Author: Theresa Sweeney

U.S. Government Plows Ahead on Canadian USMCA Compliance

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF lauded the administration’s Jan. 31 announcement that the U.S. had requested a second U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) panel to evaluate Canada’s compliance with its USMCA dairy market access obligations. The decision pushes forward the dispute settlement process, slightly more than a month after the U.S. requested consultations with Canada on an expanded set of USMCA dairy tariff-rate quota (TRQ) commitment violations.

Since USMCA’s implementation, Canada has continually flouted the agreement’s TRQ provisions, giving preferential treatment to Canadian processors at the expense of American dairy exporters and Canadian consumers. When this breach was initially confirmed by the first USMCA dispute panel, Canada responded by making only insignificant changes to its TRQ policies. This latest move challenges the persistent problems remaining in Canada’s dairy TRQ system.

NMPF and USDEC have worked closely with the U.S. Trade Representative and USDA throughout the dispute to support their case and demonstrate Canada’s lack of compliance with its USMCA commitments.

Additional Pandemic Payments Announced after Months of NMPF Advocacy

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) commended Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and leading congressional dairy advocates on Jan. 23 for providing $100 million in additional, targeted payments under the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program. The assistance will aid medium-sized and larger producers who missed out on equitable payments during the first round of assistance in 2021 and comes after nearly a year-and-a-half of NMPF effort in tandem with congressional allies.

“While losses due to the combination of unforeseen market circumstances and an inadequate Class I pricing system have not been fully remedied, USDA and congressional efforts will aid thousands of dairy producers who otherwise would have absorbed losses created by policies that didn’t work for them,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “It’s not every day that lawmakers step up and resolve a problem that could have been left to lie. We never gave up, and we’re pleased that others didn’t either.”

NMPF singled out for praise, along with Vilsack, Reps. Sanford Bishop (D-GA); Jim Costa (D-CA); David Valadao (R-CA); Kat Cammack (R-FL); Josh Harder (D-CA); Kim Schrier (D-WA); and Andy Harris (R-MD) as well as Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) for their efforts, which directly reflect their dedication to the dairy farmers who live in their districts and nationwide. “The leadership of these lawmakers, and others, were critical in ensuring that available USDA funds were directed toward their best use – making life fairer for dairy farmers,” Mulhern said. “It’s heartening to see such effective leadership for our industry on Capitol Hill as well as in the administration.”

In this round of payments, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will make PMVAP payments to eligible dairy farmers for fluid milk sales between 5 million and 9 million pounds from July through December 2020. This level of production was not eligible for payment under the first round of the PMVAP, which capped payments at 5 million pounds during that same period. Payment rates will be identical to the first round of payments, which distributed $250 million in assistance to 25,000 dairy farmers. This new round of payments will be made using the $100 million that remained unspent from the initial round.

USDA will again distribute monies through agreements with independent handlers and cooperatives, with reimbursement to handlers for allowed administrative costs. USDA will contact handlers with eligible producers to notify them of the opportunity to participate. More details on the program were included in an NMPF Member Alert sent on Jan. 24.

NMPF will continue in its efforts to remedy losses among dairy farmers of all sizes, as well as for those farmers unable to receive program funds because their milk was not pooled on a Federal Milk Marketing Order but still endured comparable price losses.

NMPF Advances Sustainability Leadership, Member Service With Staff Promotions

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) named Nicole Ayache its first ever chief sustainability officer and Emily Yeiser Stepp the first ever executive director of its National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program, bolstering its sustainability leadership and member service in staff promotions announced today.

NMPF also elevated Louise Kamali and Sage Saffran in recognition of their growing and expanding roles with the organization. Kamali is becoming Vice President, Meetings and Office Services, while Saffran has been promoted to Manager, Sustainability Initiatives.

Each staff member brings unique talents to NMPF, Mulhern said.

