LA CROSSE, WISCONSIN – The President of the National Milk Producers Federation, in remarks delivered today at a dairy cooperative convention here in western Wisconsin, singled out three of the state’s members of Congress for their leadership efforts to improve trade opportunities for dairy farmers.

NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern (in the photo), in a speech here to the annual meeting of the FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative, thanked U.S. Representatives Paul Ryan, Ron Kind and Reid Ribble for their efforts in Congress to ensure that pending international trade agreements provide positive benefits for the state’s dairy industry, the nation’s second largest.

Both Ryan (R), who represents southeast Wisconsin, and Kind (D), whose western Wisconsin district includes La Crosse, serve on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade policy. Ryan is Chair of the Committee, while Kind serves on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade. Ribble (R), who represents northeastern Wisconsin, serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee and is co-chair of the House Dairy Farmer Caucus.

“As international trade becomes a larger and more important part of the U.S. dairy economy, we are fortunate to have three major champions for the state’s dairy sector heavily involved in influencing the outcome of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks. They are fighting hard to ensure that dairy farmers here, and in other states, have more open access to world markets,” Mulhern said. “Dairy farmers and processors here in Wisconsin and surrounding Midwest states have a great deal riding on the outcome of the TPP trade negotiations, and this leadership from the state’s Congressional delegation is key to helping ensure our farmers get a fair deal.”

Mulhern noted that Ryan was clear, in his recent condemnation of the high, restrictive dairy tariffs employed by Japan and Canada, that the TPP talks must tackle those barriers to U.S. exports.

“We have made good progress on dairy issues in the negotiations with Japan, but we are still not yet at an acceptable final agreement. While we recognize Japan will not eliminate all tariffs, they must provide more market access for our dairy products than they have been willing to do so far,” Mulhern told the FarmFirst members.

“Canada, on the other hand, should not be allowed to be part of this free trade agreement without providing significant new market access for U.S. dairy products. Representatives Ryan and Kind’s involvement in these issues in particular will be critical,” Mulhern said.

Mulhern also told the audience that Ryan, Kind and Ribble have been outspoken on the matter of Geographic Indications, which the European Union is seeking to expand as part of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, also currently being negotiated.

“We share Chairman Ryan’s hope that US-EU trade talks will address this problem, as well as the proliferation of other barriers hindering U.S. agricultural exports to Europe,” he said.

Mulhern thanked Rep. Kind for his efforts, on behalf of dairy farmers, to explain the importance of the trade talks to those U.S. officials currently engaged in the negotiations. He noted that Kind hosted U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on a dairy farm in nearby Melrose last August to drive home how important international sales are to Wisconsin’s dairy industry.

“Whether the challenge is high tariffs, unfounded quality assurance barriers, or the attempt to stop cheesemakers in Wisconsin from using common names such as parmesan, feta or havarti, we have to draw a clear line that free trade talks must expand international commerce, not erect new roadblocks,” Mulhern said.

“We will continue to collaborate with Congressmen Ryan, Kind, Ribble and others in the state delegation, to ensure that the U.S. government remains resolute in its effort to use trade to grow the size of the state’s dairy sector,” Mulhern said.

(Photo Credit: FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative)

 

The National Milk Producers Federation, 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 more than 32,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.

ARLINGTON, VA – The National Milk Producers Federation thanked the House of Representatives for passing legislation today, by a vote of 272-142, to permanently extend the ability of family farmers and small businesses to write off capital purchases immediately, instead of over time. The bill now faces an uncertain future in the Senate, and a possible veto at the White House.

A permanent extension of Section 179 is one of NMPF’s legislative priorities for 2015. The tax provision is widely used by farmers to buy tractors, farm implements, and other equipment. Last December, President Obama signed legislation extending the Section 179 tax credit, along with more than 50 other expired tax provisions, but for 2014 only. That action meant farmers could benefit from the expensing allowance only on the tax forms they are filling out for 2014.

“Dairy farming requires significant investments in machinery and equipment,” said NMPF President & CEO Jim Mulhern. “By allowing producers to immediately write off these purchases, Section 179 gives producers an incentive to invest in their businesses while it reduced their record-keeping burden. This permanent extension provides much greater financial certainty in a year when dairy farmers will see much lower income levels.”

