Author: Theresa Sweeney

NMPF Lauds Progress on Growing Climate Solutions Act, Welcomes Conservation Proposals

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF applauded bipartisan work being done on legislation that would bolster the many conservation and environmental efforts dairy producers are leading as they continue their everyday stewardship of air, land, and water resources.

Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) reintroduced on April 20 their bipartisan Growing Climate Solutions Act, which creates a USDA certification program permitting the department to informally endorse technical service providers that can help farmers implement environmental stewardship practices that may generate carbon credits.

The legislation, if passed, would greatly help dairy farmers seeking to achieve the sector’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality or better by 2050 through dairy’s Net Zero Initiative.

“We commend Chairwoman Stabenow and Senator Braun for continuing their bipartisan leadership on the Growing Climate Solutions Act, which would encourage greater farmer participation in environmental markets,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “This legislation will enhance the proactive, sustainable initiatives dairy farmers are expanding as our sector strives to achieve carbon neutrality.”

The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee passed the bill on April 22 with broad bipartisan support. On the same day, Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Don Bacon (R-NE) reintroduced the companion House measure. NMPF submitted written testimony supporting the measure on behalf of Mulhern and Environmental Issues Committee Chair Mike McCloskey for a hearing held on the bill last June.

NMPF additionally commended House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA), who last month put forward several measures to adapt farm bill conservation programs that help address climate change: allowing private sector funding to meet conservation program demand; emphasizing soil health and increasing funding for Conservation Innovation Trials; and incentivizing the adoption of precision agriculture systems.

“We thank Ranking Member Thompson for furthering the conversation on climate and sustainability by putting forward several proposals for discussion,” said Mulhern. “We agree that farm bill conservation programs can be vital to helping producers reduce their environmental footprint, and we look forward to more closely examining this suite of legislation and other proposals that may be introduced in the coming weeks.”

Dairy Leads in Nationwide Vaccination Effort

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF became a founding member of the COVID-19 Community Corps April 1, joining a nationwide effort to increase vaccine confidence while reinforcing basic prevention measures.

While the COVID-19 vaccine supply and availability has increased, hesitancy persists, creating challenges to achieving the herd immunity required to relax COVID-19 restrictions and restart the economy. Dairy farmers and their cooperatives are well-positioned to build on trusted relationships with employees, customers, and community members, and encourage vaccination in rural communities nationwide.

To support the dairy community’s continued leadership in workforce safety, NMPF distributed a COVID-19 Vaccination and the Dairy Workforce resource April 16. The toolbox was developed to help dairy farmers and cooperatives communicate with employees about the safety and benefits of COVID-19 vaccines and includes steps employers can take to help their workforce get vaccinated. NMPF also continues to update its Guide to the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout to ensure dairy farmers can easily reference up-to-date information on accessing vaccines and scheduling appointments.

Member co-ops have also stepped up as leaders in protecting the public and reviving the economy.

  • Farmers and cooperatives across the country are putting together vaccination events for farmers, staff and farmworkers in the fields where they live and work. Natural Prairie Dairy, a member of Select Milk Producers Inc. organized a vaccination event for 300 of its employees at its organic dairy farm in Dalhart, Texas. And Michigan Milk Producers Association has been driving employees to vaccination sites when necessary, reporting that up to 90 percent of employees are now vaccinated.
  • At Dairy Farmers of America, co-op employees are offered two hours of pay for each vaccine they receive; at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Association, employees receive a $50 Amazon gift card upon receiving a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine; and at Lone Star Milk Producers, employees can take paid time off to get their shots;
  • Northwest Dairy Association/Darigold, Associated Milk Producers Inc. and Prairie Farms, among others, have organized vaccinations at their processing plants;

Vaccinating essential workers, including the dairy workforce, is important because of their role in maintaining critical infrastructure operations and their increased risk of getting and spreading COVID-19. Vaccination is one of many important tools to help stop the pandemic.

USDA Announces Risk-Management Revisions Affecting Dairy

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

USDA on April 28 announced an update of its livestock insurance policies intended to improve options for producers and create additional opportunities for producers to participate. NMPF, which in the last Farm Bill played a critical role in allowing Risk Management Agency programs to allocate unlimited funds for dairy farmers to protect themselves against market volatility, urges dairy producers to consider the new provisions when making risk-management plans.

The USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) updates to the Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP) and Livestock Gross Margin (LGM) policies will be effective for the 2022 and succeeding crop years.

DRP, which covers about 30% of U.S. milk production, paid roughly $478 million to dairy producers in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic brought heightened volatility to markets. Changes for the 2022 crop year include:

  • Ensuring the Class Pricing Option remains available for purchase even when either the Class III or Class IV milk price is not published.
  • Relaxing records requirements by allowing monthly total pounds of milk and milk components (butterfat and protein) to be acceptable records instead of daily.
  • Modifying weekend sales period to end on Sunday at 9 a.m. Central Time.

