News for Dairy Co-Ops

The federal government shutdown that began today holds the potential for disruptions in services for dairy farmers and cooperatives. But the shutdown’s uncertain size and scope make it difficult to assess the extent of any disruptions, as NMPF monitors changes to federal operations and their effects on dairy.

NMPF earlier today released a member alert detailing potential disruptions in area of regulation, farm programs, data releases and disease response. In general, the effects of funding shortfalls and furloughed federal staff largely depend on whether the government declares certain programs to be essential services.  Those areas, usually involving safety and security, will continue to operate as usual.  Programs deemed non-essential will be curtailed.

A shutdown’s severity is also affected by its length, which currently is unknown. Agencies that have released detailed descriptions of what is and isn’t being affected include USDA, FDA and USTR.

NMPF will update with new developments as necessary. To see the full member alert, click here.

The formal release of the Make America Health Again Commission’s report on Sept. 9 gave NMPF a chance to tout dairy’s critical place in nutrition and the science behind milk’s benefits.

“The MAHA Commission’s Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy recognizes what the latest science indicates and what we’ve long been saying: that getting whole milk back into schools and boosting dairy in diets helps meet America’s nutritional needs, and that it is critical to improving the health of our nation’s children,” NMPF President and CEO Gregg Doud said in a statement upon the report’s release.

“To further assist in dairy’s positive contributions to a healthier nation, we also urge Congress to pass the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which would provide schools the opportunity to serve the nutritious whole and 2% milk that school kids love and codify into law the endorsement given in the administration’s report.”

The MAHA strategy, aimed toward reducing childhood chronic illnesses, highlighted upcoming efforts to better align federal nutrition programs with scientific evidence, including overwhelming evidence showing the benefits of dairy at all fat levels.

Three top USDA experts led a discussion of the latest updates, detection methods and more during a one-hour live webinar on Sept. 22 exploring New World screwworm hosted by NMPF and the National Dairy FARM Program.

With the screwworm now reported to be 70 miles south of a Mexican-U.S. border state, efforts to protect cattle and prevent spread are ratcheting up. NMPF and FARM are monitoring the situation closely, creating a fact sheet for producers, available here. USDA is taking an “all hands on deck” approach to manage the malady, said Dr. Christopher Needham, deputy director of USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS).

“We actually have boots on the ground now looking at this, doing a full investigation, as well as considering what our next steps are to protect the border at all costs,” Needham said. “The entire federal government is looking at this as a national priority, and a national approach is needed to really make sure that we’re protecting agriculture here in the United States.”

Needham spoke to more than 80 attendees of USDA’s key strategy to work across agencies to ensure an effective response. Dr. Needham provided an overview of the screwworm outbreak followed by USDA’s five-pronged plan, with ongoing efforts to increase the Sterile Insect Technique, import requirements, surveillance and trapping of screwworm.

Dr. Rosemary Sifford, deputy administrator for USDA’s APHIS, also joined the call to discuss the agency’s efforts to update the NWS Strategy Plan. USDA is currently drafting the NWS Incident Playbook, a resource that provides quick, practical access to tools and methods used to respond to NWS.

Participants also learned the proper steps for reporting suspected cases to safeguard animal health and protect livestock. Producers are encouraged to report any suspicion of NWS to their veterinarian, state vet, USDA office or extension agent.

Chief Veterinary Officer for the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Tristan Colonius, rounded out the webinar with information on animal drugs for New World screwworm. There are currently no approved products for treating or preventing NWS. FDA is reviewing potential drugs as part of the coordinated response.

Recent reports have detected New World screwworm in cattle just 70 miles from the northern border state of Nuevo Leon. This is the closest case to the U.S. border since the outbreak began last year.

Producers should continue to enforce biosecurity measures on farms to bolster efforts in mitigating the spread.

USDA announced the application period for the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) which will assist producers who experienced flooding-related losses in 2023 and 2024. The first federal livestock disaster assistance program designed to address losses from feed supply chain disruption due to flooding, announced Sept. 12, has come after years of NMPF efforts to ensure aid for affected producers.

“We’re grateful to Secretary Rollins and the USDA Team for delivering needed emergency relief for dairy farmers nationwide,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of NMPF. “The support is a lifeline for producers still working to recover from devastating 2023 floods and 2024 hurricanes.”

The program covers flooding losses in 2023 and 2024, covering nearly all California counties as well as parts of New York, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

NMPF worked alongside Rep. David Valadao, R-CA, nearly from the time floods first began devastating California farms in 2023, securing these funds through last year’s American Relief Act by providing Congress with key information regarding the losses dairy farmers faced from the floods.  Reps. Jim Costa, D-CA, and Vince Fong, R-CA, were also critical in helping NMPF advocate for flood-affected dairy farmers in the legislation.

