NMPF has joined with Farmers for Free Trade, a coalition of pro-trade farm organizations, and other leading agricultural groups to launch a new town hall series called AgTalk that seeks to elevate the voice of farmers and agricultural leaders in the important national discussions happening on trade and the resiliency of agricultural supply chains.

The inaugural event was hosted on July 30 by in Iowa by the Iowa Soybean Association. NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council will host a Wisconsin AgTalk event Sept. 1 to discuss expanding trade opportunities for America’s dairy farmers and the harm that international trade barriers have on the domestic farm economy. Events will also be held in Minnesota on Aug. 5^th, in Michigan on Aug. 13^th and in Pennsylvania on Aug. 27^th. Sign-up details for the events can be found at the AgTalk website.

The FARM program hosted its fifth annual Evaluator Conference July 21-22, offering attendees an opportunity to learn from dairy experts and improve their professional skills, as evaluators as well as communicators, industry representatives, and FARM program liaisons.

The first session began with a Town Hall meeting in which FARM team members shared initiatives, successes, and workstreams with 120 attendees. The program also featured a summary of Animal Care Version 3.0 data findings, and a representative from FARM’s new database managing agency, NewInsights, answered questions about program updates.

The second session started with a Training Development & Producer Engagement Panel​ featuring Dr. Jody Kull, owner of Valley Mobile Veterinary Service in Danville, PA; Courtney Gray, director of the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program and producer communications at the Pennsylvania Beef Council; and Lindsay Ferlito, regional dairy specialist at Cornell University Cooperative Extension in New York. Panelists explained a veterinarian’s role in producer trainings and education as well as how the beef checkoff works with producers.

Discussion then moved to dairy’s relationship with the beef industry, with Lacey Alexander, North American beef welfare lead at Cargill, offering a programmatic update on BQA and an educational presentation on intake concerns at the processing plant.

A second-day session featured NMPF’s communications team of Alan Bjerga and Theresa Sweeney-Murphy delivering media training, followed by Tom Wall, The Dairy Coach, discussing the importance of a positive, on-farm culture. Krysta Harden, executive vice president of global environmental strategy for Dairy Management Inc. presented the Net Zero Initiative/2050 US Dairy Sustainability Goals​ to wrap up the conference.

NMPF used the “Food Standards; General Principles and Food Standards Modernization” docket not only to point out FDA’s lack of labeling enforcement and failure to answer industry questions, but also to mobilize advocates for the cause.

The docket, which FDA re-opened from its initial comments in 2005, is part of the agency’s multi-year Nutrition Innovation Strategy effort. FDA requested public comments on 13 guiding principles that will be used to review existing standards of identity — definitions of food set by regulatory agencies that are intended to protect consumers. The FDA will use these principles to review existing standards before revising, revoking, or establishing new ones.

Given some standards of identity are over 75 years old, NMPF supports the review in principle. NMPF’s comments emphasize that the review must be thoughtful, and any changes involve industry input. Still, when the docket closed July 20, nearly 60 percent of the comments filed were directed to the docket through a call-to-action shared with NMPF advocates. The overwhelming interest from the dairy community reinforces the topic’s continued relevance and its dissatisfaction with the status quo.

To further its efforts to spotlight plant-based company abuses of labeling terms, NMPF also signed onto a letter focused on animal agriculture, with organizations including the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and others that have fallen victim to plant-based companies using standardized terms on their labels. That letter pointed out that the principles FDA is exploring stand in sharp contrast to the marketing techniques used by the plant-based companies and that FDA should prioritize enforcement.

A letter sent last weeky 61 senators to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer and USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue marks a critical shift in the conversation surrounding U.S. trade policy and an important advancement to protect U.S. exports of common cheese names.

Sens. John Thune (R-SD), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) led this bipartisan letter urging the U.S. government to secure stronger safeguards in U.S. trade negotiations for common food and wine terms.

As the European Union has become increasingly aggressive in restricting export opportunities, U.S. trade policy will need to respond in kind to bolster NMPF’s work combating EU misuse of protections for valid geographical indications to close foreign markets to U.S. cheeses.

The letter requests that USTR and USDA “establish as a core U.S. policy objective in all trade-related discussions the goal of securing concrete market access assurances regarding specific common food names and wine grape varietal designations or traditional terms, including those of importance to cheese, meat, wine, and other food producers across the United States.

“Europe has demonstrated it will not yield in its efforts to erect trade barriers and limit fair competition from high-quality American-made food and wine products, including U.S. cheeses. A comprehensive long-term U.S. trade strategy is required to protect American farmers and food producers,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF.

