Author: Theresa Sweeney

House GSP Bill Supports Fair Market Access for U.S. Dairy Farmers

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Milk Producers Federation, U.S. Dairy Export Council and Consortium for Common Food Names commended today’s House Ways and Means Committee markup of a bill that would renew the Generalized Systems of Preferences (GSP) trade program with new agriculture-specific eligibility criteria, giving U.S. dairy producers a fairer opportunity to sell their products in key markets. GSP has not been in effect since it expired at the end of 2020.

The GSP trade program helps developing countries use trade to grow their economies by eliminating U.S. duties for a wide range of products. GSP-eligible countries must meet certain conditions. Today’s bill will introduce new provisions for the agriculture industry, including requirements that beneficiary countries provide open and equitable market access to U.S. agriculture exports and protect the generic use of common food and beverage terms like “parmesan” and “feta.”

“American dairy producers and cooperatives rely upon fair access to international markets,” said Gregg Doud, NMPF president and CEO. “We’re thankful for Representatives Smith, Panetta and Fischbach’s leadership on preserving market access for U.S. dairy exports and sending a message to competitors who try to create an unlevel playing field.”

“The U.S. dairy community is grateful for these expanded criteria, which will enable America’s dairy farmers and producers to compete on a level playing field in these new and growing markets,” said Krysta Harden, USDEC president and CEO. “A special thank you to Representatives Adrian Smith, Jimmy Panetta, and Michelle Fischbach, who continue to be champions for the U.S. dairy industry. Now more than ever, our members count on exports to succeed, and we look forward to supporting this bill through to the finish line.”

As the European Union continues to try to monopolize common name foods and beverages  by imposing overreaching geographical indication policies on countries worldwide, the new GSP eligibility requirements would provide a vital response on behalf of American cheesemakers.

“The European Union has expanded its protectionist and anti-competitive campaign to monopolize common name food and beverages well beyond its borders, to countries in every corner of the globe,” said Jaime Castaneda, CCFN executive director. “The U.S. government has the political and economic influence to fight back. We’re pleased to see that Congress is starting to utilize the tools at its disposal to secure producers’ common names rights.”

Biosecurity Top-of-Mind with HPAI

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Biosecurity – what it is, and how to achieve it – is at the top of every dairy farmer’s mind as cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) have been found in dairy cattle in several states. Every farmer can take simple, but meaningful, steps to ensure a well-protected industry, said Karen Jordan, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, chairwoman of the National Dairy FARM Program’s animal care task force, and a member of NMPF’s Board of Directors, in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today.

“When you start trying to protect against organisms that you can’t see, that puts you in a whole different ballpark,” said Jordan, who also raises about 200 dairy cattle in Siler City, NC. “The bright side is, we’ve got a disease that we don’t have dead animals. We do have an economic disruption, severely. But this gives us an opportunity to really take a hard look at our farms and see what that biosecurity really needs to look like and then how we really enhance it.”

Jordan is joined in the podcast by NMPF’s Chief Science Officer, Jamie Jonker, who is leading NMPF’s HPAI response. The Dairy Defined podcast, you can find and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music under the podcast name “Dairy Defined.”

Media outlets may use clips from the podcast on the condition of attribution to the National Milk Producers Federation.

NMPF, IDFA Concerned with Final WIC Rule Reducing Access to Dairy

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) expressed disappointment in the final rule released today to update the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), which maintained the proposed rule’s cuts to dairy in the WIC food packages. WIC is a vital program ensuring that pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and children have access to key nutrients that may be lacking in their diets, so decreasing the amount of dairy decreases the nutrients they are accessing through it.

“NMPF is disturbed by the decision to reduce access to the essential nutrients dairy adds to the diet,” said Gregg Doud, NMPF president and CEO. “Nutrition science demonstrates that dairy products like milk, yogurt and cheese are especially important for women, infants, and children; meanwhile, nearly 90% of Americans don’t meet the number of dairy servings recommended by the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This rule works against the WIC Program’s goal of ensuring all Americans have consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, and affordable foods.”

Milk, cheese, and yogurt are three of the five top redeemed items through WIC. They also provide three of the four nutrients of public health concern identified in the 2020 guidelines.

“At a time of rising food costs, it‘s important to focus on increasing access to a wide variety of healthful, nutrient-dense, and affordable foods, including dairy products,” Doud said. “It’s disappointing that the final rule limits WIC family purchasing power for nutritious dairy foods.”

