ARLINGTON, VA – With Vermont’s biotechnology food labeling law about to take effect in July, the National Milk Producers Federation today urged Congress to take immediate action to establish a federal standard that would preempt state GMO food labeling mandates.

At its summer meeting today, the NMPF Board of Directors expressed its concern that, despite months of negotiation in the Senate, Congress still has not acted to establish a uniform national disclosure policy that provides consumers with clear and consistent information on food biotechnology.

In a resolution adopted at Wednesday’s meeting, NMPF’s board voiced concern that if the Vermont law goes into effect, other states may adopt similar approaches. The Vermont law is already causing disruptions in the marketplace, even before it takes effect, and a further worsening of this situation will severely harm farmers by threatening the continued utilization of agricultural biotechnology, according to NMPF.

“Plants produced through biotechnology not only are completely safe for consumers, they also improve our environment by reducing energy, water and pesticide use,” said Randy Mooney, Chairman of NMPF and a dairy farmer from Rogersville, Missouri.  “Farmers have overwhelmingly adopted these crop technologies because they increase productivity while enhancing agricultural sustainability.”

NMPF’s Board of Directors, and its Young Cooperator national advisory council, have been visiting their elected officials this week on Capitol Hill to reinforce the need for the Senate to reach agreement on a uniform national standard – and to do so as quickly as possible.  The House of Representatives has already passed its own version of a federal GMO labeling preemption, but the food industry is waiting on the Senate to act so that a single, uniform law can be implemented in 2016.

The NMPF resolution approved Wednesday also affirmed the importance of federal policy making clear that milk and meat from animals that consume GM feed are not subject to biotech labeling disclosure because the animal products are in no way genetically modified.

“There is no difference in milk or meat from cows that have consumed biotech crops, and that’s why any federal labeling disclosure needs to ensure the common-sense treatment of animal feed,” Mooney said.

Mooney told a hearing last month of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock that the failure by Congress to address this issue “threatens the viability not only of my farm, but also the 30,000 farmers I represent. It also threatens our ability to feed the world’s growing population.”

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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.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month released the seventh and final major component of its massive overhaul of federal food safety laws, known as the Food Safety Modernization Act. The final regulation is called “Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration,” otherwise known as the Food Defense Rule. The new rule reflects input from NMPF that dairy farms need not be the focus of additional attempts to further regulate food safety at the farm level.

The purpose of this FSMA rule is to prevent intentional adulteration from acts intended to cause wide-scale harm to public health, including acts of terrorism targeting the food supply. The rule requires that a covered facility prepare and implement a food defense plan that identifies vulnerabilities, actionable process steps, mitigation strategies, procedures for food monitoring, corrective actions and verification. 

In response to comments submitted by NMPF, there are no requirements for dairy farms at this time. Instead, the agency will work with the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS) to explore the matter further. Dairy processing facilities, on the other hand are subject to the rule. Facilities other than small businesses have three years to comply with the rule, while small and very small businesses have four and five years, respectively. 

Training materials will be created by the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance (FSPCA) to further explain the implications of this measure to the dairy sector. NMPF will host a webinar for our members on Wednesday, June 15, to review this rule. For more information to participate, contact Clay Detlefsen or Beth Briczinski.

NMPF Chairman Randy Mooney told a congressional committee in late May that the current dairy economic situation is presenting real challenges for dairy farmers, and urged Congress to work with NMPF to strengthen the Margin Protection Program, pass federal labeling preemption legislation for foods produced with biotechnology, and pursue market-access opportunities through balanced trade agreements.

Mooney, a dairy farmer from Rogersville, Missouri, and also chairman of Dairy Farmers of America, joined members of the turkey, pork and beef sectors at the hearing on the state of the livestock sectors.

In his testimony before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture on May 24, Mooney said he believes that the Margin Protection Program is the right program for dairy’s future, but asked Congress to work with NMPF to explore further adjustments that would improve the program’s effectiveness.

“The program is not completely fulfilling its intended objective as an effective safety net,” said Mooney. “For many farmers, the MPP is simply not enough to protect them in this economic environment.”

The dairy industry is experiencing a global downturn in milk prices, in part because of large milk production increases in the European Union following the elimination of production quotas there in April 2015. The Margin Protection Program (MPP) was developed following the recession-induced dairy price crash seven years ago. The program offers dairy farmers the ability to purchase insurance-type coverage against poor margins in their income over feed costs.

Administrative changes that have been made to the program by USDA will enhance the MPP’s flexibility and make it more useful for farmers, Mooney said, but added that further steps by the Congress may be needed to “improve the effectiveness of MPP for all dairy producers.”