NMPF played a key role in supporting the work of the Consortium for Common Food Names in leading the effort to support this robust bipartisan message and helped work with CCFN and the U.S. Dairy Export Council to form a coalition representing a diverse range of farm and agricultural industries, garnering support from the North American Meat Institute, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, Wine Institute and American Farm Bureau Federation.

NMPF staff also met with staff on the Senate Committees on Agriculture and Finance, leveraged support from state dairy associations and NMPF members, deployed outreach to the Hill from our government relations and trade policy teams, and distributed a digital fact sheet about this issue to Senate staff.

A bipartisan coalition of 51 members of Congress representing dairy districts from across the country sent a letter July 8 to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue asking them to build upon successes secured in a Phase One agreement with Japan with a Phase Two comprehensive agreement. NMPF worked with Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI), Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Josh Harder (D-CA), and Roger Marshall (R-KS) to ensure the letter fully explained the remaining trade barriers leaving American dairy farmers at a disadvantage in this key market.

The letter acknowledged the important progress made by the U.S.-Japan Phase One agreement for dairy while urging the U.S. government to move quickly to address any remaining gaps and inequalities in market access, writing that a Phase Two agreement is a “valuable opportunity that cannot be left to linger on the negotiating table.”

“America’s dairy industry is ready to meet Japan’s growing demand for wholesome dairy products. However, in order to fully secure necessary market access, the U.S. must act swiftly to break down the remaining trade barriers that have left our producers at a disadvantage in this important dairy market,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF.

NMPF continues to share this message with trade negotiators and will keep working to secure additional tariff concessions, science-based sanitary and phytosanitary measures and enforceable commitments to protect common cheese names in Japan. The U.S. Phase One agreement with Japan provides vital access improvements to help the U.S. remain competitive in this key market – but more work remains to finalize an optimal final and comprehensive agreement with Japan.

The House of Representatives’ appropriations bill funding the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration for the next fiscal year, approved July 24, included key advances for dairy, which the National Milk Producers Federation worked to secure.

Among dairy’s gains, the bill:

• Urges FDA in multiple ways to enforce dairy product standards of identity. Congressman Peter Welch (D-VT), with bipartisan support from 18 of his colleagues, added an amendment on the House floor directing FDA to allocate $5 million to enforce federal rules that reserve dairy-product terms for real dairy products. The committee report also directs FDA to finally start enforcing dairy product standards of identity pursuant to a review process it began two years ago following pressure from NMPF and Congress.
• Allocates $10 million for the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network, a USDA program aimed at connecting those working in agriculture to stress assistance and support programs.
• Provides $990 million, a 78 percent boost from the current fiscal year, for ReConnect, the USDA Rural Development program working to provide broadband service to eligible rural areas.
• Sets aside $6 million for the Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives program, which provides direct technical assistance and grants to dairy businesses to further the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products. While the House Appropriations Committee initially provided $1 million for the program, Congressmen Peter Welch and Bryan Steil (R-WI) secured an additional $5 million with an amendment passed by the entire House of Representatives.
• Allocates $1 million to the Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives Projects, a program created in the 2018 Farm Bill to create pilot programs to boost milk consumption among SNAP households.

The Senate has yet to begin work on its own appropriations measures.

Sharing how his own farm is evolving to carbon neutrality and how the dairy sector is aggressively moving to become carbon-neutral by 2050, NMPF Environmental Issues Committee Chairman Mike McCloskey highlighted ways federal incentives can further help dairy toward its net-zero emissions future.

“For some reason, repurposing cow manure does not have the same shine as an array of solar panels or the grandeur of a wind farm on the horizon,” said McCloskey, co-founder and CEO Select Milk Producers and a member of NMPF’s executive committee, in written testimony for a July 23 hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture’s Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit.

But aligning the incentives needed for dairy to widely adopt anaerobic digesters and other emissions-mitigation technologies deserves greater attention, as it will only enhance the energy transition already encouraged by federal support for better-known clean-energy sources, he said.

“Anaerobic digestion provides clean energy and several other environmental benefits – such as avoided methane emissions, mitigated odor and air pollution, and minimized nutrient loading,” McCloskey said.

The dairy industry has adopted an ambitious goal of becoming a carbon-neutral sector of the economy by 2050 through its Net-Zero Initiative, a partnership among farmers and the entire production chain. As the national organization representing U.S. dairy farmers, NMPF is committed to these sustainability goals, which will be greatly aided by public-policy solutions.

