Author: Theresa Sweeney

U.S. Cheese Producers Win Major Victory with Gruyere Ruling

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

U.S. cheese producers won a significant victory March 3 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that “gruyere” is a common name for a variety of cheese, and not a designation of geographic origin.

The win came after intense efforts by the NMPF trade policy team, working with the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN) to secure the key legal victory against French and Swiss groups seeking to appropriate the name “gruyere” in the U.S. market. The ruling means that U.S. gruyere producers can continue to market and sell gruyere in the United States. It also sets an excellent precedent that helps ensure common food names will be protected domestically against EU efforts to erect nontariff trade barriers by appropriating them for their exclusive use.

Capturing the momentum from the Court of Appeals’ ruling, the trade policy team, who also staff CCFN, will continue to work alongside USDEC to secure firm and clear commitments assuring the future use of common cheese names at risk of EU confiscation. CCFN release a video in March explaining the organization’s work and challenges; learn more about CCFN’s work by watching it here.

FARM Animal Care 5.0 Advances at Board Meeting

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

In addition to endorsing a path forward on Federal Milk Marketing Order modernization, NMPF’s Board of Directors also voted to approve a package of updates to Version 5 of the FARM Program’s Animal Care standards.

The board on March 9 endorsed the overall package developed by the FARM program’s committee structure, including its Animal Care Task Force and the NMPF Animal Health and Well-Being Committee. It withdrew for further consideration one program proposal updating provisions to include additional guidance on broken tail scoring. The board will revisit that proposal, which would update the scoring approach for the existing version 4 benchmark about broken tails in lactating cows, at NMPF’s June Board meeting.

The goal of FARM and NMPF, which administers the program, is to implement the overall Version 5 Animal Care standards July 1, 2024. An industry-wide Town Hall about the Animal Care standards will be held April 6. Registration for the Town Hall is here.

The FARM Program also shared progress updates for its Environmental Stewardship and Workforce Development program areas at the March meeting.

Dairy Leaders Unanimously Endorse NMPF Milk-Pricing Plan at March Meeting

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF’s Board of Directors unanimously endorsed March 7 a proposal to modernize the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO), a milestone that caps more than two years of discussion and more than 130 meetings on different aspects of the proposal.

The plan approved at NMPF’s March board meeting would reinvigorate the FMMO system, which guides milk pricing, to reflect an industry that’s evolved significantly since the last comprehensive revamp in 2000. It’s a proposal all dairy can get behind, said Randy Mooney, chairman of NMPF’s board of directors and a dairy farmer from Rogersville, MO.

“After gathering dairy’s best minds and consulting with partners across the industry, today we are moving forward with a comprehensive FMMO proposal the entire industry can get behind,” Mooney said. “We look forward to leading a thorough, deliberative process as we submit this proposal to USDA and partner with our allies to modernize milk pricing in ways that serve dairy farmers and the entire industry.”

The board reviewed a package of changes initially developed and proposed by a task force of NMPF cooperative experts and later approved by the organization’s Economic Policy Committee. The adopted changes, listed here, reflects the industry’s evolution while benefiting the farmers who form the bedrock of U.S. dairy.

With the board’s approval, NMPF’s next step is to move toward submitting the proposal to USDA as the basis for a federal order hearing while continuing conversations with other dairy stakeholder partners, a move expected in late April. NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern said the organization stands ready to assist farmers, the dairy industry and federal officials in any way it can as the process unfolds.

“We believe in a better future for this industry, and this proposal will help build that future,” he said.

NMPF’s board also welcomed new directors — Jacob Larson of Southeast Milk Inc., and Michael Lichte of Dairy Farmers of America – and released its annual report, highlighting the activities and accomplishments of the past year.

NMPF is the only nationwide organization devoted to advancing the interests of all dairy farmers of all sizes in all regions. A federation of dairy cooperatives, NMPF embodies the spirit of farmer self-help and community leadership.

Board members also discussed:

  • The need to build upon an FDA proposal on plant-based beverage labeling that doesn’t go far enough to end the mislabeling of imitation products using dairy terms;
  • Industry leadership in animal care, environmental stewardship, and workforce development through the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program;
  • How sound policy can contribute to another record year of U.S. dairy exports; and
  • Potential farm-bill priorities.

March CWT-Assisted Dairy Export Sales Totaled 2.5 Million Pounds

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

CWT member cooperatives secured 31 contracts in March, adding 1.8 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 168,000 pounds of butter, and 522,000 pounds of cream cheese to CWT-assisted sales in 2023. In milk equivalent, this is equal to 24.1 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. These products will go to customers in Asia, Central America, the Caribbean and Middle East-North Africa, and will be shipped from March through September 2023.

