As Canada continues to move toward instituting a national program designed to discourage U.S. dairy imports and help dump excess Canadian skim solids into global markets, NMPF has been working with others to gain international focus on the issue. NMPF, the U.S. Dairy Export Council and the International Dairy Foods Association joined with the dairy industries from Australia, the European Union, Mexico and New Zealand to collectively urge their respective governments to pursue a World Trade Organization (WTO) case against Canada as soon as further details emerge regarding its proposed national ingredients program.

Additional activities also helped shine a brighter spotlight on this concern. A New York delegation letter to President Obama urged decisive action to address the issue. The same week, numerous companies wrote to the governors of Michigan, New York and Wisconsin to highlight concerns with Canada’s proposed program and the existing Ontario pricing policy that has already caused U.S. exports to drop. The companies urged the governors to exercise all available tools to reinforce the gravity of the concerns over these policies to Canada.

NMPF will continue to aggressively champion a resolution to Canada’s trade-violating actions that are designed to directly undermine market access for U.S. products into the Canadian market. 

 

The USDA Farm Service Agency announced last week that the Margin Protection Program’s milk-over-feed cost margin for August was $9.26 per hundredweight, which, taken together with the July margin of $7.59, gives a two-month average of $8.42 per hundredweight –above the $8 threshold for program payouts.

Current forecasts using USDA’s MPP decision tool suggest that the margin will be above $8 per hundredweight during the remainder of 2016 USDA’s MPP margin forecasts are updated daily.

Dairy farmers have from now until Dec. 16 to enroll in MPP for coverage in 2017, or to change their coverage level if they are already participating. NMPF’s Future for Dairy website offers a variety of educational resources to help farmers select the desired coverage level.

The economic challenges facing America’s dairy farmers – and what more can be done to help farmers in the future – were among the main topics of discussion last month at a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the state of the farm economy.

At the hearing on Sept. 21, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was asked a variety of questions about the steps USDA has taken to help dairy producers as they deal with a second year of depressed milk prices. In addition to explaining USDA’s recent cheese purchase, Vilsack cited the actions USDA has taken to make NMPF-recommended improvements to the Margin Protection Program (MPP). These improvements include extending the annual sign-up periods, conducting farmer education initiatives and adjusting the program’s coverage levels to ensure producers get the maximum coverage during catastrophic periods while enabling them to choose their protection level between $4-$8.

Vilsack was also asked about MPP’s feed-cost adjustor, which he indicated would need to be addressed by Congress. That same message was delivered to the House Agriculture Committee earlier this year, when NMPF Chairman Randy Mooney testified before the House Committee on Agriculture and asked lawmakers to revisit the reduction in the MPP feed calculation in the 2014 farm bill. If the original feed adjuster NMPF proposed were to be reinstated, the program would better reflect actual producer feed costs and provide more effective coverage. Also in his testimony, Mooney strongly stated that MPP is the right program for dairy’s future and that NMPF would continue to work with both Congress and USDA to ensure that the program better meets its intended goals.

Any trip to a supermarket or restaurant these days would suggest that many safe, effective, science-based and common practices in agriculture are on a collective collision course with expectations down the food chain about how food “ought” to be produced.  That clash is what led to the new federal law on the disclosure of GMOs in food products.  The same pressures are being felt when it comes to how livestock are handled and housed, as companies move to source cage-free eggs and stall-free pigs.

If that weren’t enough, we also are facing another clash between how farmers strive to maintain healthy herds and flocks, and some consumers’ demands that no antibiotics be used – ever – in raising animals. We in the dairy industry need to be proactive and vigilant about this issue, because despite our long and proud history of judicious antibiotic use in dairy, both regulatory pressures and marketplace demands threaten to restrict the tools available on the farm.

The spread of bacteria resistant to one or more antibiotics is clearly a public health concern.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the United States alone, at least 2 million people become infected annually with bacteria that are resistant to at least one antibiotic. An estimated 23,000 people die each year as a result.  Health officials are concerned that new antibiotics are not being introduced as quickly as antibiotic-resistant germs are spreading – which represents another type of collision.

Just last month, the United Nations held a high-level summit to find new ways to battle the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  Even though the science is at best unclear about the contribution played by farm antibiotic use, there was a clear international consensus at the New York meeting that reducing the use of antimicrobial drugs in agriculture should be a major public health goal to slow the spread of antibiotic-resistant germs.

That sentiment, which has been growing for some time, has already prompted changes in U.S. drug regulation.  Starting three months from now, farmers will have to comply with new limits on how they feed antibiotics to their cattle, pigs and poultry.  The use of medicated feed will need to be supervised by a veterinarian, who must write a prescription for a farmer to follow.  And the use of any shared-class drugs (meaning antibiotics used in human as well as animal medicine) for growth promotion is no longer permitted.