“As dairy cooperatives continuously improve their own sustainability and develop new opportunities to benefit their members and their communities, NMPF is excited to have Nicole leading our work in the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainability,” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern. “As the leader of the FARM Program’s Environmental Stewardship initiative, Nicole has already shown how dairy leads agriculture in best practices and stewardship principles. By expanding her role, we are ensuring that both FARM and NMPF’s efforts in these areas will grow under energetic leadership.”

Yeiser Stepp’s new position as Executive Director of the FARM Program comes after nearly five years leading FARM’s strategic initiatives for the U.S. dairy industry’s social responsibility program, encompassing animal care, antibiotic stewardship, biosecurity, environmental stewardship and workforce development. She first joined FARM, a joint initiative of NMPF and Dairy Management Inc., in 2016 and has been integral to its increasingly important role in U.S. dairy.

“Emily’s new role reflects her success in leading our comprehensive efforts to develop FARM as one that assists the entire dairy producer community in addressing and communicating its record of success in managing high quality animal care, as well as farm biosecurity and workforce development,” Mulhern said. “Her strong record of achievement in working with a wide range of industry stakeholders, of managing a growing staff, and of staying ahead of rapidly evolving industry challenges positions her well for her new role – and NMPF for continued success benefiting from her leadership.”

Louise Kamali’s promotion to Vice President, Meetings and Office Services recognizes her significant  and long-standing contributions to the efficient and effective management of numerous organizational meetings as well as the internal administrative functions for both NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council, with which NMPF shares office resources.

“Louise is a unifying presence within our jointly operated office, dedicated to making sure that NMPF and USDEC staff have the tools, assistance, and resources necessary to achieve their best on-the-job results,” Mulhern said. “Whether working with service providers or meeting facilities — or most importantly, our members — as a frontline representative, her expertise, attention to detail, and thorough knowledge of the many moving parts of our organizations continue to significantly and successfully bolster our efforts in ways large and small.”

Kamali has more than 31 years of association experience. February marks her 21st anniversary with NMPF.

Sage Saffran has been promoted to Manager, Sustainability Initiatives. Her new role reflects her expanded responsibilities in managing internal operations for the FARM Environmental Stewardship (ES) and Workforce Development (WFD) programs. Saffran oversees the evaluator training for both initiatives; she also coordinates efforts with FARM team members and contractors to grow evaluator and farmer resources, improve database functionality, develop communications, and promote stakeholder engagement.

In addition to her work with FARM, Sage contributes to important NMPF initiatives, such as the internship program, the Young Cooperators program, and the annual scholarship raffle.

“Since joining NMPF two years ago, Sage has quickly asserted herself as key to the FARM team’s progress and expansion,” Mulhern said. “Her contributions are highly valued, and we look forward to her continued growth as an essential part of NMPF.”

U.S. Dairy Praises USTR Move to Hold Canada Responsible for USMCA Violations

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) commended today’s announcement that the U.S. Trade Representative has formally moved to advance a U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) dispute settlement proceeding and establish a second panel to determine whether Canada has been in violation of its market access obligations under the agreement.

Canada’s unwillingness to abide by the tariff-rate quota provisions of USMCA has been an issue since the agreement’s implementation began. The United States won its first dispute panel on the matter in Dec. 2021, which found that Canada was reserving most of its preferential dairy TRQs for Canadian processors that have little incentive to import product. Canada’s revised approach to USMCA TRQs, released in May, also provided inequitable advantages to Canadian processors.

“Canada’s TRQ allocation system is not only a violation of USMCA — it directly harms American dairy farmers, processors, and other workers by unfairly restricting access to their market,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “USTR’s action is an important step in righting this wrong and sending a message that the U.S. will fight violations of trade deals in Canada and wherever else they may be committed.”

“The U.S. dairy community greatly appreciates the Biden Administration’s decision to prioritize steps to address Canada’s USMCA violations,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “Unfortunately, Canada has shown a pattern of not living up to the dairy commitments it has made in trade agreements. As long as they continue to drag their feet, we’ll continue to work with USTR and USDA to fight back, and propose retaliatory action if necessary.”