The LGM program, available for dairy, cattle, and swine producers, provides protection against loss of gross margin (market value of livestock minus feed costs). Changes for the 2022 crop year include allowing producers to purchase coverage weekly instead of monthly.

For more detailed information on changes to these and other USDA Risk Management Agency crop insurance programs, visit rma.usda.gov.

DMC Margin Rises in March

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The March margin under the federal Dairy Margin Coverage Program rose $0.24/cwt above February’s to $6.46/cwt, with forecast for future margin’s indicating that February may have been the year’s low.

The March U.S. average all-milk price was $17.40/cwt, $0.30/cwt higher than in February, while the DMC March calculated feed cost was just $0.06/cwt higher than February’s. On a per hundredweight of milk basis, a higher corn price in March was almost entirely offset by a lower cost of soybean meal. The March payment for $9.50/cwt DMC program coverage is $3.04/cwt. On an annualized basis, the DMC program will have already paid the equivalent of $2.17/cwt for coverage at $9.50/cwt during the first quarter of 2021 alone.

Current futures prices indicate that the DMC program margins going forward may remain below $9.50/cwt until late summer, as rising milk prices compete with higher costs for corn and hay. USDA reported that 164.7 billion pounds of production history, or 79.4 percent of the total, was enrolled in the 2021 DMC program, with an estimated $223 million in payments for disbursement as of April 19.

USDA Moves Forward on NMPF-Led Dairy Donation Program, Adds Dairy Purchases

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF lauded USDA’s April 13 announcement that it will soon implement the $400 million Dairy Donation Program (DDP) that NMPF secured in a COVID-19 relief package Congress passed last December. The department issued an advance notice of the minimum provisions to be included in the program, including the initial reimbursement rate for dairy product donations, which will cover at a minimum the full cost of the raw milk and therefore be significantly higher than under the existing Milk Donation Reimbursement Program created in the 2018 Farm Bill.

The announcement is especially crucial because it comes at a time when the spring flush is building across the U.S. and is meant to “encourage the dairy industry to process and donate surplus milk supplies during the spring surplus milk production season,” according to USDA. This aligns with the intent of Congress to allow USDA to make retroactive reimbursements for donations made before final program regulations are announced later this year.

“NMPF worked closely with Congress to enact the Dairy Donation Program in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. This important program will help dairy farmers and the cooperatives they own to continue to do what they do best – feed people,” said Jim Mulhern, NMPF president and CEO, in a statement commending the USDA announcement. “Dairy stakeholders are eager to expand their partnership efforts with food banks and other distributors to provide a variety of nutritious dairy products to food-insecure households who have faced uniquely difficult challenges throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as hunger has risen significantly during the last year.

“We commend USDA for prioritizing implementation of the DDP and look forward to continue working with the Department, the food bank community and all involved to make the program a success,” Mulhern said.

NMPF will continue to work closely with USDA and other interested stakeholders as the department works to finalize the program’s complete parameters. In particular, recognizing that processing and other expenses can significantly raise the cost of donating dairy products, NMPF is urging USDA to reimburse for these additional costs in order to make the DDP as effective as possible.

Beyond the DDP, NMPF looks forward to working with USDA on buying more of a wider variety of dairy products. Along with the department’s expected announcement that the Farmers to Families Food Box Program will end this month, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has indicated that USDA will continue to purchase dairy and other products through a variety of channels, such as Section 32 and The Emergency Food Assistance Program. NMPF is urging continued robust purchases of dairy products, with an emphasis on securing a better product balance between cheese and butter, to avoid the extreme market volatility that dairy farmers endured last year.

Dairy Farmers to Seek Emergency USDA Hearing on Class I Mover Reform

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF’s Board of Directors voted April 23 to request an emergency USDA hearing on a Federal Milk Marketing Order proposal to restore fairness for farmers in the Class I fluid milk price mover. The endorsement of the board, which represents dairy farmers and cooperatives nationwide, followed approval April 16 from the organization’s Executive Committee.

The NMPF plan would ensure that farmers recover lost revenue and establish more equitable distribution of risk among dairy farmers and processors. The current mover, adopted in the 2018 farm bill, was intended to be revenue neutral while facilitating increased price risk management by fluid milk bottlers. But the new Class I mover contributed to disorderly marketing conditions last year during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and cost dairy farmers over $725 million in lost income.

NMPF’s proposal would help recoup the lost revenue and ensure that neither farmers nor processors are disproportionately impacted by future significant price disruptions.