In his testimony, Mooney also urged Congress to quickly establish a national law prescribing disclosure provisions for foods made with genetically modified ingredients. A Vermont law requiring labels on many foods made with biotechnology is slated to take effect on July 1^st. In the absence of clear federal standards more states will likely pass their own mandates, leading to a confusing series of label requirements across the entire food marketing chain, he said.

“Failure by Congress to address this issue threatens the viability of not only my farm, but also the 30,000 farmers I represent. It also threatens our ability to feed the world’s growing population,” he said.

Addressing the topic of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, Mooney said that it is imperative that each participating country be held to its commitments, and that outstanding implementation and enforcement issues be addressed as Congress prepares to consider the pact.

Mooney also expressed concern about the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently being negotiated with the European Union (EU). Specifically, Mooney noted the EU’s lack of commitment to opening its markets to agricultural trade, and its repeated attempts to establish new non-tariff trade barriers through the use of geographical indicators and other protectionist measures.

“The EU has not demonstrated a good-faith commitment to open agricultural trade,” said Mooney. “The U.S. must proceed cautiously by securing clear commitments from the EU to guard against the imposition of future trade barriers.”

NMPF and allies in the dairy community around the world were successful in moderating the potentially harmful impact of a World Health Organization child nutrition guidance document that came before the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, last month.

Although the intent of the guidance document was to promote breastfeeding and young child nutrition, goals NMPF strongly supports, the proposal as drafted went dangerously overboard in suggesting sweeping restrictions that could have been interpreted to discourage milk and milk product consumption by toddlers up to age 3. In addition to being harmfully unclear and broadly worded, the guidance document’s scientific basis was sorely lacking.

Over the course of several months, NMPF reached out to the Obama Administration and Congress, urging them to address the concerns posed by the ill-advised guidance document drafted by WHO staff. These efforts included numerous discussions and meetings with various federal agencies, including the Departments of Health & Human Services and Agriculture, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the White House.

NMPF President Jim Mulhern sent a letter to the President last month, together with the leaders of the U.S. Dairy Export Council and the International Dairy Foods Association, which underscored the seriousness of the issue. Leading congressional dairy supporters, who shared NMPF’s concerns, voiced similar concerns to high-ranking officials throughout the Administration as part of this effort. Those dairy champions included House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden, Ways & Means Chairman Kevin Brady, and Representatives Ron Kind, Pat Tiberi, Peter Welch, David Valadao, and Devin Nunes, among others.

The U.S. government agreed with NMPF’s view that global public health policy must continue to reflect the important role dairy plays in child nutrition and U.S. statements at the concluding World Health Assembly meeting reflected that.  This was an important reaffirmation because, as written, the WHO guidance on foods for young children could have been interpreted in ways that resulted in new marketing limits on milk and other dairy products.  

“Thanks to the efforts of the U.S. government and NMPF we’ve ensured that the WHA resolution on this guidance incorporates well-established nutrition principles that stress the importance of consumption of nutrient-rich dairy products by toddlers both here and abroad," said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern.

At the World Health Assembly (WHA) in late May, the U.S. played the lead role in shaping an important WHA resolution on the original WHO guidance document. The U.S. fought hard to ensure that the resolution provided important context around how countries should implement the guidance document. The U.S. focus was driven by an effort to ensure that child nutrition, not ideology, was the key driver in all decisions. NMPF’s work with the U.S. government, and their leadership at the WHA, achieved 4 beneficial results:

• Emphasized the continued importance of existing WHO & FAO dietary guidelines, which encourage dairy consumption;
• Ensured that any adoption of the guidance document take into account existing nutrition legislation and policies (which in the U.S. strongly encourage dairy consumption by young children) and international obligations (which prevent countries from unduly restricting trade);
• Provided an avenue for evaluating experiences with the guidance in order to examine its effectiveness and consider changes; and
• Upheld the independence of the Codex Alimentarius Commission as the appropriate standard-setting body for food products.

The U.S. statement at the WHA was unequivocal in stressing the benefits dairy consumption can have for child health and good nutrition. Specifically, the U.S. statement at the WHA highlighted that “children over six months of age need nutrient-rich complementary foods from a variety of sources. This can include dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt…This Guidance does not intend to discourage their inclusion in the diets of young children.” The U.S. press statement similarly highlighted dairy’s benefits by noting that dairy has been an important part of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans since the first edition was published in 1980.

NMPF will continue to work with the Administration and congressional allies to ensure that the critical contextual framework provided by the WHA resolution on this issue carries forward as the U.S. monitors how other trading partners are implementing the recommendations.

Following the U.S. International Trade Commission report on the economic impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council reiterated that the 12-nation trade agreement, if appropriately enforced, would be beneficial to the U.S. dairy industry.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) released its report in mid-May. The assessment analyzed specific economic characteristics of the TPP, including its impact on gross domestic output, imports and exports, and employment opportunities.