Dairy farmers can apply for ELRP’s $1 billion in available funding until Oct. 31, after which USDA will begin making payments. Click here for more information about producer and livestock eligibility.

NMPF submitted comments to FDA Sept. 15 regarding the agency’s proposal to revoke 18 Standards of Identity (SOIs) for dairy products, saying four of them remain necessary.

NMPF disagreed with FDA’s conclusion that the standards are no longer necessary to promote honesty and fair dealing for Acidified Sour Cream; Cream Cheese with Other Foods; Pasteurized Blended Cheese with Fruits, Vegetables, or Meats; and Pasteurized Process Cheese with Fruit, Vegetables, or Meats.

NMPF agreed that SOIs should be eliminated when they are made redundant by other standards or regulations, or if the product is no longer in the market – FDA’s rationale for the 18 revocations. Most of the dairy product SOIs in the agency’s proposal do fall under one of those two categories. However, each of the four exceptions called out are actively produced by NMPF members and sold across the country, making it necessary for NMPF to speak out on behalf of its members.

FDA established in 1939 the standards slated to be eliminated to protect consumers by ensuring that foods labeled with a specific name, such as “milk,” meet certain expectations of ingredients, characteristics, and processing. NMPF said in its comments that SOIs are as important today, if not more important, as when they were created to keep nutritionally inferior plant-based imitation dairy products in the marketplace from deceiving consumers.

FDA’s initial proposal is part of a larger agency effort to review, and in some cases eliminate, hundreds of SOIs, including those for all dairy products. NMPF will monitor for additional proposals and advocate in members’ best interest.

The PFAS and Agriculture Policy Workgroup, an agriculture coalition in which NMPF is a member, released Sept. 16 the nation’s first comprehensive set of federal recommendations to address PFAS contamination of agricultural land.

The coalition is led by American Farmland Trust and includes 15 other farmer, commodity, conservation, and health groups, as well as state departments of agriculture. The group is calling for Congress and the executive branch to take pragmatic steps to address PFAS to protect farmers and their families, keep farms and ranches in business, maintain a safe national food supply, and safeguard farmland for future generations.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, are a class of thousands of synthetic chemicals. PFAS have been used in a wide range of industrial and household products for decades, and do not break down naturally. Since these “forever chemicals” are highly mobile in the environment, they can accumulate anywhere, including in soil, water, crops, livestock, wildlife, food, and the human body.

The workgroup recommendations aim to advance a wide range of nonpartisan, common-sense solutions.

NMPF has participated in the planning and development of the workgroup since it was formed in spring 2024, always noting that PFAS is primarily a water-contamination issue that does not affect milk.

The National Milk Producers Federation is excited to announce that fairlife has joined as its newest associate member.

fairlife, a Chicago-based dairy company known for its ultra-filtered milk, started in 2012 from “the belief that milk – already a superfood – could be even better,” according to its website. The processor’s proprietary ultra-filtration process concentrates milk’s protein while reducing its natural sugar content. In addition to its ultra-filtered milk, fairlife’s portfolio of lactose-free, real dairy products includes: Core Power® High Protein Shakes, a sports nutrition drink to support post-workout recovery; and fairlife® nutrition plan™, a nutrition shake to support the journey to better health. NMPF looks forward to the valuable insights and contributions that fairlife will bring to the table.

FARM’s Animal Care program area in September met with NMPF’s Animal Health & Well-being Committee to kick off the standards review as part of developing its latest version cycle, set to launch January 2028.

The committee reviewed program metrics in key corrective action areas, animal-based observations, and animal and facility management. This will set priorities for the committees to consider when reviewing standards eligible for revision.

The name itself, Version 2028, represents a shift toward identifying version cycles by launch year, replacing describing versions by successive numbers. FARM is making the change to help program participants easily identify the program’s most current version while communicating the three-year cycle process.

FARM Program cycles are revised every three years to ensure the standards’ integrity and effectiveness. The FARM Animal Care Task Force and NMPF Animal Health & Wellbeing Committee reviews and revises the standards, rationale and accountability measures with input from industry stakeholder groups including farmers, animal scientists and veterinarians.

NMPF’s Board of Directors approved a new layer to the process back in June, resulting in NMPF’s Animal Health & Wellbeing Committee now setting priorities for the FARM Animal Care Task Force and Farmer Advisory Council ahead of the initial standards review. The new process will provide a more collective representation of farmer input.

