As the United States, Mexico and Canada move closer to talks on re-negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), NMPF is emphasizing the importance of strengthening our trade relationship with Mexico and addressing Canada’s habitual anti-free trade policies in dairy.

The Trump Administration formally launched the NAFTA modernization process in May when it notified Congress of plans to proceed with renegotiating the 24-year-old trade pact. Through joint comments, hearings and high-level meetings, NMPF has delivered a strong and clear message: U.S., negotiators must preserve the successful relationship of open and dependable dairy trade with Mexico that has been established through NAFTA while addressing Canada’s protectionist dairy policies, including that nation’s harmful new pricing schemes.

On June 12, NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council pledged to work with the Trump Administration throughout the modernization process to achieve these goals. In joint comments to the U.S. Trade Representative, the groups described the existing North American dairy landscape as one in which U.S. dairy products flow relatively unhindered to Mexico, but are curtailed by Canada’s exorbitant tariffs and increased use of policy tools hampering free trade and violating international trade obligations.

“The relationship between the dairy sectors of the United States, Mexico and Canada is of such great importance to all of our nations that we need to devote the time and effort to make it better,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “A modernized NAFTA agreement must preserve the strategically valuable trade relationship with Mexico, and remove remaining barriers to trade with Canada that were not adequately addressed in the original agreement.”

These same priorities were emphasized in a resolution approved unanimously by the NMPF Board of Directors at its June 14 meeting in Washington, D.C.

NMPF reminded the Trump Administration last month that a modernized NAFTA has the potential to increase U.S. dairy exports, create jobs and build business partnerships between the three countries. On the other hand, withdrawing from NAFTA could devastate the U.S. dairy industry. Last year’s dairy exports to Mexico – America’s top dairy export market –  equaled the milk output of 1,500 American dairy farms.

One of NMPF’s top requests of the Trump Administration is for a “decisive confrontation and resolution” of nontariff concerns, including the removal of Canadian milk pricing classes 6 and 7. This is a point NMPF hammered home during recent months, including most recently when National Milk was joined by an international coalition of nine other dairy organizations from the United States, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the European Union in a coordinated effort to ask that their respective trade ministers confront Canada’s policy.

NMPF’s main concern in NAFTA for Mexico is ensuring that this critically important trade relationship is not in any way disrupted. This includes prioritizing new rules for a sanitary and phytosanitary chapter, and taking further steps in NAFTA to protect the ability of U.S. companies to sell cheeses with common names, like "parmesan" and "asiago.” An aggressive ongoing effort by the European Union (EU) to claim sole ownership of these cheeses must be rejected by Mexican and U.S. officials, NMPF told trade officials last month.

NMPF has also been deeply involved in shaping the NAFTA dairy negotiation strategy through engagement with administration staff, through both private, high-level meetings and at public hearings. Shawna Morris, NMPF’s vice president for trade policy, spoke before the International Trade Commission’s hearing on NAFTA tariff issues on June 20, while Jaime Castaneda, NMPF’s senior vice president for trade policy and strategic initiatives, testified at a USTR hearing on NAFTA modernization on June 27. Mulhern has been actively engaged in the administration’s Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee for Trade, which provides input on the NAFTA negotiations to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

Since NAFTA’s implementation, the United States has shifted from being a consistent net importer of dairy products to being a significant net exporter. Over the past five years, cumulative U.S. dairy exports are more than double the import total. Last year alone, the U.S. dairy industry exported $1.2 billion worth of dairy products to Mexico. Mexico is the largest U.S. dairy export market by far, roughly double the size of the industry’s second-largest market, Canada.

PARIS, FRANCE – The recent European Court of Justice ruling upholding European Union regulations that prevent plant-based dairy alternatives from using terms like “milk,” “cheese” and “yogurt” is a victory in the same battle occurring in the United States, leaders of the National Milk Producers Federation told their French dairy counterparts here today.

During a visit Friday with French dairy cooperative Sodiaal and the French Dairy Interbranch Organization (CNIEL), NMPF’s board officers applauded the European high court’s ruling that upholds the standards of identity and labeling for milk products, and emphasized that NMPF will continue to fight for the enforcement of existing U.S. dairy food regulations.

