Earlier this week, USDA announced it is extending the remainder of uncommitted bids from the 2008-2009 Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP) marketing year allocations to 2009-2010. This action will make available 48,176 metric tons of nonfat dry milk, 19235 metric tons of butterfat, and 2878 metric tons of cheese for the period July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010.

In an earlier letter, NMPF had asked USDA to authorize DEIP bonuses for the new fiscal year that began on July 1st, which, if fully implemented, could help clear another 1.7 billion pounds of milk from the U.S. market. By utilizing the uncommitted allocations from 2008-2009, USDA has largely addressed NMPF's request. However, USDA will continue to work with other federal agencies to make the rest of the full DEIP allocations (20,025 metric tons of nonfat dry milk, 1,862 metric tons of butterfat and 152 metric tons of cheese) available at a later date.

Both NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council praised the action by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. "We appreciate USDA's prompt announcement," said NMPF's President & CEO Jerry Kozak. "Unlike the short period of time given to exporters under last year's DEIP announcement, this swift action by USDA will allow us to properly compete with other subsidized exporters. However, it is extremely important that USDA issue DEIP invitations immediately for all allowable categories of dairy products in a manner that maximizes exports so producers receive the full benefit."

In response to the current economic milk price crisis affecting dairy farmers across the country, NMPF's newly-formed Strategic Planning Task Force met in June to focus on short-term solutions to the dairy crisis, and will follow that introductory meeting with a more in-depth listening session in July to address longer-term solutions to the problem.

The Task Force voted last month to recommend to the CWT Committee and the NMPF Board of Directors to direct any available CWT funds to assist CWT members in utilizing the Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP) to its fullest extent. During each DEIP marketing year, the program has the potential to export the equivalent of more than 1.5 billion pounds of milk. The NMPF Board of Directors immediately approved the recommendation and directed CWT management to work with CWT members to facilitate this recommendation.

To address longer-term factors affecting price and volatility, the Task Force will meet later in July in Chicago with representatives from major dairy producer organizations across the nation that are proposing programs to resolve the crisis.

The Task Force will engage in a detailed dialogue with these groups "to determine the economic and political feasibility of those plans, with the goal of achieving a common understanding of how best to tackle the problems of low milk prices and high input costs," Kozak said.

Dr. Robert Byrne, the long-time lead technical expert at NMPF, has taken a new position as Director of Industry and Regulatory Affairs at Schreiber Foods in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Byrne worked at NMPF since 1998, most recently as Senior Vice President of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs.

At the beginning of June, USDA opened a comment period to consider public reaction to their proposal regarding how to adjust the Dairy Checkoff program to comply with the new Farm Bill legislation and apply the Dairy Import Assessment on imported casein, MPC, cheese, butter, and other products.

NMPF stated that it was a fundamental matter of fairness that all parties who benefit from the U.S. dairy marketplace pay to help grow that market, and urged all of its cooperatives to submit comments to indicate the widespread support for the issue and the urgency of moving quickly to put out a final rule. Comments were due to USDA by June 18th.

The comments that NMPF submitted are available here.