Author: Theresa Sweeney

Plant-Based = Higher Cost, Lower Quality. Be Sure to Tell Your Barista

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Vegan activists like to hand-wring from time to time about surcharges to add their favorite plant-based beverage to their coffee drinks, citing all sorts of reasons behind the alleged injustice. Here’s a simpler explanation: Plant-based additives cost more because … they cost more.

Higher costs and lower quality are hallmarks of the “innovation” behind the proliferation of non-dairy products that trade on dairy terms in an attempt to win consumer favor. The lower nutritional content of plant-based beverages is well-established, with some almond brands having one-eighth the protein of dairy and none of them having the unique blend of 13 essential nutrients that set dairy apart. But here’s a quick refresher on the cost side of the equation:

This is year-end data of the cost of a gallon of milk (all varieties) compared to alternatives, year-end 2021. Now you can see why marketers are so enthusiastic about selling highly processed oat water.

Here’s a comparison for yogurt. Not a surprise, when you look at the ingredients label of a pint of yogurt versus a plant-based alternative.

And here’s the one product in which dairy doesn’t win on price, though an asterisk should be involved. Admittedly, a pound of “Imitation Cheese” is more pocketbook-friendly than true, FDA-standard-of-identity compliant cheese – a fact that undoubtedly delights “cheese-type product” lovers everywhere.

But it’s worth noting that even imitation cheese usually contains some dairy – just not in a way that meets cheese standards of identity. Vegan varieties, on the other hand, don’t just function terribly – they cost more than twice as much as real cheese and almost four times as much as the cheaper imitations.

Why does this matter? Because in their long-running efforts to disparage dairy, opponents sometimes use bad-faith arguments to call out companies that are acting rationally when what they really need to do is a little math. Complicated and often expensive ingredients, far-flung supply chains, and high advertising costs all feed into the more-expensive structure of plant-based alternatives (and let’s not even get into profit margins).

The point is, if you’re ever in line for a latte and someone in front of you complains about paying more for an almond addition, you can always point out that their choice may cost more money because … it costs more money. Then, add some whole milk to your beverage, for emphasis. It will bring a smile to your day – and information to someone else’s.

NMPF Advances Marketing Order Discussions at March Board Meeting

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Board Endorses Federal Efforts to Ease Energy Disruptions, Expresses Support for Ukraine

National Milk Producers Federation celebrated strong global demand for U.S. milk in a time of turmoil and asserted leadership in its efforts toward Federal Milk Marketing Order modernization in its two-day March Board of Directors meeting that concluded today.

The first in-person board meeting held in Arlington, VA, since March 2020 provided an opportunity both to look back on dairy’s resilience and look forward to building a better future for dairy farmers, said board chairman Randy Mooney, a dairy farmer from Rogersville, MO, in remarks to the board.

“We’re here today with a strong sense of gratitude” for consumer support of dairy and the ability of farmers to weather challenging times, Mooney said in remarks to the board on Tuesday. “The world needs our product.”

U.S. per capita dairy consumption is at its highest since 1960, and exports reached an all-time high in 2021. Record prices are forecast in 2022.

High on NMPF’s list of priorities for 2022 is leading discussions on updated the Federal Milk Marketing Order system, the bedrock of orderly milk markets in the U.S. As the largest U.S. organization representing dairy farmers, NMPF is taking a deliberate approach toward meaningful modernization, crafting consensus among all sizes and regions, said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF.

“We may take the rest of this year to get this all done and get it right,” Mulhern said. “If we can keep a spirit of collaboration going throughout the process, we’re going to end up in a very good place. I’m confident that we’ll have a national federal order hearing proposal that reflects the consensus of our membership and reflects the needs of dairy producers across the country.”

NMPF’s Economic Policy Committee since last fall has been conducting analysis and engaging with farmers on the FMMO system, created in the 1930s and last updated in 2000.

NMPF’s board also discussed the response of agriculture and dairy to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and potential resulting volatility in agricultural markets. Board members pledged to seeks ways to assist Ukrainian families and farmers as the fast-developing situation evolves. The board unanimously adopted a resolution calling on policymakers “to immediately take the steps necessary to facilitate increased domestic energy production of all forms” to avoid agricultural supply disruptions at a time of already high and rising input costs.

