Author: Rachel Ravencraft

International Food Aid Programs Prioritize U.S. Dairy

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

NMPF welcomed the Trump administration’s announcement of a new partnership to expand the use of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) to combat severe acute malnutrition worldwide, an important step forward for both global nutrition and America’s dairy farmers.

The U.S. State Department will provide up to $100 million over the next two years through Operation End Starvation to deliver life-saving nutrition assistance, building on the administration’s distribution of more than 27,000 metric tons of RUTFs that treated nearly 2.7 million children in 15 countries last year. RUTF incorporates U.S. milk powders, providing high-quality dairy protein and essential nutrients that are critical to treating severe acute malnutrition and wasting among young children.

The announcement reflects years of advocacy by NMPF and USDEC to expand the use of U.S. dairy ingredients in international food assistance programs. Congress in February approved a record $300 million in funding supported by NMPF for RUTF procurement, helping ensure that American-produced milk powders continue to play a central role in treating malnutrition while creating an additional market for U.S. dairy producers.

NMPF and USDEC also submitted comments to USDA on July 24 urging the department to expand dairy’s role in the non-emergency Food for Peace program. The organizations encouraged USDA to incorporate U.S. milk powders into school milk and other controlled feeding programs through reconstituted fluid milk, increase procurement of dairy-containing SuperCereal+ formulations, and continue broadening the use of nutrient-dense U.S. dairy ingredients in food assistance.

The comments emphasize dairy’s nutritional value, long shelf life, established safety standards, and the opportunity to pair humanitarian assistance with long-term market development by introducing children to dairy products in emerging markets.

NMPF Strengthens Partnerships in Latin America

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

NMPF and USDEC led a delegation of U.S. dairy industry leaders to Guanajuato, Mexico for the eighth annual U.S.-Mexico Dairy Binational event July 29-30, building on a longstanding partnership to mutually grow demand and address shared issues with the United States’ largest dairy trading partner. Producers from Dairy Farmers of America and Land O’Lakes joined the event.

Coming on the heels of the third round of USMCA negotiations with Mexico, the two industries reaffirmed their commitment to collectively growing the U.S. and Mexican dairy markets, limiting trade barriers and promoting the image of dairy. Participants also included a new commitment to collaboratively support the next generation of dairy farmers.

Further south, NMPF and USDEC signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Association of Livestock Producers of the Highlands and Eastern Region (AGSO), a major agricultural cooperative based in Ecuador, on July 13 in Quito. The agreement deepens ties between the U.S. and Ecuadorian dairy sectors and commits the parties to cooperate on knowledge-sharing, dairy consumption promotion, productivity improvements, and coordinated engagement in international forums like Codex and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. The MOU includes a shared commitment to defend common food names such as “parmesan” and oppose foreign efforts to restrict their use.

The agreement is the latest step in NMPF’s sustained push across Latin America, building on momentum from the U.S.-Ecuador Agreement on Reciprocal Trade which will lower dairy tariffs and address nontariff barriers to trade. As global pressure mounts on common names and market access, NMPF continues cultivating regional relationships to strengthen U.S. dairy’s footprint and defend shared industry interests across Latin America.

U.S. Dairy Welcomes Trade Deal with Jordan as New U.S. Tariffs Announced

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

NMPF welcomed a tenth Agreement on Reciprocal Trade on July 21 with a new deal signed between the United States and Jordan that reinforces duty-free access for U.S. dairy exports and secures important commitments to address nontariff barriers.

The agreement builds on the 2001 U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement and advances priorities NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) have consistently advocated in trade negotiations, including preempting unnecessary regulatory barriers and protecting the use of common cheese names.

Specific to dairy, Jordan committed to recognize the U.S. dairy safety system as equivalent to its own and refrain from imposing facility registration requirements on U.S. dairy imports. The agreement also protects the use of 40 common cheese names, including “parmesan,” “feta” and “asiago,” and establishes transparent procedures for evaluating geographical indications applications. Additional commitments on import licensing, technical regulations, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures are intended to ensure science-based, predictable trade rules that facilitate U.S. dairy exports.

