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CWT-assisted Dairy Product Export Sales Greatly Exceed U.S. Milk Production Increase

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

While U.S. milk production increased 103 million pounds in the first three months of 2019 according to the USDA, the Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) export assistance program for member cooperatives have captured sales contracts that will move overseas five times that amount in milk equivalent this year, proving again the self-help program’s worth to U.S. dairy farmers.

In April, CWT members secured 52 contracts to sell 1.2 million pounds of American-type and Swiss cheese, 1.2 million pounds of butter, 1.3 million pounds of whole milk powder, and 1.9 milk pounds of cream cheese. These products are going to customers in Asia, Central and South America, and the Middle East, and will be shipped April through October 2019.

These sales bring the total 2019 CWT-assisted dairy product exports to 26.6 million pounds of cheese, 4 million pounds of butter, 23.4 million pounds of whole milk powder, and 1.9 million pounds of cream cheese. These transactions will move the equivalent of 520.8 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis overseas, all in 2019.

2019 will be pivotal for dairy farmers, with higher milk prices a necessity following the challenges of the past half-decade. Dairy farmers and dairy cooperatives now and in the years ahead will increasingly rely on a thriving export market for growth and viability. CWT provides a means to move domestic dairy products to overseas markets by helping to overcome certain disadvantages such as the domestic/global price gap and shipping costs.

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 dairy farmers are encouraged to add their support to this important program. Membership forms are available here.

NMPF Pleased With NCIMS Results

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The 2019 National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments meeting that ran from April 26-May 1 in St. Louis was an overall win for U.S. dairy producers, as NMPF staff, members and state and federal agencies successfully debated and secured modifications that help the industry.

The widely attended biennial conference included more than 400 federal, state and industry leaders. NMPF had submitted several proposals, three of which were considered “must-pass”:

  • A proposal for streamlining the information required on a shipping statement for milk and milk products;
  • A proposal on antibiotic testing that provides clarity on confirmation testing for antibiotic residues;
  • And a proposal recognizing the importance of drug residue testing by making the ad-hoc committee on drug residue testing a permanent full standing committee.

Through collaboration with our members, the processing industry and our state and federal partners, all three proposals successfully made it through the complex NCIMS process.

NMPF also played a key role in advancing proposals from others that we felt warranted approval. NMPF helped craft modifications to several proposals that would have failed without the changes.

For example, an initiative to address how Grade “A” dairy plants that produce Grade “A” and non-Grade “A” products are to be inspected under the authorities of the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) and the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was modified with NMPF’s help.

The changes resolved conflicts among the states and the FDA that, before the conference, were very much in conflict as to how inspections were to be conducted. The states, industry and FDA came to a solution that will maximize state and federal resources and create greater efficiencies while maintaining milk safety. FDA and an NCIMS committee will develop and implement a pilot to ensure these inspections are done sensibly.

The conference began on Friday, April 26th with committee discussions. About half of the 74 submitted proposals were assigned to a committee for an initial review. During the committee review a proposal can be passed, rejected or modified. A proposal that passes as submitted or modified then goes to a Council for further review. Councils then have the option to approve, reject or modify proposals prior to passing them on to the state delegates, where again the proposals could be accepted, rejected or modified.

NMPF will issue a special edition Regulatory Register which will cover conference proceedings and outcomes in more detail.

Fake-Dairy Drumbeat Continues as NMPF Calls Out Research, Balmer Cites Imposters

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF and its allies are continuing their steady drumbeat against dairy imposters while President Donald Trump considers a replacement for departed FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, working to ensure that the fake-dairy issue that gained widespread public attention in 2018 stays on the radar of the next agency chief.

In early May, the organization spoke against shoddy research undertook by the Plant Based Foods Association and the research firm it hired to do an incomplete and poorly executed analysis of comments in the FDA docket looking at nutritional confusion in plant-based versus dairy beverages that closed in January.

As has been the case throughout the current labeling debate, the fake-milk study mischaracterized what FDA is considering, trying to turn a serious discussion of consumer transparency and nutritional inferiority into a red-herring debate over whether consumers think almonds are a dairy product.

