Author: Theresa Sweeney

NMPF Announces Scholarship Recipients, Recognizes ADSA Winners

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) today announced the recipients of its 2022 National Dairy Leadership Scholarship awards, recognizing outstanding graduate students pursuing research of interest to the U.S. dairy industry. The awards, funded by dairy farmers and their cooperatives, support the next generation of dairy researchers, extension staff, academics and industry professionals.

“On behalf of its Board of Directors, NMPF is proud to recognize, support and celebrate this year’s scholarship recipients,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “Our scholarship program helps graduate students pursue research that brings scientific solutions to many of dairy’s challenges. We applaud this year’s awardees and look forward to their future contributions.”

Catherine McVey received this year’s top scholarship, NMPF’s Hintz Memorial Scholarship award. A North Carolina native, McVey received dual undergraduate degrees in Animal Science and Statistics at North Carolina State University. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Animal Biology at the University of California-Davis, where she is supported by the Dean’s Distinguished Research Fellowship. McVey’s research focuses on extracting complex behavioral patterns from precision livestock farming through unsupervised machine learning.

NMPF’s Board of Directors also awarded a scholarship to Kirby Krogstad. Krogstad grew up on dairy farms in South Dakota and Minnesota. He completed his undergraduate degree at South Dakota State University, followed by a master’s degree in dairy cattle nutrition at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Animal Science at Michigan State University and studies nutritional strategies and feed additives to modulate inflammation and health of dairy cows.

NMPF also sponsors student awards through the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA). This year’s Richard M. Hoyt Award winner, Bethany Dado-Senn, was recognized at ADSA’s annual meeting June 21. Dado-Senn grew up on her family’s dairy farm in Wisconsin. Her doctoral research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison investigates consequences and solutions to environmental heat stress in dairy cattle.

Michigan State University graduate students Ursula Abou-Rjeileh and Thainá Minela received first-place recognition as part of the NMPF sponsored ADSA Graduate Student Paper Presentation Contest in Dairy Production in the Ph.D. and M.S. divisions, respectively.

Learn more about the NMPF scholarship program here. The 2023 application period will open in January 2023. For information about ADSA awards, visit its awards page here.

Dairy Defined Podcast: Ports Momentum Must Continue, NMPF’s Rice Says

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The Ocean Shipping Reform Act is now law, but much more is needed to ensure reliable exports of U.S. dairy products to the overseas markets that represent the industry’s future, said Tony Rice, trade policy manager for NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council, in a Dairy Defined podcast released today.

“Our international customers demand U.S. dairy products,” said Rice. “Our competitors, mostly the EU and New Zealand, they’ve shown that they’re not going to be able to keep pace in the coming years. So it makes all the more important that these supply chain issues get ironed out, and hopefully sooner rather than later.”

Rice explains the complexities of the challenges facing U.S. port traffic, why additional public policy changes are essential, and how NMPF is leading agriculture’s efforts for change. The full podcast is here. You can also find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music. A transcript is also available below. Broadcast outlets may use the MP3 file below. Please attribute information to NMPF.

NMPF Co-Op Farmers Speak Out on Sustainability, Trade and Farm Bill in Listening Session

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Dairy producers from NMPF member cooperatives urged Congress to create greater opportunities for enhanced environmental stewardship, promote exports and craft farm bill programs that aid dairy farmers of all sizes in all regions in a listening session held today at California State University, Fresno by Rep. Jim Costa, D-CA.

Melvin Medeiros, a Dairy Farmers of America producer from Laton, CA, and Joey Fernandes, a Land O’Lakes producer from Tulare, CA, spoke in the listening session as part of a series the House Agriculture Committee is holding nationwide as it examines issues to be addressed in the upcoming Farm Bill. Both farmers are members of NMPF’s Board of Directors; Medeiros sits on the organization’s executive committee as well.