The maximum amount of annual expensing under the newly-passed House bill, H.R. 636, is $500,000, as it is for 2014. A 50 percent bonus depreciation for the purchase of new capital assets, including farm equipment, is included.

“Failure to permanently restore Section 179 will add to the financial strains on family farmers who already find it difficult to pass on their farms to the next generation,” Mulhern said.

NMPF, the voice of 32,000 dairy farmers in Washington, joined 33 other agricultural organizations in a letter sent Monday urging the House to approve H.R. 636.

 

The National Milk Producers Federation, 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 more than 32,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.

The dairy industry today applauded congressional leaders of the Senate Finance, House Ways and Means, Senate Judiciary, and House Judiciary committees for questioning the way a United Nations agency is considering treaty changes that could erode established trademark rights and, most critically, impair the ability of companies all around the world – including in the United States – to use numerous generic cheese names in export markets.

In a bipartisan letter to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), Ranking Member Sandy Levin (D-MI), Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) said the views of the United States and other member countries are not being fully considered as WIPO looks at expanding the scope of the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin.

The eight congressional leaders strongly urged WIPO to follow past practice by allowing all WIPO member countries to have an equal voice in determining any changes to the Lisbon Agreement.

The letter pointed out the broad ramifications of an agreement that fails to sufficiently address the concerns of trademark holders and common name users. The letter states, “Without these safeguards, companies in the United States and elsewhere could see their sales opportunities and intellectual property rights eroded in various markets around the world. This is already occurring in many countries where U.S. companies face geographical indications registrations that threaten to internationally block their use of common food names or negatively impact existing protections for their established trademarks.”

“The proposed changes in the Lisbon Agreement are clearly aimed at preventing U.S. dairy producers and processors, and others, from using names in international trade that they have used for decades, such as feta, parmesan, havarti, asiago and others,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation.

Tom Suber, president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, pointed to the effort to shut out dissenting voices from the process. “Of course countries can strike treaties to address their own goals, but that should not be allowed to come at the expense of others’ long-standing and growing exports,” Suber said.

“Unless these meetings are opened to the larger WIPO membership, the amendments completed by 30 or so countries could adversely affect the rights of all WIPO members to use common food names in global trade,” said Connie Tipton, president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association. “The proper protocol must be maintained to ensure the continued growth of U.S. dairy exports.”

The World Intellectual Property Organization is a United Nations agency charged with developing a balanced international intellectual property system. It is scheduled to consider the expansion to the Lisbon Agreement at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, in mid-May. Work to prepare for that meeting is actively underway in Geneva.

 

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.

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.

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) today applauded House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s strong message on agricultural market access to Japan and Canada in the Trans Pacific Partnership free trade talks.

Ryan, shown at a recent committee hearing (photo credit: AP), made it very clear that Canada and Japan must open their markets to U.S. dairy farmers or not be part of the final trade agreement. His comments came in a speech to the Washington International Trade Association.

“We could not agree more with Rep. Ryan’s statement that Canada’s ‘big restrictions on dairy, poultry and eggs products … have to go,’” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern. “Too many times in the past, Canada has gotten a pass on its impenetrable tariff wall on dairy imports. It is time Canada provides significant market access on all dairy products, from cheese to butter to milk.”

“We appreciate the intense trade negotiations now under way between the United States and Japan and believe significant progress has been made in those talks,” said USDEC President Tom Suber. “But there still is work to do. Japan’s ongoing efforts to limit meaningful market access on key U.S. dairy products are not in keeping with a trade agreement designed to expand trade opportunities.”

“We are also heartened by Chairman Ryan’s recognition that the European Union is trying to subvert the concept of geographical indications in a blatant effort to create barriers to U.S. exports of cheese and other products,” added Mulhern. “The U.S. dairy industry has repeatedly condemned EU efforts to misuse GIs to erect barriers to trade and competition. We share Chairman Ryan’s hope that US-EU trade talks will address this problem, as well as the proliferation of other barriers to U.S. agricultural exports.”

 

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.

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 new 114th Congress will feature a large and active group of House members looking out for the interests of dairy farmers, thanks to efforts made by NMPF to work with the caucus to facilitate a dialogue between farmers and elected officials.