FARM began Version 2028 development in July with its Stakeholder Survey, which received more than 800 responses. The survey will help inform the decision-making process on potential standard revisions.

NMPF’s Animal Health & Wellbeing Committee, FARM’s Animal Care Task Force and Farmer Advisory Council will review survey results this fall; results will be summarized into a final report made available on the FARM website.

FARM Workforce Development and FARM Environmental Stewardship will continue to be on the same cycle as FARM Animal Care.

For more information on Version 2028 development, visit the FARM Program website.

NMPF explored opportunities to connect U.S. dairy supplies with key Taiwanese importers during a Sept. 29-Oct. 1 USDA Foreign Agriculture Service-led trade mission to Taipei, Taiwan.

Alongside a local representative of Dairy Farmers of America, NMPF’s Jaime Castaneda and Tony Rice met with Taiwanese government officials, including the Ministries of Agriculture and Health and Welfare, and dairy industry stakeholders to promote U.S. dairy products and discuss ways for the U.S. dairy industry to expand its presence within Taiwan’s growing agricultural market.

Taiwan is the United States’ eighth largest agricultural export market, importing in 2024 just under $4 billion worth of agricultural goods from United States, including $108 million of U.S. dairy exports.

NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council also in Taiwan signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Dairy Association of Taiwan on Sept. 30, affirming a shared commitment to building demand for dairy in Taiwan, supporting a Taiwanese government school milk program and efforts to protect the right to use common names like “parmesan.”

Building on this trade mission to Taipei, as well as NMPF’s April 2025 delegation visit to Taiwan, the MOU seeks to strengthen business and government relations to the mutual benefit of the dairy sectors in Taiwan and the United States.

NEXT member cooperatives secured 60 contracts in September, with one week still outstanding for the month; full-month data will be available later this week. These contracts added 23.9 million pounds of product in NEXT-assisted sales in 2025. These products will go to customers in Asia, Oceania, Middle East-North Africa, Central America, the Caribbean and South America and will be shipped from September 2025 through May 2026.

Exporting dairy products is critical to the viability of dairy farmers and their cooperatives across the country. Whether or not a cooperative is actively engaged in exporting, moving products into world markets is essential. NEXT provides a means to move domestic dairy products to overseas markets by helping to overcome U.S. dairy’s trade disadvantages.

The referenced amounts of dairy products reflect current contracts for delivery, not completed export volumes. NEXT will pay export assistance to bidders only when export and delivery of product is verified by submission of required documentation.

NMPF staff reached out across dairy and agriculture audiences in September and during the August congressional recess with appearances in local and national meetings, discussing dairy’s economic outlook and the importance of free trade.

NMPF’s Jaime Castaneda, executive vice president for policy development and strategy, provided agricultural trade leaders and government officials a snapshot of opportunities and challenges for U.S. dairy exports in an unprecedented trade environment as a panelist at this year’s Midwest Agricultural Export Summit on Aug.13.

Hosted by South Dakota Trade in Sioux Falls, the event convened producers, policymakers and trade professionals in a forum to equip farmers and ranchers with the tools necessary to compete and grow in international markets. Castaneda joined a panel, “Breaking Down Barriers: Agriculture Industry Perspectives,” to discuss existing barriers to dairy trade and the Trump Administration’s newly announced trade frameworks.

Meanwhile, economics team staff addressed market outlooks domestically and internationally.

Will Loux, head of the joint economics team for NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council, traveled Sep. 8-12 to Sydney, Australia to explore the potential for NEXT and U.S. dairy products in that market.

NMPF Market Analyst Allison Wilton gave a market outlook to the American Association of Bovine Practitioners in Omaha at its annual conference on Sep. 11. Later in the month she gave a similar presentation to Darigold staff in Seattle.

Stephen Cain, Vice President of Economic Policy and Market Analysis, in September presented at the U.S. Dairy Ingredient Supply Seminar in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and to Bangkok, Thailand for the U.S. Dairy Supply & Innovation Seminar.

NMPF announced two promotions within its economics team, taking effect as dairy faces market uncertainty amid trade challenges and cloudy economic forecasts.

Stephen Cain, who began at NMPF in 2020, is now Vice President of Economic Policy and Market Analysis, recognizing both his growing job responsibilities and his increasing position as a public representative of NMPF in industry conferences and other events.

Allison Wilton was promoted to Market Analyst, highlighting her continued growth and strong analytical contributions to NMPF. Wilton joined NMPF in 2022. Both Cain and Wilton also are active in NMPF’s NEXT program, blazing a new path in dairy trade globally.