“None of the fake foods stealing dairy terms contain the same nutrition as the milk or dairy product they attempt to imitate,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “The vegan and animal rights activists who were encouraged by our opponents in this debate to flood the docket with comments understand that these fake products don’t contain milk. But that’s never been the issue. Research clearly shows that consumers don’t understand the nutritional differences between real, natural dairy products and the inferior, imitation products masquerading as milk.”

The rising tide of fake dairy was also called out by NMPF Executive Vice President Tom Balmer, who in his capacity as executive director of the American Butter Institute, spoke on the rise of misbranded products at that organization’s annual meeting in Chicago.

Balmer pointed that for generations, plant-based butter imitations have been marketed under a federal standard of identity as margarine or under the non-standardized term “vegetable oil spread.” Now, in the face of declining margarine and spread sales, companies are seeking to capitalize on butter’s resurgent popularity by misappropriating the term “butter” and applying it to products that clearly do not meet butter’s federal standard of identity.

This practice damages the integrity of food standards, Balmer said, and misleads consumers who may believe they’re buying an equivalent to butter when, in fact, no such quality standard is being met.

“Just because consumers are rejecting plant-based margarines and spreads, companies can’t turn around and violate federal law by slapping the term ‘butter’ on a product label and pretend it’s worthy of a dairy term,” Balmer said. “A falsely labeled product is a misbranded product, and misbranded products don’t belong on grocery shelves. The proliferation of these products is eroding the integrity of the marketplace, and the FDA needs to stop it before its own rules become meaningless.”

ABI filed a lengthy complaint to the FDA in September calling out imitators. NMPF filed a citizen petition with the agency in February, outlining a roadmap toward a constructive resolution of the problem of mislabeled, fake dairy products. That petition may be accessed here.

NASS Numbers Show Third Straight Month of DMC Payouts

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney
The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported for the third consecutive month that dairy farmers would receive a payout should they elect to sign up at the $9.50 coverage level under the new Dairy Margin Coverage program.
The March 2019 milk and feed-price margin under the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program is $8.85 per cwt., which would generate a payment that month of $0.65 per cwt. for producers who purchase 2019 coverage at the DMC maximum level of $9.50 per cwt. for up to 5 million pounds of production history. The March DMC payment would be $0.64 per cwt. lower than February’s, due to a $0.70 per cwt. rise in the milk price offset slightly by a smaller increase in the price of alfalfa hay.
The projected March payout adds to January and February margins that together already ensure that producers who enroll at the $9.50 coverage level will receive more in DMC payments during 2019 than they will pay in premiums. USDA is currently predicting that $9.50 DMC coverage will generate additional payments for April through July. Signup is expected to begin June 17.
The 2018 Farm Bill also removes the previous restriction that prohibited producers from enrolling milk in both the Margin Protection Program that DMC replaced and the Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy (LGM-Dairy) program during the same month. It further allows farmers previously prevented from enrolling in MPP during 2018 due to this restriction to enroll retroactively in MPP and collect payments for 2018 for the months during which they were prevented from doing so. Farmers who purchased buy-up coverage under MPP during 2014-2017 are also eligible under the Farm Bill to receive a partial refund of their net payments during those years.
USDA’s DMC margin forecasts and DMC Decision Tool also now can be accessed online.

Cooperative Members, Dairy Experts Testify in Agriculture Subcommittee’s First Hearing

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

In its first hearing of the 116th Congress the House Agriculture Committee’s subcommittee on livestock and foreign agriculture focused on dairy’s improved safety net and the need for expanded exports, with farmers from NMPF cooperatives and industry leaders bringing national attention to industry concerns.

The hearing, called by Subcommittee Chairman Jim Costa (D-CA), spotlighted the low prices and trade concerns the sector faces while discussing the opportunities offered for producers through the new Dairy Margin Coverage program, calling solutions to dairy’s struggles one of the subcommittee’s highest priorities.

