The 2012 ARPAS Symposium has been set. The overall theme of the symposium is "Feed Efficiency: Opportunities for Improvement, Economics, and Integration with Environmental Sustainability." It will be held Tuesday morning the week of ASAS/ADSA meetings in Phoenix, AZ, from 9:30 am to 11:45 am.

As we all know, feed input costs are at historically high levels. At the same time, differences between farm income and feed expenses have narrowed, making feed efficiency more critical now than it ever has been. This symposium will focus on basic principles of feed efficiency, appropriate ways to measure feed efficiency and opportunities for improvement through both genetics and management. Real farm economics will be used to define relationships between profitability and feed efficiency. Finally the authors will integrate productivity to whole farm efficiency to achieve environmental sustainability.

Specific presentations will be:

Feed Efficiency: Basic Principles and Opportunities for Improvement presented by Michael VandeHaar, Michigan State University.

Impact of Milk Yield, Herd Size, and Feed Efficiency on Economic Change Between and Within California Dairies from 2006 through 2010 presented by Luis Rodriguez, Zinpro Corporation.

Integrating Productivity and Whole Farm Efficiency to Achieve Environmental Sustainability presented by Judith Capper, Washington State University.