A bipartisan group of legislators is reestablishing the six-year-old congressional Dairy Farmer caucus, and NMPF expects the new group to be even larger than the Dairy Farmer caucus in the 113th Congress.

“The 85-member caucus in 2013-14 was nearly one-fifth of the House,” said Vice President for Government Relations John Hollay. “We expect the 2015 caucus will be at least that large.” Hollay added that the dairy group is one of the most bipartisan and regionally diverse of the many caucuses in Congress.

The Dairy Farmer caucus educates House members on dairy industry issues and helps build consensus on legislation impacting milk producers and processors. For example, Hollay said, the caucus played a key role in enacting the 2015 farm bill, which included the most significant rewrite of federal dairy policy in more than a generation.

In recent years, the caucus has worked closely with the NMPF and the dairy industry to secure emergency funding for farmers suffering from low prices and disasters, protect dairy trade interests and secure passage of federal nutrition programs that deliver nutritious dairy products to children in schools.

Work on two massive free trade agreements, both with major implications for U.S. dairy farmers, has intensified with the start of 2015.

Officials from 12 Pacific Rim countries met in New York during the last week in January in an attempt to finish work on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the approval of which could open major new markets for U.S. dairy products in countries including Japan and Canada. NMPF Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives & Trade Policy Jaime Castaneda was on hand for the talks, which are moving quickly and could be concluded as early as March.

Meanwhile, a new round of negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is scheduled to resume in Brussels during the first week in February. One reason the Transatlantic trade agreement is important is because of European Union attempts to ban the use of feta, parmesan,  muenster and other common cheese names all around the world – including in the U.S. – unless the products are manufactured in Europe. The EU wants to use the TTIP to impose these bans, just as it has sought to do with its other trade agreements, against the strong opposition of NMPF and the U.S. dairy industry.

In Washington, the dairy industry’s concerns on the cheese names issue, known officially as geographic indications, are resonating with lawmakers. At a January 27th Senate Finance Committee hearing, Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and others grilled U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on the issue. Hatch said any final TTIP agreement “must … address the systemic misuse of geographical indications to create market barriers.”

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives a day earlier, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) brought a wedge of Wisconsin cheese to a hearing to drive home the point on cheese names. “We need to address these trade barriers,” he told Froman.

Both hearings also stressed the importance of ensuring that TPP delivers meaningful export access for U.S. dairy products into key markets, a point highlighted by Chairman Ryan and Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR), as well as additional members of Congress in both hearings. TPP talks are entering a critical stage during which the U.S. dairy industry will need to ensure its demand of a balanced market access outcome is heeded.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last month that approximately half of the nation’s 46,000 dairy farmers have chosen to enroll in the new Margin Protection Program for 2016. Not only did more than 50 percent of all dairy operations enroll in the MPP, but 55 percent of those who signed up selected coverage above the basic, $4 per hundredweight level.

“For a totally new program that asks dairy producers to pay to participate, these numbers are very encouraging,” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern. “And with milk prices trending down, the MPP is the right solution at the right time for dairy farmers.”

The USDA also published a state by state breakdown of enrollment levels, ranging from a low in Wyoming of 5%, to a high in Nevada of 90%. The participation level in the ten largest dairy states was 51%, almost identical to the national average.

Anecdotal reports indicated that the sign-up extensions granted by USDA after Thanksgiving, coupled with a sharp downturn in milk price forecasts for 2015, encouraged additional participation prior to the December 19 cutoff. The next enrollment window, for calendar year 2016, begins July 1 and lasts for three months.

In January, Cooperatives Working Together helped its member cooperatives sell 4.4 million pound of cheese and 14.4 million pounds of butter overseas. The products – the equivalent of 365 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis – will go to customers in 14 countries on four continents.

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.

In 2014, CWT helped 10 member cooperatives sell 190 million pounds of butter, cheese and whole milk powder overseas. That is the milk equivalent of 2.5 billion pounds of milk.

NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern defended animal care in the dairy industry and highlighted NMPF’s own responsible care program at the latest Food Dialogues session sponsored by the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance. The 90-minute online discussion originated from Boca Raton, Florida, and focused on animal care practices, particularly in the dairy industry.

Mulhern noted the frustration farmers feel when animal abuse videos surface in the media. While calling the videos “an aberration,” he said polls show consumers are genuinely concerned about animal care on farms, and that expectations across the food value chain have risen in recent years.

Mulhern explained that, to demonstrate dairy farmers’ commitment to humane care, NMPF in 2010 launched Farmers Assuring Responsible Management, or FARM, an on-farm education and evaluation program. Some 15,000 dairy farmers have since gone through the program’s second party education process, at the same time that organizations marketing 80 percent of the nation’s milk have committed to utilizing the program with all of their farmer-suppliers.

Calling it a “continuous improvement program,” Mulhern said FARM’s 50 on-farm animal care indicators are reviewed every three years and adjusted with input from farmers, veterinarians, animal care experts and the public. He indicated that in order for any animal care program to result in positive change, it needs to be widely adopted, which is why the FARM program will be successful as its adoption continues to grow.

Mulhern participated in the 14th Food Dialogues sponsored by the USFRA, an alliance of more than 80 farm organizations attempting to educate consumers about how food is grown and raised in America.

As a result of objections initially raised by the National Milk Producers Federation and endorsed in legislation passed late last year by Congress, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has withdrawn a regulatory guidance issued as part of the Waters of the U.S. proposal concerning when farmers must seek Clean Water Act permits for a long list of normal farming activities near wetlands.

On Friday, January 29, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Army signed a memorandum withdrawing the “Interpretive Rule Regarding the Applicability of Clean Water Act Section 404(f)(1)(A).”

Last summer, NMPF requested that the Interpretive Rule be withdrawn because it could have actually discouraged water conservation and environmental best practices. Language prompting the EPA to withdraw the language was included in a spending bill approved last December in Congress.

“Our concern with the initial proposal from last year is that it could have altered the long-standing and productive relationship between farmers and the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, in a way that would have made it harder for farmers to implement water conservation measures,” said Jamie Jonker, NMPF’s Vice President for Sustainability & Scientific Affairs.

“We’re pleased the EPA and Army have recognized that this regulation could have backfired, and that they’ve taken the necessary step to withdraw it,” Jonker said. The EPA guidance, officially called an Interpretive Rule, was issued in March 2014. It said farmers are only exempt from needing Clean Water Act permits for more than 50 routine farming practices if they comply with detailed NRCS technical conservation standards.

Historically, these standards have been voluntary, and the farming practices exempt from the permit process. Had the interpretive rule not been withdrawn, “the NRCS would have been thrust into the role of enforcer, rather than remaining a source from which farmers could seek conservation advice. This could have hindered rather than helped conservation efforts,” Jonker said.

NMPF joined more than 90 other agriculture and related groups last week in urging West Coast shippers and dockworkers to settle a dispute that has hampered exports, cut revenues, and wasted food, including dairy products intended for export across the Pacific.

The dispute between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association began last summer, and has led to a slowdown in exports leaving West Coast ports.

In an open letter to both sides, the 92 agriculture groups said: “This regrettable situation is having a severe impact on our ability to export agricultural and food products to many of our main export markets… A more immediate problem, however, is the effect the drastic reduction in containers being loaded is having on perishable commodities. Those goods are spoiling and being destroyed before they can be shipped or are being diverted to the domestic market at severe discounts.”

The farm and food groups noted that exports of agricultural products have exploded in the last 20 years, growing from $46 million in 1994 to $144 billion in 2013. They urged both sides to resolve their differences quickly. They also asked the federal government to use “all available remedies” to end the dispute.

Graduate students researching dairy-related subjects are encouraged to apply for the National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program. Each year, NMPF awards scholarships to Masters- or Ph.D.-level students conducting research of interest to NMPF member cooperatives and the dairy industry in general.

Recommended fields of study include agricultural communications, dairy science, animal health, animal or human nutrition, bovine genetics and herd management. Applicants do not need to be affiliated with NMPF members.

Candidates have until March 27 to apply for scholarships for the 2015-2016 academic year. Recipients will be selected by the NMPF board of directors in June and notified soon after afterward. Visit the NMPF website or call 703-243-6111 for details.