Testimony included:

  • Minnesota dairy farmer Sadie Frericks, a member of Land O’Lakes, spoke of the importance of the new Dairy Margin Coverage program as a risk management tool as her family weathers economic challenges;
  • California Dairies, Inc. President and CEO Andrei Mikhalevsky provided an overview of dairy’s trade issues, a rising concern as exports are crucial to increasing dairy demand;
  • Pennsylvania dairy farmer Dave Smith, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association, discussed additional challenges including the importance of milk consumption in schools and the need to combat mislabeled fake milks in the marketplace;
  • New York dairy farmer Michael McMahon gave voice to the dairy industry’s unique workforce challenges, including the lack of a viable guest worker program that covers year-round workers;
  • and Dr. Scott Brown, Director of Strategic Partnerships for the University of Missouri’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, provided economic insight.

NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern thanked the participating farmers and industry leaders for bringing their crucial dairy perspectives to a national level and applauded the subcommittee for putting dairy first on its 2019 agenda, noting that the sector’s “challenges reverberate through the U.S. economy.” Mulhern also thanked lawmakers including Costa, subcommittee ranking member Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC), Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), and Congressman GT Thompson (R-PA) for their helpful opening and closing statements at the hearing.

Fake-milk “study,” like beverages it supports, lacks key ingredients

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

ARLINGTON, Va. – The National Milk Producers Federation today is correcting the record intentionally muddied by the Plant Based Foods Association in conjunction with Linkage Research & Consulting, which presented flawed analysis as legitimate research to grab inaccurate headlines.

Linkage’s “study” of comments filed in a U.S. Food and Drug Administration docket that concluded in January purports to show that consumers would prefer that dairy terms remain on non-dairy beverages and other products. The FDA solicited comments because, according to the agency, it “has concerns that the labeling of some plant-based products, which can vary widely in their nutritional content, is leading consumers to believe that those products have the same key nutritional attributes as dairy products.”

But as has been the case throughout the current labeling debate, the fake-milk marketers continue to mischaracterize what FDA has been considering, trying to turn a serious discussion of consumer transparency and nutritional inferiority into a red-herring debate over whether consumers think almonds are a dairy product – in this case, by presenting an incomplete and selective review of comments to the FDA as authoritative.

“None of the fake foods stealing dairy terms contain the same nutrition as the milk or dairy product they attempt to imitate,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “The vegan and animal rights activists who were encouraged by our opponents in this debate to flood the docket with comments understand that these fake products don’t contain milk. But that’s never been the issue. Research clearly shows that consumers don’t understand the nutritional differences between real, natural dairy products and the inferior, imitation products masquerading as milk.”

In contrast to the cherry-picked data from PBFA, Mulhern pointed to actual public opinion research conducted by Ipsos, a survey firm that has conducted scientifically valid research on the topic:

  • 77 percent of buyers of dairy and plant-based beverages think almond-based drinks have as much or more protein than dairy, when in fact real milk has as much as eight times more protein;
  • 78 percent thought plant-based drinks had at least as many vitamins and minerals as dairy, also wrong;
  • 68 percent thought such beverages had at least as many “key nutrients” such as calcium and potassium, which they do not.

“It’s understandable why the fake-milk crowd would rely on fake facts – the actual ones aren’t on their side,” Mulhern. “But that doesn’t excuse their adulterating a debate taken seriously by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the School Nutrition Association, and others who have thoughtfully explained why labeling transparency is a public good.”

NMPF has outlined a constructive path forward to resolve the labeling issue. In February it filed a citizen petition with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration outlining a labeling solution that reinforces and clarifies current FDA labeling regulations. The petition may be accessed here.

Meanwhile, FDA inaction is encouraging continued chaos in the marketplace, one that’s engulfing other dairy products as well as milk. Fighting fake dairy is high on the agenda at the American Butter Institute’s annual conference, which begins today in Chicago.

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The National Milk Producers Federation develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and their cooperatives. NMPF members produce the majority of U.S. milk, making it the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

NMPF Applauds House Subcommittee for Putting Dairy First; DMC Decision Tool Now Online

Posted on by Alan Bjerga

ARLINGTON, Va. – As key milestones are being met in offering much-needed financial relief for dairy producers, the National Milk Producers Federation today thanked the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture for choosing dairy as the subject of its first hearing this year.

