A close reading of policy statements from dairy producers will reveal one word that keeps popping up: bipartisan.

Unfashionable though that may seem in certain quarters, bipartisan solutions are the best solutions. They acknowledge that one side doesn’t have a monopoly on the best ideas, a basic sign of mutual respect. They’re less controversial, because everyone has to buy in to a policy before it’s approved, minimizing later attempts to naysay and undercut whatever’s put in place. And that makes bipartisan solutions more likely to last: A policy that’s widely accepted is less likely to be tossed out the moment a different political party takes power.

Looking at the political landscape that’s coming into focus after the 2020 elections – the most bitter and viciously fought in anyone’s memory — it’s safe to say that for at least the next two years, bipartisanship isn’t everything. It’s the only thing, as hard as that may be for some to accept at this moment.

While some congressional electoral battles aren’t over yet, 2021’s political contours are already clear. The House of Representatives will be more narrowly divided. The Senate will be more narrowly divided. While the popular vote was not that close, the White House was won via razor-thin victories in several states. It’s a recipe for tension and stalemate, for attacking the other side in the hopes that a more favorable balance – for one’s own side – is achieved in the next election. That approach is understandable, predictable, and for the health of the country, toxic.

The more difficult, but needed, approach, is to find common ground, if not on everything, then at least the most pressing issues of the day: coronavirus, the economy, and other key concerns that are literally life-and-death for lives and livelihoods. Despite the easy impulse toward cynicism, bipartisan solutions have been found just this year, and can be found again.

Dairy has its own interests, just like everyone else. But the emphasis dairy places on bipartisanship isn’t just lip service. It’s rooted in specific circumstances that’s produced a distinct emphasis among dairy farmers to seek political common ground.

It’s no secret that farmers overall tend to be conservative politically. But unlike commodities in which production tends to cluster in deep-red states, dairy has always developed not far from urban areas, due to the perishable nature of its much-needed products. In the 21^st century, that’s naturally encouraged a bipartisan approach to problem-solving. Even the most conservative dairy farmer has an interest in working with someone who’s more liberal, given how many of those farmers live in deep blue (shout out to California and New York) or profoundly purple (hello, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan – and let’s not forget Arizona) states. Conversely, dairy has helped lawmakers who otherwise would have little contact with agriculture better understand its needs – because those lawmakers represent dairy farmers and need to understand their issues.

That ability to talk to and work with both sides has also given dairy a unique sensitivity, and ability to address, concerns from across the political and consumer spectrum. Dairy fights against regulations that needlessly undermine their ability to effectively feed the world; it’s also highly sensitive toward public concerns, proactively addressing issues such as animal welfare and workplace safety through its FARM Program and supporting initiatives such as the Dairy Environmental Sustainability Goals and dairy’s Net-Zero Initiative to achieve a carbon-neutral sector by 2050. Dairy producers know that successfully serving common goals is possible, because we achieve it every day. And we will continue to seek bipartisan solutions in today’s often-treacherous political environment.

In the end, dairy farmers produce a commodity, one among numerous other commodities jostling in the policy arena. But the most valuable commodity in America today may be the ability to bridge partisan divides: That’s always been important, but it may be becoming existential. Dairy, in its own way and for its own reasons, is well-positioned to be part of today’s necessary policy solutions, and it’s all because of that word that keeps coming up: bipartisan.

We congratulate President-elect Biden and the incoming members of the 117^th Congress. There’s a lot of work to do in this country in the next few months and years, from legislating to healing. Dairy is ready to do its part – and much more, if that’s what the nation needs.

The U.S. dairy industry commended the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) for using its review of Indonesia’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status to hold Indonesia accountable for issues that had threatened the smooth flow of U.S. dairy exports. USTR announced yesterday the conclusion of its review of Indonesia’s eligibility to continue receiving preferential tariff access to the U.S. market under the GSP program.

“The U.S. dairy industry and all of its supplying dairy farmers rely on the enforcement of fair trade rules. We appreciate the work invested by the U.S. government to use the GSP review process to ensure that Indonesia complies with its trade obligations under the terms of the GSP program,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF).

“This outcome demonstrates how the GSP review process can be utilized to scrutinize a country’s compliance with the program and to achieve improvements in U.S. market access where changes are needed. We look forward to working with both governments to ensure that all U.S. exporters eager to ship to Indonesia have the ability to do so smoothly.”

NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) were among the organizations that originally filed a complaint with USTR regarding Indonesia’s GSP compliance in 2018, citing its law mandating local partnership arrangements in order to secure import licenses. In response to dairy’s concerns raised through the GSP process, Indonesia removed that requirement.

“We appreciate USTR ensuring that Indonesia meet its market access obligations under the GSP review process. Through that process, USTR helped address Indonesian policies that had endangered U.S. dairy exports to Indonesia, one of our largest markets. The government of Indonesia has been responsive to these concerns, and we look forward to building further upon this positive development,” said Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of USDEC.

The U.S. dairy industry exported $238 million in dairy products to Indonesia in 2019, making it the seventh largest market for U.S. dairy exports. That represents an increase of 80% percent by value from 2017. With a potential for even greater growth for U.S. dairy in this key market, it’s important that U.S. products can flow smoothly.

Through August 2020, CWT member cooperatives have shipped dairy products equivalent to 788.6 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. This includes 28.5 million pounds of American-type cheese accounting for 55% of U.S. exports; 9.3 million pounds of butter, 59% of U.S. exports; 35.9 million pounds of whole milk powder, 74% of U.S. exports; 5.7 million pounds of cream cheese; and 340,597 pounds of anhydrous milkfat, 12% of U.S. exports.

Adding to the product volumes already shipped will be the 20 sales contracts CWT assisted member cooperatives in securing in October. These include 456,357 pounds of American-type cheese, 1.5 million pounds of butter, 7.9 million pounds of whole milk powder, and 37,479 pounds of cream cheese. The products will be going to customers in Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, Central America, Oceania and South America and will be shipped to 18 customers in 9 countries during the months of October 2020 through March 2021.

The October contracts bring the year-to-date export sales CWT is helping members move overseas to 86.6 million pounds, including 26.5 million pounds of America-type cheeses, 9.4 million pounds of butter, 2 pounds of anhydrous milkfat (AMF), 42.8 million pounds of whole milk powder and 5.9 million pounds of cream cheese. The milk equivalent of these sales is 868.7 million pounds on a milkfat basis.

Assisting CWT member cooperatives gain and maintain world market share through the Export Assistance program positively impacts all U.S. dairy farmers by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that directly impact their milk price. It does this by expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products beyond the domestic market thereby increasing the total demand for U.S. farm milk.

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.

All cooperatives and all dairy farmers benefit from CWT’s activities and should add their support to this important program in 2019 and beyond. Membership forms for 2019-2021 are available at http://www.cwt.coop/membership.

The dairy industry celebrated National Farmers Day with the Oct. 12 announcement of the 2050 Environmental Stewardship Goals and the Net Zero Initiative goals, developed by a coalition of dairy industry stakeholders including NMPF and FARM and seek to position U.S. dairy as an environmental solution, are as follows:

According to a life cycle assessment for fluid milk commissioned in 2007, U.S. dairy contributes only 2% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Coupled with a rigorous and third-party reviewed materiality assessment, the industry prioritized the most pressing areas of environmental sustainability as the foundation for the 2050 goals:

1. Become carbon neutral or better
2. Optimize water use while maximizing recycling
3. Improve water quality by optimizing utilization of manure and nutrients

Dairy Management Inc. led the industry mobilization touting the goals while celebrating farmers through earned and paid media including a spot with FOX, full-page ads in the Washington Post and New York Magazine, and partnerships with key trade publications that collectively garnered more than 5 million in potential total reach.

The National Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program will host a series of “Quick Convos” online informational sessions beginning Nov. 4 featuring FARM staff and industry stakeholders discussing program components, expectations, and available resources.

“These conversations will be an opportunity for farmers to really engage,” said Emily Yeiser Stepp, vice president for the FARM Program at the National Milk Producers Federation, which administers FARM. “Our staff can answer whatever questions the participants might have about program standards and expectations.”

Each 30-minute, livestreamed segment will be hosted on Zoom and streamed via Facebook. Registration, recordings of the conversations, supplementary material, and the full schedule of topics are available on the FARM Quick Convos webpage.

NMPF submitted comments Oct. 6 supporting the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) proposal on the Use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Tags as Official Identification in Cattle and Bison. APHIS has proposed to require the use of official 840-RFID tags for all dairy cattle involved in interstate commerce starting Jan. 1, 2023.