The deal came shortly before United States on July 24 imposed new Section 301 tariffs on 60 markets around the world due to their “failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.” Ranging from 10 to 12.5 percent by country, with exemptions for USMCA-compliant goods, the new duties replace the 10 percent Section 122 tariffs imposed in February due to balance of payments deficits, which expired after the 150-day statutory limit.

USTR also granted zero exemptions for dairy imports into the United States under the new tariff announcement, following NMPF and USDEC’s July 6 comments urging the agency to keep dairy off exemption lists. The comments highlighted the more than $2 billion dairy trade deficit between the United States and the European Union driven primarily by a web of tariff and nontariff barriers. NMPF and USDEC noted that granting the European Union its request for dairy tariff relief would be a step in the wrong direction to correcting the deeply imbalanced transatlantic trade relationship.

While China maintains a 10 percent tariff on all U.S. exports, including dairy, no additional markets announced plans for retaliation. NMPF will continue to work with the administration to ensure the leverage yields new market access for U.S. dairy exporters, building on the 10 Agreements on Reciprocal Trade signed to date.

July NEXT-Assisted Export Sales Surpass 15.8 Million Pounds

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

NEXT member cooperatives secured 65 contracts in July, adding 15.8 million pounds of product in NEXT-assisted sales in 2026. These products will go to customers in Asia, North America, Middle East-North Africa, Oceania, the Caribbean, South America and Central America and will be shipped from July 2026 through January 2027.

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.

 

Lawmakers, NMPF Press FDA to Finally Enforce Dairy Standards of Identity

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

NMPF’s decades-long fight for labeling integrity got a fresh boost this month as a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers sent a letter to FDA Acting Commissioner Kyle Dimantas urging the agency to enforce its standards of identity for dairy products and stop plant-based imitators from co-opting terms like “milk,” “cheese,” “yogurt” and “butter.”

The letter was signed by the original sponsors of the DAIRY PRIDE Act — Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI, Sen. Jim Risch, R-ID, Rep. John Joyce, R-PA, and Rep. Josh Riley, D-NY, — and makes a point NMPF has raised for years: FDA’s own guidance admits that consumers don’t understand the nutritional differences between real dairy and plant-based alternatives. Despite that admission, the agency has continued to rely on a voluntary labeling approach that simply hasn’t worked.

NMPF reinforced that message directly to FDA this week, formally supporting the congressional letter and calling on the agency to rescind its current plant-based labeling guidance in favor of real enforcement of existing standards of identity.

Our position remains the same as it’s always been: Labeling integrity is basic consumer protection, and it’s a matter of fairness to farmers and cooperatives who follow the rules while imitation products borrow dairy’s good name without meeting any of its standards.

NMPF will keep members updated as FDA responds, and we encourage cooperatives to continue amplifying this message with their congressional delegations.

FARM Program Solicits Feedback for Version 2028

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

The National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program began its open comment period on July 8 for proposed Version 2028 updates to gather and incorporate farmer and industry feedback.  In addition to the FARM Animal Care input, FARM Workforce Development proposed changes have been added to the open comment period to broaden the opportunity for farmer input.

All dairy industry stakeholders are invited to provide comments and concerns related to the proposed changes by Oct. 2. The program is hosting a webinar Aug. 7 to walk through the proposed updates and explain how dairy farmers and other industry stakeholders can submit feedback. Click here to view the proposed updates and complete the survey. NMPF’s Animal Health and Wellbeing Committee will review the survey feedback and submit proposed recommendations to NMPF’s Board of Directors next March. The FARM Workforce Development Task Force will make recommendations to the NMPF Executive Committee and NMPF’s Board of Directors, which will provide final approval on proposed recommendations.

Once approved, Version 2028 for FARM Animal Care and Workforce Development will take effect Jan. 1, 2028.

Visit the FARM Program website for more information on Version 2028 development.

USMCA Joint Review Launches as NMPF Champions Dairy

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

NMPF is moving on multiple fronts to make sure the United States, Mexico and Canada advance the Review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) works as intended for U.S. dairy, building on the market access secured to date and resolving issues critical to the trade treaty’s renewal.

NMPF responded to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer’s July 1 announcement that the United States would not agree to renew USMCA in its current form by encouraging efforts to resolve dairy issues including Canadian market access and nonfat milk solids exports, as well as Mexico’s protection of common food names. The agreement remains in force while the parties work through unresolved issues; it does not lapse or terminate automatically.

