The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed the detection of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in a dairy cow from Tulare, California, last week, the nation's fourth case of BSE. The cow was never presented for slaughter for human consumption; it was targeted for postmortem screening at a rendering facility near its home farm in California, according to the USDA.

After the announcement on April 24th, NMPF issued a statement saying that “America’s dairy farmers are encouraged that the on-going surveillance and inspections performed by federal authorities continue to ensure that BSE does not enter the U.S. food supply.”

This is the fourth mad cow case in the U.S. since December 2003, when a cow imported from Canada was diagnosed at slaughter. The two cases since then, along with this recent case in California, were infected with an atypical strain of BSE that does not appear to be related to the consumption of feed infected with the prions that cause BSE. It was infected feed which spread the disease to nearly 200,000 cattle in Europe in the 1980s and 1990s, where approximately 176 people later contracted a fatal encephalopathy from eating tainted beef products.

Scientific research indicates that BSE cannot be transmitted in cow's milk, even if the milk comes from a cow with BSE. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that tests on milk from BSE- infected cows have not shown any BSE infectivity. Milk and milk products are considered safe.

Following the March 29th announcement that NMPF will assume management of the REAL^® Seal, the Cheese Importers Association of America (CIAA) issued a news release alleging that this change in management of the REAL^® Seal program will violate a law requiring the imposition of fees on imported dairy products.

The CIAA release contained incorrect information and factual errors which necessitated a response from NMPF.

“It appears that the CIAA lacks full knowledge of the history, ownership, and use of the REAL^® Seal program and the concerns voiced by that organization are clearly misplaced,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF. Kozak said the following points were important to more completely understand the issue:

1. The United Dairy Industry Association (UDIA), a federation of 18 state and regional dairy research promotion boards, owns the REAL^® Seal and is free to license it as the organization deems appropriate. NMPF will now be managing the licensing and marketing of the REAL^® Seal, but ownership of the trademark remains with UDIA. NMPF has long-standing relationships with many of the current users of the Seal, making it a natural fit to carry out the aims of the program.
2. UDIA is a different organization from the National Dairy Board (NDB). When U.S. dairy farmers pay their 15 cents per hundredweight promotion assessment, 10 cents goes to state and regional promotion entities affiliated with UDIA or other qualified programs, and 5 cents goes to the NDB. While the NDB and the UDIA created Dairy Management, Inc. ("DMI") through which to share staff resources and maximize organizational efficiencies, the UDIA and the NDB remain separate and distinct entities.
3. The 7.5 cents per hundredweight import assessment that is paid by importers for promotion purposes is directed to the national dairy promotion program operated by the NDB. The import assessment is not paid to the UDIA.
4. Legislation that established the dairy import assessment does not impose limitations on how UDIA manages its assets, including the REAL^® Seal. No funds from the NDB have been or will be used for National Milk’s operation of the REAL^® Seal Program.

The process of making major, badly-needed changes in dairy policy took dramatic steps forward last month when both the House and Senate agriculture committees examined how best to improve the dairy safety yet.

Last Thursday, the Senate Agriculture Committee approved a farm bill draft that contains sweeping improvements in dairy programs, including a new Dairy Production Margin Protection Program to help farmers mitigate the risks of volatility of both milk and feed prices. The farm bill was approved by a vote of 16 to 5, and now will proceed to the full Senate for consideration. The bill was not amended in any way that alters the basic framework and usefulness of either the margin protection or market stabilization elements.

The timing of further action is still to be determined; however, farmers should use NMPF’s Dairy GREAT email system to send their senators a note, urging them to pass the farm bill this month.

Meanwhile, the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Dairy held a hearing last week, specifically focused on dairy policy and the farm bill. NMPF President and CEO Jerry Kozak (left) explained why the Dairy Security Act will be crucial to improving the federal safety net for dairy producers. Most members of the House panel seemed sympathetic to the argument that current programs aren’t working, and that the compromise approach developed by NMPF has merits.

NMPF’s position was bolstered last week by the appearance of a new analysis of the Dairy Security Act by Dr. Scott Brown of the University of Missouri. Brown’s review found that margin volatility will be reduced through the DSA’s margin protection and market stabilization features, and that neither exports nor consumer markets will be adversely impacted.