“We commend USDA-APHIS for taking this next step in moving animal identification forward, with the use of RFID tags for official animal identification for dairy cattle,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “A national animal identification system can provide immediate access to relevant information in an animal disease or food safety crisis that could endanger the entire dairy chain, while protecting farmers’ privacy.”

The U.S. dairy industry has long advocated modernizing animal ID and disease traceability systems. Farmer organizations including NMPF, the American Jersey Cattle Association, Holstein Association USA, Inc., National Association of Animal Breeders, National Dairy Herd Information Association and Dairy Calf and Heifer Association formed a group called IDairy to collectively advance official mandatory animal identification to aid disease traceability.

IDairy in received a USDA-APHIS cooperative agreement on premise registration and animal ID education that propelled the use of RFID tags in the U.S. dairy industry. Since 2009, the National Dairy FARM Program: Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program has also recommend use of official 840-RFID tags for all dairy cattle.

Animal ID and disease traceability needs may be different for other livestock sectors, so NMPF encouraged APHIS to carefully consider comments from those other livestock industries when finalizing requirements and implementation timelines.

NMPF has worked with USDEC and the Consortium for Common Food Names to make significant advancements in the fight to defend the rights of the U.S. dairy industry to use common cheese terms such as parmesan, asiago or feta. This effort’s cornerstone has been urging the U.S. government to make safeguarding common food and wine terms a core policy objective in all current and future trade negotiations.

On the heels of a bipartisan group of 61 senators that sent a letter in July to the U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Department of Agriculture urging them to enhance protections for American-made food and wine exports, a group of House members, led by Reps. Jim Costa (D-CA), Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Angie Craig (D-MN), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Ron Kind (D-WI), Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Mike Kelly (R-PA), have led a similar effort yielding support from a total of 111 House members.

The safeguard of common food names against misuse of geographical indications (GIs) is a critical issue for the U.S. dairy industry because U.S. dairy jobs are in danger if Europe’s destructive campaign to close foreign markets to U.S. cheese is not stopped. NMPF worked with USDEC to develop a one-page fact sheet and video showing what is at risk for U.S. dairy and making it clear the issue affects the entire industry. These new resources aim to increase awareness of this critical trade issue as NMPF and its allies ensure that U.S. cheese exports to foreign markets are not blocked.

USDA and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish an interagency process to further support exports of U.S. dairy products. The MOU clearly defines the roles and responsibilities within each agency and leverages each agency’s individual expertise to give the U.S. dairy industry an improved platform to capitalize on new opportunities and smoothly facilitate foreign sales.

As U.S. dairy exports have risen, so have thr challenges U.S. products face in overseas markets. NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) encouraged USDA and FDA to establish a modernized and streamlined relationship in order to strengthen interagency collaboration, better engage dairy industry experts and bolster communication to more effectively address foreign barriers.

NMPF and USDEC helped both with initiating the process that ultimately resulted in the MOU, which was signed Oct. 1, and in driving it forward through meetings with government officials, letters and official comments.

“This new partnership ensures that the staff at USDA and FDA are working together in the most efficient way possible to lower barriers for our farmer’s dairy exports. Increasing U.S. dairy exports will strengthen the health of our farmers and rural communities, which is more important than ever as America’s dairy industry faces new and unprecedented challenges,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF.

NMPF is encouraged by this new MOU, as continued collaboration between the U.S. dairy industry and key U.S. government agencies is necessary to advance the interests of America’s dairy farmers and farmer-owned cooperatives.

NMPF re-launched its “Farmer Focus” series spotlighting the hard-working dairy farmers who nourish the world, telling their stories in their own words and highlighting the contributions dairy makes to the economy, the environment and rural communities. The first installment features Brian Hardy, a dairy farmer near Corinne, Utah whose dairy is a true family affair.

“My oldest son dairies with me, and I appreciate that relationship,” says Hardy, a member of the Dairy Farmers of America cooperative, in Farmer Focus. “Our kids are all close to us and have ties to agriculture in one way or the other. The dairy business has been great to us.”

Farmer Focus is the flagship of NMPF’s “Sharing Our Story” initiative, which also includes its Dairy Defined thought-leadership series and CEO’s Corner, a monthly thought leadership column from NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern.