NMPF’s Senior Vice President Chris Galen explains for listeners of Dairy Radio Now how the House and Senate agriculture committees are each now seeking to advance their respective versions of the 2024 Farm Bill. Galen describes how the measures may affect dairy policy, and what the next steps are for lawmakers this spring on Capitol Hill.
Leading dairy representatives from the United States and Mexico met this week in Chihuahua, Mexico to renew their commitment to collaborate and advocate on mutually beneficial dairy policies. This was the sixth meeting between leading U.S. and Mexico dairy organizations since 2016.
The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) steered the U.S. delegation, which consisted of more than 14 member companies, U.S. farmer representatives, and USDEC and NMPF staff. Delegates from Mexico’s milk producers and dairy processors included:
Throughout the week, attendees discussed the most pressing issues affecting both industries, in their local respective markets and across the globe.
“Our two industries share so many similar challenges that call for us to work together,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “Mexico is and will continue to be a valuable partner for U.S. dairy. These meetings help strengthen those ties and set the dairy sectors in both countries up for continued success.”
“The U.S. and Mexico dairy industries are key partners in their shared mission to grow demand and protect dairy’s public image,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of NMPF. “The renewed commitment signed today further strengthens our important relationship.”
As part of the meeting, attendees toured the Reny Picot Mexico plant in Chihuahua. The only demineralized whey powder producer in Mexico, Reny Picot is the largest nonfat dry milk powder importer in Mexico, importing an average of 5,000 metric tons per month.
Joint Statement:
On their Sixth annual meeting within the framework of the partnership to strengthen the milk production sector in North America, held in the city of Chihuahua, Mexico, hereby agree to:
ARLINGTON, VA – Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted seven offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture sales contracts for 569,000 pounds (260 MT) of American-type cheese, 2,000 pounds (1 MT) of anhydrous milkfat and 90,000 pounds (40 MT) of whole milk powder. The product is going to customers in Asia, Central America, the Caribbean, Oceania and South America, and will be delivered from April through September 2024.
CWT-assisted member cooperative year-to-date export sales total 38.2 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 309,000 pounds of butter (82% milkfat), 769,000 pounds of anhydrous milkfat, 8.6 million pounds of whole milk powder and 3.9 million pounds of cream cheese. The products are going to 26 countries in five regions. These sales are the equivalent of 474 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.
Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively affects all U.S. dairy farmers and cooperatives by fostering the competitiveness of U.S. dairy products in the global marketplace and helping member cooperatives gain and maintain world market share for U.S. dairy products. As a result, the program has helped significantly expand the total demand for U.S. dairy products and the demand for U.S. farm milk that produces those products.
The amounts of dairy products and related milk volumes reflect current contracts for delivery, not completed export volumes. CWT pays export assistance to the bidders only when export and delivery of the product is verified by required documentation.
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The Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) Export Assistance program is funded by voluntary contributions from dairy cooperatives and individual dairy farmers. The money raised by their investment is being used to strengthen and stabilize the dairy farmers’ milk prices and margins
Emily Yeiser Stepp, Executive Director of the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program, discusses best practices in biosecurity as dairy farmers navigating a new federal order on testing and interstate animal movement in an interview with the National Association of Farm Broadcasters. “We still don’t know a lot about this virus and are taking action to limit that risk of virus spread, not only to protect our own dairy herds but also those poultry facilities that are being impacted, as well as protecting our dairy workers,” Yeiser Stepp said.
NMPF staff represented U.S. dairy farmers and their cooperatives at events ranging in location from Denver to New Delhi in April, showing leadership across industry while reaching out to dairy producers in the U.S. and worldwide.
Highlights from among more than six dozen public presentations from NMPF staff before members and dairy stakeholders include Regulatory Affairs Director Miquela Hanselman discussing nutrition, labeling, HPAI, and farm bill updates at the Western Milk Seminar in Denver, CO, on April 23.
In the international arena, trade and economics team leaders Shawna Morris, Executive Vice President for Trade Policy and Global Affairs, and Will Loux, Senior Vice President for Global Economic Affairs, represented U.S. dairy positions in Toronto, representing NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council during April 24-26 meetings of the International Dairy Federation’s (IDF’s) Standing Committee on Dairy Policies and Economics.
Loux became vice-chair of the committee in October, while Morris attended as the lead U.S. representative for IDF.
And Jaime Castaneda, Executive Vice President for Policy Development & Strategy with NMPF and USDEC, was part of a USDA Foreign Ag Service India trade mission, which included policy and business meetings with officials and potential importers from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, April 22-25. Castaneda also represented U.S. dairy in meetings in Brazil and Italy in April and early May.
NMPF gained a new employee in April, and its Joint Economics Team with the U.S. Dairy Export Council also gained a new team member from the USDEC side, adding more expertise to the team’s coordinated efforts for dairy.
Jessi-Ryah Cordova joined NMPF as its FARM Program Communications Coordinator on April 22. The 2023 graduate of California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo earned a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Business. During her time at Cal Poly she worked at its Dairy Unit as a Business Assistant, milking cows and managing communication and administrative efforts.
Most recently, Cordova worked as a sales representative for Farmers Business Network connecting with farmers across the U.S. & Canada.
Ganley, Senior Director of Global Trade Analysis for the U.S. Dairy Export Council, is the newest member of the joint NMPF/USDEC economics team. Her role includes analyzing and forecasting global dairy markets to identify opportunities for U.S. dairy exporters and ways to grow demand for dairy products around the world.
Ganley has spent her entire career in dairy, food, and agriculture. Before joining USDEC earlier this year, she held roles with Leprino Foods, PepsiCo Foods, and most recently her consultancy Quarterra. She is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
NMPF staff met with European Union government officials and agriculture groups on April 8 as part of the U.S.-EU Collaboration Platform on Agriculture. The forum was launched by Secretary Tom Vilsack and EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski in 2021 to strengthen the relationship between the two industries and discussing best practices to collaboratively address shared challenges.
The meeting kicked off with a series of panel discussions. NMPF executive vice president for trade policy and global affairs Shawna Morris spoke on a panel entitled “The Future of the Livestock Sector: Pressures and Opportunities.” Morris underscored the U.S. dairy sector’s long-standing leadership on animal care through NMPF’s FARM program and ongoing work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, led by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.
Given the European Union’s tendency to impose burdensome regulations on its trading partners, Morris emphasized the importance of incentive-based policies, as opposed to counter-productive, prescriptive rules, particularly around climate and consumer preferences.
Following the conference, Morris participated in a subsequent discussion with EU Agriculture Ministry officials at an event organized by the U.S. Food and Agriculture Dialogue for Trade at the European Union’s embassy.
The House of Representatives introduced a bill on April 15 that would renew the Generalized Systems of Preferences (GSP) trade program with new agriculture-specific eligibility criteria. NMPF worked with Congressional offices to secure language giving U.S. dairy producers a fairer opportunity to sell their products in key markets.
Inactive since its expiration at the end of 2020, the GSP trade program eliminates U.S. duties for thousands of products imported to the U.S. from developing countries. U.S. dairy tariff rate quotas are not affected by the GSP program. To be GSP-eligible, countries must adhere to certain human rights and economic conditions. The House’s bill introduces new provisions that would provide a much-needed boost for the U.S. dairy industry, including requirements that beneficiary countries:
Paired with the introduced Safeguarding American Value-Added Exports Act, this bill is positioned to strengthen the United States’ hand in combatting nontariff trade barriers in various export markets, including countering the European Union’s campaign to monopolize common name foods.
NMPF’s Tony Rice testified at a May 3 Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) hearing on promoting U.S. supply chain resiliency to outline the steps the department should take to support American dairy exporters.
In his remarks, Rice laid out the importance of a proactive trade agenda in fostering resilient supply chains for the U.S. dairy industry:
“Comprehensive trade agreements play a crucial role in ensuring supply chain resiliency, providing a framework for reducing trade barriers and enhancing market access to key partners. These agreements ensure that U.S. dairy products can compete on a level playing field in highly competitive international markets.”
Complementing comments submitted to USTR on April 19, Rice emphasized the need for new trade agreements, which encourage investments in domestic manufacturers rather than in offshore facilities, and drive economic growth that supports dairy farmers, rural workers, and millions of workers along the dairy supply chain.
Rice’s testimony also highlighted specific nontariff barriers that USTR should prioritize addressing to improve supply chain reliability – such as unscientific sanitary and phytosanitary measures and burdensome facility listing requirements – and detailed how a more diversified set of export markets would support the development of more resilient dairy supply chains.
NMPF helped members of Congress elevate the urgency for the Food and Drug Administration to finally enforce dairy product standards of identity through pointed questions asked when the agency appeared before Congress last month to present its fiscal year 2025 budget request.
Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-NY, raised the issue with FDA Commissioner Robert Califf when he appeared April 11 before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
Langworthy emphasized the significant research that has linked numerous health issues in children to the consumption of plant-based dairy imitators in place of real milk. He also pointed to the confusion that exists in the marketplace regarding the nutritional content of these imitation products, which NMPF and numerous public health organizations have conveyed to FDA.
Califf agreed with Langworthy on the importance of consumer understanding of the nutritional differences between dairy products and plant-based imitators. However, he suggested that court rulings have hamstrung the agency’s ability to require the proper use of terms on a product label.
That, however, wasn’t the end of the conversation.
Rep. John Moolenaar, R-MI, picked up where Langworthy left off when Califf appeared April 18 before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture. Moolenaar followed up on Califf’s remarks the week prior, pointing out that court rulings do not prevent FDA from requiring plant-based dairy imitators to use disclaimers such as ‘substitute’ or ‘alternative,’ as NMPF had previously recommended in its 2019 Citizen Petition. Califf once again agreed with the need to ensure consumers are aware of the nutritional differences between products. However, in response to a follow up question from Moolenaar, he did not commit to using disclaimers in the interest of public health.
NMPF is grateful for the continued support from members of Congress in both parties who for years have urged FDA to simply do its job and enforce the law. The agency’s continued inaction underscores the importance of congressional passage of the bipartisan, bicameral DAIRY PRIDE Act that would solve this problem.
USDA released on April 9 its final rule updating the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), maintaining cuts to dairy in WIC food packages first announced in its preliminary rule.
“NMPF is disturbed by the decision to reduce access to the essential nutrients dairy adds to the diet,” said Gregg Doud, NMPF president and CEO in a statement after the announcement.
“Nutrition science demonstrates that dairy products like milk, yogurt and cheese are especially important for women, infants, and children; meanwhile, nearly 90% of Americans don’t meet the number of dairy servings recommended by the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” Doud said. “This rule works against the WIC Program’s goal of ensuring all Americans have consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, and affordable foods.”
WIC is a vital program ensuring that pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and children have access to key nutrients that may be lacking in their diets. Decreasing the amount of dairy offered decreases the nutrients they are accessing through it.
NMPF supported provisions in the final rule that require states to offer lactose-free milk and expand the selection of product package sizes and opportunities to substitute yogurt and cheese for the milk allotment. However, the rule also authorizes plant-based milk alternatives that meet the nutrient specifications for WIC-eligible soy beverages and have less than 10 grams of added sugars per 8 ounces to be redeemed in the WIC program. This rule also allows plant-based “yogurt” and “cheese” to be redeemed in place of dairy.
This move raises many questions for NMPF, specifically why plant-based milk alternatives would have an added sugar allotment when this rule removes flavored milk as an option.
Following the rule’s release, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-KS, voiced concern with the department’s decision to reduce the WIC maximum monthly milk allowance at a hearing with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Apr. 16. NMPF is grateful for Moran’s advocacy for providing WIC program participants access they need to dairy’s unique nutrition profile.
Efforts to rethink and renew the Cooperatives Working Together program in the past month have focused on obtaining information about the breadth of products that are currently manufactured by CWT’s members. More than a dozen organizations provided information about their product mix, data that will be kept private but will help guide future decisions made on CWT’s product mix.
The task force of farmers and cooperative leaders guiding the program’s renewal will examine CWT’s key strategic pillars, including encouraging higher market prices and enhancing U.S. dairy export long-term growth.
The task force, formed earlier this year to consider how the CWT program should evolve in the future, will also assess specific adjustments to the program in the areas of product mix modification, bid process adjustments, and market development support. The task force will continue to meet virtually to refine these concepts and propose detailed proposals to the NMPF Board.
CWT April Committed Product Volume
CWT member cooperatives secured over 60 contracts in April, adding 9.6 million pounds of product to CWT-assisted sales in 2024. In milk equivalent, this is equal to 88.6 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. These products will go to customers in Asia, Central America, the Caribbean, Middle East-North Africa, Oceania and South America and will be shipped from April through September 2024.