Other topics ranged from sustainability to supply chains during the meeting, which also featured remarks from Rep. Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-PA, ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee. Valerie Lavigne, a dairy farmer from Schaghticoke, NY, and a member of Agri-Mark, also spoke in her new role as chairwoman of NMPF’s Young Cooperators.

New directors welcomed to NMPF’s board included:

  • Rob Byrne, Dairy Farmers of America
  • Chris Sukalski, Land O’Lakes
  • Andy Mason, Land O’Lakes
  • Frank Doll, Prairie Farms

U.S. Dairy Endorses Ocean Shipping Antitrust Enforcement Act

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

In response to last week’s introduction of the Ocean Shipping Antitrust Enforcement Act, USDEC and NMPF released the following statements:

Krysta Harden, U.S. Dairy Export Council president & CEO:
The U.S. Dairy Export Council thanks Representatives Costa, Smith, Garamendi and Johnson for introducing the bipartisan Ocean Shipping Antitrust Enforcement Act last week. U.S. dairy exporters experience a litany of unfair practices from foreign-owned ocean carriers – including unprecedented shipping rates, fees often incurred out of the exporters’ control, intentional lack of transparency, and continually rolled bookings. Due to the high concentration of power in the largely foreign-owned shipping industry, American dairy exporters have little option other than to accept these unwarranted fees and delays as a business expense. We commend the introduction of this important legislation to revoke the antitrust immunity that these shipping lines exploit at the expense of American producers and consumers, and we urge Congress to expeditiously pass this measure into law.

Jim Mulhern, National Milk Producers Federation president & CEO:
At a time when ocean carriers have been enjoying record profits, U.S. dairy producers have been bearing the brunt of the export supply chain crisis, with over $1.5 billion in added costs and lost sales in 2021 alone. We welcome the introduction of the Ocean Shipping Antitrust Enforcement Act that would reign in the enormous power foreign-owned shipping lines wield over American exporters. It has been evident over the past two years that ocean carriers do not share the interest of U.S. producers and are willing to break contracts and cancel shipments without warning. International customers want U.S. dairy products, but American dairy farmers are struggling to meet deadlines due to carrier behavior and justify the increased expense of paying exorbitant fees. This puts at risk key relationships with buyers around the world. NMPF encourages swift passage of this bipartisan legislation to put a halt to these unreasonable practices.

NMPF and IDFA Join NY Members of Congress in Encouraging NYC Mayor to Maintain Milk Options for NYC School Children

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) responded today to a bipartisan letter from Rep. Antonio Delgado and Members of Congress from New York encouraging New York City Mayor Eric Adams not to eliminate flavored milk from New York City school meals. In the letter, the Members of Congress implore Mayor Adams not to eliminate flavored milk from the New York City school meals program. The letter states: “As Members representing both rural and urban communities, we are committed to supporting the dairy farmers, producers, and agriculture partners across New York, while also ensuring that children in NYC schools have access to critical, life-enhancing nutrients. Unfortunately, for many NYC families, the meals children receive in schools are their only source of many recommended nutrients.”

In response to the letter, Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF, said, “Dairy farmers across the country have long worked to provide children with nutritious food vital to their health and development. Kids need access to milk for that benefit to be realized. Low-fat flavored milk is fully consistent with the federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and it provides students one of the most complete nutrient packages around. We thank Congressman Delgado for leading this strong message to the Mayor of New York, and we thank all New York lawmakers who are stepping up to protect the flavored milk option and the key role it plays in ensuring students have access to highly nutritious options they will choose to consume.”

Michael Dykes, D.V.M., president and CEO of IDFA, added, “Rather than try to limit school milk options for kids, Mayor Adams and other policymakers should follow the lead of parents, physicians and dietitians, and school meals professionals who widely support making milk central to school meals. Studies have shown that school meals are by far the healthiest meals of the day for children thanks, in part, to nutritious milk and dairy options. Offering low-fat flavored milk increases school meal participation, leads to children consuming more nutrients of public health concern, and reduces food waste. Maintaining low-fat flavored milk options in school plays an important role in the diet and nutrition of children because milk contains 13 essential nutrients that children need for growth, development, healthy immune function, and overall wellness.”

