From NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern:

“The National Milk Producers Federation appreciates Secretary Vilsack’s support for measures that take critical steps to improve the livelihoods of historically underserved farmers, including debt relief and access to credit. These actions, part of the recently enacted coronavirus stimulus package, strengthen U.S. agriculture and ensure greater equity in the opportunities that agriculture provides, building better communities for years to come.

“As noted in this hearing, Secretary Vilsack has pledged to continue exploring ways to ensure a more fair, conscientious approach to the special challenges Black and other underserved farm constituencies have faced in U.S. agriculture. We support these efforts.”

From NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern:

“U.S. dairy farmers and their cooperatives thank USDA for its support for the Dairy Donation Program, a critical means for connecting nutritious dairy products with the consumers who need them, as well as its examination of additional payments for milk producers that will better reflect the losses they have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NMPF looks forward to working with the department on the swift and effective implementation of USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiatives.”

National Milk Producers Federation Senior Vice President for Policy Strategy and International Trade Jaime Castaneda today urged federal officials to effectively allocate dairy products as a source of high-quality, cost-effective nutrition in any successor to the Farmers to Families Food Box Program at a USDA listening session.

“Dairy foods, including milk, cheese, yogurt and butter, and many other dairy products are staples of our diet.  No single food contains as much nutritional bang for the buck as milk,” said Castaneda during the session, hosted by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. “Additional USDA purchases of milk and milk products, to then be donated to food banks and other charitable feeding organizations, would deliver a wide range of healthy nutrients to people at a relatively low federal cost. The cost-benefit equation for providing milk’s nutrition to the nutrient-insecure is enormous.”

USDA is soliciting feedback on how it should overhaul or restructure the Food Box program, implemented last year as part of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. The comments will focus on the value of government purchases to the dairy sector and how the future product mix acquired and donated should minimize farm-level price distortions.

Castaneda said an ideal program would better balance its nutritional offerings to both serve families and minimize price disruptions in the agricultural community.

“That disparity caused tremendous market volatility and unusual pricing challenges throughout the country, including extreme price differentials between neighboring farms,” Castaneda said. “We are eager to work with USDA to improve upon the product balance, particularly between cheese and butter, and ensure the department’s efforts better meet the needs of all producers as well as the families that benefit from these dairy products.”

Comments on the potential USDA plan are open until the end of the month. They can be filed here.

The prosperity of America’s nearly 32,000 dairy farmers and the jobs of three million Americans tied to the U.S. dairy sector relies on expanded trade opportunities and robust trade-rights enforcement, executives from the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) wrote today in a letter welcoming the new U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Katherine Tai.

Tai, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate last week, is tasked with enforcing U.S. trade rules and negotiating terms and conditions for America’s exports to foreign markets.

USDEC and NMPF outlined priorities in the letter for continued growth of export opportunities and market access to increase the volume and value of exports. Additionally, the organizations called upon USTR to enforce USMCA; restore export growth to China; counter EU efforts to impede competition; tackle nontariff barriers that limit U.S. dairy exports; and successfully conclude negotiations with new trading partners, including the U.K., Kenya and Japan.

“Our industry faces mounting barriers to exports, which is why we want to ensure Ambassador Tai’s full awareness of our challenges globally,” said Krysta Harden, USDEC President and CEO. “Her prior experience at USTR combined with her Congressional pedigree provides a strong platform to ensure U.S. trade policy will benefit America’s agricultural community and ensure continued opportunity for future generations of U.S. dairy farmers and the millions of jobs our industry supports.”

“U.S. dairy exports are a success story, growing steadily over the last decade and now surpassing $6.5 billion annually,” said Jim Mulhern, NMPF President and CEO. “Our focus on the future starts with upholding current agreements while forging new ones. Opportunities for new market access are abundant. We congratulate Ms. Tai and are ready to work alongside her to realize America’s full dairy export potential.”

Though the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, some light seems to be appearing at what may be the end of a very long tunnel. Vaccinations are moving ahead; caseloads have fallen dramatically from winter; and even if a better “new normal” isn’t quite here yet, “more normal” seems achievable, perhaps in just a few months.

