Author: Theresa Sweeney

Young Cooperators Advisory Council Elects Agri-Mark’s Lavigne Chair

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Young Cooperators (YC) Program Advisory Council elected Valerie Lavigne, a New York dairy farmer and Agri-Mark member, Chairperson for the 2022 program year. In this role, Lavigne will guide the program and represent its interests to the NMPF Board of Directors.

“I am honored to serve as chairperson of the National YC Program and I look forward to leading this program into its 72nd year,” Lavigne said. “The challenges ahead are significant, and I am proud to represent the unique needs of beginning farmers as they seek to establish themselves and grow within the dairy industry.”

In addition to her participation on the YC Advisory Council, Lavigne is part of NMPF’s Dairy Voice Network and serves as an officer for Agri-Mark’s YC Program. Lavigne’s Unc Brock Farm thrives on diversity with a productive mix of turkeys, meat chickens and laying hens, milking goats, horses and a 200-cow dairy herd. The farm also manages two food trucks and a catering business in Schaghticoke, New York.

Wisconsin dairy farmer Dustin Brunn, a Dairy Farmers of America member, was elected Vice Chairperson. The remainder of the 2022 YC Advisory Council includes:

  • Sid and Kristin Huls, Prairie Farms
  • Jaime Mowry and Matt Harrigan, Upstate Niagara Cooperative
  • Spencer Hurlimann, Tillamook County Creamery Association
  • Kameron Paschel, Dairy Farmers of America
  • Kip and Rochelle Siegler, Michigan Milk Producers Association
  • Ben Smith, Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association
  • Jason and Tiffany Staehely, Northwest Dairy Association
  • Brittany Thurlow, Southeast Milk Inc.

The 2022 YC Advisory Council convened Jan. 25 for a virtual cheese tasting and 2022 planning meeting. The program will continue to offer free monthly webinars and plans to meet in-person throughout 2022 for its Dairy Policy and Legislative Forum, World Dairy Expo seminar and reception, and Leadership & Development Program.

Gruyere Declared a Common Cheese Name, Thwarting EU

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

After over a year of sustained effort by NMPF and a coalition of other dairy stakeholders, the Federation celebrated a U.S. District Court ruling made public on Jan. 6 that “gruyere” is a common food name in the United States.

This victory was spearheaded by NMPF’s trade policy team, who also staffs the Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council’s (USDEC) trade policy activities, including USDEC’s work on this case. The team prevailed in securing a decision from Senior Judge T.S. Ellis III that upholds a 2020 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s ruling that gruyere is a generic term that cannot be trademarked as a term exclusive to French and Swiss producers.

“Not only is this a landmark victory for American dairy farmers and cheese producers who offer gruyere, this win sets a vital precedent in the much larger, ongoing battle over food names in the United States,” said Jaime Castaneda, NMPF Executive Vice President for Policy Development & Strategy and CCFN Executive Director. “The European Union has tried for years to monopolize common names such as gruyere, parmesan, bologna or chateau. This verdict validates that we’re on the right path in our fight on behalf of American food and wine producers to preserve their ability to use long-established generic names.”

The court determined the arguments of the French and Swiss associations were “insufficient and unconvincing” and the defendants presented “overwhelming evidence that cheese purchasers in the United States understand the term GRUYERE to be a generic term which refers to a type of cheese without restriction as to where that cheese is produced.” Despite this, the Swiss and French associations filed their intent to appeal the ruling on January 7. This decision however, positions U.S. dairy farmers and cheese producers well as NMPF prepares to work with CCFN and USDEC to defend this positive ruling and the powerful it sets for other generic dairy names.

December DMC Margin Comes in Just Above Payment Threshold

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

2021 narrowly missed being the first calendar year during which the Dairy Margin Coverage program would have made payments at the maximum $9.50/cwt coverage level during every month. But a milk-price surge prevented that from happening.

The December margin under the program was $9.53/cwt, $0.39/cwt. higher than November’s margin and above the threshold needed to trigger payments at the maximum coverage level. From November to December, the all-milk price gained $1.00/cwt, to $21.80/cwt, while the DMC feed cost gained $0.61/cwt. On a per hundredweight of milk basis, half of the feed-cost increase was from higher soybean meal prices, one-third from higher corn prices, and one-sixth from higher premium alfalfa prices.

Late January dairy and grain futures continued to indicate a very small likelihood for payments during 2022; still, the generally strong milk price outlook has shown volatility in recent weeks, and grain prices have been showing renewed strength.