A recent national tracking poll conducted by Morning Consult commissioned by IDFA found that 8 in 10 New York City and U.S. voters support offering low-fat flavored milk in school meals. Support among parents with children in public school is markedly higher, with 90% of New York City parents and 85% of parents nationally sharing the same belief.

Dairy a Sustainability Leader, USDA’s Bonnie Says

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Dairy has long been an agricultural leader in efforts to enhance sustainability and combat climate change, said Robert Bonnie, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation, in a Dairy Defined podcast released today.

Even during times when farmers had questions about how climate policy was evolving, “Dairy stayed engaged, and continued to look for ways to, advance opportunities for, for producers,” Bonnie said. “That is notable and really important.”

Bonnie in the podcast explains USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative that it rolled out last month, as well as how climate-smart agriculture programs may evolve and expand. He also notes that the farmer signup deadline for the Dairy Margin Coverage Program ends March 25, encouraging dairy producers to participate.“One of the things USDA is really interested in, is making sure we have better data to make that case, to drive a narrative that demonstrates that agriculture can be part of a solution that it already is, that has already done things, and that there’s more to do and that agriculture is engaged,” he said. “I think driving that narrative to the broader public is really important.”

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

NMPF and USDEC Slam Canadian Proposal on USMCA Dairy Market Access

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) rejected a proposal issued late yesterday by Global Affairs Canada that outlines the Canadian “changes” to their current scheme for allocating U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) dairy tariff-rate-quotas (TRQ).

In January the United States Trade Representative’s office announced that it had won USMCA’s first-ever dispute settlement panel by prevailing in its case against Canada regarding how Canada’s USMCA dairy TRQ allocation process violated the agreement. Ambassador Tai noted at the time that, “This historic win will help eliminate unjustified trade restrictions on American dairy products and will ensure that the U.S. dairy industry and its workers get the full benefit of the USMCA to market and sell U.S. products to Canadian consumers.”

“Enough is enough. U.S. dairy producers are sick and tired of Canada’s game playing on dairy market access. From their irrelevant celebration that the panel upheld Canada’s right to retain a supply management system, a fact that no one has challenged and was not at issue in the USMCA case, to the continual efforts to undermine established trade commitments in order to favor Canadian dairy farmers, this pattern of behavior has gone on too long. All that American dairy farmers want is fair and good-faith implementation of USMCA’s dairy provisions. That doesn’t seem like a high bar, yet it appears to be insurmountable for Canada based on yesterday’s proposed dairy TRQ scheme changes,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “We urge the administration to demand that Canada go back to the drawing board until it can genuinely deliver on providing the U.S. dairy industry the full benefit of USMCA.”

“U.S. dairy farmers and manufacturers have only limited access to the Canadian market under USMCA. That makes it essential that Canada abide by its original commitments under that agreement,” said Krysta Harden, president & CEO of USDEC. “Canada’s recent dairy TRQ proposal will not lead to that result. While it’s not surprising that Canada is trying to see just how little will be demanded of them, it’s essential that the U.S. government insist on real reforms.”

As the first case brought and decided under USMCA, the U.S.-Canada dairy TRQ panel is a test-case for whether or not the USMCA dispute settlement process can provide effective enforcement and deliver genuine compliance with the agreement. NMPF and USDEC will continue to work with the Biden administration and Congress to seek to ensure that the process provides the type of strong precedent needed for future USMCA disputes as well.

February CWT-Assisted Dairy Export Sales Continue Strong Start to 2022

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

CWT member cooperatives secured 105 contracts in February, adding 14.9 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 12.2 million pounds of whole milk powder and 1.4 million pounds of cream cheese to CWT-assisted sales in 2022. These products will go customers in Asia, Central America, Middle East-North Africa, Oceania and South America, and will be shipped from February through August 2022.