CWT-assisted 2023 dairy product sales contracts year-to-date total 12.6 million pounds of American-type cheese, 550,000 pounds of butter, 2.5 million pounds of cream cheese and 17.8 million pounds of whole milk powder. This brings the total milk equivalent for the year to 278.3 million pounds on a milkfat basis.

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.

Milk Pricing Modernization Now at a Pivotal Point

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

After more than 150 meetings of our dairy farmer members and co-op technical experts. After extensive outreach and consultation with national organizations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation and state and regional dairy associations. And after multiple unanimous votes at all levels of our organization, NMPF this month will submit to USDA our proposal for the first significant update of the Federal Milk Marketing Order system since 2000.

All those meetings, as well as the preparation and examination that accompanies them, add up to many hours and an incredible amount of analysis on Federal Milk Marketing Orders. But by doing the heavy lifting – one that understands and accounts for the reality that a change to one part of the system affects other important parts — we at the National Milk Producers Federation feel confident in the comprehensive proposal our Board of Directors unanimously approved last month.

While the process of a USDA FMMO hearing and a referendum vote by producers will take some time, we’ve already come a long way toward achieving improvements to milk pricing that will modernize this important program. Through our proposal, dairy farmers have found common ground, and we believe the broader dairy sector can rally around these efforts to strengthen our industry. Important components of our proposal include:

  • A return to the “higher of” Class I mover that’s fairer for farmers than the current system that seemed reasonable when it was included in the 2018 Farm Bill, but which the COVID-19 pandemic showed exposes farmers to disproportionate price risks during market disruptions;
  • Updated milk component factors for protein, other solids and nonfat solids in the Class III and Class IV skim milk price formulas, recognizing that these components have increased in the U.S. farm milk supply since the current formulas were established;
  • Specific make allowance adjustment numbers for the four products contained in the Class III/IV pricing formulas – cheese, dry whey, butter and nonfat dry milk – to help address increases in processing costs, as well as creating a mechanism to keep those calculations up-to-date; and
  • Updated Class I differential prices that reflect changes in the cost of delivering bulk milk to fluid processing plants.

This is difficult work, and at times it’s involved difficult conversations. But the alignment we’ve achieved among farmers, cooperatives and the cooperative-owned processing community has been one of the most critical, and gratifying, parts of the process.

An important principle we’ve followed is that, while building consensus, we’ve recognized that we can’t craft solutions that are one-size-fits all, nor can any proposal succeed when it’s narrowly tailored to what amounts to one-size-fits-one. What do I mean by that? As we quickly learned when we first started looking at federal reform in 2021 with a re-examination of the Class I Mover, a narrowly targeted approach doesn’t work when there are other major imbalances in the system.

In the end, we didn’t pursue Class I alone because we found serious modernization required a serious look at all aspects of federal milk marketing orders and their complex interactions. Now that we’ve done exactly that, we are hoping the industry can broadly rally around the conclusions at which we’ve painstakingly arrived. We owe it to this industry – and especially to the farmers who are at the heart of it – an honest, deliberative, thorough approach that creates opportunities for everyone to thrive.

Our proposal has come after discussions that reflect the great diversity of this industry. We’ve been transparent, driven by an interest in the industry’s overall success, and we aren’t afraid to lay our cards on the table with specific numbers and forecasted impacts. On the make allowance, for example, the majority of our farmers are members of cooperatives that own dairy processing plants; therefore, they have a vested interest in setting the make allowance at the right level — from both the producer and processor perspective. That balance, which runs throughout our proposal, is what is needed to modernize this important program.

After leading the most comprehensive discussion of federal orders this industry’s seen in the past quarter-century, we’re confident we’ve crafted solutions that all of dairy should get behind – with the unanimous approval our board gave to it in March as evidence of our hard work and dedication to consensus. We are heartened by the strong support among dairy farmers from coast to coast for this proposal. A comprehensive, thoughtful, measured, farmer-centric approach to modernizing the program is exactly what USDA should consider as the basis for a national federal order hearing, and we are proud to offer it.

To better understand our proposal, please explore our website at www.nmpf.org. We of course encourage feedback and any helpful comments that should be considered when finalizing our submission, which is currently under way. To reach out to us with questions as we move toward a federal hearing, feel free to write us at info@nmpf.org.