After serving NMPF for over a decade in a number of capacities, Roger Cryan, Vice President of Milk Marketing & Economics, has left the organization to rejoin the AMS Dairy Programs staff at USDA from which he came nearly 12 years ago.

Cryan is most known to the membership for his invaluable work on Federal Milk Marketing Order developments and other issues pertaining to economic policy. He has been a steadfast advocate for dairy producer interests, and his keen insight and wide knowledge of milk marketing in the U.S. will be missed, according to NMPF President and CEO Jerry Kozak.

In his new position, Cryan will assume the office of Director, Economics Division, Dairy Programs, where he will manage the Economic Analysis Branch, Market Information Branch and Dairy Market News Office, among additional duties.

In the near term, Cryan’s duties will be divided among existing staff. An assessment of the future direction of this position is now underway.

Meanwhile, David Hickey, Director of Government Relations, has also left NMPF to join his family’s business venture, a global consulting firm specializing in corporate facilities relocation and site selection.

After joining the staff in early 2010 to work as a lobbyist on dairy policy, Hickey established himself as an in-house expert on environmental, energy, and other issues. His prior experience on Capitol Hill and at the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture proved useful in promoting the interests of the NMPF membership.

To fill Hickey's position, John Hollay (above left) will be joining NMPF on Monday, May 7th, as the new Director of Government Relations. Hollay will be coming from Connecticut Congressman Joe Courtney’s staff, where he served as Legislative Assistant with responsibilities for issue areas pertaining to dairy policy, general agriculture, energy, environment, and labor. He was also the lead Congressional staffer on the re-establishment of the Dairy Farmer Caucus on Capitol Hill. Hollay will be introduced to the NMPF membership at the upcoming Board of Directors and YC meeting in June.

Starting Monday, Hollay will be reachable at jhollay@nmpf.org.

The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) recently trained 18 farmers and ranchers from throughout the United States in their first Conversation Leader training. These farmers and ranchers were nominated by USFRA affiliates as outstanding agriculture advocates that can serve as spokespeople for USFRA. The training took place on March 28th and 29th in Chicago, IL.

Suzanne Vold (left), a dairy producer with NMPF member cooperative Land O'Lakes, was nominated as a Conversation Leader to participate in this training by NMPF, which is an affiliate of USFRA. The training provided her with information and hands-on experiences that will allow her to engage in more meaningful conversations about her farm and farming practices with consumers.

The training focused on engaging in a conversation about food production, rather than defending food production. This was accomplished through conversation training, social media training provided by AgChat Foundation, and hands-on workshops that focused on message development, media interviews, panel discussions and social media interaction. The second day of training included a breakfast that allowed the farmers and ranchers to engage in a conversation about how food is grown and raised with Chicago area food bloggers.

"We are so pleased to have such a wide variety of farmers and ranchers in attendance for our first Conversation Leader training," said Bob Stallman, President of the American Farm Bureau and Chairman of USFRA. "It is imperative for farmers and ranchers to have their voices included in the conversations about how food is grown and raised. USFRA will be using this team to serve as USFRA’s go-to farmers and ranchers for high level engagement such as meetings, tours, and media interviews."

Sessions are currently being planned to train additional Conversation Leaders to lead the conversation about how food is grown and raised.

For the first six months of 2012, Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has assisted 10 member cooperatives in making 406 sales to overseas buyers in 32 countries in the Asia/Pacific region, the Middle East, North Africa, and Central and South America. Cheese export sales through the end of June totaled 66.3 million pounds. Butter and anhydrous milk fat sales totaled 45.2 million pounds.

All products are scheduled to be delivered in 2012 and are the equivalent of 1.597 billion pounds of milk on a butterfat basis, or the same as the annual production of 76,100 cows. With U.S. milk production up 3.3 billion pounds in the first five months of 2012, CWT is not only expanding and maintaining markets for U.S. dairy products, but it is also moving milk out of the U.S. market. This strengthens and stabilizes dairy farmer milk prices. CWT members have sold the equivalent of 1.6 billion pounds of milk overseas so far this year.

Thirty-seven dairy cooperatives and 117 individual producers, representing 70% of the milk produced in the U.S., are investing in CWT. If more cooperatives and individual producers invest just two cents per hundredweight in CWT, the program will be more effective. For membership information, please visit www.cwt.coop.