For dairy farmers, the advent of this new Veterinary Feed Directive will not have a major impact because of the way we use antimicrobials.  Most of the current uses of antibiotics in dairy farming are therapeutic, meaning they treat or prevent a specific disease. They are not used to make animals grow faster or larger.  The biggest impact will be felt by poultry producers, who are already scrambling to eschew any use of antibiotics because major foodservice brands are wanting to use the “no antibiotics ever” pledge for their offerings.

Such an expectation on the cattle side, however, would create a serious collision between what farmers know is best for the health of their animals, and what food marketers want to promote as an absence claim.  While chickens live relatively short lives before they are harvested, the life cycle for a dairy cow is much longer — measured in years, not weeks. At some point in their lives, many dairy animals – just like humans – will need antibiotic therapy to treat an infectious disease.  Withholding that treatment could shorten the life of the animal, prolong its suffering, and possibly spread the disease further in the herd.  The judicious use of antibiotics is always about weighing treatment options. But treatment is not optional if saving the life of a cow is the goal.

The dairy sector has an exemplary track record on the proper stewardship of antibiotics.  Routine testing of every tanker load of milk, supported and enforced by the industry, state and federal authorities, helps eliminate the possibility of any antibiotic residues in retail dairy products.  In the past five years, the FDA has sampled more than 200,000 retail dairy products, and not one has tested positive for antibiotics. 

To build on that record, NMPF’s National Dairy FARM program places a specific emphasis on ensuring that farmers have a relationship with a veterinarian, so that proper antibiotic use is supervised.  NMPF recently cosponsored a day-long education session at a national veterinarian’s meeting to deepen the relationship between dairy farmers and their veterinary providers. And the FARM program offers a manual on how producers can avoid drug residues when they do use antibiotics.

Woven throughout all of NMPF and the dairy community’s efforts on this front is the notion that we must communicate with both customers and consumers all that’s being done. There is a real and understandable concern about the danger of antibiotic resistance. But that cannot, from an animal welfare perspective, mean that we eliminate the use of antibiotics to prevent and control disease. Rather, we must continue to communicate, collaborate, and explore new technologies that advance animal health and reduce the need for antibiotics.

ARLINGTON, VA – The Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program announced today it is teaming up with Merck Animal Health to offer a series of informational webinars as part of the FARM Version 3.0 rollout. This webinar series will further build upon the strong partnership between the Merck Dairy Care365® Program and the FARM Program that was established last year.

The National Milk Producers Federation and Merck Animal Health announced last summer that the two groups would collaborate to help ensure a comprehensive, industry-wide approach to employee training and animal care in the dairy industry. Through the partnership, dairy producers across the country have access to the tools, resources and workshops available through the Merck Animal Health Dairy C.A.R.E.™* Initiative, which is nicely designed to complement FARM.

The partnership will produce 10 webinars on various animal care topics, including calf care, stockmanship, antimicrobial stewardship and more. Participation in these webinars will help dairy farmers meet the new training requirements established in FARM Version 3.0. Each month will feature a different topic and will be recorded for viewing at a later date.

“Merck’s proactive, engaging partnership has greatly strengthened the FARM Animal Care Program and we are grateful for their support for the program again this year,” said NMPF Chief of Staff Emily Meredith, who also leads the FARM Program. “These webinars, hosted by Merck Animal Health and leading animal health and welfare experts, will provide valuable training resources to producers and their employees.”

“Dairy C.A.R.E. was developed to help producers provide the best animal care by maintaining sound policies, hiring the right people and making sure they are properly trained – and our partnership with NMPF is a natural fit,” said Rick Jackson, Merck Animal Health U.S. dairy product manager. “The new webinar series helps us meet our goal of offering supplemental materials dairy farmers can use to meet the new requirements under FARM Version 3.0 while supporting the significant efforts of dairy producers to continuously improve the care and handling of their animals.”

The video topics and release dates are as follows:

National Milk Educational Webinar Series
Topic	Audience	Presentation Date	Presenter
Dairy Stockmanship Skills	Co-ops, Producers	September 29, 2016	Dr. Ben Bartlett
Calf Care	Co-ops, Producers	Oct. 6, 2016	Dr. Liz Cox
Euthanasia Guidelines	Co-ops, Producers	Oct. 20, 2016	Dr. Jan Shearer
Handling Non-Ambulatory Cattle	Co-ops, Produces	Nov. 3, 2016	Dr. Greg Crosley
Pain Management	Co-ops, Producers	Nov. 17, 2016	TBD (NMPF)
Record Keeping & Drug Residue Prevention: An Industry Opportunity	Co-ops, Producers	Dec. 8, 2016	Dr. Norm Stewart
Building Strong Herd Health Programs	Co-ops, Producers	Dec. 15, 2016	Dr. Scott Nordstrom
Cattle Marketing	Co-ops, Producers	Jan. 12, 2017	Dr. Lowell Midla
Preparing for the Unexpected	Co-ops, Producers	Jan. 26, 2016	Rick Jackson
Emerging Issues	Co-ops, Producers	Feb. 9, 2017	TBD (NMPF)