While disappointed in the cuts to the dairy allotments in the WIC packages, NMPF and IDFA appreciate the rule’s requirement that states offer lactose-free milk and a wider selection of product package sizes. These changes will help make dairy products more accessible for all WIC participants.

Speaking for IDFA, President and CEO Michael Dykes, D.V.M., said, “This final rule cuts the amount of milk that can be purchased by up to 3 gallons per family per month at a time of high food prices, stubborn inflation, and rising hunger rates, and harms nutrition security by disregarding the Dietary Guidelines’ findings that dairy items in the WIC food package are under-consumed. IDFA has polled WIC participants and 35% say they will need to use non-WIC funds to cover purchases of milk and dairy due to these cuts. Another 33% say the cuts will make their shopping for milk and dairy products harder. Some may decide not to reenroll in WIC because of the cuts. Partners like state WIC agencies, local health clinics, and anti-hunger groups will be forced to explain USDA’s WIC cuts to 6 million low-income mothers and children under the age of five.

“We do, however, recognize and appreciate how the final rule authorizes purchases of lactose-free milk and offers new flexibilities for yogurt and cheese that make it easier for WIC participants to access nutritious dairy foods that meet their family’s dietary needs. For example, IDFA has worked for many years to create flexibility what allows WIC participants to swap a portion of their milk allotment for reasonably sized portions of yogurt (such as 4 oz., 5.3 oz., and 6 oz. cups) totaling up to 32 ounces, rather than one 32-ounce tub. With that change in place, WIC participants will have greater access to a nutrient-dense food that helps participants meet the program’s nutrient recommendations. We look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with USDA to encourage states to fully utilize the rule’s provisions that expand options for yogurt and cheese, and to mitigate the cuts to milk benefits,” said Dykes.

Economists Confident in NMPF Milk-Pricing Plan

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The briefs are in, and now it’s up to USDA to consider the arguments and craft a proposed modernization for Federal Milk Marketing Orders, which govern milk pricing. NMPF economists Peter Vitaliano and Stephen Cain said they’re confident in the strength of NMPF’s proposals in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today.

“If you were to read through our brief, I think you’d be struck by the fact that it is an integrated, well-reasoned, constructive proposal for doing some long overdue maintenance on the federal order program to position it for many more years of effective operation,” said Vitaliano, vice president for economic policy and market research at NMPF. “We’re very confident that when we see what USDA comes up with in a recommended decision in early July, we’re very confident that we’ve made a good enough case, that a lot of it will be adopted.”

More on NMPF’s federal order efforts can be found on nmpf.org. The Dairy Defined podcast, you can find and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify under the podcast name “Dairy Defined.”

FARM Prepares for Workforce Development Updates, Launches Sustainability Resource

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Dairy FARM Program is preparing for version updates and new resources across multiple program areas. The FARM Workforce Development (WFD) Program made strides in March toward its evaluation tool Version 2 updates, and the FARM Environmental Stewardship (ES) Program launched a new database for sustainability resources.

The NMPF Board of Directors in March approved minor adjustments to the FARM WFD evaluation tool. The evaluation is restructured to better group questions of similar themes and contains seven additional questions to further strengthen the evaluation. The updated evaluation, FARM WFD Version 2, will launch July 1. FARM will offer updated trainings and resources for FARM evaluators and farmers who participate in the program.

The voluntary FARM WFD evaluation addresses best management practices that can enhance HR and safety management. Dairy cooperatives and processors can use the program to provide customer assurances around farm-level labor topics.

FARM ES published a comprehensive database of funding opportunities and sustainability resources for dairy producers. It was developed with support from SCS Consulting and is available for free on the FARM Program website. The library contains financial resources, including grants, cost-share, loan programs and other incentives.

Users can navigate through government, nonprofit, extension, state planning tools and other resources via filters by state, level of funding assistance, type of assistance, etc. The FARM Program will continue to incorporate new features throughout the year.

NMPF Presses USTR on Trade Barriers, New Markets

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) annual National Trade Estimate (NTE) report released Mar. 29 highlights several trade barrier and market access priorities that NMPF and USDEC have pointed out to the agency.

In Oct. 23 comments submitted to USTR as it developed the document, NMPF and USDEC detailed how the United States’ ongoing lack of new tariff-reducing trade agreements and uneven enforcement of existing agreements has put the U.S. dairy industry at a competitive disadvantage. The comments also summarized country-specific barriers that governments around the world are using to impede U.S. dairy exports.

