary parlors, and wearable health and reproductive technologies can help reduce labor costs across farms.

Regardless of size, surviving in the dairy industry takes passion, dedication, and careful business management.

Some regions have had greater losses than others, which largely ties back to how farmers are paid, meaning the classes of milk, and the rising costs of production in their area. There are some insurance and hedging programs that can help farmers offset high costs of production or unexpected drops in price. If farmers take advantage of them, data shows they can functions as a safety net, but they don’t fix the underlying problem of costs exceeding income.

Passing the Torch to Future Farmers

Why do some dairy farmers still persist, despite low milk prices and high costs of production?

For many farmers, the answer is because it is a family business and a part of their heritage. Ninety-seven percent of US dairy farms are family owned and operated.

Some have grown large to survive. For many others, transitioning to the next generation is a major hurdle.

The average age of all farmers in the 2022 Census of Agriculture was 58.1. Only 9 percent were considered “young farmers,” age 34 or younger. These trends are also reflected in the dairy world. Yet, only 53 percent of all producers said they were actively engaged in estate or succession planning, meaning they had at least identified a successor.

How to Help Family Dairy Farms Thrive

In theory, buying more dairy would drive up the market value of those products and influence the price producers receive for their milk. Society has actually done that. Dairy consumption has never been higher. But the way people consume dairy has changed.

Americans eat a lot, and I mean a lot, of cheese. We also consume a good amount of ice cream, yogurt, and butter, but not as much milk as we used to.

Does this mean the US should change the way milk is priced? Maybe.

The FMMO is currently undergoing reform, which may help stem the tide of dairy farmers exiting. The reform focuses on being more reflective of modern cows’ ability to produce greater fat and protein amounts; updating the cost support processors receive for cheese, butter, nonfat dry milk, and dried whey; and updating the way Class 1 is valued, among other changes. In theory, these changes would put milk pricing in line with the cost of production across the country.

The US Department of Agriculture is also providing support for four Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives to help dairy farmers find ways to keep their operations going for future generations through grants, research support, and technical assistance.

Another way to boost local dairies is to buy directly from a farmer. Value-added or farmstead dairy operations that make and sell milk and products such as cheese straight to customers have been growing. These operations come with financial risks for the farmer, however. Being responsible for milking, processing, and marketing your milk takes the already big job of milk production and adds two more jobs on top of it. And customers have to be financially able to pay a higher price for the product and be willing to travel to get it.

[darkmaga-returns]

Denmark is willing to destroy its agriculture sector in the name of climate change. Adhering tightly to Agenda 2030 and the Paris Accord, the nation plans to reduce 70% of all emissions by 2030 before becoming climate neutral in 2050. The latest initiative intends to revert 10% to 15% of the country’s farmlands back to nature.

The government already ensured that meat production would decrease by taxing cattle, with a 672 krone ($145) tax per cow. The government has paid for scientists to back these claims and falsified studies that state that gardening or owning livestock of any kind threatens the existence of planet Earth. Like COVID, we are blindly forced to trust “the science” when it is clear propaganda.  The dairy cow population is down about 546,800, declining 1.74% from 2022 to 2023, and the nation hosts 2.5% of all dairy cows in the European Union. About 3.6% of all milk consumed in the EU comes from Denmark. Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said this tax will increase every year, and the tax will rise to 1680 krone by 2035.

Agriculture composes 22% of Denmark’s total exports, producing enough food to feed 15 million people annually. Farmer-owned cooperates account for 90% of dairy and cattle production. However, there is a lack of transparency regarding land laws in Denmark, and the government will use those loosened regulations to expedite Agenda 2030.

The government plans to bribe people out of their land, to begin with, but then it will become more authoritarian. If it can’t tax the people out of their land, it may simply seize the land. Section 73 of the Danish Constitution and the Danish Expropriation Act say land may be expropriated for an array of reasons, including conservation projects.

[disneytva]

The Disney Afternoon: The Making of a Television Renaissance Hints Potential Section Dedicated To Current And Upcoming Disney TVA Productions

New details have merged from The Disney Afternoon: The Making of a Television Renaissance by Jake S. Friedman, Disney Publishing Worldwide And Disney Editions Deluxe slated to be part of Disney Television Animation’s 40th Anniversary and 100th Series debut on 2024 has given new updates in what to expect with the book.