NMPF’s Jaime Castaneda and Shawna Morris participated in the third round of U.S.-Mexico bilateral USMCA Review negotiations in Mexico City on July 22-23, which provided a backdrop for the eighth annual U.S.-Mexico Binational Dairy Summit held later in the month. NMPF will remain engaged as the Mexico talks continue, with the next negotiating round scheduled for early next month.

As negotiations with Canada have been progressing at a slower pace, NMPF supported a July 20 announcement from the administration that it will be imposing a 50 percent tariff on certain Canadian imports, including some dairy products, starting Aug. 19. USTR plans to impose the tariffs under Section 338 of the Trade Act of 1930, citing Canada’s discriminatory treatment of U.S. dairy exports in its decision. USTR paired the announcement with two additional Section 338 determinations on Canada’s discriminatory treatment of U.S. motor vehicles and alcoholic beverages exports.

NMPF president and CEO Gregg Doud commended USTR’s exploration of all available trade tools to address the outstanding dairy trade issues with Canada, saying the “assertive action by the administration makes clear to Canada that their dairy trade practices will no longer be tolerated. Canada simply cannot continue to discriminate against U.S. dairy farmers by effectively blocking negotiated access to its market. It is well past time for Canada to negotiate in good faith and tackle the outstanding USMCA dairy implementation issues to help drive a successful conclusion of the USMCA review.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded to the new tariffs by committing to expedited negotiations but did not rule out retaliation should trade talks fall apart.

NMPF will stay closely engaged with U.S. trade officials through every negotiating round, working to keep dairy priorities front and center and to preserve and strengthen the gains U.S. dairy has built with both neighbors under USMCA.

Econ Roundup: Demand Supports Milk Prices, Feed Costs Rising

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

Following months of slowing milk production growth, a larger milking herd and a rebound in component growth drove a 3.1% increase in component-adjusted milk production in May. But even as supplies grow, healthy demand both at home and abroad is helping to balance the market.

Exports rose 14% on a milk solids basis in May, boosted by a 102% increase in butterfat exports and 18% growth in cheese exports. Domestically, demand for dairy proteins like whey protein concentrates and nonfat dry milk are so strong that export availability is limited. Circana data indicates that consumers’ appetite for high protein dairy products at retail is virtually insatiable — sales of cottage cheese have risen 11% so far this year, and sales of Greek yogurt have increased 6%. While quick service restaurant foot traffic fell in May, limiting cheese use growth, full-service restaurant foot traffic continues to grow, supporting butter use even as cheese remains under pressure.

The most likely factor to change market direction is summer heat waves denting milk production growth in the United States and Europe. Milk collections fell almost 11% in France and 8% in Germany as they experienced extreme heat stress, potentially limiting EU milk production growth in the coming months. At home, beyond localized effects on dairy yields, drought is raising doubts about crop yields compounding the effect of low storage levels and renewed grain exports to China strain supplies. With feed costs increasing and the All-Milk Price easing as NFDM prices retreating from their Spring rally, current futures suggest DMC margins are poised to fall below the $9.50/cwt maximum coverage level from July to October.

NMPF, State Dairy Policy Leaders Push for Ag Labor Reform on Capitol Hill

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

Dairy advocates from across the country urged lawmakers to support agricultural labor reform on Capitol Hill in July, concluding a National Milk Producers Federation summit for state dairy associations.

The July 14-15 meeting brought more than three dozen advocates to Washington, with farmers and industry leaders sharing priorities and strategies on dairy issues ranging from truck weights and investment tax credits to the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act, legislation introduced by Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson, R-PA, that would create a workable labor system for dairy farmers.

“Ag labor is one of the most important issues of any in agriculture right now,” said Doug Holland, a dairy farmer near Olin, NC and the president of the North Carolina Dairy Producers Association. Holland listed passing a farm bill and keeping all varieties of milk in school meals as other top priorities.