Signup for the 2022 DMC program is underway and will close on Feb. 18. Last year’s program has paid out nearly $1.2 billion to 18,800 enrolled operations as of Jan. 31. NMPF is urging dairy farmers who haven’t yet joined DMC to do so. NMPF has a page of resources for members who may have questions here.

U.S. Supreme Court Blocks OSHA ETS, Encouraging Dairy

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 blocked the Biden Administration from enforcing a vaccination-or-testing requirement crafted by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. The court’s decision stayed the OSHA ETS COVID vaccination and testing requirements for employers with 100 or more employees and the Biden Administration abandoned pursuit of the mandate Jan. 26.

The ruling, which was in line with NMPF concerns, means that employers with 100 or more employees do not need to follow the OSHA ETS COVID vaccination and testing requirements.

This means employers can continue to implement COVID safety precautions as they determine for their business, subject to any state or local requirements.

“We are pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision on a stay of the ETS,” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern in a statement. “NMPF has long been concerned about the practical application of the OSHA regulation at a time when testing supplies are scarce and food and agriculture supply chains are already disrupted by a lack of worker availability. We have voiced those concerns in meetings and other communications to federal officials over the last several months. The court’s decision will bring relief to dairy employers who strive 24/7 to put nutritious products on consumer plates.”

Parts of the mandate requiring record-keeping and masks had been scheduled to go into effect on Monday, with full requirements going into effect by Feb. 9.

The Supreme Court decision in effect ends the Biden Administration’s attempt to establish a sweeping nationwide vaccine mandate. It also ends a brief but intense storm of activity for NMPF, which was discussing the requirement with federal officials even before it was announced.

The ETS itself was issued last Nov. 4.

Prior to the issuance of that rule in October, NMPF and several other agricultural entities met virtually with the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to express our concern about the unseen rule.  NMPF expressed concern about the availability of COVID tests and suggested that the government use the Defense Production Act (DPA) as was done previously in a number of COVID-related challenges, to ensure an adequate supply of tests.  The government failed to do so in a meaningful way, a mistake given current difficulty in acquiring both rapid home tests and PCR lab tests.  NMPF and the others also suggested suspending the application of the OSHA ETS to essential critical infrastructure workers as defined by DHS-CISA (which NMPF played a critical role in defining) should the rule create workforce problems.

Meanwhile, to prepare for the possibility that the mandate would take effect and be upheld in court, NMPF created a Toolbox on its website explaining ETS basics as litigation exploded. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a nationwide stay on OSHA’s implementation and enforcement of the ETS on Nov. 6. Within days of that action, every Court of Appeals in the country had at least one case before it – 34 in all. On Nov. 16, all the cases were consolidated into one and the litigation was assigned to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The 6th Circuit ultimately ruled with a three-judge panel that the 5th Circuit’s stay needed to be lifted.  Immediately thereafter that decision was appealed to U.S. Supreme Court, which blocked the ETS pending resolution in the 6th Circuit.

On Jan. 26, OSHA revoked the ETS while stating it would pursue a permanent final rule to be released in May. Such a rule would need to be drastically different from the broad unconstitutional rule that OSHA previously issues and even then, it is likely to be challenged in court.  Employers with 100 or more employees may now proceed with addressing COVID-19 in the workplace as they see fit subject only to state and local laws.

In a related matter, the government has asked NMPF at the end of December for assistance in determining the state of food and agriculture entities and their workforces given ongoing complications due to COVID-19 and the recent spike due to the Omicron variant.

Trade Advocates Turn Up Volume on Supply Chain Challenges

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Export supply chain challenges persisted as 2022 began, as did NMPF’s work, together with the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), to spotlight the disruptions faced by dairy exporters to build momentum for government action.

NMPF’s focus on the issue in January continued its two-track approach of pushing for both legislative reform and near-term steps by the administration to complement that.

NMPF co-hosted an Agri-Pulse press event with USDEC on Jan. 31 to assess and discuss solutions to agricultural export supply chain snarls. The hybrid event, held at the National Press Club, featured a panel of industry speakers impacted by the agricultural export supply chain concerns, including USDEC member Leprino Foods, and a government panel of USDA Secretary Vilsack; John Porcari, the Biden Administration’s Supply Chain Ports Envoy; and Ocean Shipping Reform Act lead sponsors Congressmen John Garamendi (D-CA) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD).

“We hope to be able to make sure that people understand this isn’t just an import issue, it’s also an export issue,” Vilsack said at the event.  “And the Department of Agriculture wants to be part of the solution.”

The event, which had more than 1,200 RVSPs from industry professionals, advocates and media outlets, provided the opportunity to refocus attention on how supply chain challenges are affecting exports. NMPF conducted outreach to multiple news outlets to foster robust coverage of those aspects nationwide, gaining attention from Bloomberg News and the Hagstrom Report to the Bakersfield Californian.