Recently it was revealed that a new section on the book is named "THE NEWEST WAVE: Or Rewrite History", no idea what it is but based on the book's release i wouldn't bet that the section is a celebration to the current "Disney Afternoon" with the following lineup:

-Phineas And Ferb

-Big City Greens

-Monsters At Work

-Mickey Mouse Funhouse

-The Ghost And Molly McGee

-Rise Up,Sing Out

-Alice's Wonderland Bakery

-The Proud Family Louder And Prouder

-Chibiverse

-Hamster And Gretel

-Firebuds

-Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur

-Kiff

-Hailey's On It!

-Playdate With Winnie The Pooh

-Primos

-Robogobo

-StuGo

-Ariel

-Zombies The Re-Animated Series

-Tiny Trailblazers

-Cookies & Milk

-The Witchverse

-Rhona Who Lives By The River

-Dusty Dupree

-InterCats

-Fantasy Sports

-Royal Prep Academy

-Darkwing Duck Reboot

-TaleSpin Reboot

And upcoming shows on development for Disney Channel,Disney Junior and Disney+ at Disney TVA from the following creative members “Cheyenne Curtis, C.H Greenblatt, Thurop Van Orman, Nic Smal, Lucy Heavens, Amy Hudkins, Monica Ray, Latoya Raveneau, Daron Nefcy, Noah Z Jones, Ryan W Quincy, Molly Knox Ostertag, Raj Brueggemann, Dave Cooper, Jose Zelaya, J. G. Quintel, Pedro Eboli, Mark Satterthwaite and Patrick McHale” 

📚The Disney Afternoon: The Making of a Television Renaissance

Jake S Friedman

Disney Publishing Worldwide

Disney Editions Deluxe

November 5, 2024

When the Disney Afternoon premiered in 1990, kids tossed their backpacks aside to watch their favorite Disney television characters. Unlike with feature films, these stars had a new adventure every weekday, and their audience journeyed with them on a daily basis. Throughout the '80s and '90s, Disney raised the bar with a lineup of innovative, high-quality television animation. The characters were endearing, the writing was clever, and the art was exceptional. Those who grew up with these characters have continued their love affairs for shows like Darkwing Duck, Gargoyles, TaleSpin, and the irrepressibly beloved DuckTales, deep into adulthood. For the first time, learn the history of the Disney Afternoon shows, read interviews from the creative teams, and revel in rare, behind-the-scenes artwork, plus get the full making of story of the modern-day DuckTales series and the meta-driven Chip 'n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers film and its legacy connections to the past for a new generation of fans.

[fatehbaz]

[C]olonial policies to monitor and restrict Indian cattle were coterminous with policies to monitor and restrict Indian humans. [...] [T]he ‘milk-line’ [...] has been said by [colonial] scholars since the nineteenth century to bisect the region. [...] [This] reified and naturalised what remains a contentious division between South and Southeast Asia along the western borders of Myanmar. [...] [D]enaturalise [...] this border by uncovering the colonial history of how milk became entangled in the immanent political geography of British Burma. [...] As part of imperial writings on the distinctiveness of the colony's cultural landscape, milk informed the imaginative geography of Burma as a place distinct from India. [...]

---

[T]he turn-of-the-century writings of colonial scholar officials and travel-writers [...] generated a particular imaginative geography [...]. These authors rendered Burma a ‘unique geographic entity’ [...]. Being unable to acquire milk whilst travelling Burma was a frequent gripe in imperial writings. In this it stood in contrast to the rest of British India. [...] Imperial writings on dairy consumption – or, rather, the lack of it – in Burma reified this geography [...]. Burma was where you could not get milk in British India. [...] But the difficulty of milk did not end with the cow. Once produced, the milk itself was liable to adulteration and infection necessitating state and scientific intervention. Limiting the mobility of dairy cattle and removing them from urban areas through policies designed to order and police space were central to colonial schemes for improving milk production [...]. By the twentieth century most of the dairy production in the colony was conducted by Indians who had migrated to Burma with their own cattle. [...]

The rendering of cattle as lively commodities in the milk industry was seen to be in tension with their commodification in a different economic sector, the rice industry. 

This was overwhelmingly the most important part of Burma's colonial economy. 