Dairy farmers and advocates participated in about 50 meetings with Hill staff and lawmakers. NMPF featured four of them — Olin, Darigold farmer Austin Allred, Jamie Neill with the Idaho Dairymen’s Association and Mariah Busta of the Iowa State Dairy Association — in a series of videos posted on the organization’s LinkedIn and Facebook pages.

Thompson’s legislation represents the most significant reform to the ag workforce seen in decades. For dairy farmers, the bill grants meaningful access to the H-2A program, the main agricultural labor visa, by removing the seasonal requirements of the program and allowing contracts up to 350 days of the year. The bill also streamlines the application process, addresses cost concerns and provides a targeted mechanism to help the current dairy workforce transition to a workable visa program, ensuring a smoother transition to H-2A.

The State Dairy Association Summit, part of NMPF’s expanded member service on state-level policy, opened with a day of state-by-state reports, alongside roundtable discussions and briefings on NMPF’s federal advocacy priorities led by subject matter experts and industry leaders. Several issues recurred across nearly all state reports and panel discussions, including immigration enforcement, water and permitting pressure, ultra-processed food regulation, raw milk legalization and more.

For more on how state-level advocacy interacts with NMPF’s federal leadership, Allyson Jones-Brimmer, executive director of the Northeast Dairy Producers Association and Jim Boyle, owner-manager of his family’s dairy in Casa Grande, AZ, and the leader of the Western States Dairy Producers Association, were featured in the July Dairy Defined podcast.

The Past Year Has Been a Great NEXT Year

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

Here’s something to celebrate: The NMPF Export and Trade (NEXT) program is one year old, and already it’s a critical part of dairy’s export success.

NEXT is a voluntary, U.S. dairy product sales overseas and seeks a better alignment of supply and demand for milk and milk products at home. Member cooperatives provide the funding for NEXT by contributing two cents per hundredweight of milk marketed.

That may sound similar to the former Cooperatives Working Together program, but NEXT improves on it in multiple ways. After years of discussions with our members about how to strengthen CWT’s approach — revamp what CWT did, from eligible products to program structure — NEXT is more targeted, more flexible and more transparent, with clear benefits that’s showing through positive effects for its members.

Through NEXT’s first year, which ended at the beginning of July, NEXT committed export assistance on more than 315 million pounds of dairy products destined for international markets. That’s a 73% greater volume than in 2024, the last year of the CWT program, at a cost to its members that’s half of the CWT assessment.

Here are some numbers showing what NEXT is achieving:

  • In its inaugural year, NEXT supported exports of the equivalent of 74 million pounds of butter in the form of butter, anhydrous milkfat and whole milk powder. Add the milkfat exported in the form of cheese, and that figure soars to 126 million pounds of butter equivalent. For comparison, if you changed the U.S. butter standard from 80% to 82%, that would increase U.S. butter use by around 50 million pounds.
  • Beyond helping build overseas markets for U.S. milkfat, NEXT is keeping U.S. cheese competitive in international markets, supporting exports of more than 127 million pounds of cheese.
  • NEXT is also supporting more markets than CWT did. NEXT supported exports to 37 countries over the past 12 months, more than one-third more than CWT would in a typical year.
  • NEXT’s new target market pilots, which provide additional support in key growth markets or markets where U.S. product is preferentially disadvantaged compared to competitors, have also borne fruit. For instance, the United States has once again overtaken New Zealand as the largest butter supplier to Mexico, with NEXT supported volume accounting for over half of the total increase in U.S. sales.
  • Similarly, NEXT’s Skim Milk Powder tariff mitigation program, which helps offset costs created by higher U.S. tariff rates, has helped spur a turnaround in U.S. exports to Indonesia despite U.S. prices sharply diverging from global markets for the past several months. In fact, NEXT commitments were roughly 40% of the U.S. total Nonfat Dry Milk/Skim Milk Powder exports to the country in the past year.

At a fundamental level, NEXT’s export investment has helped grow demand abroad for U.S. dairy and maintain the global competitiveness of participating cooperatives, even when U.S. prices have diverged from global markets.

More work remains to expand U.S. dairy’s presence overseas; NEXT remains just one tool in the toolbox for the U.S. dairy industry to grow export sales abroad. Still, NEXT has become an increasingly critical tool that complements the policy work done to maintain and expand market access abroad as well as the broader promotional efforts of the U.S. Dairy Export Council.