We’re looking forward to advancing this industry in collaboration and partnership. As the national organization representing most of the dairy producers who, in the end, are the ones voting on any changes to the FMMO system, we take our responsibilities seriously. And we look forward to discussing and advocating for our proposal as this critical next phase begins.

Jim Mulhern

President & CEO, NMPF

 

 

Be It Bank or Beverage, Choices Matter

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

While we’ll leave fuller explanations for the turmoil financial institutions such as Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and others to those with more expertise, it’s clear that good-old-fashioned poor choices played a role.

It turns out that betting heavily on low-interest government debt when that government is hiking interest rates to fight inflation might not work well; nor is overloading your portfolio on cryptocurrency. And given that propensity for bad bets, it isn’t shocking to see what Silicon Valley Bank had to say about plant and cell-based meat-and-dairy alternatives in this 2019 analysts’ report, which mixed tired tropes of the ills of animal agriculture with boosterism for the future of dairy ripoffs like Ripple and Perfect Day as well as alt-protein companies like Beyond Meat, which “has wowed consumers with its realistic taste and meat-like appearance,” according to the authors.

“At Silicon Valley Bank, we embrace the future of the food industry. We have deep expertise working with foodtech companies and strong ties to the Silicon Valley ecosystem,” the analysts wrote. “If you are working in this space and would like to learn more about SVB’s role, please reach out to chat.”

Of course, we know that that turned out. Beyond Meat stock is now considered a “recipe for disaster” due in part because of its wildly self-inflated expectations. Plant-based beverage sales fell last year. And Silicon Valley Bank? It’s now part of First Citizens Bank & Trust Company after being unloaded by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which took over the institution upon Silicon Valley’s failure.

So yes, perhaps it’s time to “reach out to chat.” About how venture capital investors have thrown good money after bad at products of questionable quality that are more about marketing pitch than actual market need. About how banks seeking a quick buck put depositors at risk with poor investment choices, which include those products. And about how high-quality, proven nutrition, with a product that’s been in demand for millennia, might, unsurprisingly, be the best investment anyone could make – both for consumers and for investors who’d happily have a little less drama in their financial futures.

Dairy, like every other industry, has its challenges, which it’s dedicated to meet. But with record exports and the highest U.S. per-capita consumption since 1959, it’s a safe bet to say its future is bright. That’s what you get with real quality.

You can bank on it.

IDF World Dairy Summit Returns to the United States, Registration Open

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Registration opens today for the International Dairy Federation (IDF) World Dairy Summit 2023 to be held October 16-19 in Chicago, Illinois.

The Summit is returning to the United States for the first time in 30 years and is the world’s largest annual global dairy conference. Under the theme “BE Dairy…Boundless Potential and Endless Possibilities,” the Summit’s immersive program will bring together dairy leaders and renowned experts to address dairy’s most significant opportunities in a dynamic global marketplace.

Hosted by the United States National Committee of the IDF (US-IDF), the IDF World Dairy Summit is expected to attract more than 1000 participants and expert speakers from around the world, including industry leaders, scientists, and producers. The Summit’s expo will showcase dairy companies, suppliers, dairy trade organizations, and products while 23+ thematic sessions offer engaging content from health and nutrition to sustainable production, consumer expectations, policy and innovation.

Set against the backdrop of beautiful Chicago, the best of American food, arts, music, and culture will be on full display, and participants will have easy access to some of America’s most famed dairy regions. Attendees will have the option to register for half-day, one and two-day farm and technical tours showcasing the diversity of U.S. dairy farms, research centers, processing facilities and retail in America’s heartland states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.

Register online at www.idfwds2023.com by June 30 to receive a discounted rate. Full IDF World Dairy Summit 2023 details and program available here. Sponsorship opportunities are available.

Credentialed members of the news media should contact heather.oldani@dairy.org to express interest in registering. News media must present credentials to qualify for registration and special rates.

If You Want Equity, You Want Milk

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Faced with demand that’s found its ceiling and with its sustainability and health claims coming increasingly under question, the plant-based imitation milk marketing machine is now coming for your children. Despite the critical importance of dairy nutrients to childhood development, nut-based beverage purveyors are pushing for their white-colored sugar water to have greater access to federal nutrition programs, all in the name of “equity” – an emphasis on fairness and justice that’s become an important paradigm in policy debates.

But equity, in food, requires a quality product and equality in access. And for that, milk, a natural product offered with both regular and lactose-free options, remains by far the best solution. Equity in food policy means making sure that everyone has access to the nutrients they need to thrive. The federal school lunch and breakfast programs, the WIC Program, and other initiatives are meant to ensure nutrition for all.