The late nineteenth century saw a rapid expansion of the deltaic rice frontier. By the opening decades of following century the Burma delta had become the largest rice producing region in the world. The importance of plough cattle was reflected in their market value, which doubled between the end of World War One and 1930. [...] 

In particular, they worried that the bloodlines of the Burmese breed of oxen, apparently favoured by cultivators, were at risk. [...] Indian milch cattle were considered a particular threat. This imperial imperative to protect a so-called ‘Burmese’ breed of ox reified and naturalised Burma as a geographic entity, with Indian cattle figured as invasive.

These concerns were entangled with colonial policies regarding the human Indian population in the colony [...].

---

[There was] a growing recognition of the importance of [Burmese] cattle to the production of rice in the Burma delta. [...] The stocky, strong Burmese ox [...] was thought to be especially suited to labour in paddy fields [...]. Burma was imagined as being constituted of upland areas where cattle were bred and the southern deltaic region where they were worked [...]. This was an animal geography that was transgressed by mobile herds of milking cattle imported from India residing along the sides of waterways and in the railway towns [...]. Following the colony's transportation network, migrant Indian cattle penetrated the spaces [...] To many officials, by the start of World War One the existing measures for protecting Burmese plough cattle from the ‘evils’ of Indian milch cattle were deemed inadequate. The push for greater controls began in 1915 with an agricultural and cooperative conference held in Mandalay. [...] ]C]olonial officials came to frame Indian cattle as a problem breed. The conference was attended by over nine hundred people from across Burma, including [...] state officials. It unanimously agreed that action had to be taken to protect [Burmese] cattle from Indian cattle.

Their suggested course of action was three-pronged: taxation, prohibition and segregation. [...] Attitudes to Indian cattle in the colony were conterminous with attitudes to Indian people.

The interventions [in cattle segregation] [...] can be considered as part of a wider range of state controls placed on Indian migrants to Burma. The timing of these committees was synchronous with inquiries into the sanitary conditions that Indian workers travelled and lived in [...]. At the same time [...], the state introduced compulsory medical checks and vaccinations on human arrivals from the subcontinent. In addition, the concerns expressed by officials contributing to these reports on cattle in Burma were indicative of British officialdom's paternalistic attitude towards the Burmese people, viewing their role as protecting the Burmese from the Indian and Chinese populations. The administrative view of the colony, which by the turn of the century held it to be culturally distinct from India, was increasingly imagining it as a separate geo-political entity. Officials began planning for it to be separated from British India.

During the interwar years anti-Indian sentiments gained ground [...]. Indian migrants were figured by some as a threat [...]. There were a number of anti-Indian riots in the 1930s [...]. The 1935 Government of India Act was enacted in 1937 separating Burma from India [...].

---

All text above by: Jonathan Saha. “Milk to Mandalay: dairy consumption, animal history and the political geography of colonial Burma.” Journal of Historical Geography Volume 54. October 2016. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil's Landless Rural Workers' Movement partners with China to use solar energy in cooperatives

The MST, as it is known, focuses on energy transition, leaving the dependence on wood burning and hydroelectricity

João Pedro Stedile, leader of the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST, in Portuguese), was in China to talk with institutions and companies that have already started partnerships involving the movement's settlements.

The MST is also looking for a solution to an energy problem Brazilian rural cooperatives, including the MST, face. The movement has 185 cooperatives and 1,900 associations, which run 120 small and medium-sized agro-industries.

The main production chains in MST settlements are rice, milk, meat, coffee, cocoa, seeds, cassava, sugar cane and grains, according to the movement.

The problem is that the agro-industries need steam and hot water to pasteurize food. “Today, unfortunately, the pasteurization process is done in wood-fired boilers,” he explained in an interview with Brasil de Fato.

“There are also electric boilers, but they are very expensive, especially after the privatization of hydroelectric plants [in Brazil], including Eletrobras [a Brazilian-based hydroelectric plant, the largest in Latin America],” Stedile laments.

Continue reading.

[artg371-progresstracking]

Project 2 - Research pt. 1 (in the field)

This week we went to Old Country Market - Goats on Roof in Coombs. We were given 4 questions to answer so here's my research:

What does the packaging tell you about the brand?

The packaging tells the consumer so much about the product. It tells the buyer who the target audience of the product is and many aspects of the brand. This includes aspects like the brand ideals, the price point, where and how the product is produced, and if the product comes from a small business or a large company.