Looking ahead, the program’s future is bright. It’s always seeking new input, and new members — we’re happy to work with any member co-op interested in learning more. We’re only one year in, and NEXT clearly is helping build a brighter future for dairy. We’re thrilled by the opportunity to lead.

 

Gregg Doud

President & CEO, NMPF

 

U.S., Mexican Dairy Leaders Deepen Partnership as USMCA Talks Continue

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

Dairy leaders from the United States and Mexico concluded the 2026 U.S.-Mexico Binational Dairy Summit today with a renewed commitment to strengthening collaboration between the two countries’ dairy sectors, reaffirming shared priorities on trade, innovation and the future of dairy farming against the backdrop of U.S.-Mexico negotiations related to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Held July 29-31 in Querétaro, Mexico, the event brought together dairy industry leaders from the National Milk Producers Federation, the U.S. Dairy Export Council and leading Mexican dairy organizations to discuss issues affecting producers, processors and consumers in both countries.

Participants reaffirmed key principles as part of the eighth annual dairy binational event, supporting policies that promote dairy sector growth and competitiveness in both countries and encouraging continued dialogue and cooperation on issues of mutual interest. The organizations also adopted a new shared principle recognizing the importance of supporting the next generation of dairy farmers in both countries through the exchange of information and experience while creating new opportunities to collaborate on issues critical to the future of the dairy sector.

“The dairy trade relationship between the United States and Mexico is a true success story as our industries have grown in parallel for over three decades” Gregg Doud, president and CEO of NMPF, said. “Central to that success is an open dialogue. We look forward to continuing work together to address shared challenges and develop our markets together.”

“Strong industry partnerships complement strong trade relationships,” Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC, said. “Our continued collaboration helps ensure dairy producers and processors in both countries are well positioned to meet growing demand and strengthen the dairy sector in the United States and Mexico. We appreciate Mexico hosting this important event and we look forward to maintaining this critical relationship to support our farmers on both sides of the border.”

The organizations agreed to expand collaboration in the months ahead, with particular attention to supporting young dairy farmers, promoting dairy’s nutritional benefits and maintaining open communication as the USMCA review process advances.

The summit followed the third round of U.S.-Mexico negotiations related to the USMCA, in which NMPF and USDEC participated as advisors to U.S. trade negotiators, underscoring the importance of continued industry engagement as the two governments work to strengthen the bilateral trading relationship.

Whole Milk x 5 = The Importance of Trade

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

Fact: Getting whole milk back in school meals this fall is a big deal.

Thanks to the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act and demand from parents across the country, the most popular variety of milk in the United States is back on lunch trays, benefiting the next generation of milk drinkers.

The return of whole and 2% varieties also will absorb a lot of U.S. butterfat, a boon for dairy producers who have struggled with a supply imbalance. A reasonable estimate of how much whole milk will be consumed by American schoolkids shows additional demand that would be equivalent to nearly 24 million pounds of milkfat — for perspective, that’s enough to make that’s almost 120 million sticks of butter — in additional market need. That boosts dairy demand and improves prices for farmers.

But amid the excitement of bringing whole and 2% milk to schools in the United States, another slower moving, but in some ways even bigger, story is worth a comparison, in part because it’s become so taken for granted that it doesn’t grab attention the same way as whole milk on a lunch plate: Just how much rising exports increasingly support dairy prosperity.

Back to those 120 million butter sticks. That’s the potential demand contribution from whole milk in schools. But in 2026, the amount of milkfat sent overseas rose by more than 160 million pounds from 2025. That’s about 800 million sticks of butter. And trade volumes keep growing, as the United States increases market share and rising global incomes increase demand for the high quality, nutritious, great tasting products that U.S. dairy farmers and their cooperatives supply.

So as summer vacation starts to wind down and kids look forward to better school nutrition this fall, remember there’s another good story beyond the classroom.

American milk producers advance by boosting demand at home, building a (literally) stronger future through a healthier population that relies on and appreciates dairy. But dairy’s future also lies in sales overseas, with an entire world of rising demand. Be thankful that American kids can get whole milk in schools. And also be thrilled that kids worldwide are benefiting just as much from all-American dairy.