The webinar followed a Jan. 27 CEO roundtable discussion hosted by Sec. Vilsack that included two NMPF members – Dairy Farmers of America and California Dairies Inc. –to examine what other steps the Administration could take to mitigate the export supply chain snarls still plaguing dairy and other agricultural exporters.

The events took place as NMPF worked to build support in the Senate for companion legislation to the House of Representatives-passed Ocean Shipping Reform Act. The Senate bill planned for introduction early this month by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Thune (R-SD) reflects many of the key provisions NMPF worked to secure in the House bill. To build on that positive starting point, NMPF is urging some targeted improvements as the legislation proceeds through the Congressional process.

NMPF also built support for a robust bipartisan message to President Biden urging him to take several near-term steps allowed under current law to provide further relief to agricultural exporters. The House letter, led by Reps. Jim Costa (D-CA) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD), garnered 71 signatures. NMPF worked closely with Congressional offices to help craft the letter’s messages.

Dairy’s Success Comes in Many Varieties

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Just as when sampling a top-quality cheese, success in creating a great policy environment usually comes one small bite at a time. NMPF and its members have had an opportunity in the past month to savor several recent gains for our members that create more certainty and more opportunity for cheese producers and dairy employers.

First, the cheese.

A judicial ruling announced Jan. 6 determined that “gruyere” is a generic style of cheese that can come from anywhere. The decision reaffirms that all cheesemakers, not just those in France or Switzerland, can continue to create and market cheese under this common name.

The fight centered around the European Union’s attempt to turn gruyere cheese into “Gruyere” by filing for trademark protection of the name in the United States for regional French and Swiss products. NMPF, the Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN), U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), and a coalition of other dairy stakeholders fought the attempt from the start. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decided against the EU in August 2020; the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia upheld that decision in its January ruling.

It’s important to note that dairy’s win is everyone’s win. The landmark victory sets an important precedent in the larger battle over food names, giving U.S. agriculture greater legal support against the EU against efforts to monopolize common names such as gruyere, parmesan, bologna or chateau. We emphatically agree with the court’s statement that the arguments of the French and Swiss associations were “insufficient and unconvincing,” while CCFN, which works closely with NMPF, presented “overwhelming evidence that cheese purchasers in the United States understand the term GRUYERE to be a generic term which refers to a type of cheese without restriction as to where that cheese is produced.”

That victory, following closely on the heels of U.S. dairy’s victory over Canada’s bad-faith use of dairy quotas to limit U.S. market access under the USMCA trade agreement, was a great way to start the new year. It was followed by another gain, this time for dairy employers, via the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Jan. 13 to block the Biden Administration from enforcing a vaccination-or-testing requirement crafted by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.

To be sure, the decision wasn’t a denial of the value of a vaccinated workforce, which NMPF has urged in the past and continues to advocate. It was, however, a welcome acknowledgement that OSHA’s broad requirement overstepped its authority. And at a time when COVID tests are scarce and supply chain snarls are leaving some grocery shelves empty, the mandate also simply wasn’t practical.

NMPF had been working with other agricultural organizations and speaking with administration officials since before the Emergency Temporary Standard was first proposed, advocating for dairy’s interests and sharing member concerns. NMPF and several members of the National Council on Farmer Cooperatives first met with the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in October — more than two weeks before the rule was released — to raise numerous concerns about the mandate.

After the ETS was released, NMPF warned federal officials in letters and personal meetings that lack of testing and other resources could create hardships for businesses already struggling with staffing shortages and that food and agriculture businesses could face severe supply chain disruptions under the mandate.

The court win, of course, doesn’t end the need for effective workplace strategies to mitigate COVID disruptions. NMPF has joined other organizations in urging that the food and agriculture sector, as an essential part of the U.S. economy, be prioritized in federal coronavirus-testing efforts. And NMPF has resources for employers on its coronavirus webpage.

And it’s also true that one favorable court ruling doesn’t end the long fight against the EU’s attempted use of cheese names to promote protectionism. The Swiss have already appealed the decision, and battles over gruyere and other common cheese names will undoubtedly continue.

But the victories underscore that progress is possible, and that dairy can advance on the policy front with unity and purpose. With more challenges on the horizon, it’s important to remember the sweet taste of progress — or in the case of gruyere cheese, the rich, creamy, nutty and salty taste of progress. The year is shaping up to be an exciting one. We look forward to advancing our members’ interests on many fronts, with as wide a variety as the quality products our industry produces.