How does it do that, very specifically?

The packaging specifically does these things in many ways. The target audience is shown through the imagery, colour and language used on the packaging. The brand ideals are shown through the ecological concerns expressed through the packaging itself. The price point is expressed through the design of the packaging like simplicity vs complexity. The other aspects are expressed through language. The language could be community specific or more targeted towards the general population, and it could be more cooperate in nature or more sincere and grateful.

What differentiates each "flavour"?

Each flavour can be differentiated by a few different design aspects including colour, graphic elements/illustrations, or typography and language.

How very specifically is this done?

In this example specifically, the different flavours have different main colours on the packaging. The main logo, pattern, and certain elements are the same colour but the backgrounds are different colours. In this packaging there isn't much else that separates the two variations, but there is differences in the type on the packaging. Specifically, stating either "milk" or "dark" chocolate and also stating the cocoa percentage help the buyer to distinguish one flavour/variation from another.

After my research and some reflection, I have decided to try to create my own lip gloss brand. My ideas for this are that they will be different fruit flavored lip glosses that are targeted towards preteens and young high schoolers who are just starting to use makeup. My main goal is to create a brand that is fun, playful, and not intimating.

[farmerstrend]

Kenya Dairy Board’s 10-Year Plan: More Milk, Sustainability, and Climate Action

The Kenya Dairy Board unveils a 10-year plan to transform the dairy sector by focusing on sustainability, increasing milk production by 2.5 billion litres, and ensuring environmental and economic benefits for farmers. Kenya’s 10-year Dairy Industry Sustainability Roadmap aims to produce an additional 2.5 billion litres of milk annually, promoting sustainable farming, reducing greenhouse gas…

[melbmemories]

1978 Launch of Big M.

Big M flavoured milk was launched in Victoria with overtly sexy imagery of milk running down the cleavage of girls in skimpy bikinis. It competed directly with Coca Cola as a cool teenage drink. The four initial flavours were Chocolate, Banana, Iced Coffee and Strawberry, followed later in the year by Blueberry. The equivalent drink in NSW was Moove, launched the same year.

Big M was introduced in January 1978. It marked the beginning of branded milk products in Victoria after the Victorian Dairy Industry Authority (VDIA)had replaced the Victorian Milk Board. The force behind the innovations was Chairman Des Cooper, along with his marketing manager Peter Granger.

The commercial was created by the George Patterson advertising agency in Melbourne – then the largest agency in town. By March, it was reported that Big M had claimed 13 per cent of the non-alcoholic beverage market and had reached $1.5 million in gross sales. In 1978 the VDIA also announced sponsorship of the VFL Little League and the Big M Melbourne Marathon.

The soft drink companies reacted to the challenge, threatening to pull their fridges out of milk bars if Big M was displayed next to their products. Retailers had long sold products including cream and fruit juices from the fridges they rented from companies such as Cadbury Schweppes, but it seems the popularity of Big M had prompted a re-think. The Dairy Industry Authority promised to replace any confiscated fridges.

The campaign to promote the new product significantly increased overall milk sales, benefiting dairy farmers who had been going through difficult times.

The trademark was sold in 2000 and the brand was marketed by Lion Pty Limited which was, in turn, owned by Kirin Holdings in Japan. Lion controlled the Pura, Dairy Farmers, Dare, Farmers Union, Classic, Big M and Masters brands of flavoured milk in Australia. In January 2021, the Lion Dairy and Drinks business was sold to Bega Cheese, putting the brands back in Australian hands.

by Tony Beyer

[zeta-neubourn]

M'kay, new rule: if your website kicks me to the home page after I click a link from a Google search to look at a specific product, I'm literally considering blacklisting your site.

Imagine going to the store and having something in mind you need, like milk or something, and as soon as you get to the dairy, some stenchbeast yanks your arm over to detergent and say "WELCOME TO STORE!" I'd freakin' leave. I literally have a blacklisting extension on Brave for this. It started with AI trash results, it'll end with your site. Don't. Tell. The. Customer. What. You. Want. Them. To. Want... you cooperate stenchbeast. You smell of partnership sell-out deals that put money over customer experience. SHTINK. YOU SHTINKY. You activate my 'Tisms.