“The European Court of Justice did just what we’re asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to do: Uphold and enforce current standards of labeling for milk and milk products,” said Jim Mulhern, NMPF president and CEO. NMPF is leading efforts on Capitol Hill to pass the DAIRY PRIDE Act, legislation that would require FDA to develop a timetable for enforcing standards of identity for dairy foods.

“It’s encouraging and appropriate that the court soundly rejected the argument that consumers understand the inherent composition and nutritional differences between real dairy products and plant-based imitators,” Mulhern said. “None of the fake milk products provides the same high-quality nutrition package as real milk. It is past time that manufacturers of these products, which are concoctions of powdered plant ingredients and water, abide by existing standards, whether in Europe or the United States.”

Last week, the European court’s decision prohibited TofuTown, a German plant-based foods company, from using dairy-specific terms in its labeling or advertising, noting that current European regulations expressly reserve the term “milk” for products derived from animals. The court further clarified that such regulations “reserve designations like ‘cream’, ‘chantilly,’ ‘butter,’ ‘cheese,’ and ‘yoghurt’ solely for milk products, that is, products derived from milk.”

NMPF’s officers met this week with their European counterparts in Denmark, Germany (left photo) and France to discuss mutual issues of interest, including the concern that imitation dairy foods are falsely marketing themselves as containing the same nutrition as real milk, cheese and yogurt. The groups also discussed the damage caused by the emerging use of anti-science-based fear tactics to market dairy products, such as the “non-GMO” movement.

“There’s no doubt that our colleagues here in Europe are facing similar challenges regarding consumer confusion around a variety of issues,” said Randy Mooney, chairman of NMPF. “It’s been beneficial to share learnings on such challenges and try to find solutions. On the matter of milk standards of identity, we’re hopeful this recent EU ruling will inspire our own FDA to begin enforcing its regulations.”

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

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Milk Producers Federation Board of Directors voted unanimously today to support modernizing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in a way that enhances and protects the United States’ current dairy market access opportunities and addresses Canada’s constant use of trade-distorting measures.

At its June meeting here, NMPF’s board passed a resolution outlining goals for the upcoming NAFTA renegotiation process. These include confronting Canada’s use of policies that hinder trade, such as its harmful Class 6 and 7 pricing schemes that negatively impact U.S. dairy exports. The resolution also requests that no harm be done to trade with the United States’ largest dairy export market, Mexico. It also calls for special attention to preserving and enhancing the protection of foods using common names, and strengthening rules related to sanitary and phytosanitary commitments with Canada and Mexico.

“Trade negotiations are always a balancing act, and the renegotiation of NAFTA will be another example of that dynamic,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “NMPF’s membership recognizes NAFTA’s essential role in expanding access to the Mexican market, where we export more than $1 billion annually in dairy products. We need to build on that market, and at the same time use the modernization effort to obtain more access to the Canadian market for our products, and roll back anti-competitive trade schemes used by Canada’s dairy sector.”

The NMPF resolution singled out Canada’s exorbitant dairy tariffs and pervasive use of policy tools like its Class 6 and 7 schemes, which were introduced last year. The new programs have been used to displace American exports of milk proteins to Canada and undercut U.S. dairy exports in overseas markets.

In May, the Trump Administration formally launched the NAFTA modernization process when it notified Congress that it plans to proceed with renegotiating the 24-year-old trade pact. NMPF will be actively engaged in this process through the submission of recommendations on the priorities of interest to U.S. dairy farmers, meetings with U.S. and foreign government officials, and close interaction with supporters in Congress.

“Exports are extremely important to the U.S. dairy industry,” Mulhern said, “accounting for $5 billion in sales annually and up to 100,000 jobs in areas tied to dairy farming and processing. NAFTA has contributed to this success, supporting tens of thousands of farm and dairy manufacturing jobs, as well as those in related industries.”

Earlier in the week, NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council jointly filed comments on the NAFTA modernization process with the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.

