USDA issued on February 15th the final rule for the mandatory electronic dairy product price reporting, whichappeared in the Federal Register.

The rule was mostly unchanged from the proposed rule issued last July, and did several things that NMPF had supported:

• It completed the move of dairy product price reporting from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).  AMS staff are more familiar with the reporting plants and their operations, and so are better equipped to integrate data collection and audit.
• It makes reporting completely web-based, which would speed the data collection process.
• It moves up the plant reporting deadline each week from noon (local time) on Wednesday to noon (local time) on Tuesday, with some adjustments for when Monday or Tuesday fell on a holiday.
• It moves up USDA’s normal publication deadline each week from 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday to 3:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, again with possible adjustment for holidays.
• Beginning April 18, Federal order price announcements will also move from Friday to 3:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, allowing about 40% of Class price announcements to be based on more current data than they were before.

The last Dairy Product Prices report will be issued by NASS for the last time on Friday, March 30. The following week, on Wednesday, April 4, it will be issued by AMS for the first time.

New product price reporting and announcement schedules and information about the new data collection system were posted on the AMS website.

Members of NMPF's Board of Directors will assemble March 12 – 13 at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City hotel in Arlington, Virginia for their spring meeting. Please note that the date is a week later than it has been for the past several years.

Committee meetings will begin at 1:00 pm on the 12th, including the Political Action Committee meeting, the Dues & Budget Committee Meeting, and the Officers Meeting. The day will conclude with a membership reception. The full Board of Directors meeting will start at 8:00 am on the 13th.

Anyone with questions about the Board of Directors meeting should contact Anuja Miner.

The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) is a coalition of more than 70 farmer- and rancher-led organizations and agricultural partners who have come together to open a conversation about how our food is grown and raised. NMPF is one of the active members of this coalition, whose participants are collaborating to lead the dialogue and answer Americans’ questions about how we raise our food.

The stories and experiences of real farmers and ranchers are often left out of the conversations happening around American food production, so USFRA is committed to helping consumers connect with farmers and ranchers to enrich the information available. One method of doing so is by contributing electronically to the conversation through the USFRA’s website, www.fooddialogues.com. The Food Dialogues program involves public forums, local and national events, and an ongoing discussion on the website – all with the goal of creating an open conversation.

USFRA has also organized a forum next Wednesday, the National Agriculture Day Dialogue, as part of the commemoration of Ag Day. Innovation is critical to the future of farming and ranching, but many people fear technology in agriculture. The fact that many people think farming should “go back” to the way it was done in the past is an issue that will be tackled at this Food Dialogues forum, which will be held March 7th on Capitol Hill. USFRA has invited many organizations from outside the agriculture community to attend and participate in the dialogue — groups like Consumers Union, American Humane Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, and even Meals on Wheels. There will be dialogue and conversation among everyone interested in food and how our food is produced.

This week, a coalition of 41 representatives sent a letter to the Administration that expressed concern with the prohibition against U.S. dairy exports into India. NMPF worked with the Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus Co-Chairs to help send this important message to the U.S. Trade Representative, USDA, and the Commerce Department regarding access of unjustified barriers to U.S. dairy products being sold in one of the world’s fastest growing markets.

NMPF has collaborated with the U.S. Dairy Export Council for many years to try to resolve this problem, but India has persisted in its insistence on holding imported products to unscientifically-based requirements. The letter urges the Administration to prioritize resolution of the issue, including during the upcoming meetings that Commerce Secretary John Bryson is holding in India later this month.

EPA announced an invitation for nominations for the Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Federal Advisory Committee (FRRCC). The FRRCC, a federal advisory committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, provides independent advice to the EPA Administrator on a variety of environmental issues facing agriculture and rural community. The committee consists of representatives from academia, farm groups, food industry, non-governmental organizations, and state, local and tribal governments.