“As the COVID-19 experience has shown, market stresses can shift the mover in ways that affect dairy farmers much more than processors. This was not the intent of the Class I mover formula negotiated within the industry,” said Randy Mooney, the dairy farmer chairman of NMPF’s Board of Directors. “The current mover was explicitly developed to be a revenue-neutral solution to the concerns of fluid milk processors about hedging their price risk, with equity among market participants a stated goal.

“Dairy farmers were pleased with the previous method of determining Class I prices and had no need to change it, but we tried to accommodate the concerns of fluid processors for better risk management. Unfortunately, the severe imbalances we’ve seen in the past year plainly show that a modified approach is necessary. We will urge USDA to adopt our plan to restore equity and create more orderly marketing conditions,” Mooney said.

While the current Class I mover was designed to improve the ability of fluid milk handlers to hedge milk prices using the futures market, it was also expected to be revenue-neutral compared to the formula it replaced. But that has not been the case. The significant gaps between Class III and IV prices that developed during the pandemic exposed dairy farmers to losses that were not experienced by processors, showing the need for a formula that better accounts for disorderly market conditions.

NMPF’s proposal would modify the current Class I mover, which adds $0.74/cwt to the monthly average of Classes III and IV, by adjusting this amount every two years based on conditions over the prior 24 months, with the current mover remaining the floor. NMPF’s request will be to limit the hearing specifically to proposed changes to the mover, after which USDA would have 30 days to issue an action plan that would determine whether USDA would act on an emergency basis​. NMPF plans to formally submit its proposal to USDA this month.

NMPF Offers Dairy Industry Support to Ambassador Tai on Expanding Agricultural Markets

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

In a meeting today with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Jim Mulhern, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, and NMPF’s Chairman Randy Mooney offered to closely collaborate with Ambassador Tai and the entire Biden Administration on trade in order to strengthen the health of the U.S. dairy industry to allow for further expansion of the hundreds of thousands of dairy-reliant jobs across the country.

“From farmers to farm workers, dairy manufacturers, milk haulers, and port workers – all these are just some of the Americans that are increasingly reliant on dairy exports for their prosperity,” Mulhern said. “Expanding access for Made-In-America dairy products and eliminating the non-tariff trade barriers that impede them is fundamental to supporting the U.S. dairy industry and the millions more who depend on a robust dairy supply chain.”

In the meeting with Ambassador Tai, Mulhern emphasized the need for new market opportunities, noting in particular the importance of enforcement of existing trade agreements such as ensuring Canada meets its trade obligations; countering European Union attempts to misuse common food names through inappropriate geographical indication rules; engaging with Mexico to ensure a normal flow of trade; and concluding new market expanding trade agreements.

“We’re grateful to Ambassador Tai for taking the time to meet with us and discuss a few of the trade-related issues on the minds of America’s dairy farmers,” said Mulhern. “Our industry is an agricultural leader in improving sustainability, promoting high animal care standards, and providing high quality products. Together with the U.S. Dairy Export Council we’re eager to work closely with the Ambassador and her team to meet growing global dairy demand with sustainably produced American dairy products.”

Dairy Helps Get Rural America Vaccinated, With Co-ops Leading the Way

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The robust pace of U.S. COVID-19 vaccinations is the most important story in the country right now – and not just because vaccinations make the U.S. healthier and safer. They’re also important to building back economies – in the case of dairy, they get people into restaurants, keep schools open for in-person learning (and nutritious school lunches), and revive outlets for dairy-farmer products that have been hampered by pandemic-era life.

But herd immunity, the threshold at which the spread of the virus is broken, doesn’t happen on its own. It takes a lot of shots in a lot of arms — and a lot of trust, as people who for whatever reason may be hesitant to receive a vaccine shy away from inoculation. This is frequently the case in rural areas, where many lives are naturally socially distanced, human interactions are fewer and access to health care facilities and educational materials may not be as readily available.

That’s where dairy farms and their cooperatives come in. Dairy farmers are leaders in their communities, as well as significant employers. They’re also usually part of a cooperative, which has expertise and resources that can be applied in many areas, including public health. They’re no stranger to shots – people who work with cows knew the word “coronavirus” for decades before it became socially distanced coffee shop conversation – and they know how to organize a vaccination effort.

For all these reasons, and more, dairy has emerged as a key part of outreach to medically underserved rural areas, making sure those regions – and with it, the nation — has its fair chance to overcome COVID-19. Below is only a sampling of grassroots efforts in the dairy community to keep America safe and get it moving again.