Well–targeted incentives that encourage climate-friendly investments among dairy producers of all sizes would greatly aid the entire dairy industry in its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, potentially making earlier achievement possible, McCloskey said in his testimony before the committee.

“We have committed in the dairy industry that we are going to go to net zero,” said McCloskey, chairman of the National Milk Producers Federation’s Environmental Issues Committee. “We can get there with your support.”

McCloskey added that dairy’s progress toward net-zero goals could create “thousands and thousands of jobs” and revitalize rural economies as industries spring up around clean technologies.

As the largest organization representing U.S. dairy farmers, NMPF is committed to industrywide net-zero goals, which will be greatly aided by public-policy solutions.

The Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program saw by far the biggest margin increase in its history in June, jumping $4.61 per cwt. from May to $9.99 per cwt. The gain was more than double the previous high of $1.84/cwt. set under the DMC’s predecessor, the Margin Protection Program, in 2014.

The stunning turnaround came just two months after the biggest-ever monthly margin decline in April.

The record June increase was due almost entirely to a $4.50 per cwt. increase in the U.S. average all-milk price from May, itself a record one-month increase in the milk price, topping the previous record of $2.60 per cwt. set in April 2004. The June feed-cost formula was down by just eleven cents a hundredweight from May a month earlier.

The DMC Decision Tool hosted on the USDA/FSA website is currently predicting that the margin for July will be up by the second largest monthly increase, and then drift down to close to the $9.50 per cwt. maximum coverage level by the end of the year, as shown below.

The milk price outlook for the second half of 2020 has weakened in recent weeks as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to show a growing second wave of infections that’s expected to set back the recovery of dairy use in food service, along with a potentially prolonged recession and loss of consumer purchasing power. This may result in some DMC payments later the year for farmers who have insured themselves at higher levels of margin coverage.

The DMC information page on NMPF’s website offers educational resources to help farmers better use the program.

NMPF said it was pleased that the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s final report released July 15 reaffirms dairy’s crucial role in a nutritious diet but expressed concern that the committee failed to recognize newer, broader science that shows the benefits of dairy foods at all fat levels.

“The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee restated what consumers already know – that regular dairy consumption offers essential nutrition that nourishes people throughout their lives,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “Across different types of diets and throughout all stages of life, dairy products provide the nutrients people need to be healthy.”

But Mulhern said it was disappointing that the committee largely reflected long-held assumptions on saturated fat, despite numerous studies that have called traditional anti-fat guidance into question.

“We repeatedly called on the committee to take a fresh look at multiple studies that show beneficial or neutral effects of dairy on chronic disease risk at all fat levels,” Mulhern said. “Unfortunately, the DGAC report does not reflect this newer science.”

The DGAC’s final scientific advisory report, submitted to the secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, notes that Americans overall need more dairy in their diets, with 88 percent of them falling short of recommendations. That figure includes 79 percent of 9-13-year-olds, who rely heavily on the school-lunch program to meet nutritional needs. The report also highlights dairy’s unique place as a provider of key nutrients that otherwise would be under-consumed in American diets.

• Dairy is recommended for consumption within all three healthy eating patterns featured in the report, with three servings per day recommended in the Healthy U.S. style eating pattern and Healthy Vegetarian Style patterns and two servings per day in the Healthy-Mediterranean pattern;
• The committee recognized milk as a nutrient-rich beverage that contributes positively to under-consumed nutrients, including potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamins A and D, and others. Dairy was also recognized as a source of iodine, a nutrient of public health concern for pregnant women;
• Low-fat and nonfat dairy foods are recommended as nutrient-dense building blocks of a healthy diet; and
• In the committee’s first-ever recommendations for birth through 24 months, yogurt and cheese are recognized as complementary feeding options for infants ages 6-12 months, and dairy foods (milk, cheese and yogurt) are included in healthy eating patterns for toddlers 12-24 months.

The scientific report recommendations will be used to develop the new dietary guidelines which are expected to be released by the end of the year. NMPF will be submitting written comments on the report, which are due August 13, and is leading a call-to-action campaign to thank the panel for its work while sharing farmer concerns. Dairy supporters can join the campaign here.

The intensity of U.S. events in recent months has made it very easy, and sometimes necessary, in the dairy sector to be laser-focused on domestic markets, with never-before-seen price swings and a renaissance in consumer appreciation at the retail level.

But even as these challenges have whipsawed markets and led to a rollercoaster of responses, positive trends are emerging in dairy markets abroad – ones that deserve more attention now and in months ahead.