Several of those nontariff barrier concerns were captured in the trade estimate as priorities for USTR, including:

  • Canada’s trade-restrictive administration of its U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement dairy tariff-rate-quotas,
  • Resolving Egypt’s protectionist and inconsistent Halal requirements,
  • Finding a solution for Indonesia’s facility registration delays,
  • Complex EU regulatory requirements that risk clogging trade flows.

NMPF Welcomes House Ag Labor Working Group Final Report, Calls for Legislative Action

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF lauded the House Agriculture Committee’s March 7 release of its bipartisan Agriculture Labor Working Group’s final report. The final recommendations represent the culmination of nearly nine months of discussions among working group members and stakeholders, including NMPF.

NMPF specifically commended working group members for unanimously supporting opening the H-2A agricultural visa program to dairy farmers and other year-round employers. NMPF staff had previously briefed the working group on dairy’s workforce needs and served as the dairy industry policy resource during the drafting of the group’s initial report, which was released last November.

“We commend the House Agriculture Committee and its Ag Labor Working Group for forging ahead and reaching agreement on recommendations to make badly needed reforms to our nation’s H-2A agricultural visa program,” said NMPF president and CEO Gregg Doud in a statement.  “We are especially grateful for the working group’s unanimous support for allowing dairy farmers and other year-round employers long-sought access to the program.”.

Election-year dynamics create a difficult climate for ag labor legislation, but NMPF hopes that the bipartisan consensus reached in the final report can help set the table for any possible opportunity to address dairy’s workforce concerns of accessing H-2A and protecting dairy’s current workers and their families.

“Dairy’s workforce needs remain dire, and we urge Congress to heed the Ag Labor Working Group’s strong recommendation,” said Doud.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman GT Thompson, R-PA, and Ranking Member David Scott, D-GA, formally launched the Agriculture Labor Working Group last June. Thompson and Scott deputized committee members Reps. Rick Crawford, R-AR, and Don Davis, D-NC, to spearhead the working group.

“Again, thanks to the committee and to its leadership, Chairman GT Thompson, R-PA, and Ranking Member David Scott, D-GA, as well as Working Group co-chairs Reps. Rick Crawford, R-AR, and Don Davis, D-NC, for their bipartisan leadership in this important and timely effort,” said Doud.

NMPF Shapes Supply Chain Policies

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The House passed the bipartisan Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act of 2023, a key NMF trade-policy priority, on Mar. 21 by unanimous consent.

Led by Reps. Dusty Johnson, R-SD, and John Garamendi, D-CA, the legislation would update supply chain data standards, establish reciprocal trade as part of the Federal Maritime Commission’s mission in enforcing the Shipping Act, and introduce a formal process to report complaints against certain shipping exchanges. NMPF and USDEC endorsed the legislation to help provide greater supply chain transparency and reliability for dairy exporters.

The bill complements the Federal Maritime Commission’s Feb. 23 publication of its final rule on detention and demurrage billing practices, which incorporates several recommendations made by NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC).

As an important part of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) implementation – which NMPF championed – the final rule requires common carriers and marine terminal operators to:

  • Include specific minimum information on demurrage and detention invoices;
  • Outline certain detention and demurrage billing practices, such as determination of which parties may appropriately be billed for demurrage or detention charges; and
  • Set timeframes for issuing invoices.

CWT Task Force Assesses Member Export Capabilities

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The task force of farmers and cooperative leaders leading the initiative to renew Cooperatives Working Together in late March issued a survey to NMPF’s members seeking data about the products they manufacture, and also feedback on the value of CWT to their organization and the broader dairy community.

The task force, formed earlier this year to consider how the CWT program should evolve in the future to better meet the needs of its members, is generating ideas to present a series of potential extensions of CWT’s current operations to the NMPF Board of Directors for approval. The survey sent to NMPF cooperatives CEOs seeks information about the type and volume of products manufactured by the membership. The resulting data will be analyzed to assess the potential for expanding the range of products that CWT supports.

Other ideas for CWT’s future activities include expanding the demand for new and different products in foreign markets and improving the collective logistics efficiencies of members’ supply chain processes. The task force will continue to meet virtually to refine these concepts and propose detailed proposals to the NMPF Board.