In addition to hosting the webinars, the Merck Animal Health Dairy Care365 animal handling training videos will be available for viewing on the National Dairy FARM Program website. These videos were shot on farms to provide a realistic representation of how cows behave and react to their surroundings. Through these videos, employees can learn how to work with dairy cattle and youngstock safely and effectively, move cows to the milking parlor, and handle non-ambulatory cows, among other topics.

Merck Animal Health will enhance the availability of its already existing training materials by also posting content on its own FARM Program website.

Both Merck Animal Health and the FARM Program support the significant efforts of dairy producers to continuously improve the care and handling of their animals.

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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.

For 125 years, Merck has been a global health care leader working to help the world be well. Merck Animal Health, known as MSD Animal Health outside the United States and Canada, is the global animal health business unit of Merck. Through its commitment to the Science of Healthier Animals™, Merck Animal Health offers veterinarians, farmers, pet owners and governments one of the widest range of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines and health management solutions and services. Merck Animal Health is dedicated to preserving and improving the health, well-being and performance of animals. It invests extensively in dynamic and comprehensive R&D resources and a modern, global supply chain. Merck Animal Health is present in more than 50 countries, while its products are available in some 150 markets. For more information, visit www.merck-animal-health.com or connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter at @MerckAH.

(September 12, 2016 – Washington, D.C.) Dairy organizations in the United States, Australia, the European Union, Mexico and New Zealand today issued a joint letter to their respective trade and agriculture officials, expressing indignation about Canada’s recent actions to deepen its already prohibitive restrictions on dairy trade.

The groups said Canada’s increasingly protectionist policies violate “international trade obligations, hold out the prospect of trade diversion with attendant global price-depressing impacts and are in conflict with the principles of free markets and fair and transparent trade.”

The U.S. groups, including the National Milk Producers Federation, the U.S. Dairy Export Council and the International Dairy Foods Association, oppose a Canadian Agreement in Principle recently concluded between Canada’s dairy producers and processors. The agreement, which is undergoing finalization and review in Canada, would provide an incentive to substitute Canadian dairy ingredients for imported dairy ingredients and would unfairly subsidize exports of Canadian dairy products. If ratified, the agreement would take effect November 1, 2016.

In addition to the three U.S. organizations, the other dairy groups are the Australian Dairy Industry Council, the European Dairy Association, the European Whey Products Association, the European Association of Dairy Trade, Mexico National Chamber of Industrial Milk and the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand. Each of the dairy organizations asked officials in their respective countries to initiate a WTO dispute settlement proceeding to challenge the agreement once its details are announced.

In the letter sent jointly to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and to the other government trade officials, the dairy organizations stated that the Agreement in Principle would breach Canada’s trade obligations under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). They said it also would undermine the intent of the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

“Canada’s continued disregard for the provisions in its pacts with trade partners is unacceptable,” said Connie Tipton, president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association. “These protectionist policies are in direct conflict with the principles of free markets and fair trade, which trade agreements like TPP aim to promote.”

“The dairy trade situation with Canada has gone from bad to worse this year and now Canada is contemplating doubling down on that terrible track record,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “Enough is enough; Canada needs to stop shirking its dairy commitments and hold up its end of already negotiated agreements.”

“For years U.S. exporters have borne the brunt of a continuing procession of new Canadian policy tools intended to curtail dairy imports,” said Tom Suber, president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “TPP has included new features to move toward more open trade by expanding market access compared to the status quo; but Canada’s been doing its best to erode longstanding existing access as much as possible before this agreement is even put in place.”

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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 nearly 32,000 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. The U.S. Dairy Export Council prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, disability, national origin, race, color, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, political beliefs, marital status, military status, and arrest or conviction record.

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C, represents the nation’s dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers, with a membership of 550 companies within a $125-billion a year industry. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association (IICA). IDFA’s nearly 200 dairy processing members run nearly 600 plant operations, and range from large multi-national organizations to single-plant companies. Together they represent more than 85 percent of the milk, cultured products, cheese, ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States. IDFA can be found online at www.idfa.org.

Registration also remains open for the inaugural FARM Program Evaluator’s Conference, a two-day event from Nov. 2-3, 2016, in Nashville, following NMPF’s annual meeting Oct. 31-Nov. 2.