“From water issues, to trade, to sustainability, to providing an adequate safety net to producers of all sizes, the farmers who own NMPF’s member cooperatives are critical to conversations that affect all of agriculture in the next Farm Bill and beyond,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “We commend Melvin and Joey for sharing their insights and thank Rep. Costa for making sure that dairy’s voice is heard as the next Farm Bill begins taking shape.”

Today’s session follows a similar session hosted last month in Arizona by Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-AZ. At that event, United Dairymen of Arizona member Jim Boyle emphasized the need for more equitable treatment of dairy farmers of all sizes, including in pandemic relief programs to reimburse dairy farmers for unique COVID-19 losses. The next House Agriculture listening session is July 22 in Carnation, Washington.

NMPF, Allies Tell White House to Prioritize Food Access at Hunger Conference

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF led eleven national agricultural, anti-hunger, nutrition and medical groups in a virtual listening session June 30 urging the White House to place a high priority on access to affordable, diverse and nutritious foods when it holds its Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health this September.

The NMPF-organized session, which included the International Dairy Foods Association, the National Dairy Council and other allies, offered the White House both expertise and lived experience from a wide range of organizations on how important increased access to food and a diverse range of food choices are to fight nutrition insecurity and improve nutrition-related health.

“When the White House announced its Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, we at NMPF were excited by the potential for this conference to help propel meaningful advancement toward achieving the conference’s stated goals of ending hunger, increasing healthy eating and physical activity, and decreasing the prevalence of diet-related diseases in America,” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern in remarks at the session.

Also sharing stories and potential solutions at the listening session were American Academy of Pediatrics, American Society for Nutrition, Feeding America, Food Research and Action Center, and International Fresh Produce Association, the School Nutrition Association and United Egg Producers.

The effort was part of a broader drive to provide input to the White House as it crafts its strategy to end hunger and increase healthy eating and physical activity by 2030, which the White House has said it plans to release at the September conference.

June CWT-Assisted Dairy Export Sales Totaled 6.5 Million Pounds

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

CWT member cooperatives secured 51 contracts in June, adding 5.6 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 254,000 pounds of butter and 600,000 pounds of cream cheese to CWT-assisted sales in 2022. In milk equivalent, this is equal to 62 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. These products will go customers in Asia, Central America and Middle East-North Africa, and will be shipped from June 2022 through January 2023.

CWT-assisted 2022 dairy product sales contracts year-to-date total 53.4 million pounds of American-type cheese, 348,000 pounds of butter, 5.6 million pounds of cream cheese and 28.5 million pounds of whole milk powder. This brings the total milk equivalent for the year to 754 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.

Abdullah Ibrahimzada Joins FARM Program Staff

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Abdullah Ibrahimzada has joined the staff as the FARM Program’s information system analyst. In this role, he will manage the ongoing relationship with the program’s technology provider.

Ibrahimzada comes to NMPF after five years of program management experience with USAID, World Bank, and The Borgen Project. He is a Fulbright and Campus France scholar and holds a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Arkansas and another master’s degree in Marketing and Management from Lille Catholic University, France. Ibrahimzada speaks five languages and loves soccer.

2022 Scholarship Winners Announced

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

At their meeting June 7, the NMPF Scholarship Committee selected two graduate students to receive scholarships as part of the 2022 NMPF National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program. These students are conducting research in areas that will benefit dairy cooperatives and producers. Scholarships were awarded to:

  • Catherine McVey, a PhD candidate in Animal Biology at the University of California – Davis, whose research focuses on a model-free approach to extracting complex behavioral patterns from precision livestock farming data streams through unsupervised machine learning. Catie is this year’s recipient of the Hintz Memorial Scholarship given to the top scholarship candidate.
  • Kirby Krogstad, a PhD candidate in Animal Science at Michigan State University, whose research focuses on nutritional strategies and feed additives to modulate inflammation and health of dairy cows.

NMPF will host a webinar this summer to introduce this year’s scholarship recipients and offer the opportunity to hear more about their research. Details will be shared in the coming weeks.

Progress Continues on FARM Animal Care Version 5

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The governance committees of the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program continue to make meaningful progress on updates to Version 5 of the Animal Care program that culminated in the third in a series of Industry Town Halls held June 30.