March CWT-Assisted Export Sales Total 9.5 Million Pounds

CWT member cooperatives secured over 70 contracts in March, adding 9.5 million pounds of product to CWT-assisted sales in 2024. In milk equivalent, this is equal to 96.9 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. These products will go to customers in Asia, Central America, the Caribbean, Middle East-North Africa, Oceania and South America and will be shipped from March through August 2024.

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 cheese, butter, anhydrous milkfat, cream cheese, or whole milk powder, moving products into world markets is essential. CWT provides a means to move domestic dairy products to overseas markets by helping to overcome U.S. dairy’s trade disadvantages.

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

NMPF Secures Policy and Funding Wins in Final Ag Spending Deal

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF worked closely with Congress on several key provisions of a spending bill, ranging from school milk to broadband access, that were included this year’s appropriations for the USDA and FDA that President Biden signed into law March 9.

Among the law’s highlights for dairy is legislative language supporting the consumption of milk and dairy products.

  • The bill requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow 1% and fat-free flavored milk to be offered at all grade levels, not just in high school, when it finalizes its upcoming school nutrition standards rulemaking;
  • It prevents the final school nutrition rule from limiting sodium, which is often added to cheese for functional purposes, in a manner more restrictive than the Target 2 sodium levels published in USDA’s 2012 school meals rule; and
  • The explanatory statement accompanying the bill directs USDA not to reduce the maximum monthly milk allowance under the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program as it finalizes updates to the WIC foods package.

The enacted measure also funds numerous important agriculture programs. Dairy highlights include:

  • $90 million for the ReConnect program, the USDA Rural Development program working to provide broadband service to eligible rural areas;
  • $12 million for the Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives program, which provides direct technical assistance and grants to dairy businesses to further the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products;
  • $10 million for the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network, a USDA program aimed at connecting those working in agriculture to stress assistance and support programs; and
  • $3 million for the Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives Projects authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill to create pilot programs to increase milk consumption among SNAP households.

In addition to what the bill offers, the final bill does not include funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) pilot projects limited to “nutrient dense” foods as defined by the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans. NMPF advocated against this provision, as whole and reduced-fat (2%) milk would not have been able to be included in the pilots because the current guidelines only recommend consumption of low-fat and fat-free milk varieties.

February DMC Margin Gains Nearly $1/cwt Over January

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The February margin under the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program rose by $0.96/cwt from a month earlier to $9.44/cwt, triggering a payment of $0.06/cwt for coverage at the $9.50/cwt maximum Tier 1 level.

The rise was due to a $0.50/cwt increase in the February U.S. average all-milk price to $20.60/cwt, and a $0.46/cwt drop in the DMC feed cost formula, mostly as a result of lower corn prices.

Futures-based forecasts at the end of March indicated that DMC margins would remain mostly above the $9.50/cwt maximum Tier 1 coverage level during the remainder of the current calendar year, with possible brief dips below this level in late spring.

NMPF, FARM Respond to Avian Influenza Cases with Information, Guidance

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF and the FARM Program helped guide dairy farmers through an emerging biosecurity concern with timely, accurate information and industry-leading resources as the first cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) appeared in U.S. dairy cattle.

While the scope of bird flu in dairy is limited – a handful of cases scatted among several states – and no risk is being posed toward consumers, the new challenge has galvanized the industry toward identifying best practices in containing illness and minimizing impacts on dairy farmers and processors, with NMPF serving as a central information resource and FARM Biosecurity proving its value as an essential resource for farmers and dairy companies.

NMPF Chief Science Officer Dr. Jamie Jonker served as a leading industry expert and spokesperson shortly after the first USDA confirmation of HPAI in Texas dairy cattle March 25. Working with Senior Director of Communications Theresa Murphy, NMPF began crafting member alerts offering resources and information to farmers the previous week. Since then, NMPF has released five more alerts and created a web page dedicated to bird flu information, complementing the FARM Program’s Biosecurity page as a critical resource to manage bird flu-related challenges.

Jonker also led an April 1 NMPF member and FARM participant webinar on the topic that also featured Dr. Mark Lyons from USDA and Dr. Fred Gingrich from the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, giving the latest information on the fast-moving situation. The webinar attracted 1,380 registrants and will be followed up by more informational sessions in the future.

NMPF members and FARM Program participants with questions on HPAI should contact Dr. Jonker at jjonker@nmpf.org