In assessing the TPP’s effect on dairy, the report concluded that the agreement would have an overall positive impact on U.S. dairy exports and a limited impact on U.S. dairy imports. In fact, new exports under TPP would exceed today’s imports by roughly $1.5 billion.

“If properly implemented and enforced, on balance the agreement will represent a step forward for the U.S. dairy industry,” NMP and USDEC said. “But the benefits of the TPP can only be realized if the United States ensures that the signatories live up to their commitments under the agreement, as well as to their prior trade obligations.”

The report also indicated that Japan and Canada would reduce selected tariffs over long phase-in periods, but both markets would remain highly managed even after TPP’s full implementation. In the U.S. import market, dairy producers in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand would be granted additional access under TPP with new dairy tariff-rate-quotas (TRQs). The report also indicated that Japan and Canada would reduce selected tariffs over long phase-in periods, but both markets would remain highly managed even after TPP’s full implementation. In the U.S. import market, dairy producers in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand would be granted additional market access with new dairy TRQs. However, with the exception of two products — butter and butter oil, and whole milk powder — the volume of foreign dairy products doesn’t reach the current maximum U.S. import quota, due to the higher cost of exporting to the United States, and relatively high prices in Asia. TPP members are not expected to significantly increase exports to the United States above current volumes. As a result, TPP members are not expected to significantly increase exports to the United States from current volumes.

“The TPP can support the continued growth of our industry if the United States ensures that the agreement advances U.S. dairy prospects compared to the status quo at the time of its conclusion, and that its provisions are fully implemented and aggressively enforced,” the dairy groups said.

The FARM Animal Care Program is hosting numerous events through the summer and fall to prepare participants for Version 3.0 of the program, set to be implemented on January 1, 2017.

Three, 2-day Train-the-Trainer courses will be held in Ithaca, N.Y., August 2-3; Minneapolis, Minn., Aug. 31-Sept. 1; and Phoenix, Ariz., Nov. 8-9. Each course will go over the goals of the FARM Program and explain how to successfully complete a FARM Version 3.0 evaluation with the new program guidelines. All FARM Program trainers wishing to maintain their certification must attend one of the above in-person training courses.

Additionally, the FARM Program will offer a one-day Evaluator Training course in Minneapolis on Sept. 2. All FARM Program Evaluators must recertify on Version 3.0 of the Program either in-person or online before January 1, 2017. More information on the Train-the-Trainer and Evaluators Training courses can be found on the FARM Program website.

The FARM Program also will host a FARM Evaluator Conference in Nashville, Tenn., November 2-3, 2016. This inaugural conference will inform evaluators about emerging animal health and welfare issues allow ample time for group discussions and networking. This conference will enhance individuals' evaluation and communications skills with session topics like social media 101 and crisis management training. Registration information on that meeting will be shared later this summer.

The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, of which NMPF is a member, is looking for its new class of standout farmers and ranchers to share on a national stage how they grow and raise food. To help put a real face on agriculture, USFRA will select a group of individuals who are proud of what they do, eager to share their stories of continuous improvement, and who already have a strong presence on social media.  The previous Faces class included dairy producer Will Gilmer of Alabama, and the current class features Carla Wardin of Michigan.

“People genuinely want more information about farming and ranching, and talking to people as a representative of the industry sharing the facts, but also addressing their feelings, is an interesting part of this role,” said Carla Wardin, a member of the Michigan Milk Producers Association. “I’d encourage everyone who is curious to apply, because not only does it help you improve as a communicator, it also allows you to make an impact on the consumers’ view of today’s agriculture as being progressive and committed to responsible practices.”

To apply, visit www.FoodDialogues.comto learn more about the program. Entries will be accepted beginning on Monday, June 6 until Sunday, July 10. Finalists will be announced by USFRA in mid-August, and each finalist will be profiled on FoodDialogues.com. Winners will receive a $15,000 stipend, professional media/speaker training and full support from USFRA through their yearlong tenure.

Cooperatives Working Together members secured 27 contracts to sell 4.890 million pounds of American-type cheese, 813,506 pounds of butter and 396,832 pounds of whole milk powder in May. These products will go to customers in Asia, Central America, the Middle East, North Africa, Oceania and South America. The products will be shipped from May through November 2016.

For the first five months of 2016, CWT assisted members in winning export sales contracts totaling 23.230 million pounds of American-type cheese, 8.530 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat) and 18.464 million pounds of whole milk powder destined for customers in 20 countries on five continents. The sales are the equivalent of 541.117 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.