If the panel ultimately confirms that Canada has been violating its obligations under USMCA, the U.S. would be granted the right to impose retaliatory duties should Canada fail to fix its unfair TRQ administrative practices.

On Nutrition, It’s Defense That Wins for Dairy

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

While advocating for dairy farmers is always rewarding work, some of its most frustrating, but necessary, challenges come when, instead of working to push policy forward to improve dairy farmers’ lives and businesses, we at NMPF have to push back against proposals that would threaten the progress we’ve made.

Unlike achievements in which the results are clear and tangible – an excellent example is this week’s announcement of $100 million in reimbursements to medium- and larger-sized dairy farmers for pandemic-related losses that weren’t included in an earlier round of payments – sometimes, simply keeping bad things from happening is a policy win.

That’s especially true in the world of nutrition, where diet fads, pseudo-science and well-intentioned, but flawed, plans can work against the benefits of dairy that have been proven over generations. Many of those battles become years-long slogs over arcane definitions, filled with behind-the-scenes meetings with federal officials and full-throated efforts that use up energy to keep bad things from happening rather than make good things happen. In those cases, success isn’t celebrated with a news release and a victory lap – often, it’s the quiet satisfaction of seeing nothing happen at all.

Fortunately for NMPF and dairy, we have a top-notch team of regulatory experts ready for the slogs, working with our government relations and trade staff to provide a formidable defense for dairy and keep a sharp focus on efforts to ensure that consumers can maximize the health benefits of milk, despite short-sighted and misinformed attempts to limit them.

One critical effort underway right now is to ensure that dairy access isn’t reduced in the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Program, which provides critical nutrition assistance for lower-income mothers and children. A USDA proposed rule released last November has its positive points, including approaches that would expand options for yogurt and cheese varieties and authorizes lactose-free milk as an option. But it also includes provisions that would decrease overall access to dairy products. That wouldn’t only reduce access to dairy’s nutrients in WIC – because dairy is one of the most popular parts of the program, reducing access to dairy foods could harm WIC participation altogether.

The USDA rule isn’t final yet, and we are working across the dairy community, including with our counterparts at the International Dairy Foods Association and others, to make sure WIC continues to reduce food insecurity, malnutrition, and diet-related disease while improving health outcomes by making it easier for all Americans to access healthy, affordable dairy foods. This work goes in tandem with our efforts to maintain legislative support for nutrition programs such as WIC, and of course our collaboration with the nutrition community to back critical Farm Bill initiatives such as SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and the Dairy Donation Program.

Another crucial recent fight has been to stymie the cynical exploitation of a true crisis – the infant-formula shortages U.S. families experienced throughout 2022 – by certain agenda-driven groups  and various foreign manufacturers that want American consumers to become dependent on their product, to the detriment of the U.S.’s own dairy manufacturing sector, and consequently U.S. jobs. Last year, we strongly supported well-defined measures that temporarily boosted imports as a way to make sure family needs were met when a critical plant in the highly centralized U.S. formula industry went offline. But as the crisis has faded, foreign interests are attempting to turn short-term reliance into longer-term dependence – and exploit a free-pass on the regulatory process normally required to ship formula to the U.S.

The U.S. is a major supplier of dairy products around the world. It is one of the most reliable dairy industries, with a large pool of high-quality milk. The real reforms needed to ensure we can best handle any potential future supply disruptions are not further unilateral tariff cuts to encourage foreign imports, but rather an overhaul of U.S. policy that makes domestic formula companies better able to invest in new facilities here, as our cheese and ingredient sectors already do. Protecting U.S. families and developing common sense policies doesn’t make an industry “protectionist” – it makes it more robust, and better able to withstand any future disruptions that may occur. That’s why we won’t back down from pursuing policies that will allow the U.S. infant-formula industry to expand.

