In recognition of his dedication to environmental stewardship on his dairy farming operations, NMPF’s 2010 Young Cooperator (YC) Chairman Marty Burken was selected last month as a recipient of the 1st annual Iowa Farm Environmental Leader Awards. The awards were sponsored by the Iowa Governor’s Office, Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and Monsanto. Burken was chosen because of the steps he has taken and leadership he has demonstrated to help protect Iowa’s natural resources. The nomination was approved by a committee representing multiple commodity, conservation, and environmental groups.

The awards were presented at the Iowa State Fair on August 17th by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, and Iowa DNR Director Chuck Gipp.

In the photo: Burken receives his award from Gov. Terry Branstad. He is joined on stage by his youngest daughter Hillary and his father Loran Burken.

 

 

 

The U.S. cheese business is built on a heritage dating back hundreds of years, since the time when immigrants, mostly from Europe, brought their food preferences with them from the Old World to the New. Unfortunately, the Europeans now want to ignore that global migration, and reclaim some products’ names just for themselves.

For the past several years, trade negotiators with the European Union (EU) have been making greater inroads in restricting the use of the names and translations – in trade parlance, the Geographic Indications (GIs) – for some foods and beverages made in certain parts of the world. Champagne from France is an obvious example. But so are cheeses such as Feta from Greece, Gorgonzola from Italy, and others. The EU asserts that if the principle of Geographic Indications is applied to these cheeses, any similar food products made elsewhere, from Argentina to the U.S., are not just pale imitators, but in violation of international trade laws.

While clawing back these names of common and popular consumer products may seem like a far-fetched goal, the EU has already had success in restricting the use of several key GIs in a free trade agreement it reached with South Korea. For instance, any cheeses labeled as Asiago, Feta, Fontina, and Gorgonzola now sold in Korea can only come from Europe. And even though the U.S. just signed its own free trade deal with South Korea, we’re now subject to the cheese GI restrictions written into the deal between the EU and Korea.

The stakes for this battle are big and growing. More than $20 billion in U.S. cheese production utilizes European-origin names. Last year, almost $1 billion in U.S. cheeses were exported; many of these could be harmed by the EU’s aggressive attempt to confiscate common names.

In order to fight this trend, NMPF earlier this year joined with the U.S. Dairy Export Council and other domestic and international organizations to form the Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN). The CCFN is devoted to informing consumer groups, farmer associations, manufacturers, trade and intellectual property officials of the damage that will be caused in their own countries if efforts to restrict the use of common food names go unchecked. CCFN provides an internationally-organized counterbalance to the EU’s overly-aggressive approach to restricting product names. Its website, www.commonfoodnames.com, provides information to companies interested in joining this important effort, as well as to policy makers around the world.

While focused on more than just dairy foods, the Consortium for Common Food Names is reaching to all manufacturers of cheeses and milk producers to encourage them to challenge the EU’s attempt to produce more free trade deals like the one between Europe and South Korea. While the World Trade Organization talks are in suspended animation, other broad, multi-party talks are moving forward, where a discussion of limiting the use of GIs may be on the table. The EU has concluded free-trade agreement talks with South Korea, Colombia, Peru, and Central America in the past few years. Negotiations with India, Brazil, Singapore, Malaysia and more than 30 other countries are ongoing. And once a precedent is set among these countries to restrict GIs, the limitations could be very damaging to future commerce, even if the U.S. isn’t a party to the agreement.

Moreover, the biggest prize of all – the U.S. market – is one the EU is keenly eyeing as it insists on imposing its views on GIs on the U.S. With a potential U.S.-EU trade deal currently under consideration, the U.S. cheese sector faces a very real threat if negotiators write any GI restrictions into a resulting agreement.

A reasonable path exists to protect location-specific GIs, say, for Parmigiano Reggiano, as opposed to the much more generic Parmesan. The U.S. has some interest in using GIs of its own, but a clear and limited scope of protection is what is needed, not a blanket restriction. It doesn’t help that Europe has been incredibly arbitrary in fighting for some GIs, such as Asiago, but not others, such as “Cheddar.”

As global trade barriers gradually come down, bit by bit and country by country, groups like NMPF and the CCFN have to ensure that new barriers in different forms – or in different names – don’t rise to take their place. The U.S. versions of Feta and Gorgonzola should be able to compete with versions made elsewhere. Consumers around the world will be the ultimate judges as to which are best.

 

Website, events in Iowa, D.C., highlight effort to provide American farmers with security

ARLINGTON, VA – The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) has joined forces with nearly 40 other farm and ranch organizations to raise public awareness of the need for Congress to pass a new, comprehensive, five-year farm bill before current farm programs expire in September.

