WASHINGTON, DC – A Capitol Hill briefing for House staff yesterday focused on a new report on “Fluid Milk in School Programs” by the National Dairy Council. It was hosted by Representative G.T. Thompson (R-PA) and Representative Joe Courtney (D-CT) in the House Committee on Agriculture. The National Milk Producers Federation and the International Dairy Foods Association strongly support the National Dairy Council’s report and helped coordinate the briefing.

The report identified declining milk consumption in schools as a concern because of the nutritional importance of milk in children’s diets. The majority of school-aged children do not meet current government dietary recommended intakes for low-fat and fat-free milk and dairy products. With Congress set to reauthorize school nutrition programs this year, this report will provide members of Congress with the information they need to ensure that school children continue to have access to healthy and nutritious dairy products.

“The decline in milk consumption is worrisome because it is difficult to replace the nutrient package found in milk with other foods, without adding extra calories and cost,” Jean Ragalie-Carr, RD, president of the National Dairy Council, told briefing participants. She discussed the role of fluid milk in school meal programs and outlined the opportunity for improved child nutrition through increased milk consumption.

Robert Murray, M.D., professor of human nutrition at The Ohio State University, emphasized the importance of milk as a component of a healthy diet. “People must think in terms of the whole food pattern, not just individual nutrients,” he said.

Milk is the leading source of nine essential nutrients for children 2 – 18 years old. Milk also includes eight grams of protein in each eight-ounce serving.

School meals are designed to provide foods recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), including low fat and fat free milk. As the Obama administration continues its work on the next set of dietary guidelines, preliminary findings by the committee charged with drafting the DGA have already demonstrated strong support for continued consumption of dairy products. The school milk report provides background information on numerous USDA programs that include milk, as well as identifies the challenges to maintaining and expanding milk consumption to achieve recommended dietary guidelines.

 

The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance the wellbeing 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 more than 32,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.

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.

The National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council today urged the Senate and House to act quickly on new Trade Promotion Authority legislation, saying the measure is crucial to securing well-negotiated trade agreements that open foreign markets to more U.S. dairy products.

The bipartisan TPA legislation was introduced today in the Senate by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and senior committee Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), and in the House by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

NMPF and USDEC said renewing TPA, which expired in 2007, is particularly important to the U.S. dairy industry because America now exports the equivalent of one-seventh of its milk production. TPA is the key to unlocking future export opportunities, the groups said.

“Because world trade has become a major driver of U.S. dairy farmer income, we need well-designed free trade agreements to keep expanding our exports,” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern. “All of the past trade agreements that were well-negotiated have been beneficial to the U.S. dairy industry. None of those have been implemented without Congress first approving trade negotiating authority.”

Added USDEC President Tom Suber: “Knowing that a trade agreement will be considered by Congress under trade promotion authority paves the way to press our negotiating partners to make their best offers on the most sensitive issues. Clearly, dairy exports fall into that category and the U.S. needs all the tools it can muster to get the best possible deal.”

The two organizations said TPA also allows U.S. negotiators to prioritize negotiations about products that are subject to significantly higher tariffs in key foreign markets. “This is extremely important for our industry since foreign dairy tariffs are often extremely high,” said Mulhern.

Finally, NMPF and USDEC said TPA will increase congressional influence over trade negotiations and lead to agreements that are better for both the country and the dairy industry. “By having a framework for participating in the process and clearly identified priorities, Congress increases its influence over these agreements as they are being written,” said Suber.

 

The National Milk Producers Federation, 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.

The U.S. Dairy Export Council 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. www.usdec.org

The issue of labeling foods made with genetically modified ingredients took center stage on Capitol Hill as March drew to a close.

On March 24, Vermont dairy farmer Joanna Lidback, below, and Land O’Lakes Chief Executive Officer Chris Policinski, above, were among six witnesses testifying on mandatory GMO labeling laws before the House Agriculture Committee. The following day, NMPF joined numerous other agriculture groups in endorsing new, bipartisan federal legislation establishing a protocol for food marketers wishing to voluntarily label foods with GMO ingredients.

Lidback said the need to build a viable small business led her family to embrace using genetically modified seeds for feed. “I also believe that biotechnology enables us to lessen the environmental impact that growing can have because less fertilizer and pesticides are used to grow an abundant crop,” she said. If the marketplace forced her to use non-GMO feed grains – most of which would be certified organic – her farm’s feed bill would more than double each month, from $5,328 to $12,000, Lidback added.