Those are only two recent efforts we’ve made in defending the key nutrition contributions of U.S. dairy farmers and their cooperatives. There are many others. By mid-month, NMPF, working with its allies, will submit comments on a proposed Food and Drug Administration rule governing the word “healthy” as applied to food products. No one’s opposed to being “healthy,” but FDA’s broad-brush approach in its proposed rule, which relies on old science about fats and fails to adequately distinguish milkfat from other fats, in some cases may not best capture the essential nutrition dairy provides.

Meanwhile, FDA guidance on plant-based beverage labeling still looms, and we’re working to ensure that dairy’s standard of identity is respected. Also on tap is the next Dietary Guidelines for Americans, due in 2025; that process inevitably comes along with the standard interest-group lobbying against dairy, even though the guidelines themselves cite how nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population consumes less dairy than it recommends.

Of course, we’re not always playing defense on these issues. The latest science on dietary fats helps us support the benefits of whole milk within the dietary guidelines and in federal nutrition programs, and the nation’s nutritional needs alone argue for increased support for dairy at the federal policy level. But due to opposition from vegan groups, environmental and other activists who don’t want to hear our story, our successes sometimes come from the bad things we prevent as well as the progress we achieve.

On nutrition, we know that consumers, science and the strength of this industry are on our side. We defend our values and positions well — and that sets us up to keep moving ahead.

President & CEO

National Milk Producers Federation

 

NMPF Applauds Additional Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program Payments

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) commended Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and leading congressional dairy advocates for providing $100 million in additional, targeted payments under the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program that will aid medium-sized and larger producers who missed out on equitable payments during the first round of assistance in 2021.

“While losses due to the combination of unforeseen market circumstances and an inadequate Class I pricing system have not been fully remedied, USDA and congressional efforts will aid thousands of dairy producers who otherwise would have absorbed losses created by policies that didn’t work for them,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “It’s not every day that lawmakers step up and resolve a problem that could have been left to lie. We never gave up, and we’re pleased that others didn’t either.”

NMPF singled out for praise, along with Vilsack, Reps. Sanford Bishop (D-GA); Jim Costa (D-CA); David Valadao (R-CA); Kat Cammack (R-FL); Josh Harder (D-CA); Kim Schrier (D-WA); and Andy Harris (R-MD) as well as Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) for their efforts, which directly reflect their dedication to the dairy farmers who live in their districts and nationwide. “The leadership of these lawmakers, and others, were critical in ensuring that available USDA funds were directed toward their best use – making life fairer for dairy farmers,” Mulhern said. “It’s heartening to see such effective leadership for our industry on Capitol Hill as well as in the administration.”

In this round of payments, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will make PMVAP payments to eligible dairy farmers for fluid milk sales between 5 million and 9 million pounds from July through December 2020. This level of production was not eligible for payment under the first round of the PMVAP, which capped payments at 5 million pounds during that same period. Payment rates will be identical to the first round of payments, which distributed $250 million in assistance to 25,000 dairy farmers.

USDA will again distribute monies through agreements with independent handlers and cooperatives, with reimbursement to handlers for allowed administrative costs. USDA will contact handlers with eligible producers to notify them of the opportunity to participate.

NMPF will continue in its efforts to remedy losses among dairy farmers of all sizes, as well as for those farmers unable to receive program funds because their milk was not pooled on a Federal Milk Marketing Order but still endured similar price losses.

Farmers Face Unique Mental-Health Challenges, Roecker Says

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Farming is a uniquely stressful occupation, and farmer mental-health needs tend to be underserved, said Loganville, WI dairy farmer Randy Roecker in the latest Dairy Defined podcast. Roecker, a board member for Foremost Farms USA, is a co-founder of the Farmer Angel Network, a Wisconsin organization that helps support farmers’ mental health needs.

