USDA Extends MILC Sign-Up

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has extended the sign up period for the renewed Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program. Producers now have until May 17, 2006, to indicate when they would like to begin receiving monthly payments.

A dairy operation's monthly payment will equal the milk quantity sold in that month multiplied by 34% of the difference between $13.69 per hundredweight, and that month's domestic Class I milk price. The 2002 Farm Bill originally set the payment rate factor at 45 percent.

Producers may retroactively select any month beginning December 2005 through May 2006 for sign-up on, or before, May 17, 2006. Sign-up will continue after May 17, 2006, throughout the duration of the program. However, after May 17, 2006, producers will not have the option to select a retroactive month for payment for which the payment rate has already been announced. USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) will make payments on an operation-by-operation basis, up to a maximum of 2.4 million pounds of milk produced and marketed by the dairy operation per fiscal year.

Dairy producers can apply for MILC at local FSA offices and online at: www.fsa.usda.gov/dafp/psd/. More information on MILC is available at local FSA offices and in the FSA MILC fact sheet located online here.

he chart illustrates NMPF's estimated payment rates for the remainder of FY 2006.

NMPF Farmers Participate in Immigration Reform Rally

NMPF staff and several dairy producers from across the country participated in a Capitol Hill Fly-In event on March 15 to highlight the importance to agriculture of making sensible changes in immigration policy. The event drew roughly 250 farmers, and was a resounding success in elevating the attention paid to farmers' serious concerns with this issue.

The full Senate is scheduled to debate a major immigration bill when the Senate returns on March 27. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is working to bridge differences between Committee members' viewpoints so that the package the full Senate considers will be the one his Committee will have approved. The current draft bill does not explicitly include agriculture, so it is vital for dairy producers to call their Senators to stress the importance of addressing agriculture's need for immigrant labor.

Those in favor of only enforcement legislation have not heard enough from agriculture, and dairy in particular. NMPF is seeking the involvement of producers to make certain that all 100 Senators hear from those who depend heavily on immigrant labor. You can find your two Senators' contact information, and a list of talking points on this issue, by going to NMPF's Dairy GREAT website here.

NMPF Asks USDA to Maximize Use of DEIP

NMPF recently sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, stressing the need for USDA to swiftly use the Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP). DEIP provides a bonus to exporters to encourage higher levels of U.S. dairy exports.

Last year, the USDA chose not to use DEIP at all, and at this point in the marketing year, the Agriculture Department still has not yet made the program's export bonuses available. NMPF pointed out that timely use of this program was needed to help bolster dairy prices and minimize government purchases under the Dairy Price Support Program.

The current marketing year for DEIP ends June 30, leaving only three months for this cycle. NMPF urged USDA to open up DEIP for bids now, to allow exporters time to take advantage of the program and to help to counteract the current downward trend in prices. A full copy of NMPF's letter is available here on our website.

NMPF Testifies in Favor of South Korea FTA

NMPF testified last week in favor of the proposed US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement at a hearing held by the U.S. Trade Representative's Office. NMPF pointed out the significant potential benefits that this trade pact could hold for the U.S. dairy sector, if the agreement is properly negotiated. Korea's dairy market, already the 7th largest export market for U.S. products, is currently protected by extremely high tariffs. A successful Free Trade Agreement with Korea would create opportunities for a variety of U.S. dairy products, including skim milk powder, whey and cheese. South Korea is the U.S.'s 4th-largest cheese export market, behind Mexico, Japan and Canada.

NMPF also stressed the importance of attention to non-tariff barriers in Korea that could thwart trade if left unaddressed, as well as the necessity of including strict rules of origin in the agreement, to ensure that the benefits of the FTA flow only to the U.S. and South Korea.

Monsanto to Increase Posilac Production with U.S. Facility

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved full production of Monsanto's POSILAC (rBST) product at the company's new manufacturing facility in Augusta, Georgia.

Since 2003, the facility has manufactured the Posilac active ingredient in powdered form, and shipped it for final production into a gel form, to Sandoz GmbH, an Austrian subsidiary of Novartis AG. Supplies of Posilac have been rationed for the past two years when the Sandoz facility had quality control issues. Sandoz again is producing Posilac, but the quantity is limited pending FDA approval of certain improvements made to the plant, said Monsanto spokesman Andrew Burchett.

Burchett said Monsanto has a waiting list of dairy farmers waiting to buy doses of Posilac for their herds.