USDA Outlines New Program at NMPF, USDEC Supply Chain Webinar

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a new program to help address the export side of the supply chain crisis. The initiative was addressed at a webinar of agriculture industry and policy leaders hosted by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC).

The USDA program discussed during the webinar was launched in partnership with the Port of Oakland and will set up a new “pop-up” site at the port dedicated to easing the loading of empty containers with agricultural exports. The new site will also have a dedicated gate with the ability to pre-cool refrigerated shipping containers in order to reduce bottlenecks at the main entrance to the port.

The new arrangement should be available beginning in March and will include support of $125 per container for movement logistics costs. See the USDA press release here.

“Congestion in and around U.S. ports is one of a series of export supply chain challenges undercutting U.S. dairy exporters’ ability to reliably meet the needs of overseas customers for high-quality U.S. dairy products,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “By creating a process specific to handling U.S. agricultural exports, we expect USDA’s new partnership with the Port of Oakland will help alleviate some of those challenges. We look forward to working with USDA and our members on this new initiative while continuing to pursue additional legislative and administrative solutions to the dairy export supply chain crisis.”

“The delays and disruptions in export shipping have cost the U.S. dairy industry well over $1.3 billion through just the first three quarters of 2021 – to say nothing of the rest of America’s agricultural sector. Solving this problem simply cannot wait any longer and today’s announcement of the close collaboration between our associations, the Port of Oakland and USDA is one key step in the right direction,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “Today’s webinar brought together leaders in Congress and the Administration whose efforts have been central to the multi-faceted work of addressing agricultural export supply chain challenges. We thank them for their continuing work and their participation today and look forward to pursuing additional steps to deliver relief for dairy exporters.”

Agri-Pulse, which served as the media partner for the event, reported over 1,200 registrations for the webinar, one of the highest pre-registration figures in the publication’s webinar history.

Speakers included USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack; John Porcari, the Biden Administration’s Supply Chain Ports Envoy; Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA); Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD); Mike Durkin, president and CEO of Leprino Foods; Andrew Hwang, manager of business development and international marketing for the Port of Oakland; and Jon Eisen, director of the Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference for the American Trucking Association, as well as moderators Krysta Harden of USDEC and Jaime Castaneda of NMPF and USDEC.

The USDA announcement came just days after Secretary Vilsack hosted a virtual roundtable with leading agricultural industry CEOs on Jan. 27 in which NMPF and USDEC members, among others, raised their concerns tied to exports.

USDEC and NMPF, in collaboration with other agriculture interests across the U.S., have leveraged a multi-prong approach with Congress and the administration since early 2021 to address the supply chain disruptions plaguing the dairy industry, including unprecedented fees, container availability, and lack of transparency.

For example, in addition to last week’s meeting at USDA, NMPF and USDEC supported a bipartisan letter led by U.S. Reps. Jim Costa (D-CA) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and signed by 71 members of Congress to the White House urging the administration to use its emergency powers to immediately address problems caused by the crisis and mitigate risks to U.S. agricultural exporters. The letter made three specific requests:

  • Utilize available emergency authorities to incentivize carriers to load full outbound containers instead of empties.
  • Utilize emergency actions that allow gross vehicle weight limits to exceed 80,000 lbs., even if only on a temporary basis.
  • Utilize existing tools and authorities to provide immediate access to critical shipping and logistics equipment.

Dairy Grows Through Family and Faith, CDI’s Vander Woude Says

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Despite policy challenges, family-run dairies continue to grow and succeed through dedication and faith, California dairy farmer Simon Vander Woude, the chairman of California Dairies Inc., first vice-chair of NMPF and a member of its executive committee, says in an NMPF podcast released today.

“We begin every day acknowledging that what we have is not our own, it’s a gift from the Lord, and we have to be good stewards of the gifts that He’s blessed us with,” Vander Woude said. “We’ve been very blessed here.”

That stewardship is expressed in many ways, from caring for the environment to seeking new opportunities to serve consumers in the United States and worldwide, he said. Vander Woude, who testified before a congressional subcommittee last year on the need to expand global market access, said that while domestic consumers continue to want dairy products, overseas sales are the key to harnessing dairy’s growing productivity and international demand.“If 20 to 30 percent of our milk products are going overseas today and our domestic market is pretty stable, it’s growing at a smaller pace than what we can grow our milk markets,” said Vander Woude, who also sits on the board of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “We need to continue to explore trade agreements with countries that will benefit the U.S. dairy industry.”

The full podcast is here. You can find and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music under the podcast name “Dairy Defined.” A transcript is also available here. Broadcast outlets may use the MP3 file. Please attribute information to NMPF.

Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program Payments Are on Their Way

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Through the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program (PMVAP), USDA will provide up to $350 million in pandemic assistance payments to dairy farmers early this year. This initiative will partially reimburse producers for unanticipated losses created during the COVID-19 pandemic when federal dairy food box purchases weighted heavily toward cheese, combined with a change to the Class I mover formula created the unintended consequence of significant financial losses.

Payments will reimburse qualified dairy farmers for 80 percent of the revenue difference per month on up to 5 million pounds of milk marketed and on fluid milk sales from July through December 2020. The payment rate will vary by region based on the actual losses on pooled milk related to price volatility. As part of the program, handlers also will provide virtual or in-person education to dairy farmers on the program and other dairy topics.

What are the eligibility requirements?

Producers who ship to handlers, including cooperatives, and are regulated under the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) system will be eligible for PMVAP reimbursements if their average Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is less than $900,000 or if 75 percent of their AGI comes from farming and ranching activities.

How are payments calculated?

The amount of money from USDA due to a cooperative is determined by the volume of the cooperative’s milk regulated by the FMMO during July to December 2020. The monthly payment rate during that time is 80 percent of the difference between the previous and the current Class I price formulas. Because prices change every month and there are 11 FMMOs, USDA is using 66 different payment calculation rates to determine how much money is due to producers.

Many variables affect an individual producer’s actual payment. A program-wide, uniform producer payment rate is impossible because so many variables go into a producer’s payment.  And significantly, eligible milk per producer or farm entity is limited to 5 million pounds of milk marketed, or 833,000 pounds per month during the period of July through December 2020. Milk produced beyond this cap is not eligible for payment. Other variables include:

  • Total pounds of pooled milk
  • Producer AGI eligibility
  • Producer participation declination
  • Applicable Order-specific monthly rate
  • How a cooperative originally paid its producers

USDA is working closely with cooperatives and other handlers to determine producer payments based on the factors described above. In addition, USDA will verify that each handler made producer payments correctly.

How and when will money be distributed?

USDA is establishing individual agreements with cooperatives and other handlers, who are responsible for paying dairy farmers. Once a handler receives their PMVAP payment from USDA, they have 30 days to disburse monies to producers. USDA anticipates that eligible dairy farmers will receive PMVAP payments during the first quarter of 2022.

What’s next?

Significant issues remain with how payments are distributed, making additional funding necessary to close gaps in the program, which arose from the efforts of NMPF and its member cooperatives but fell short of what the organization advocated. Caps on the production amount covered by the program will limit assistance in ways that create inequitable outcomes among dairy producers. NMPF is engaged in efforts with Congress to remedy this shortfall. At the same time, NMPF is continuing discussions about the Class I mover to end the disproportionate risk borne by dairy farmers under the current formula that creates disorderly market conditions.

More Resources

Dairy Defined: Despite Disruptions, Dairy Keeps Going, and Growing

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Another year, another flavor of COVID-related disruptions, this time the Omicron variant that’s spreading rapidly and disrupting schools and workplaces. But it isn’t 2020 all over again – too many lessons learned, too much resilience has been built up to see a full return to the massive economic and social dislocations of the past.

That’s especially true in dairy, where, despite all the marketplace challenges, demand has only kept growing.

The data don’t lie: Per-capita dairy consumption in the U.S. has been growing and is at the highest levels since 1960. Exports in 2021 are on pace for a record. We already knew that. Now, with last year’s retail sales data available, we can see that 2020’s gains in grocery-store purchases weren’t just a rechanneling of lost school and restaurant business toward at-home consumption. By comparing 2021 with 2019, we can see that dairy’s gains are built to last, according to data from industry researcher IRI.

Cheese is up. Butter, up. Yogurt and sour cream, up. Fluid milk declined as consumers shift toward dairy in other forms, but even that category had bright spots. Because grocery-store milk prices have increased, actual fluid-milk revenues rose nearly $900 million over the past two years. That’s actually a bigger gain than plant-based beverages, which saw sales of their more-expensive products rise only $513 million.

And fluid’s decline wasn’t uniform across all categories: Whole milk consumption increased 0.5 percent over the past two years and is now well-established as the most popular variety of conventional milk, showing that fluid milk is more popular when it tastes more like milk.

The facts show it, once again: Dairy is alive, well and growing. The products dairy farmers and cooperatives labor to create every day are only increasing in importance to U.S. consumers, and even more so worldwide. The trend is so consistent that restating it is almost becoming tiring to say.

But it’s 2022. Being tired doesn’t mean you stop.