Lactose intolerance is a concern for populations that have higher rates of difficulty absorbing lactose, particularly African American, Asian American, American Indian and Hispanic/Latino populations. That, unfortunately, is now being used by dairy’s opponents to tout their inferior nutrition as a solution to the problem lactose intolerance.

The latest ploy among the vegan, animal rights and plant-based lobbies is to suddenly paint themselves as social justice crusaders, demanding that their nutritionally inferior (which, even when fortified, remain unequal to dairy’s unique nutritional package) products should now be treated as legitimate milk substitutes in federal nutrition programs – all the while conveniently forgetting that a widely available alternative already exists that circumvents lactose intolerance and delivers the exact same nutritional profile as milk. Because that’s what it is.

The lactose-free milk moment has arrived.

To note: This year, at its current pace, lactose-free milk consumption is set to overtake almond beverages – the most popular plant-based category — in overall U.S. sales volume. Its total consumption is already more than half that of the entire plant-based sector, and it’s four times as much as oat drink, the current darling for aficionados of heavily processed, artificially colored liquids. The rise of low- and no-lactose milk comes even though Starbuck’s doesn’t serve it, many consumers unfortunately aren’t even sure that it comes from a cow, and it doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves as a solution to lactose intolerance – because the plant-based beverage-makers who shout loudest care more about their marketing pitch and ideologies than in actual nutrition solutions.

Imagine how equitable a solution it would be for lactose-intolerant populations if nutrition programs touted lactose-free milk as aggressively as plant-based lobbyists tout their artificially concocted, nutritionally inferior beverages. And when you think of it that way, it’s an insult to the spirit of equity to tell lactose-intolerant children that they should receive nutrition that’s unequal to what others receive.

These are sensitive topics, but for an honest discussion, sometimes it’s important to “go there.” Fortunately, we’re seeing encouraging signs of progress, with recent USDA proposals beginning to acknowledge the need for greater lactose-free dairy access in federal nutrition programs.

But to get the most equitable nutrition policy, it’s important to point out what equity would look like. It doesn’t mean self-serving arguments designed to goose sales for the declining plant-based beverage industry. It doesn’t mean allowing their advocates to cynically tout a “solution” that would worsen nutrition outcomes. It means making sure that everyone – especially children – gets the best available nutrition, so that everyone has an opportunity to thrive.

And that means milk. We’re more than able to provide that solution.

On Labeling, Keep Your Eye on the Carton

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

FDA has finally offered its draft guidance on the “Labeling of Plant-Based (Nutritionally Inferior and Misleading) Milk Alternatives.” So now what?

Pay attention to this:

This is from FDA’s draft guidance, showing labeling best practices for plant-based manufacturers. The guidance itself would allow plant-based beverage manufacturers to keep using “milk” on their labeling, but only if – and this is a huge “if” – they include disclosures like the ones above specifying nutritional differences. That isn’t enough to truly protect consumers, but it’s a start. Even more importantly, the agency has accepted the reality of consumer confusion over nutritional equivalence, the main argument dairy and its allies have been making for years. With that premise acknowledged and accepted, the logical conclusion –end the confusion by getting dairy terms off the labels – becomes much easier to achieve.

The draft guidance gives plant-based beverage purveyors a choice: They can use “milk” with their plant-based term and disclose their differences (i.e. shortcomings) on their packaging, or they can skip the disclaimers by not using a dairy term at all. That’s the solution consumer advocates and dairy farmers have been pushing for all along.

The next few months will be telling in whether the plant-based beverage industry gets the message.

If this guidance is taken seriously, the most misleading labels should start to disappear as packaging gets updated and store shelves get restocked. Many mislabeled “milks” that are really drinks or beverages should start being labeled as drinks or beverages. For those that stubbornly insist on misleading consumers, disclosures should appear – real ones with clear statements, not wiggle words in tiny print that say differences exist without stating what those differences are. The guidance is voluntary, and it’s only a draft, but FDA has put the industry on notice. The next move’s on them.

And it’s on us too, to make sure positive change really happens. FDA’s public comment period on the guidance lasts until April 24. NMPF has directions on how you can submit a comment. Meanwhile, take pictures to post on social media. Write companies that aren’t living up to the labeling example above. FDA’s guidance is far from enough. That’s why we’re pushing to pass the DAIRY PRIDE Act, which would direct FDA to enforce its own standard of identity for milk – which, had that occurred in the first place, plant-based misinformation would never have proliferated.