Dairy farms, as always, are doing their part to serve, and to lead. It’s part of the cooperative spirit that defines the sector, one that, for all the talk of consolidation, remains dominated by family farms. Today, 95 percent of U.S. dairy farms are family-owned and operated. Many of them of multigenerational; all are critical contributors to rural economies.

Dairy farmers and the cooperatives they own have contributed to those communities throughout the pandemic. In 2020, farmers and dairy companies partnered with local food banks to deliver 469 million pounds of dairy – including milk, cheese and yogurt – to families in need through Feeding America alone. This doesn’t count the thousands of acts that go unrecorded, but not unnoticed, by those affected. Dairy farmers and their co-ops also, by supplying a nutritious product 24/7, 365-days-a-year, have helped keep food supply chains operating while supporting an industry that, in total, supports roughly three million jobs, one million directly and two million indirectly.

As challenges have evolved, so has dairy’s ability to respond. Federal coronavirus legislation includes a dairy donation program that should make dairy-related food assistance even more readily available to those who need it. And dairy cooperatives are lead in new challenges, such as vaccinations. The National Milk Producers Federation has published a “Dairy Farmers Guide to the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout,” with links to every state’s efforts as well as advice on vaccine programs for farmers and farm workers that’s tailored to their needs. These efforts supplement other NMPF-led materials created to navigate the crisis, ensuring that the U.S. dairy sector remains an example of positive, proactive response in domestic and international agriculture.

Traveling through the tunnel sometimes means leading the way. Doing its part – and leading – on agriculture’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, from local acts to global impacts, has been dairy’s mission throughout the crisis. It’s consistent with its other areas of leadership – from sustainability to nutrition to support for science-based rigor. And that focus will continue, until the brighter days return.

 

From NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern

“Today’s bipartisan passage of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (FWMA) in the House of Representatives provides crucial momentum toward addressing dairy’s ongoing workforce crisis, which has only intensified during the COVID pandemic. NMPF thanks the House members who have championed these reforms, Immigration Subcommittee Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Congressman Dan Newhouse (R-WA), for undertaking the difficult task of negotiating an agricultural labor bill that’s attracted a wide range of support as it has moved through the chamber.

“Nothing gets done if we cannot move forward. The broad industry and bipartisan support for passing FWMA in the House demonstrates the acute need for ag labor reform this Congress and illustrates that consensus can be achieved. To that end, NMPF also thanks House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA) for providing a roadmap for further improvements to the House measure while supporting the advancement of ag workforce reform efforts toward a solution.

“On that note, more work will need to be done for ag labor solutions to become law. NMPF will continue its bipartisan efforts in Congress and calls on the Senate to enact its own ag labor reform measure that gives dairy reliable access to the workforce farmers and farmworkers need to nourish the nation and the world.”

The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) applaud the Senate’s confirmation of Katherine Tai as the next United States Trade Representative.

“The U.S. Dairy Export Council welcomes the swift appointment of Ms. Tai as the new U.S. Trade Representative at a time when exports of U.S. dairy products are critical to the economic well-being of the millions of American workers whose jobs are generated by our dairy industry,” said Krysta Harden, President and CEO of USDEC. “Ms. Tai’s commitment to work for all Americans provides a strong platform to ensure that U.S. trade policy and trade agreements will benefit America’s agricultural community.”

“On behalf of America’s 34,000 dairy producers and the dozens of farmer-owned dairy cooperatives throughout the country, NMPF commends the Senate’s approval of Ms. Tai today and we look forward to continue working with her in her new capacity as the U.S. Trade Representative,” said Jim Mulhern, President and CEO of NMPF. “With over 15 percent of U.S. milk production being exported each year, enforcement of current trade agreements and opening new market opportunities overseas will help provide a profitable rural economy.”

NMPF and USDEC have enjoyed a long history of working with Ms. Tai throughout the course of numerous negotiations including the U.S.- Mexico-Canada Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  Her strategic insight, dedication and ardent efforts to work on behalf of improved trade policies for U.S. farmers, workers and businesses across the country speak highly to the leadership she will bring to USTR’s critical mission.