Lidback’s family has 50 cows on 200 acres in northeast Vermont. Her state was the first to enact a mandatory GMO labeling bill, which is being challenged in court but scheduled to go into effect next year. Lidbeck testified on behalf of Agri-Mark, a dairy cooperative member of NMPF.

Policinski called mandatory GMO labeling “an effort to stigmatize a form of technology and attempt to drive it out of the marketplace.” He said a state-by-state patchwork of mandatory GMO labeling laws “would be a logistical nightmare, creating dozens of different standards, different definitions, and different exemptions.”

A better approach, he said, would be voluntary national labeling, which would respect both the consumer’s right to choose in the marketplace but also a farmer’s right to choose a safe, proven technology.

The day after the committee hearing, a bipartisan group of 17 House members reintroduced the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, under which the Food and Drug Administration would set national standards for companies wishing to label their products as either containing or not containing genetically modified ingredients.

NMPF immediately endorsed the bill. “Rather than create a confusing patchwork of state policies, this federal legislation would establish uniform rules and a national certification program for foods that have been produced without bioengineering,” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern. “If food companies wish to voluntarily label their products as GMO-free, this legislation lets them do it.”

Efforts to target farm program spending in the congressional budget process sputtered out in March, as separate House and Senate budget resolutions made no significant changes in the farm bill approved early last year.

The House and Senate moved forward during the month with budget plans for fiscal year 2016. While initial proposals could have reduced funding for programs that benefit the dairy industry, the final Senate budget resolution required no additional cuts from agriculture and the House resolution included only very modest reductions.

In a letter protesting any dramatic changes in the farm bill’s spending allocation, NMPF and other farm groups reminded congressional leaders that the farm bill and the new Margin Protection Program for dairy already reduced federal spending on agriculture.

A compromise House-Senate budget resolution for fiscal year 2016 remains questionable. Regardless, programs benefiting dairy farmers are likely protected.

Mid-March and early April were active periods for NMPF on the trade front.

On March 18, Wisconsin dairy farmer and NMPF Board member Pete Kappelman testified on Capitol Hill about the need for favorable free trade agreements to sustain dairy export growth. The next day, NMPF joined major national and international dairy groups in stressing the importance of achieving favorable dairy market access in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Two weeks later, on April 2, NMPF joined the International Dairy Food Association and the U.S. Dairy Export Council in praising more than 75 House members who urged the Obama Administration to negotiate a strong market-access outcome for the U.S. dairy industry in the Pacific Rim trade agreement. The letter highlighted the need for a positive dairy result.

As head of NMPF’s International Trade Committee, Kappelman represented the federation at the mid-March House Agriculture Committee hearing on the importance of trade to agriculture. He noted that since 2000, U.S. dairy exports have increased 625 percent – to a record $7.1 billion – and that exports are now “critical to the health of my farm and our dairy industry at large.”

Kappelman, who is chairman of Land O’Lakes and a NMPF board member, said it is not a coincidence that this export growth occurred while the United States was implementing several free trade agreements, and that each of those was approved using Trade Promotion Authority.

Kappelman urged Congress to approve new TPA legislation in order to facilitate a favorable Trans-Pacific trade agreement.  The TPA legislation is expected to be introduced in Congress next week. “Significant access to TPP’s most protected dairy markets – Japan and Canada – is absolutely essential to us, and both of those countries have pointed to the importance of having TPA in place as TPP talks enter their final stage,” he said.

A day after Kappelman’s testimony, NMPF joined USDEC, IDFA, and national dairy organizations of Australia and New Zealand in pressing trade and agriculture officials of all three countries for “significantly increased dairy market access” with Japan and Canada in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.

In a joint letter, the organizations said TPP offered a historic opportunity to eliminate trade distortions and that access to the Japanese and Canadian markets should not be hindered by non-tariff barriers such as the European Union’s aggressive stance on geographical indications.

Earlier this week, NMPF, USDEC, and IDFA commended 75 House members for advising U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that “winning an overall positive market access result for the U.S. dairy industry is critical to the success of the TPP negotiations.”

The dairy groups said that dairy producers and processors agree on the importance of a balanced, positive TPP outcome for their industry and that Canadian and Japanese dairy market barriers must be addressed in any final TPP agreement.

NMPF thanked West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin for vetoing legislation April 2 that would have allowed consumers in that state to obtain unpasteurized milk through herd-shares. NMPF urged a veto of SB 30 in a joint letter with the International Dairy Foods Association in March.