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

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dairy farmers from across the country visited Capitol Hill today as part of the National Milk Producers Federation’s annual young farmer fly-in to Washington, where in more than 200 meetings they asked lawmakers for action on a handful of issues important to the dairy sector.

More than 70 farmers from 21 states visited their House and Senate members Tuesday as part of their role as national leaders in the 2017 NMPF Young Cooperator (YC) program. The dairy producers discussed the challenges they currently face, and highlighted four priority policy issues that need Congress’ attention:

• The need to make significant improvements to the structure of USDA’s dairy Margin Protection Program, which currently is not providing an adequate economic safety net for farmers;
• The DAIRY PRIDE Act, which would require the U.S Food and Drug Administration to enforce existing food standards specifying that dairy terms such as “milk,” “cheese,” “yogurt” and “ice cream” should only be used by foods made from real milk;
• The importance of a balanced approach to trade policy, especially as the 24-year-old NAFTA agreement is renegotiated by the United States, Canada and Mexico;
• The need to reform immigration laws in a manner that helps preserve the existing agricultural workforce and allows for the future flow of dairy farm workers.

“We are excited to share the first-person perspective of America’s dairy sector at a time when elected officials in Washington really need to hear our voice about the topics that matter most to farmers,” said Melissa Griffin, a dairy farmer from Buckland, Mass., and chairwoman of the 2017 YC Advisory Council.

Griffin’s husband Adam, who co-chairs the council, added that “we were able to make our points about issues specific to dairy, such as the need for a viable farm safety net and the importance of integrity in federal food labeling laws.  We also showed how high-profile national issues such as trade and immigration affect our family farm in New England.”

Randy Mooney, chairman of NMPF and a dairy farmer from Rogersville, Mo., said that the YC Program “provides our community with a powerful grassroots presence.  We need their engagement in Washington because there are so many issues competing for the attention of Congress.  Thanks to our younger leaders stepping forward, we have a much better opportunity to reach our legislative goals.”

The NMPF Young Cooperators will join NMPF’s Board of Directors on Wednesday for their June board meeting.

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

ARLINGTON, VA – Two leading dairy groups said today they will work with the Trump Administration to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to make sure it safeguards open trade with Mexico and confronts increasingly protectionist dairy policies by Canada.

In joint comments sent to the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) describe the existing North American dairy landscape as one in which U.S. dairy products flow relatively unhindered to Mexico but are curtailed by Canada’s increasing use of policy tools violating international trade obligations.

“NAFTA has accomplished a great deal over the past two-plus decades, but it has also been overtaken by new, unanticipated forms of trade and trade problems,” said Tom Vilsack, U.S. Dairy Export Council president and CEO. “We agree that NAFTA could use a facelift and our industry looks forward to working with the Trump Administration to explore ways to preserve and strengthen it.”

Since NAFTA’s implementation, the United States has shifted from being a consistent net importer of dairy products to being a significant net exporter. Over the past five years, cumulative U.S. dairy exports are more than double the import total.

“The relationship between the dairy sectors of the U.S., Mexico and Canada is of such great importance to all of our nations that we need to devote the time and effort to make it better,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation.  “A modernized NAFTA agreement must preserve the open and dependable trade relationship with Mexico, and remove remaining barriers to trade that were not adequately addressed in the original agreement.”

Last year, the U.S. dairy industry exported $1.2 billion worth of dairy products to Mexico, a dramatic increase from $124 million in 1995. Mexico is the largest U.S. dairy export market by far, roughly double the size of the industry’s second-largest market, Canada.

The comments submitted to USTR say a modernized NAFTA can increase U.S. dairy exports, create jobs and build business partnerships between the three countries. On the other hand, withdrawing from NAFTA could devastate the U.S. dairy industry. Last year’s dairy exports to Mexico alone required the milk equivalent of 1,500 American dairy farms.

The document’s top request of the Trump Administration is for a “decisive confrontation and resolution” of nontariff concerns, including the removal of Canadian milk pricing classes 6 & 7, and the inclusion of Canadian dairy tariffs.

