From NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern:

“While the Farmers to Families Food Box program was very helpful last year in responding quickly to both last year’s food supply chain disruptions and the dramatic rise in the number of Americans experiencing food insecurity, it also had its challenges. That’s why we are not surprised by the decision to move beyond the food box program, and in fact, expected it.

“The important focus now is addressing the twin needs of assisting food insecure families and aiding food supply chains like dairy that are still dealing with the effects of reduced foodservice demand. We support USDA’s efforts to use multiple programs, including TEFAP, Section 32, the new dairy donation program and other efforts to purchase dairy products, produce, meat and other products for distribution through food banks and other charitable organizations in the most efficient and effective ways. This will help farmers do what they do best: Serve people who benefit from the nutrition they provide.”

In keeping with tradition but offering a new twist, NMPF unveiled its 2020 Activities and Accomplishments Report at the organization’s Board of Directors meeting March 10.

Physical copies of the report have historically been distributed to Board members at this event annually, but due to COVID-19 public health concerns that have continued to limit in-person gatherings, including the March Board of Directors meeting, the 2020 report was published online and distributed virtually.

The annual report chronicled the many activities and accomplishments of the past year, including NMPF’s work to secure $16 billion in direct farm aid from Congress, to extend Small Business Administration programs to farm businesses, and to ensure that farm and cooperative employees were recognized as “essential” workers. The organization also made progress on agricultural labor and climate legislation and remained vigilant in encouraging federal efforts to expand dairy exports and enforce existing trade agreements.

At the same time, NMPF defended its members against excessive regulation and promoted dairy as a crucial component of diets in the latest edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Click here to view the full report.

The April 16 deadline for applications for NMPF’s National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program for the 2021-2022 academic year is quickly approaching.

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

Graduate students pursuing research of direct benefit to milk marketing cooperatives and dairy producers are encouraged to apply (applicants do not need to be members of NMPF to qualify).  The top applicant will 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.

For an application or more information, please visit the NMPF website or email scholarship@nmpf.org.

The National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program plans to resume program on-farm evaluation activity on Sept 1, while reinstating deadlines nationwide. FARM also approved nominations for new Animal Care Task Force members.

Effective Sept. 1, evaluation and corrective action plan deadlines will be reinstated and all recommendations to forego on-farm activities related to the FARM Program will be rescinded. Also, program cycles are now extended to June 30, 2024, for all program areas (Animal Care 4.0, Environmental Stewardship 2.0 and Workforce Development 1.0). Resources for evaluators can be found on the new Evaluators and Trainer page on the FARM website in addition to events, training information, and FAQs.

Meanwhile, the NMPF Animal Health and Well-Being (AHWB) Committee approved nominations for the FARM Animal Care Task Force members who will serve as FARM Animal Care Version 5.0 discussions commence. Stakeholders across the U.S. dairy industry nominated the new members to fill existing vacancies on the task force, formerly called the Technical Writing Group.

The task force now consists of five farmers of varying operation size and geography, five representatives from co-ops and processors, four veterinarians, four academics, and one representative from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. More information on the task force, its responsibilities, and a full list of members, is here.

FARM conducted its first evaluator training as part of the Workforce Development (WFD) program area on March 10 and 11. The training equips FARM evaluators to conduct WFD Version 1.0 evaluations. A total of 10 evaluators participated in the two-day program administered by ACER Consulting, FARM’s training provider. Another training will be held April 14 and 15. Interested FARM evaluators can register here.

NMPF staff lobbied congressional offices in March to raise the issue with the Federal Maritime Commission that certain vessel operating common carriers (VOCCs) reportedly are returning to their original port with empty containers instead of accepting U.S. agriculture and forestry exports. Members of Congress have sent letters to the FMC pressuring them to address the problem, due in part to NMPF advocacy.

Senator John Thune (R-SD), Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and 22 of their colleagues sent a letter on March 2 to the FMC expressing concern and calling on the Commission to quickly resolve this critical issue, which is complicating dairy exports. In the letter, the senators urged appropriate enforcement actions under the Shipping Act be used to end recent practices that are hurting producers and preventing competition in foreign markets. They also recognized how urgent the need is, “especially with record container volumes at the nation’s major ports.”

More than 100 House Members also wrote to the FMC to share their mounting concern over this practice, stating: “Should it be found that VOCCs are predatory or unreasonable in refusing to export American agricultural producers or imposing unreasonable fees, they must be held accountable by the Commission for the harm they are causing our producers.” The signees called on the commission to provide monthly updates as efforts to address the issue move forward.

NMPF will continue to maintain pressure on Congress and the FMC to quickly resolve the ongoing delays and excessive fees.

NMPF, the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), and International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) submitted comments on March 5 to Global Affairs Canada on the administration of Canada’s dairy tariff rate quotas (TRQs).

The comments presented a clear, unified signal to Canadian authorities of the need for dramatic reforms in their current administration and allocation of TRQs. “Canada is failing to meet its trade obligations by manipulating import license procedures and minimizing the ability of U.S. dairy farmers to have full access to the benefits of USMCA. That needs to stop, and we look forward to working with the Biden Administration to ensure it does,” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern.

Canada is taking several actions in its administration of TRQs that undermine its USMCA obligations. Not providing fair or equitable procedures in administering the TRQs and reserving large shares of the quota for processors and so-called “further processors” are examples of how America’s dairy farmers and processors are losing out on the hard-fought USMCA benefits for U.S. dairy.

The comments to Global Affairs Canada, which provide recommendations on how Canada can reform its TRQ administration procedures to ensure full utilization of dairy quotas, follow joint NMPF, USDEC and IDFA comments to the Canadian agency in February 2020 and reflect NMPF’s ongoing attention to the issue. Last August, NMPF played a critical role in bicameral, bipartisan letters sent from Congress to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture urging them to ensure compliance of the dairy TRQs. USTR initiated the ongoing dispute settlement case as a result of these efforts.

NMPF submitted comments March 8 to the request for information opened by FDA regarding the use of the word “cultured” to label lab-grown seafood products, using it as an opportunity to push FDA to enforce its current dairy standards of identity. The comments touched on three main points including:

1. FDA should enforce existing standards before creating new ones;
2. FDA should work to coordinate its policies with USDA; and
3. “Cultured” should not be used to describe lab-grown foods.

NMPF pointed out that the use of the word “cultured” to describe lab-grown seafood could cause consumer confusion as cultured is a commonly used term to describe dairy products such as yogurt, kefir, cultured butter, and buttermilk. Instead of cultured, NMPF suggested terms that were more suited to describe lab-grown products such as “synthetic,” “lab-grown,” or “cell-based.”

“To be clear, the issue is not that consumers will confuse dairy and seafood,” NMPF states. “They will not. Rather, the problem is that if the word ‘cultured’ becomes understood to refer to foods derived from synthetic processes not found in nature, consumers will think the same word on dairy labels means they have been manufactured similarly or that synthetic seafood products bearing such labeling contain natural cultures that have been in use for centuries – which is clearly not the case.”

Lastly, NMPF reminded FDA that it is bound to follow the Administrative Procedures Act and cannot rewrite a rule through a stated guidance.