CWT-assisted 2022 dairy product sales contracts year-to-date total 29.9 million pounds of American-type cheese, 3.1 million pounds of cream cheese and 14.1 million pounds of whole milk powder. This brings the total milk equivalent for the year to 402 million pounds on a milkfat basis. Over the last 12 months, CWT assisted sales are the equivalent of 1.483 billion pounds of milk 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.

FARM ES Launches Pilot Program for Conservation Practice Questionnaire

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

FARM Environmental Stewardship (ES) launched a pilot program Jan. 21 to field-test the Conservation Practice Questionnaire (CPQ). The CPQ will serve as an optional add-on questionnaire to the existing FARM ES Version 2.0 evaluation once finalized. The questionnaire covers dairy farmers’ field and dairy-level conservation practices to capture a more holistic sustainability story.

The goals of the pilot are to test the CPQ with dairies across the country and receive feedback from producers and evaluators. All producer information and feedback will be kept anonymous and used only for the continued development of the CPQ. The pilot will be completed by mid-March 2022. FARM will then refine the questionnaire based on pilot feedback.

Ten FARM ES Participants have so far signed on to pilot the CPQ, including Agri-Mark, Associated Milk Producers Inc., California Dairies Inc., Foremost Farms, Glanbia, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, Michigan Milk Producers Association, Northwest Dairy Association, Sartori Cheese and United Dairymen of Arizona.

The final version of the CPQ will be reviewed for approval by the FARM ES Task Force as well as the NMPF Environmental Issues Committee before it is implemented as an optional tool for ES Participants.

If your organization is interested in this pilot program, please reach out to Nicole Ayache at nayache@nmpf.org.

FARM Animal Care Program Announces Version 5 Survey Results

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The FARM Program announced the results of its Animal Care Version 5 Development Survey on Feb. 9. The report summarizes stakeholder perspectives on animal care issues of importance and captures ideas and levels of support for potential changes to the industry’s animal care standards.

“We are pleased with the level of engagement and the quality of feedback that we received from dairy farmers, veterinarians and other industry representatives that will help inform the development of FARM Animal Care Version 5,” said Emily Yeiser Stepp, vice president of the FARM Program. “We remain committed to ensuring updates made to the program reflect the needs and goals of the entire dairy supply chain.”

Stakeholders identified care for sick animals, calves, and non-ambulatory cattle as dairy’s greatest priority to maintain focus on for Version 5. The survey also showed general support for making minor modifications and adding clarity to the program while avoiding large overhauls. Most survey respondents, including farmers, showed they would willingly support small changes to better address animal care vulnerabilities. Respondents also were in consensus that standards that aren’t direct measures of good animal welfare practices should be updated to prioritize an outcomes-based approach.

The results of this survey will be used to inform all levels of governance of FARM and will help guide ongoing discussions about the development of Version 5. The National Milk Producers Federation Board of Directors provide final approval on FARM standards, which will come into effect starting July 1, 2024. For more information, visit the Version 5 development page.

NMPF Accepting Applications for 2022 Scholarship Program

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF is now accepting applications for its National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program for academic year 2022-2023.

NMPF awards scholarships annually to outstanding graduate students (enrolled in Master’s or Ph.D. programs) who are actively pursuing dairy-related fields of research that are of immediate interest to NMPF member cooperatives and the US dairy industry at large.

Graduate students pursuing research of direct benefit to milk marketing cooperatives and dairy producers are encouraged to submit an application (applicants do not need to be members of NMPF to qualify). Scholarship recipients will be invited to present their research via webinar during the summer of 2022. Top applicants are eligible to be awarded the Hintz Memorial Scholarship, created in 2005 in honor of the late Cass-Clay Creamery Board Chairman Murray Hintz who was instrumental in establishing NMPF’s scholarship program.

Recommended fields of study include but are not limited to Agriculture Communications and Journalism, Animal Health, Animal and/or Human Nutrition, Bovine Genetics, Dairy Products Processing, Dairy Science, Economics, Environmental Science, Food Science, Food Safety, Herd Management, and Marketing and Price Analysis.

Applications must be received no later than April 15. For an application or more information, please visit the NMPF website or email scholarship@nmpf.org.