Release Date: April 2006
Word Version [1]

 Of Special Interest

Jerry Kozak
President/CEO

The scandal in Washington lately concerning the abuses by lobbyist Jack Abramoff obscure the fact that one of the hallmarks of a democracy is the right of people – including dairy farmers – to work together to advance their common interests.  In fact, that’s guaranteed as part of the Bill of Rights.

That’s one reason why trade associations, including the National Milk Producers Federation, exist: to provide a vehicle for dairy farmers and their cooperatives to work together on major policy initiatives that affect their businesses and lives. This is the 90th year of operation for NMPF, and for the past nine decades, NMPF has engaged in a variety of activities to improve the livelihoods of dairy farmers. And yes, part of that involves lobbying members of Congress, which is really just a fancy way of saying that our professional staff here at NMPF gives producers a voice in the halls of Congress that farmers themselves might not otherwise have. We are a special interest group, because we think the interests of our members are, indeed, very special.

Dairy farmers have so many day-to-day concerns that it’s tough to keep track of all of the bills and policy ideas floating around Capitol Hill. But that’s what NMPF’s membership pays us to do – to monitor things like trade policy, immigration reform, and the federal budget, to make certain that whatever happens with these issues, the interests of dairy cooperatives and farmers are not overlooked or trampled over.

We know that what happens in the House and Senate, the USDA and the FDA, can have a decisive impact on the ability of farmers to run their businesses. That’s why it’s our business to look out for producers’ interests on a daily basis. We can provide a bridge between what’s happening down on the farm, and what lawmakers and policy developers need to know in Washington. Because, let’s face it, many of the people actually writing these laws have no first-hand experience at farming whatsoever. It’s always a dicey proposition leaving the development of complex economic, environmental and food safety regulations to people who, despite their good intentions, may not understand how the real world works down on a dairy farm.

That’s one reason why NMPF this month helped spur the formation of a Dairy Farmer Caucus on Capitol Hill.  Many so-called special interests, including most farm commodities, already have a caucus of legislators that work together on issues affecting that interest group.  Now, the congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus will do the same for our producers.

The Caucus will provide a bipartisan forum, involving both House and Senate members, to collaborate on policy issues that affect farmers nationwide. It’s much easier to build consensus within the producer community, as well as within both political parties and both congressional chambers, if there is an organization like the Dairy Farmer Caucus that is already helping to bring people to the same table.

Our Co-Chairs of the Dairy Farmer Caucus include Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Representatives Devin Nunes (R-CA), Collin Peterson (D-MN), Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Randy Kuhl (R-NY). We will now be asking other members of the House and Senate to join the caucus, so that we can have a broad-based group of legislators working together on major issues. With dairy farms operating in each of the 50 states, milk production is truly a national activity that deserves broad-based political representation.

Obviously, one of the big policy challenges ahead of us is the next Farm Bill. The caucus will hopefully be a means for NMPF and its co-ops and producers to prepare for and build a consensus around the next Farm Bill, whenever it is written. In many respects, the Caucus will pick up where NMPF’s recent Dairy Producer Conclave imitative left off, when it developed a set of principles for the next Farm Bill that Congress can take into consideration in the coming year. In addition to the Farm Bill, there are many other impending policy issues in Congress and with government agencies that we expect the Caucus can help us with.

In many respects, the best lobbyists for any special interest are not those based in Washington, but instead are those grounded in the real world beyond the Beltway: which, in our case, makes farmers the most important spokespersons for their own cause. NMPF’s role is to help farmers in that cause, one which, just like milking cows, is a job that requires continual effort.