Helping CWT member cooperatives gain and maintain world market share through the export assistance program in the long-term expands the demand for U.S. milk and dairy products. This, in turn, positively impacts all U.S. dairy farmers by strengthening the value of dairy products, which directly impact their milk price.

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 at http://www.cwt.coop/membership.

Canada is moving forward with a dairy policy designed to alter the market access available to the U.S. dairy industry. A pricing proposal introduced in Ontario this spring, and reportedly scheduled to be announced nationally in the very near future, is intended to harm imports of ultra-filtered milk from the United States. Already, American exports of ultra-filtered milk to Canada have dropped significantly due to procurement adjustments by Canadian processors last month.

Ultra-filtered milk is concentrated liquid milk with a very high (85%) protein level. U.S. ultra-filtered milk exported to Canada is used in cheese-making and enters under a tariff line for high-protein dairy that, according to the terms of the NAFTA agreement, provides duty-free access for U.S. products to the Canadian market. For the past few years, Canada has been considering various approaches aimed at curtailing these U.S. sales.

A regulatory shift in its cheese standards also remains a possibility, but for now, Canada appears to have settled on moving forward with the new pricing policy that provides processors an incentive for using Canadian milk for specifically targeted purposes, and a disincentive for using imported ingredients.

“It is unacceptable for Canada to undermine market access, especially at a time when the U.S. is preparing to move forward with the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “All parties to the TPP must be held to their previous agreements. This maneuvering—aimed to make it more difficult for U.S. dairy companies to access the export markets soon to be opened through TPP—are just the type of activity that must be guarded against once the agreement is enacted. 

NMPF has made clear that the benefits of TPP hinge on the strict and vigilant enforcement of the obligations contained therein. As NMPF has testified, the U.S. should not move forward to approve TPP until it can ensure that all countries will abide by their agreements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NMPF’s forecast for MPP margins for the remainder of 2016 – based on early June milk and feed futures prices – indicates that nearby margins may dip below the $6 threshold before strengthening in the 4^th quarter of 2016 and into 2017. 

The USDA announced earlier this week that the March-April MPP margin is $7.15/cwt.  Those who chose buy-up coverage at the $8 level will receive approximately $0.85/cwt. on one-sixth of their production history, and those covered at $7.50 will receive approximately $0.35/cwt.

 

In preparation for the next round of negotiations in July, NMPF continues to engage stakeholders and challenge certain elements of the ongoing Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations.

NMPF is extremely concerned about the EU’s continued efforts to restrict commonly-used product names, known as geographical indications (GIs), despite the fact that these names have long been considered generic in the United States and elsewhere around the world. NMPF is standing firm in insisting that American producers have every right to use common names like parmesan, feta, asiago, gorgonzola and others.

The EU’s negotiating gamesmanship has been evident in their brazen attempt to pit dairy against other livestock sectors during the TTIP negotiations in an effort to secure such GI provisions.

"It will not be possible to make a generous offer [on pork, beef or poultry] unless we get GI [geographic indications] protection,” an EU source told reporters at the last TTIP negotiating round. “That's the quid pro quo."

NMPF was vehement in its response to these comments, saying: “Trade agreements are about tearing down barriers, not erecting new ones. That important point of principle is one that American agriculture has remained united on for decades. That’s why EU efforts to drive a wedge between U.S. farmer groups by urging one to push for new barriers on the other will not be successful.”

The news magazine Politico covered the issue earlier in May, when the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative expressed its commitment to push back against the EU’s efforts.

“The EU has aspirations for changing the U.S. system that are not going to be met in TTIP,” a USTR spokesman stated in the Politico article.

 “The geographical indications issue is a horrific overreach by the EU that undermines the entire EU interests in these negotiations,” said NMPF president and CEO Jim Mulhern in the same article. “It’s purely and simply a protectionist approach that flies in the face of what free trade agreements are all about.”

Mulhern traveled to the United Kingdom in May to reinforce the organization’s stance on the agreement. There, he spoke at a conference of for European farmers and dairy industry officials on the state of the U.S. dairy industry. During several interviews with European press following the conference, Mulhern discussed the issue of geographic indications, noting that they "add grave insult" to the U.S. dairy industry and that NMPF would not support an agreement with them in it.

As the next round of TTIP negotiations approaches, it’s clear that the resolution approved by NMPF’s Board of Directors this past March appropriately focused on the lack of progress to date in removing EU barriers to U.S. exports. Since then, the EU has done little but seek to impose new restrictions on U.S. market access rather than address their various nontariff trade barriers.

NMPF will continue to emphasize the importance of ensuring that TTIP negotiators take the time to get the agreement right by fully removing existing EU nontariff barriers to U.S. dairy exports and ensuring that new ones do not spring up to take their place.