The coalition, called Farm Bill Now, comprises associations and coalitions representing commodity crops, livestock, specialty and minor crops, energy and biobased product groups, farm cooperatives and financial groups, as well as the nation’s two largest farm groups, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Farmers Union.

“National Milk stands united with these other groups – each of which has strong and distinct policy priorities – yet all of whom are committed to passing a new, comprehensive bill this year,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF. “Dairy farmers have been working for three years on developing a new and better safety net, and we need a new farm bill to bring that effort to fruition.”

In addition to Wednesday’s launch of the coalition, Farm Bill Now is launching an interactive web portal at www.FarmBillNow.com, through which visitors can connect to their members of Congress and show their support for a new five-year farm bill. Using messages to Congress via social media, event locations and times, and an online petition, FarmBillNow.com gives both farmers and consumers the resources they need to make their voices heard, telling Congress that the farm bill needs to be completed before the current farm food law expires in September.

Kozak said that the coalition effort will call attention to the fact that the farm bill is important to more Americans than just those working in agriculture.

“Calling the farm bill the ‘farm bill’ suggests its impact is limited only to farms and to the rural areas to which they are so closely tied. It’s really a jobs bill, a food bill, a conservation bill, a research bill, an energy bill, and a trade bill. In other words, it’s a bill that affects every American,” he said.

“The farm bill has a broad impact on our citizens and our economy. It provides healthy foods to millions of schoolchildren and nutritious options to families in need. It develops and expands trade with valuable foreign markets. By reducing spending significantly compared to prior farm bills, the proposals pending right now in Congress address the need to get our nation’s fiscal house in order,” Kozak said.

In the coming weeks, Farm Bill Now will hold events in Iowa, and on Capitol Hill, to underscore this message. On Tuesday afternoon, August 28, farmers representing multiple groups within the coalition will discuss the Farm Bill Now effort at the annual Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, the nation’s largest outdoor farm show.

On Wednesday morning, September 12, the groups will gather on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol alongside members from the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as leaders from other major farm and commodity groups, rural development, livestock, conservation, hunger, consumer and energy organizations to encourage Congress to pass the bill before programs expire at the end of the month.

Farm Bill Now is a coalition of 39 agricultural groups, each with strong and varied policy priorities, yet all committed to passing a farm bill this year. Learn more at www.FarmBillNow.com.

25x’25 Alliance
Agricultural Retailers Association
American Beekeepers Federation
American Farm Bureau Federation
American Feed Industry Association
American Pulse Association
American Seed Trade Association
American Sheep Industry Association
American Soybean Association
American Sugar Alliance
Biobased Products Coalition
Council of State Governments East
Council of State Governments Midwest
Farm Credit Council
National Association of Wheat Growers
National Barley Growers Association
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
National Corn Growers Association
National Cotton Council
National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
National Farmers Union
National Milk Producers Federation
National Potato Council
National Sorghum Producers
National Sunflower Association
Northharvest Bean Growers Association
Northeast State Association for Agricultural Stewardship
Produce Marketing Association
Southern Peanut Farmers Federation
Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance
State Agriculture and Rural Leaders
United Dairymen of Arizona
United Fresh Produce Association
U.S. Canola Association
U.S. Dry Bean Council
USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council
USA Rice Federation
Western Growers Association
Western Peanut Growers Association

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 30 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.

After serving at NMPF for three months, staff member John Hollay has been promoted to the position of Senior Director, Government Relations. Hollay has done an outstanding job in the time he has been with NMPF, and the organization has benefited from his legislative experience and political acumen. He has been instrumental in successfully positioning the Dairy Security Act in both the Senate and the House.

With less than three months to go, staff members have been working on plans for the 2012 annual meeting that NMPF jointly hosts with the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board and the United Dairy Industry Association. This year’s meeting will be held October 29 – 31 at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel in Lake Buena Vista, FL.

Centering on the theme “Securing Dairy’s Future,” attendees will arrive for a few days of speeches, reports, banquets, general sessions, town hall meetings, and award ceremonies. Dairy producers, cooperatives, Young Cooperators (YCs), industry representatives, staff, and others from within the dairy sector are all invited to attend. Guest speakers will include AgriTalk host Mike Adams, sports commentator Dick Vitale, political pundit Stu Rothenberg, and entertainer Laura Bell Bundy.

Information will be posted online at www.nmpf.org/nmpf-joint-annual-meeting as it becomes available.

The battle over the Farm Bill shifts this month from Washington, DC, to the hundreds of congressional districts across America, to which members of Congress have returned for their August recess. NMPF has issued a call to action to its members, urging dairy farmers and their cooperatives to voice strong support for the passage of a new farm bill while their elected representatives are back home.