“A lot of farmers are very isolated and they don’t get off the farm very much. This leads to getting stuck in the same rut over and over again,” he said. “The main thing is to just be there for each other.”

The full podcast is here. You can also find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Broadcast outlets may use the MP3 file below. Please attribute information to NMPF.

Falling Prices, Rising Opportunities on Tap for 2023

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Record milk prices seen in 2022 likely won’t repeat themselves, as production increases and consumers grapple with an economic slowdown, according to members of the NMPF and U.S. Dairy Export Council’s joint economics unit, in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today. But exports are on track to increase, and demand will likely be resilient as dairy remains must-have for buyers.

“Consumers around the world still gravitate towards dairy, even when they’re experiencing tighter economic situations,” said Will Loux, head of the team Vice President for Global Economic Affairs with NMPF and USDEC. “They ultimately view dairy as an essential item and will continue to consume it.”

Loux discusses the global and domestic dairy outlook with NMPF’s Chief Economist, Peter Vitaliano; Economic Research and Analysis Director, Stephen Cain; and the joint economic team’s newest member, Economic Policy and Global Analysis Coordinator, Allison Wilton. The full podcast is here. You can also find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Broadcast outlets may use the MP3 file below. Please attribute information to NMPF.

Protecting Trade from a Foreign Animal Disease Focus of USDA Meeting

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Karen Jordan, DVM and chair of NMPF’s Animal Health and Wellbeing Committee, and Dr. Jamie Jonker, NMPF’s chief science officer, met with USDA APHIS Administrator Kevin Shae and other USDA animal health leadership Dec. 6 to discuss animal-health issues for U.S. dairy farmers, focusing on trade and biosecurity.

Jonker spoke about the importance of USDA advocacy for science-based World Organization for Animal Health and Codex Alimentarius standards allowing the safe trade of dairy products, noting that U.S. dairy exports will be nearly 20% of domestic production and $10 billion in 2022. He thanked USDA for the initial funding for the federal-state-industry partnership that developed the Secure Milk Supply Plan. He also reported on the progress being made to advance and integrate Everyday and Enhanced/Secure Milk Supply biosecurity into the National Dairy FARM Program due to the NADPRP cooperative agreement.

Jordan requested acceleration of development of a milk bulk tank Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) test which could be used to augment the Secure Milk Supply Plan to assist in maintaining continuity of business for dairy farmers should an FMD outbreak occur in the United States. USDA also handles health certification for dairy export certificates, which are vital to maintain and expand trade.

Jordan also reported on the progress of the NMPF-led multi-stakeholder task force with dairy farmers, veterinarians, and state and federal animal and public health officials to address the transmission of Bovine Tuberculosis from cattle to humans and humans to cattle. She also stressed the overall importance of USDA cattle health programs for dairy farmers, including revising and updating the National Tuberculosis Eradication Program standards to meet contemporary challenges of disease eradication, including disease transmission, lower disease incidence, and changing production systems.

Jonker expressed hope that USDA would publish the long-delayed update to the National Tuberculosis Eradication Program standards soon. He also discussed the importance emerging animal health and safety issues including the Asian longhorn tick and black vultures, which are a threat to dairy cattle on pasture, and long-term issues like animal identification and disease traceability to dairy farmers.

December CWT-Assisted Dairy Export Sales Totaled 7.1 Million Pounds

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

CWT member cooperatives secured 25 contracts in December, adding 7.0 million pounds of American-type cheeses and 37,000 pounds of cream cheese to CWT-assisted sales in 2022. In milk equivalent, this is equal to 65.2 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. These products will go to customers in Asia, Central America, the Caribbean and Oceania, and will be shipped from December 2022 through June 2023.

CWT-assisted 2022 dairy product sales contracts year-to-date total 99 million pounds of American-type cheese, 657,000 pounds of butter, 8.8 million pounds of cream cheese and 30.7 million pounds of whole milk powder. This brings the total milk equivalent for the year to 1.223 billion 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.