Lawmakers heard a diverse array of witnesses who provided important perspectives on the state of U.S. dairy, which is in its fifth year of low prices and its second year of trade-related hardships. In their opening statements:

  • Minnesota dairy farmer Sadie Frericks spoke of the importance of the new Dairy Margin Coverage program as a risk management tool as her family weathers economic challenges;
  • California Dairies, Inc. President and CEO Andrei Mikhalevsky provided an overview of dairy’s trade issues, a rising concern as exports are crucial to increasing dairy demand;
  • Pennsylvania dairy farmer Dave Smith, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association, discussed additional challenges, including the importance of milk consumption in schools and the need to combat mislabeled fake milks in the marketplace.
  • New York dairy farmer Michael McMahon gave voice to the dairy industry’s unique workforce challenges, including the lack of a viable guest worker program that covers year-round workers
  • and Dr. Scott Brown, Director of Strategic Partnerships for the University of Missouri’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, provided economic insight.

“Dairy’s challenges reverberate through the U.S. economy, and it’s appropriate that lawmakers put dairy first on its 2019 agenda,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “We thank all of the farmers and industry leaders who spoke out. We also commend subcommittee Chairman Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) and ranking member Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC), as well as Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Collin Peterson, (D-MN), who made helpful opening statements at the hearing, for their attention to dairy’s urgent needs.”

The NMPF continues to encourage farmers to prepare for Dairy Margin Coverage signup, scheduled to begin June 17. The USDA’s decision tool, designed to help farmers determine their appropriate coverage level, is now online here. Later this week, letters will be sent to producers informing them of their premium refunds under the previous Margin Protection Program.

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The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce the majority of U.S. milk, making NMPF the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

U.S. Special 301 Report Criticizes Europe for Wrongly Targeting U.S. Dairy Exports

Posted on by Chris Galen

U.S. dairy officials today lauded the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office for denouncing Europe’s anti-trade agenda against common-name food products and pursuing avenues to preserve U.S. export access rights.

The U.S. Special 301 Report, issued yesterday by USTR, categorically rejects EU policies that seek to intentionally disadvantage U.S. suppliers in global markets by blocking their ability to use common names such as fontina, gorgonzola, asiago and feta cheeses.

“The EU pressures trading partners to prevent all producers, other than in certain EU regions, from using certain product names,” read the report. “This is despite the fact that these terms are the common names for products and produced in countries around the world.”

Europe’s actions infringe on the rights of U.S. producers and imposes unwarranted market barriers to U.S. goods, according to the USTR.

“Europe has disadvantaged the U.S. dairy industry for too long by abusing geographical indications (GI) policies,” said Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “We face unfair barriers around the world because of Europe. USTR should be commended for recognizing the problem, and we look forward to working with them to rectify it.”

Vilsack urged the USTR to prioritize securing binding commitments from America’s current trading partners to prevent future GI restrictions. The market access preservation commitments secured with Mexico as part of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, he said, provide a positive precedent to build upon.

Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, also urged the Administration to take into account the lopsided dairy trade imbalance between the United States and Europe in formulating policies to tackle the EU’s predatory attacks on U.S. dairy exports.

Europe sent $1.8 billion in dairy goods to the U.S. market in 2018 but only imported $145 million of U.S. products, even though America is a major dairy supplier to the rest of the world.

“Trade is supposed to be a two-way street,” Mulhern noted. “America’s struggling U.S. dairy producers deserve a lot better than the current one-way trade relationship with the European Union whereby they sell us a billion dollars of cheese each year while erecting walls to our ability to compete head to head with them overseas.”

Posted on by Chris Galen

Federal policy for dairy producers is better than it was a year ago, but there are still many challenges in the year ahead. This report details accomplishments that have brought us to where we are and suggests paths we will need to take. We at NMPF are proud to tell this positive story for dairy.