The event will provide professional development opportunities for the more than 370 trained FARM Program evaluators to network, hear from engaging speakers and interact with each other. Conference sessions will include discussions on the latest animal well-being research, crisis management and communications training, as well as round table discussions and interactive activities about FARM Program challenges and opportunities.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in an optional stockmanship training hosted in partnership with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) Beef Quality Assurance Program. This session teaches handling methods to improve gathering, sorting, chute work, parlor movement and transportation of dairy cattle. Attendees will learn how to reduce handling stress and discuss how producers can have a significant economic – as well as quality-of-life – advantage when applied on the farm.

Registration information and further details can be found on the FARM Program website.

Registration remains open until October 7 for the NMPF 2016 Annual Meeting, to be held October 31-November 2 in Nashville, Tennessee. NMPF will join the National Dairy Board and United Dairy Industry Association in gathering stakeholders to share in dairy’s accomplishments and challenges, as well as discuss the best paths to follow for the future. Registration information is online here.

Several prominent speakers will be featured at this year’s event, the 100th year of NMPF’s founding. Stuart Rothenberg, a leading political analyst, will share his humorous and captivating thoughts about the likely outcome of this year’s historic presidential election, and what’s at stake for the dairy industry.

Nina Teicholz will discuss how her research and book, “The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet,” has upended the conventional wisdom on dietary fat and challenged the very core of nutrition policy.

Leigh Anne Tuohy, the inspirational subject from the real-life story and movie, “The Blind Side,” will speak to luncheon attendees about recognizing the full potential of individuals in their communities. The banquet entertainers will be the Last Bandoleros, a high-energy country-rock group.

Rick Smith, CEO of Dairy Farmers of America, as well as NMPF’s Jim Mulhern and Randy Mooney will also speak at this year’s event. The Dairy Bar returns this year, featuring samples from familiar brands like Domino’s and Pizza Hut.

For more information on the schedule, hotel accommodations and more, click here.

The National Dairy FARM Program continues to roll out materials to help producers prepare for the implementation of Version 3.0 of the program on Jan. 1, 2017. The following resources are now available on the FARM Program website:

• FARM Version 3.0 Animal Care Manual: a comprehensive document, developed by the Technical Writing Group, that provides best management practices and guidelines for the highest level of animal care.
• Version 3.0 Self-Assessment: a guide for producers to follow to prepare for their Version 3.0 evaluation. It has general FAQs about the FARM Program and the evaluation and also provides a checklist of documents to have ready prior to the evaluation.
• Written Herd Health Plan: a guide for producers to create a Herd Health Plan for their dairy. It provides written protocols for all areas focused on within the Animal Care Manual.

On August 24, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the availability of a draft guidance for industry titled “Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food: Guidance for Industry.” This document includes several chapters intended to explain FDA’s current thinking on how to comply with the requirements for hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls rule.  NMPF will be reviewing the materials and advising its members on implications for dairy processing facilities.

The guidance chapters that FDA released thus far include:

• Chapter One—The Food Safety Plan
• Chapter Two—Conducting a Hazard Analysis
• Chapter Three—Potential Hazards Associated with the Manufacturing, Processing, Packing, and Holding of Human Food
• Chapter Four—Preventive Controls
• Chapter Five—Application of Preventive Controls and Preventive Control Management Components

By 2018, FDA will have released an additional nine chapters of guidance. NMPF will review the 500-plus pages of information that FDA releases and will inform its membership of any relevant information that will assist with regulatory compliance. In addition, NMPF plans to file comments on any pertinent issues by the comment deadline of February 21, 2017.  The draft guidance is available here. Questions about the guidance can be directed to Clay Detlefsen or Beth Briczinski.

Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its final rule on Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration in May 2016, the agency has been updating its tools and educational materials to align with the law’s relevant provisions. Late in August, NMPF and its members were asked to help facilitate an inaugural beta testing session on one such tool, the Food Defense Plan Builder software.

The Food Defense Plan Builder is a software program designed to assist owners and operators of food facilities with developing personalized food defense plans for their operations. This user-friendly tool harnesses existing FDA tools, guidance and resources for food defense into one single application. The latest version includes features that will help companies comply with the final rule when it goes into effect in 2019. 

The software was well received with little major revision needed. FDA has said it would make the final version of the software available no later than one year in advance of the compliance date.  Version 1.0 of the software is currently available for download. Food defense plans developed with that version will function with the revised version when it is released.

During the beta testing session, FDA announced it would initiate a “quick-check” program in 2019 as part of a regular food safety inspection process to verify that the regulated community is complying with the rule’s requirements. NMPF is confident that those using the software will comply, and urges its members to avail themselves of the software. NMPF staff have significant experience with food defense issues and will take steps to facilitate members’ compliance with the rule.  For questions about the rule or the software, please contact Clay Detlefsen.