U.S. dairy’s continued evolution into an export powerhouse has quietly been reaching new milestones. In May, monthly export volumes were the highest in more than two years. Robust gains were driven by record sales of nonfat dry milk/skim milk power and rising cheese volumes. This occurred despite COVID-19 disruptions that have spurred lockdowns worldwide. Volumes reached a new record in Southeast Asia, U.S. dairy’s biggest regional market and a crucial one to dairy’s future.

Total export volume in May was 18 percent higher than in the same period a year ago. Total export value also improved, 8 percent over year-ago levels.

While trade’s torrid pace in May isn’t expected to be maintained, continued strength is expected when June export numbers begin to be announced on Aug. 5. For 2020 so far, dairy export volumes through May are up 10 percent and value has risen 12 percent. And most tellingly for dairy producers, trade is again becoming a bigger portion of overall demand for U.S. milk. Exports were equivalent to 17.4 percent of U.S. milk solids production in May, the highest rate since April 2018.

Nor was this success the result of perfect trade conditions, as evidenced by lower sales to Mexico, the largest U.S. dairy trade partner. Diversifying and increasing sales to many countries around the world underscore just how successful exporters were elsewhere while noting that important work continues to be needed to boost sales even more.

About that work. Dairy has the great fortune to have in its corner the U.S. Dairy Export Council, which provides a unique platform to unite the entire industry through our joint trade policy work. The latter work is in addition to USDEC’s work with foreign buyers and U.S. sellers to advance trade worldwide.

At NMPF, we’re proud of our work with Cooperatives Working Together, which assists in making U.S. products even more attractive abroad, patiently building the foundations for long-term industry success. We’re also active members of the Consortium for Common Food Names, which strives for a level playing field for U.S. cheeses who face discriminatory practices on food names that are continually encouraged by the European Union as it seeks its own trade agreements.

Work across the entire dairy sector comes into play as we pursue important policy priorities that seek to enhance opportunity for our hard-working producers. Some of our efforts include defending gains we’ve already made. Others seek new frontiers with opportunities oversees. Highlights of the current trade agenda include:

 

• Getting the full benefit of the bargain struck on new market access and trade rules with Canada and Mexico under USMCA;
• Working with the U.S. government to resolve impediments to trade in dairy markets around the world including in Mexico, South America, India, Indonesia, the Middle East, and more;
• Co-sponsoring a virtual Townhall series designed to spur discussion on the importance of trade to America’s farmers and agricultural manufacturers (find out more here);
• Pushing for strong dairy results in ongoing trade agreement negotiations with the UK, a major dairy importing country, and with Kenya, a country with high dairy consumption for its region and notable trade barriers to dairy that an FTA could knock down and;
• Advocating for the launch of additional trade deals with key markets, such as concluding a comprehensive agreement with Japan and pursuing FTAs with Southeast Asian countries.

Dairy export markets also promise to be challenging for the rest of the year. China’s purchasing decisions will be pivotal; Latin American, in particular Mexican, response to coronavirus holds profound implications for those markets; and higher U.S. domestic cheese prices pose trade-competition challenges.

But at a time of incredible uncertainty and unprecedented demands for resilience across our industry, trade has helped steady dairy demand even as domestic markets have faced severe disruptions. That’s given the industry something to cheer about and build upon.

Even with the intense focus on dairy’s present, it’s important to remember dairy’s future, for which trade is key. Thanks to the efforts of U.S. dairy producers and processors, and those who represent them worldwide, that future is bright.

Public comments on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee’s scientific report may be submitted until Aug. 13. It’s a great time for dairy voices to be heard, said Miquela Hanselman, NMPF’s manager for regulatory affairs, in an NMPF Dairy Defined podcast.

“The committee, USDA and HHS work really hard to put together these guidelines to promote a healthy lifestyle for Americans,” Hanselman said. “And dairy is an important part of that.”

Dairy advocates interested in commenting on the guidelines can join NMPF’s call to action here. The guidelines contain numerous affirmations of dairy’s role in a healthy diet, including:

• Dairy is recommended for consumption within all three healthy eating patterns featured in the report, with three servings per day recommended in the Healthy U.S. style eating pattern and Healthy Vegetarian Style patterns and two servings per day in the Healthy-Mediterranean pattern;
• The committee recognized milk as a nutrient-rich beverage that contributes positively to under-consumed nutrients, including potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamins A and D, and others;
• Low-fat and nonfat dairy foods are recommended as nutrient-dense building blocks of a healthy diet; and
• In the committee’s first-ever recommendations for birth through 24 months, yogurt and cheese are recognized as complementary feeding options for infants ages 6-12 months, and dairy foods (milk, cheese and yogurt) are included in healthy eating patterns for toddlers 12-24 months.