The FARM Animal Care Task Force, comprised of dairy farmers, veterinarians, dairy welfare academics, and cooperative and processor staff have met over a dozen times during the past year to review existing standards, results of an industry-wide survey and other sources of feedback to inform recommendations to improve the program. Thus far, task force meetings have highlighted the following areas:

  • Refinement to the how broken tails are evaluated
  • Establishment of a moderate lameness benchmark
  • Maintenance of the pain management for disbudding standard and heightened industry adoption
  • Consistency in pain management expectation for painful procedures of disbudding, castration and branding
  • Outcomes-based approach to nutrition provisions

The task force presented their initial recommendations for modifications to the program to the NMPF Animal Health and Well-Being Committee on June 8-9 following the NMPF Board Meeting. Once approved, the revisions will be put forward for a public comment period beginning after Labor Day that will be open through the end of October. A final proposal from the Committee will be presented to the NMPF Board of Directors in March 2023, and the new program will be implemented starting July 2024.

Young Cooperators Bring Dairy’s Voice to Capitol Hill

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF’s Young Cooperators (YC) met in Washington, D.C. for the first time since 2019 on June 6-7 for the National YC Program’s capstone Dairy Policy and Legislative Forum, held in conjunction with NMPF’s June Board of Directors meeting.

Forty-five young and beginning dairy farmers from 15 states and representing ten member cooperatives participated in the two-day event, which included discussions about political engagement and dairy policy issues, along with training on how to be an effective advocate and spokesperson for dairy. YCs then headed to Capitol Hillto speak with members of Congress and their staffs about NMPF priorities including agricultural labor reform, dairy labeling, market access and the supply chain crisis.

Since 1950, the National YC Program has provided emerging dairy leaders with a better understanding of issues facing farmers and their cooperatives. The program is open to younger and beginning dairy farmers who own or are employed on a dairy farm that is a member of one of NMPF’s member cooperatives.

The YC Program hosts monthly webinars that are open to dairy farmers and industry affiliates and available at no cost. The 45-minute webinars, each covering a different topic, are held every month. This month, the program will host a webinar discussing new tools and resources for safety and health risk management. Registration is available here.

In addition to the Dairy Policy and Legislative Forum, NMPF also offers YCs two other in-person opportunities annually. The program will host a workshop and reception at World Dairy Expo on Oct. 6 in Madison, Wisconsin. Later that month, it will hold its annual Leadership and Development Program Oct. 23- 24 in Denver, Colorado. Click here and check the National YC Program box to stay up to date on program activities.

NMPF, Newtrient Submit Joint Feed Management Comments

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF and Newtrient submitted joint comments to USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service on June 15 supporting a modernized “NRCS Conservation Practice Standard 592 – Feed Management.” The portion of the feed management standard which addresses air quality was expanded to include ammonia, volatile organic compounds, greenhouse gases, and dust to be consistent, which will expand the opportunity for dairy farmers to use that standard for enteric methane-reducing feed additives.

Dairy farmers currently don’t use the Feed Management practice. NMPF and Newtrient anticipate that changes to the practice standard, along with updated cost share rates, will result in a practice that works for dairy farmers and result in reduced methane emissions. In reviewing data from NRCS related to dairy producers’ use of NRCS conservation programs between FY2014 and FY2020, dairy operators across the country had one contract for a Feed Management plan and only three associated with the use of the Feed Management Conservation Practice Standard. None of the contracts had financial assistance obligations associated with the Feed Management practices.

The most significant positive impact on the environment that in animal agriculture is the incredible efficiency that has been achieved by U.S. producers. This efficiency can be improved through the feed and feeding practices as new advances are made. The potential of using this NRCS Feed Management Conservation Practice Standard (592) is tremendous, particularly if it encourages the goal of increasing efficiency while reducing the environmental impact.