  • Farmers and cooperatives across the country are putting together vaccination events for farmers, staff and farmworkers in the fields where they live and work. Natural Prairie Dairy, a member of Select Milk Producers Inc. organized a vaccination event for 300 of its employees at its organic dairy farm in Dalhart, Texas. And Michigan Milk Producers Association has been driving employees to vaccination sites when necessary: “We worked with the local health department and got all employees that wanted a vaccine scheduled on a few different dates,” said Gertie van den Goor, an MMPA member and dairy farmer outside Marlette, MI. “We drove everyone who needed transportation up there, and most of them were able to go during work time. We have around 80-90 percent of our employees fully vaccinated.”
  • At Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Association, employees receive a $50 Amazon gift card upon receiving a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine; at Dairy Farmers of America, co-op employees are offered two hours of pay for each vaccine they receive; and at Lone Star Milk Producers, employees can take paid time off to get their shots;
  • Northwest Dairy Association/Darigold, Prairie Farms and Associated Milk Producers Inc., among others, have organized vaccinations at their processing plants;
  • And at NMPF, we’re offering our COVID-19 vaccination resource toolkit, with materials in English and Spanish, to make sure that people who have been putting themselves at risk every day as part of the essential dairy workforce have access to the information they need. That’s in addition to the wide range of materials we’ve developed and publicized on how to maintain a safe work area and ensure best practices throughout the pandemic.

To get the nation where it needs to go in COVID-19 protection, it’s going to take efforts big and small, from organizations that care, across the country. To be successful, those organizations need to be ones that live in the same places as the people are who need vaccinations and are led by people trusted by those who may be vaccine-hesitant, or simply find it harder to get to one. As a 50-state, 24/7 industry, dairy is in these places and well-positioned to make a difference. It’s already happening – and it will continue to do so until the return to something resembling normal that everyone craves has arrived.

Together, we can do this. And dairy’s an important part of “we.”

U.S. Trade Representative Calls Out EU GI Abuses and Impacts on U.S. Exporters

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN), National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) today commended Ambassador Katherine Tai and U.S. Trade Representative Office staff, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other administration partners, for reaffirming in its Special 301 Report the U.S. government’s commitment to tackling continued European Union (EU) misuse of legitimate geographical indications (GI) protections.

USTR’s Special 301 Report, an annual publication tallying global challenges pertaining to intellectual property issues, called out the EU’s policy of blocking fair competition through the pursuit of geographical indications restricting the use of common food and beverage terms, which erect barriers to trade in products relying on common food names. “As part of its trade agreement negotiations, the EU pressures trading partners to prevent all producers, other than in certain EU regions, from using certain product names, such as fontina, gorgonzola, parmesan, asiago, or feta. This is despite the fact that these terms are the common names for products produced in countries around the world.”

“USTR has accurately diagnosed the problem. Now the task before the U.S. is to take the necessary steps to effectively curb this scourge to U.S. food and agricultural producers,” said CCFN Executive Director Jaime Castaneda. “The EU’s GI policy is intentionally barring competition from a host of other suppliers that all simply seek a level playing field including small and medium-sized family-owned companies, farmer-owned cooperatives, producers in developing countries and other actors throughout the supply chain that bear the brunt of these harmful restrictions. The U.S. must build on past advances to pursue a more proactive and effective path to combating the misuse of GIs by establishing concrete market access protections for the use of widely used terms.”

“Last year over 170 members of Congress urged an expansion of the trade toolkit the U.S. deploys to deal with geographical indications that block the use of common food names,” said Jim Mulhern, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “It’s time to put that into practice and secure affirmative protections for the key common terms on which U.S. cheesemakers and other food producers rely. We look forward to working closely with USTR to achieve those gains to keep doors around the world open to made-in-America products.”

“U.S. dairy farmers and processors are counting on the U.S. government to have their back and defend their rights to cultivate opportunities around the world,” said Krysta Harden, President and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “Our industry produces great products here at home and then works hard to market them overseas. To be as successful as possible, however, they count on strong U.S. government support to head off and combat unfair trade barriers such as geographical indications that ban the use of generic cheese terms. We want to partner with USTR to help bring the right policy tools to bear to make headway on this thorny issue.”

CCFN filed extensive comments with USTR outlining GI-related developments, foreign governments’ roles in driving those policies and the impacts on U.S. farmers and food producers. NMPF and USDEC also submitted comments supporting CCFN’s global overview and the need for a more robust U.S. trade policy approach to tackling GI abuses.

U.S. Dairy Exports a Sustainable Success, USDEC’s Harden Says

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

A career devoted to agricultural sustainability – capped by a stint as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture – has prepared new U.S. Dairy Export Council President and CEO Krysta Harden well for her new role. Dairy’s stewardship at home is a powerful message to boost sales abroad, she says – and that story is becoming ever-more-important to hear as dairy’s critics try to shape global agriculture.

“Our future is exciting,” she said. “I think we have great products. I think our farmers are the most productive in the world. They’re ready to meet the challenges of the world. And there’s a great demand for what we produce. And so we’ve got to be there, we’ve got to be in those markets, we’ve got to be building trust, building our reputation, building our image.”

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