To listen to the full discussion, click here. You can also find this and other NMPF podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,  SoundCloud and Google Play. Broadcast outlets may use the MP3 file below. Please attribute information to NMPF.

 

A diverse range of farm and agricultural industries is praising a bipartisan Senate letter sent today to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue urging stronger international safeguards to protect U.S. exporters using common food and wine terms. Sens. John Thune (R-SD), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) led this effort that resulted in support from a total of 61 Senators.

The letter requests that the U.S. government enhance their  common food name protections as a core policy objective in all trade-related discussions. This is a direct challenge to the European Union (EU)’s misuse of protections meant for valid geographical indications (GIs) to instead block American exports of common or generic food and wine terms, such as parmesan, feta, bologna or chateau. These unjustified trade barriers harm American farmers, limit choices for consumers and have put manufacturing jobs across an essential sector at risk.

Signers of the letter included several senators holding leadership positions on committees with jurisdiction over this issue, notably the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Finance and the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture. In addition, the letter also includes the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property.

Farm and agricultural industries commending the letter include:

• Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN)
• U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC)
• American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF)
• North America Meat Institute (NAMI)
• National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA)
• National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF)
• Wine Institute (WI)

“The United States has been fighting the EU’s unfair GI trade policies with one hand tied behind its back while the EU has been battling with its full force. This unbalanced approach has helped the EU in its efforts to block U.S. exports of products using common food and wine terms, causing serious harm to America’s farmers, ranchers, food manufacturers and exporters. We applaud Senators Thune, Stabenow Tillis and Baldwin for leading this effort to meet the EU’s efforts to block American exports with an equal force to promote fair trade and ensure the free flow of products using all tools available to the U.S. government,” said Jaime Castaneda, Executive Director of CCFN.

“We encourage USTR and USDA to immediately establish the explicit protection of common food names as a primary policy objective in all trade discussions. The overwhelming bipartisan support demonstrated by the U.S. Senate for this goal underscores the importance of breaking down these GI-related barriers and achieving greater export safeguards for U.S. cheeses and other common name products. By putting protections for common food and wine terms first, we will ensure that American-made products do not come in last,” said Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of USDEC.

“Protection for the use of common food names will greatly assist in the export of high-quality American agricultural products around the world.  We applaud the U.S. government for their efforts to remove  trade barriers that block our exports,” said Zippy Duvall, President of AFBF.

“The European Union has for too long unjustifiably and erroneously attempted to restrict trade in common food name products, including meat exports from the U.S. The policy advocated in the bipartisan letter sent today to USDA and USTR will advance critical safeguards for common food name products in international trade and will enable America’s meat and poultry packers and processors, agricultural producers and food manufacturers to compete on a level playing field with their counterparts in the EU. We thank Sens. Thune, Stabenow, Tillis and Baldwin for their leadership, and we stand ready to work with the Administration to defend against anti-competitive and protectionist policies pursued by trading partners that serve only to impede U.S. meat and poultry exports,” said Julie Anna Potts, CEO of NAMI.

“As tireless advocates for U.S. food and agriculture exports, NASDA members understand the importance of protecting the use of common food names. Securing clear assurances from trading partners that preserve the value of U.S. market access must be an integral part of U.S. trade policy. NASDA looks forward to supporting our federal partners as they continue to seek trade deals that increase sales of U.S. products around the globe,” said Dr. Barb Glenn, CEO of NASDA.

“Europe has demonstrated it will not yield in its efforts to erect trade barriers and limit fair competition from high-quality American-made food and wine products, including U.S. cheeses. A comprehensive long-term U.S. trade strategy is required to protect American farmers and food producers. The letter sent today by Senators Thune, Stabenow, Tillis and Baldwin is a critical step forward for advancing freer trade,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF.

“We have watched time and again as the EU has gone well beyond protecting legitimate GIs to erect trade barriers that benefit their own producers at our expense. The recent EU-China agreement on GIs is a perfect example of how the EU abuses GIs for their own gain. We are grateful to these Senators for saying enough is enough, the U.S. must do more to ensure a level playing field for common food names, grape varietal names and traditional terms,” said Bobby Koch, President and CEO of Wine Institute.