The fight for transparent labeling, is far from over, but it’s going the right way. Keep your eye on the carton. Change should be coming. It’s up to all of us to make sure that it does.

NMPF Lauds House Re-Introduction of DAIRY PRIDE Act, Following Senate

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

From NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern:

“The National Milk Producers Federation applauds the bipartisan members of the House of Representatives who today re-introduced the DAIRY PRIDE Act, which adds momentum to legislation that saw Senate re-introduction last week and needs to pass Congress this year.

“With proposed FDA guidance that acknowledges the problem of consumer confusion over the nutritional content of plant-based beverages, but doesn’t go far enough to solve the problem by enforcing its own standards of identity and limiting dairy terms used in food labeling to dairy products, DAIRY PRIDE is necessary for FDA to fulfill its own responsibilities.

“To eliminate consumer confusion over their nutritional content, plant-based drinks or beverages shouldn’t be allowed to use dairy terms in their labeling. That’s common-sense, and DAIRY PRIDE is a common-sense solution. We thank the House sponsors of the legislation – Reps. John Joyce, R-PA; Ann Kuster, D-NH; Mike Simpson, R-ID; Joe Courtney, D-CT; Derrick Van Orden, R-WI; and Angie Craig, D-MN – for being champions for consumers in this important nutrition and health issue.

The Defending Against Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, Milk, and Cheese To Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday Act” aka DAIRY PRIDE, requires FDA to enforce its standards of identity and would supersede the inadequate solution it offered last week, in which plant-based beverages could call themselves “milk” as long as they clearly state their nutritional differences with real dairy. FDA is accepting comments on its draft guidance until April 24.

DAIRY PRIDE was introduced in the Senate last week. Lead sponsors in that chamber were: Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI; Jim Risch, R-ID; Peter Welch, D-VT and Susan Collins, R-ME.

Milk-Pricing Proposal Moves Forward as Dairy Leaders Unanimously Endorse NMPF Plan

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Milk Producers Federation’s (NMPF) Board of Directors unanimously endorsed a proposal to modernize the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) system today at its March meeting, a milestone that caps more than two years of discussion and more than 130 meetings on different aspects of the proposal.

The plan to reinvigorate the FMMO system that guides milk pricing reflects an industry that’s evolved significantly since the last comprehensive revamp in 2000. It’s a proposal all dairy can get behind, said Randy Mooney, chairman of NMPF’s board of directors and a dairy farmer from Rogersville, MO.

“After gathering dairy’s best minds and consulting with partners across the industry, today we are moving forward with a comprehensive FMMO proposal the entire industry can get behind,” Mooney said. “We look forward to leading a thorough, deliberative process as we submit this proposal to USDA and partner with our allies to modernize milk pricing in ways that serve dairy farmers and the entire industry.”

The board reviewed a package of changes initially developed and proposed by a task force of NMPF cooperative experts and later approved by the organization’s Economic Policy Committee. The adopted changes, listed here, reflects the industry’s evolution while benefiting the farmers who form the bedrock of U.S. dairy. With the board’s approval, NMPF’s next step is to move toward submitting the proposal to USDA as the basis for a federal order hearing while continuing conversations with other dairy stakeholder partners. NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern said the organization stands ready to assist farmers, the dairy industry and federal officials in any way it can as the process unfolds.

“We believe in a better future for this industry, and this proposal will help build that future,” he said.

Also speaking at the conference is House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-PA, speaking on the farm bill expected in 2023 and other federal issues. NMPF looks forward to working closely with Chairman Thompson, a staunch ally of dairy farmers, to complete work on the 2023 farm bill and other matters.

NMPF’s board also welcomed new directors — Jacob Larson of Southeast Milk Inc., and Michael Lichte of Dairy Farmers of America – and released its annual report, highlighting the activities and accomplishments of the past year.

NMPF is the only nationwide organization devoted to advancing the interests of all dairy farmers of all sizes in all regions. A federation of dairy cooperatives, NMPF embodies the spirit of farmer self-help and community leadership.

Board members are also discussing:

  • The need to build upon an FDA proposal on plant-based beverage labeling that doesn’t go far enough to end the mislabeling of imitation products using dairy terms;
  • Industry leadership in animal care, environmental stewardship, and workforce development through the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program;
  • How sound policy can contribute to another record year of U.S. dairy exports; and
  • Potential farm-bill priorities.

The two-day conference concludes tomorrow.