EPA specifically encourages nominations from people actively engaged in farming or ranching. In addition, EPA requests the candidates possess the following:

• Extensive professional knowledge of agricultural issues and environmental policy;
• A demonstrated ability to examine and analyze complicated environmental issues with objectivity and integrity;
• Excellent interpersonal as well as oral and written communication skills;
• An ability and willingness to participate in a deliberative and collaborative process;
• Must be prepared to process a substantial amount of complex and technical information; and,
• Have the ability to volunteer approximately 10 to 15 hours per month to the Committee’s activities, including participation in teleconference meetings and preparation of text for Committee reports.

Applicants are encouraged to submit all nominations materials by March 15, 2012. For more details on the FRRCC and information on how to submit nominations, please visit the Federal Register notice from February 13 or contact Alicia Kaiser, Designated Federal Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; telephone: (202) 564-7273.

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has added butter to the product list it will assist members in selling overseas, starting in January. Analysis of market fundamentals by CWT/NMPF economists indicated that the time was right to provide assistance to CWT member cooperatives interested in expanding sales of U.S. butter in foreign markets.

Members of CWT have responded strongly to the addition of this product line to the Export Assistance program. Requests for assistance were accepted from four CWT member cooperatives to export nearly 11 million pounds of butter to four countries to be delivered through June.

In addition, in January CWT accepted 48 bids to export 13.2 million pounds of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese to 10 countries. This product will be delivered from January through June.

CWT continues its effort to increase producer participation above 70% of the milk supply, with mailings to independent dairy farmers and cooperatives currently not investing in CWT.

The collapse of commodity broker MF Global has spurred Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow to seek recommendations from participants in the futures and derivatives markets.

In a recent letter to Senator Stabenow, NMPF shared the dairy industry’s distress that cash accounts of MF Global’s commodity customers were improperly used by the broker, and that only 72% of those accounts have been returned so far. Federal law gives commodity futures and options customers first claim on what they are owed from the broker’s bankruptcy, regardless of the broker’s failure to keep funds properly segregated. NMPF asked for the Senator’s support for that position, which has been taken up by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Finally, NMPF urged greater accountability by commodity brokers in the future, offered its support for CFTC’s new rules to tighten up protections for commodity customers’ cash accounts, and sought tougher enforcement and more severe penalties under those rules. All these positions are aimed at allowing dairy farmers – and their customers – to manage their risks without having to worry about the honesty of the middleman. If you have questions about these issues, please call Roger Cryan or Jonathon Glueck in the NMPF offices.

NMPF has expressed concerns about the potential impact on U.S. dairy exports of a recent proposal to consolidate government agencies.

President Obama recently announced his proposal to reinstate the Office of the President’s authority to reorganize the government. His first proposed use of that authority would be to consolidate six agencies dealing with trade and commerce into one.

NMPF, and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), praised the Administration’s effort to ensure that agencies involved in efforts related to trade are operating in the smoothest and most coordinated way possible. But they expressed deep concerns that including the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in the process could detrimentally affect U.S. ability to effectively negotiate and enforce trade agreements. Both organizations indicated that they supported the overall effort, but would oppose the inclusion of USTR in such a reorganization out of concern that it would damage the agency’s effectiveness.

“NMPF’s members want to see an efficiently operated and cost-effective U.S. government,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF. “However, as we pursue the important goal of seeking greater government efficiencies, we need to ensure that this process does not undermine the ability of critical agencies to carry out their missions. In this instance, NMPF is very concerned that USTR’s unique role in trade negotiations and its superb level of openness to input from the public would be greatly harmed by submerging this agency within a larger bureaucracy.”

In a related issue, Office of Management and Budget Director for Management Jeff Zients stated that a subsequent effort would be to consolidate USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) with the food safety unit at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). NMPF and USDEC also noted with interest this proposal, which, as announced, would not directly impact dairy products, since only meat products are inspected by FSIS.

However, the statement did not reference what impact such a food safety consolidation might have on the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, which currently plays a key official role as a proxy for FDA on many export-related issues, given the lack of FDA mandate to address export matters. The fact that FDA is not charged with a responsibility for supporting U.S. food exports has in the past created unnecessary hurdles to resolving U.S. dairy export challenges, given FDA’s oversight of dairy products. NMPF and USDEC support efforts to rationalize FDA’s role with respect to exported products in order to most effectively make use of government oversight responsibilities.