The industry’s main concern for Mexico is protecting the ability to sell cheeses with common names, like “parmesan,” “gorgonzola,” “asiago” and “provolone.” An aggressive ongoing effort by the European Union (EU) to claim sole ownership of these cheeses must be rejected by Mexican and U.S. officials, according to comments from USDEC and NMPF.

U.S. dairy companies have been working with partners in the Mexican dairy industry for years to build the size and variety of cheese demand in Mexico. The comments ask the Administration to make it clear that the U.S. is “vehemently opposed to the imposition of any new restrictions on the market access opportunities for U.S. products relying on common names.”

The document concludes by stating its commitment to work with the Administration to modernize NAFTA.

“Improvements to NAFTA that prioritize our positive trade relationship with Mexico and address Canada’s flouting of its trade commitments to us can be achieved and are worth pursuing,” the document said. “This is an essential agreement that the United States dairy industry, and in fact the broader economy, cannot do without. It is because NAFTA is so important that this modernization effort is so valuable.

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

The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) is a non-profit, independent membership organization that represents the global trade interests of U.S. dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders. Its mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and assist the U.S. industry to increase its global dairy ingredient sales and exports of U.S. dairy products. USDEC accomplishes this through programs in market development that build global demand for U.S. dairy products, resolve market access barriers and advance industry trade policy goals. USDEC is supported by staff across the United States and overseas in Mexico, South America, Asia, Middle East and Europe.

During Walmart’s Sustainability Milestone Summit in April, NMPF member cooperatives Dairy Farmers of America and Land O’Lakes, Inc. announced their participation in Project Gigaton. The initiative aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from key Walmart vendor operations and supply chains by one gigaton by 2030. Both cooperatives will use the new FARM Environmental Stewardship module to help track and communicate their continuous improvement regarding greenhouse gas emissions reductions occurring on dairy farms.

Project Gigaton identifies energy, agriculture, waste, packaging, deforestation, and product use and design as areas in which to focus emissions reduction efforts. Both DFA’s and Land O’Lakes’ commitments focus on manure management as one of the areas to track continuous improvement on dairy farms. Other areas highlighted include improved yield potential, farm efficiency, and reducing enteric emissions associated with ruminant digestion.

The FARM Environmental Stewardship tool estimates greenhouse gas emissions and energy intensity by using the results from a dairy life cycle assessment conducted by the Applied Sustainability Center at the University of Arkansas. FARM Environmental Stewardship is a voluntary tool available to all FARM Program participants.

The second National Dairy FARM Program Evaluator Conference will be held in Indianapolis, Ind., on July 18-20, 2017. More than 400 trained FARM Animal Care evaluators will have the chance to network and discuss relevant topics in animal care, environmental stewardship and antibiotic stewardship.

During the three-day conference, FARM Animal Care Evaluators will spend a day with Elanco staff, take part in presentations on topics like “The Economics of Animal Well-Being” and the importance of employee training, and have the option of visiting a 3,000-cow dairy operation.

On July 18, Elanco staff will host a professional development training session to teach evaluators about their global business and commitment to feeding the world. On July 20, Evaluators have the option to visit Fair Oaks Farms, tour the dairy facilities and engage in discussion on employee training.

Registration is $199 with the optional Fair Oaks tour an additional $50. For more information and to register for the conference, please visit the conference website.

Earlier this spring, FARM program staff hosted the organization’s first Animal Care Evaluator and Trainer session of 2017 in Grand Rapids, Mich. FARM Animal Care evaluators are required to have either extensive on-farm experience, or a combination of experience and a relevant degree in dairy science, and must be recertified annually.

Twenty-five veterinarians, students, field staff and cooperative employees attended the two-day training, where they conducted a FARM evaluation. The training was co-conducted by Praedium Ventures and the FARM Animal Care staff.

With the implementation of FARM Animal Care 3.0, all evaluators who are recertifying, as well as evaluators and trainers who have not yet been recertified in Version 3.0, are required to attend an in-person training. The FARM Program will hold an additional Animal Care Evaluator and Trainer session in Albuquerque, N.M. on Nov. 14-15. Registration information is forthcoming. Learn more about upcoming trainings on the FARM Program website.