Last week, the House tried and failed to pass a one-year extension of the current farm bill that would have offered no value to dairy farmers. Because NMPF and most other farm groups opposed this approach, the House leadership pulled the bill, and instead passed a $300 million drought assistance bill that also offers little real support to dairy farmers. NMPF sent a letter to Congress expressing its disappointment that the House failed to act on a new Farm Bill.

The current farm bill expires at the end of September, and once the House and Senate return to Capitol Hill on Sept. 10th, there are fewer than 10 legislative days for them to act on farm policy before that deadline. The most likely current scenario is that farm policy will have to wait until an anticipated lame duck session of Congress is held after the November elections. In order to bring the Dairy Security Act to completion, members of both the House and Senate need to hear that getting a new bill is a priority to dairy farmers.

Through the end of July, Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has assisted member cooperatives in making 436 sales of cheese and butter to 33 countries on five continents.

Sales of Cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Gouda cheeses accounted for 302 sales totaling 71.5 million pounds, while the 134 sales of butter totaled 55.3 million pounds. This compares to 2011, when CWT assisted with 184 sales for the first seven months of the year, totaling 56.6 million pounds.

The milk equivalent on a milk fat basis of CWT’s 2012-assisted sales is 1.87 billion pounds, or the same as the annual production of 88,800 dairy cows. This accounts for half of the increase in milk production through the first six months in 2012.

NMPF was heartened by the vote in the House of Representatives late last month to pass the Preserving America’s Family Farms Act. This legislation, sponsored by Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA), and cosponsored by more than 90 other members, prohibits the Secretary of Labor from finalizing or enforcing regulations in the future that would change the definition of the ‘parental exemption,’ change the student learner exemption, and significantly redefine what practices would be acceptable for youth under the age of 16 in which to participate.

Even though the Department of Labor earlier this year withdrew its contentious proposed rule restricting the work that children could do on farms, NMPF still remains concerned that the issue could surface again at some point in the future.

“Although the Obama Administration has said it won’t go down this path again, NMPF wants to be certain that subsequent administrations don’t attempt something similar, which is why this bill was needed,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF. “We will continue to encourage the Labor Department to work with rural stakeholders to develop education programs to reduce accidents to young workers and promote safer agricultural working practices.”

The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA), of which NMPF is a member, will host another two-day Food Dialogues session this fall to discuss how food is produced, with a special focus on the use of antibiotics and biotechnology, and how these methods are portrayed in the media. Additional details, including event moderators and other speakers, will be announced in the next several weeks. In the interim, USFRA has created a section of its website where individuals can sign up for more information and receive updates as they become available.

The meeting will be held November 15 in New York City and will be modeled after the Food Dialogues session held earlier this summer in Los Angeles. That meeting, held in late June 2012, brought together entertainment movers and shakers, chefs, academics, large restaurant operators, journalists, local leaders, and farmers and ranchers for an in-depth conversation about food.

In addition, this summer USFRA is looking for a handful of farmers and ranchers who are proud of what they do and eager to share their stories of continuous improvement with others. The winners of this nationwide search for the “Faces of Farming and Ranching” will be announced in January 2013, and will put a real face on today’s agriculture. Dairy farmers can nominate others – or themselves – by going to www.fooddialogues.com.

ARLINGTON, VA – The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) is asking members of Congress, as they return home for the August congressional recess, to meet with struggling dairy farmers in their districts to discuss the perilous economic conditions affecting farmers, and the urgent need for Congress to pass a new farm bill yet in 2012.

“NMPF believes this type of one-on-one dialogue will enable members in both the House and the Senate to see firsthand the need for passing a five-year farm bill, including the vital reforms to the nation’s dairy policy in the form of the Dairy Security Act (DSA),” said NMPF President and CEO Jerry Kozak.

“We hope that Members of Congress will take time to visit local dairy farms to experience up-close the challenges dairy farmers are facing and understand why it is so imperative to pass a five-year farm bill which includes a better safety net for farmers,” Kozak said. “We are approaching a crisis comparable to or worse than that of 2009, when dairy farmers lost $20 billion in equity and thousands of farmers went out of business.”

“When you factor in additional operating costs, such as labor and energy costs, on top of the sky-high price of feed caused by the ongoing drought, dairy farmers are currently selling their milk for far less than the cost of production,” said Kozak. “The Dairy Security Act would give producers and their bankers the assurances they need to continue their operations through these tough times.”

Kozak said that farmers themselves should take this message to their elected officials during the next four weeks, with the hope that Congress can be spurred to action after Labor Day.

“We applaud the pledge from Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK), and Ranking Members Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Collin Peterson (D-MN), to continue their push for full passage of a comprehensive, five-year farm bill after the August recess. NMPF will continue to stand behind our agricultural leaders in this effort to pass a five-year farm bill this year.”

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 30 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.