Government Food Safety Committee to Examine Health Implications of Johne's Bacteria

A U.S. government advisory committee has begun to review some of the public health implications from exposure to the bacteria that causes Johne's Disease in cattle and other ruminant animals.

Last week, the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods Subcommittee on the Assessment of the Food Safety Importance of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) held its initial meeting in Arlington, Virginia. The subcommittee will limit their deliberations to the consideration of a very specific set of questions, and has not been asked to consider the question of whether or not MAP is a human pathogen. The subcommittee attempt to answer the following six questions:

• What food, water, or environmental sources are of most concern with respect to exposure of humans to MAP?
  
• What are the frequencies and levels of MAP contamination found in the above referenced sources?
  
• What is the efficacy of the current methods of detection for MAP?
  
• What processing interventions are available for the foods of concern to eliminate or reduce the levels of MAP contamination to an acceptable level or to ensure that MAP does not enter the food supply?
  
• What are the research needs to determine:
  Additional sources of MAP;
  
  • The frequencies and levels of MAP contamination in specific sources of concern;
    
  • Potential processing interventions to eliminate or reduce the levels of MAP contamination; and
    
  • Potential processing interventions to prevent MAP from entering the food supply.
    
• Additional research needs?
  

Much of the discussion during the meeting centered on methodologies of detection for MAP, with an apparent consensus that a great deal of validation research still needs to be done. The subcommittee also devoted discussion to potential sources of MAP for which data will need to be reviewed, including domesticated (dairy and beef cattle, sheep, and goats) and wild ruminants (deer and elk), produce, and environmental reservoirs. The subcommittee is anticipated to take at least 18 months to finalize its report.

The National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) was established in response to recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences for an interagency approach to microbiological criteria for food. The NACMCF provides impartial, scientific advice to federal food safety agencies for use in the development of an integrated national food safety systems approach. The NACMCF is co-sponsored by the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Department of Defense Veterinary Service Activity.

Beef Cow Becomes Third U.S. Case of BSE

A third case of mad cow disease, or BSE, has been found in an older beef animal in Alabama, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced earlier this month. It is the second case of BSE found in a domestically-born and raised- animal; the other case was a beef cow in Texas.

The animal, which became nonambulatory after delivering a calf, was euthanized on the farm and buried, and a brain tissue sample was taken. That sample subsequently tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. The animal is believed to have been born prior to the 1997 ban on feeding ruminant proteins to mammals, which is the pathway for the infectious prions that cause BSE.

The USDA also revealed that it will observe and test the six-week old calf recently produced by the infected cow. The infected beef animal had no ear tags, tattoos or brands, and spent less than a year on the farm where she died, and the USDA is having difficulty tracking the origins of the animal beyond the auction house where she was sold last year.

In a related development, the USDA will soon decide on whether to maintain its accelerated rate of testing for BSE. The USDA's stepped-up testing program, initiated in 2004, has taken more than 650,000 cattle brain samples in the past two years, up from an average of 40,000 per year prior to 2004.

Ron DeHaven, head of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, told reporters that the agency has not yet determined the level of testing it will maintain in the future,

Bush Nominates Von Eschenbach as Permanent FDA Commissioner

President Bush has nominated Andrew von Eschenbach, the director of the National Cancer Institute and a three-time cancer survivor, to be permanent commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

Von Eschenbach has served as acting commissioner for six months, following the sudden departure of Lester Crawford after a short stint as the head of FDA.

Von Eschenbach faces confirmation challenges similar to those faced by his predecessor, as Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) have said they will not allow a vote on von Eschenbach's confirmation until the FDA acts makes the Plan B "morning-after" pill available without a prescription.

The FDA has been delaying action on the pill for two years. Clinton and Murray, who had earlier blocked a vote on Crawford's nomination, allowed the vote to take place after assurances that the Plan B issue would soon be resolved. The two senators said recently that they had been "double-crossed."

Before joining the National Cancer Institute, von Eschenbach, 64, spent 25 years at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He has also survived three bouts of cancer himself.

Associate Member Focus: Dairy Herd Management

Dairy Herd Management, the business leader, is a monthly business magazine written to advise commercial dairy producers. Dairy Herd Management’s editorial is written to an attitude, not to a particular size of dairy. The goal is to help owners, managers, employees and their consultants work together to improve nutrition, herd health, milk quality, genetics, reproductive performance and financial management in order to run a competitive, profitable dairy farm business.

To learn more about Dairy Herd Management visit their website or contact Cliff Becker.