NMPF Voices Concern with Proposed SEC Climate Rule

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed rule mandating extensive climate disclosures from publicly traded companies could undermine the dairy industry’s progress toward its sustainability goals and create far-reaching technical and financial challenges for American dairy farmers and their cooperatives, NMPF said in comments submitted June 17.

“Dairy farmers are on the frontlines confronting the many challenges associated with climate change and remain committed to making progress to reduce the industry’s environmental impact,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “The SEC rule, as written, could hamper our ability to make progress through the industry’s robust, voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment program, and jeopardize our goal of reaching GHG neutrality by 2050.”

SEC’s proposed rule, “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate Related Disclosures for Investors”, would require public companies to disclose GHG emissions, including emissions from upstream and downstream activities in its value chain, known as Scope 3. NMPF cautioned SEC in its comments that the inclusion of Scope 3 emissions disclosure within the rule is premature, and risks undermining the extensive efforts the dairy industry has made toward developing trust and buy-in for its voluntary GHG assessment program through the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Environmental Stewardship program.

NMPF also pointed out that U.S. dairy farmers have been leading environmental stewards for decades, tending their animals, land and water with great care. Thanks to improvements in productivity, new technologies and evolving best management practices, the environmental impact of producing a gallon of milk requires less water, less land and has a smaller carbon footprint than ever before. Still, the industry remains committed to its continued progress, devoting resources to programs, research and services that advance its 2050 goals to achieve industrywide neutral or better greenhouse gas emissions, optimize water usage and improve water quality.

To track progress and reach these important environmental goals, the FARM Program in 2017 launched the Environmental Stewardship platform. The program provides a comprehensive estimate of GHG emissions and energy use on dairy farms with a suite of tools and resources for farmers to measure and improve their environmental footprint. FARM ES is the dairy community’s platform for a consistent, unified approach to GHG measurement that is free and accessible to all dairy farmers. Currently, over 80 percent of U.S. milk is handled by cooperatives and processors participating in FARM Environmental Stewardship.

NMPF also emphasized the significant financial burden the proposed rule would have on dairy farmers and their cooperatives related to the collection and aggregation of on-farm GHG data.

NMPF Funding Priorities Advance in House Appropriations Measure

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The House Appropriations Committee passed its Agriculture-FDA spending bill for Fiscal Year 2023 on June 23, the first congressional move toward enacting spending for next year’s federal budget. NMPF is remaining active in advocating for dairy as appropriations moves forward, working for more funding for dairy producers of all sizes in the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program and additional members to assist farmers. Highlights for dairy producers include:

  • Nutrition – The measure continues to fund at $3 million the Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives Projects authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill to create pilot programs to increase milk consumption among SNAP households.
  • Dairy Innovation – The measure provides $25 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. This is the same level of funding enacted for fiscal year 2022.
  • Broadband – The measure includes $450 million for the ReConnect program, the USDA Rural Development program working to provide broadband service to eligible rural areas.
  • Farm Stress – The measure allocates $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.
  • Standards of Identity – Noting concern with FDA’s failure to enforce dairy standards of identity, the committee report repeats previous language pointing to FDA’s current process regarding plant-based product labeling and calling on FDA to continue working toward enforcement.
  • Dairy in WIC – The committee report also highlights the repeated finding in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans that dairy foods are both nutrient-dense and underconsumed, including among the WIC-population, in the report’s discussion of FNS updating its food allowance for the WIC program.

NMPF also worked with several members, including House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Andy Harris (R-MD) and Reps. David Valadao (R-CA) and Josh Harder (D-CA), to give priority to NMPF’s request for additional funding for USDA’s Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program to further support those farmers who were impacted by the program’s five-million-pound limitation. Subcommittee Chairman Sanford Bishop (D-GA) committed to working with those lawmakers to address this issue as the bill advances.

The House is expected to pass its appropriations measures before members return home for the August in-district work period, with the Senate expected to release its bills this summer. NMPF will continue building bipartisan support for dairy programs and issues as the appropriations process moves forward, working to ensure the continuing advancement of the priorities of dairy farmers and the cooperatives they own.