“NMPF and the nation’s dairy farmers appreciate that Governor Tomblin sided with public health experts over raw milk advocates,” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern. He urged legislatures in at least six other states with pending raw milk bills to follow West Virginia’s lead.

“The link between consuming raw milk and foodborne illness has been well-documented, with evidence spanning nearly 100 years,” Mulhern said. “At the same time, no claims of additional health benefits from drinking raw milk over pasteurized milk have been substantiated.”

NMPF has led the dairy industry in opposing efforts to make raw milk more accessible to consumers. Unpasteurized milk is a key vehicle in the transmission of pathogenic bacteria including E. coli 0157:H7, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella.

NMPF has urged the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services to continue recommending at least three servings of dairy a day as part of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

At a March 24 hearing, Vice President of Dairy Foods & Nutrition Beth Briczinski reminded the agencies of dairy’s nine essential nutrients and that three of four nutrients lacking in the American diet are found in milk.

“Knowing that the nutrient package of dairy foods is virtually irreplaceable in the diet,” Briczinski said, “and that dairy consumption averages less than two servings a day, the Dietary Guidelines should at least continue to recommend three servings of dairy and, preferably, recommend Americans increase their current consumption of dairy foods.”

“Most Americans would certainly benefit by adding one more serving of nutrient-dense dairy foods each day,” Briczinski added. “This would go a long way toward improving essential nutrient intakes and help consumers achieve better diets and better health.”

Briczinski testified during a public hearing on the proposed Guidelines. The final 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will be issued later this year.

In March, Cooperatives Working Together helped its member cooperatives contract to sell 14.4 million pounds of American-type cheese and 5.9 million pounds of butter.

When added to sales contracted in January and February, the March sales bring the year to date 2015 totals to 23.1 million pounds of cheese and 24.3 million pounds of butter. Together, those sales will send the equivalent of 764 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis to customers in 22 countries on five continents through September 2015.

Developed by NMPF, CWT is a voluntary export assistance program supported by dairy farmers producing 70 percent of the nation’s milk. By moving U.S. dairy products into world markets, CWT helps keep domestic inventories and dairy farmer milk prices at reasonable levels.

NMPF’s latest Activities and Accomplishments Report is available on the organization’s website. Published annually, the report is an account of NMPF’s actions and achievements on all the issues it faced in the previous year.

The 2014 report covers the enactment and implementation of the Margin Protection Program – the most significant rewrite of federal dairy policy in a generation – as well as NMPF’s efforts to press dairy-friendly policies in the areas of trade, immigration, the environment, and food safety. In addition, it covers efforts to strengthen NMPF’s animal care program, rejuvenate the REAL® Seal, and continue the export assistance program Cooperatives Working Together, which played a key role in helping U.S. farmers amid 2014’s steep, worldwide dairy price decline.

In an introduction to the report, President and CEO Jim Mulhern said NMPF last year “achieved precisely the focus, effort, and accomplishments that I had in mind when I became President.”

The joint annual conference of the American Butter Institute and the American Dairy Products Institute will be held Sunday through Tuesday, April 26 – 28, at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.

One of the premier events of the year for butter and dairy ingredient marketers, the conference will cover topics including the challenge of nourishing a growing world population and the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the government’s primary nutrition advice for consumers. Panelists will include Janet Raddataz of Sargento Foods, Greg Miller from the National Dairy Council, and Tim Hunt from Rabobank. Also on the agenda are board meetings for both ABI and ADPI and a recognition lunch that will honor the 2015 ADPI Award of Merit winner and the Jim Page Memorial Scholarship recipient.

The meeting offers networking opportunities with more than 1,000 senior executives from manufacturers, marketers, suppliers, distributors and brokers of manufactured dairy products, as well as industry analysts, journalists, and key government officials. Registration is through the ADPI website.

The Animal Agriculture Alliance will hold its 2015 Stakeholders Summit in Kansas City on Wednesday and Thursday, May 6-7. Dairy producers interested in attending can register through the organization’s website.

Speakers will include Brad Scott, a partner in Scott Brothers Dairy Farms in Chino, California, who was featured in the television show Undercover Boss, and Dennis Dimick, executive editor of National Geographic, who oversaw the magazine’s 2014 Future of Food series. Returning from last year are Jeff Fromm, author of Marketing to Millennials, and Feedstuffs’ Andy Vance as moderator.

The Animal Agriculture Alliance helps consumers understand modern animal agriculture and seeks to expose those who spread misinformation about the industry. Jamie Jonker, NMPF Vice President of Sustainability & Scientific Affairs, serves on its board.