A new cooperative member has joined NMPF. Premier Milk Inc. (PMI), headquartered in Ocala, FL, was founded in June 2009.

Premier Milk Inc. has aligned itself with the Southern Marketing Agency, and as such, works with other Southeastern dairy cooperatives under the Capper-Volstead Act to gain efficiencies when moving milk from farm to processor. PMI, while based in Florida, currently represents nine producer members in Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi.

PMI is led by Tom Pittman, General Manager, and David Sumerall, President. To learn more about PMI Inc., visit their website at www.PremierMilk.org.

July was a busy month of the Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) program.

The month started with the 2010 Herd Retirement bid selection process. A total of 209 bids from 38 states were received, and 194 were accepted during the selection process. The bids represented over 34,000 cows that produced 653 million pounds of milk from April 2009 through March 2010. CWT farm auditors began visiting successful bidders the week of July 12, and it is anticipated that farm audits will be completed by mid-August.

During July, the CWT Export Assistance program approved ten requests from members for assistance in exporting 3.6 million pounds of cheese. In addition, butter, butter blends, and anhydrous milkfat were added to the products currently eligible for export assistance. In just two weeks, 17 requests for assistance were accepted that helped CWT members sell 23.3 million pounds of butter and anhydrous milkfat.

As NMPF moves forward with its legislative package "Foundation for the Future" (FFTF), the top priority is to provide as much information as possible to dairy producers, other industry stakeholders, and congressional leaders about this innovative approach to revamping dairy policy. Toward that end, NMPF will be working with the communications firm Morgan & Myers.

"The Foundation for the Future requires a shift in industry thinking from price assistance programs like MILC and the price support program, toward margin protection," says Jerry Kozak, NMPF President and CEO. "This will require a significant information sharing and communication effort, aimed at a variety of stakeholders within and beyond dairy producers."

The plan calls for the effort to kick-off in the fall, and will involve a number of communication tools. These will include printed materials, a dedicated, interactive FFTF microsite, and various audio-visual programs, as well as a producer-to-producer outreach effort.

On July 28, the House Agriculture Committee approved three key pieces of legislation addressing mandatory dairy price reporting, clean water, and veterinary shortages.

First, the committee approved by voice vote HR 5852, the Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 2010, a bill to amend and reauthorize the reporting on sales of livestock and dairy products. While dairy price reporting was authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, it was never funded by USDA. This bill forces USDA to fund the electronic system to collect the data that is currently surveyed. More specifically, the following were the modifications authorized through HR 5852:

• Amends section 273 of the Agriculture Marketing Act of 1946 to require the Secretary to establish an electronic reporting system for dairy.
• Directs the Secretary to publish the information reported through the electronic reporting system by 3:00 PM ET, each Wednesday.
• Requires the Secretary to implement the electronic reporting system for dairy not later than one year following enactment of this Act.

Efforts now turn to the Senate Agriculture Committee to pass similar legislation through their panel before Sept. 30th.

Second, the Agriculture panel approved the Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization and Improvement Act (HR 5509). The legislation, a bipartisan effort by the panel’s Subcommittee on Conservation Chairman Tim Holden (D-Pa.) and Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), is a common-sense approach to addressing the needs to improve the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The bill provides sound incentives to support additional environmental best management practices beyond minimum state regulatory compliance requirements, and gives much-needed assurances to farmers and ranchers that by taking certain steps, they will meet expectations to improve water quality in the watershed. The bill now moves on to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to mark up the non-agricultural aspects.

The House bill is contrasted by what is happening in the Senate, where last month, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009 (S. 1816). The legislation, introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), aims to aggressively address pollution in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Last week, NMPF joined other groups in the agriculture community in opposing the legislation.

Lastly, the Agriculture Committee approved the Veterinary Services Investment Act (H.R. 3519). The bill, which also passed by a voice vote, establishes a competitive grant program at USDA to develop, implement, and sustain veterinary services in underserved areas.

On July 15, NMPF submitted comments on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines in response to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report (DGAC Report) on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010. The Dietary Guidelines, which form the basis of federal food, nutrition education, and information programs, are issued and updated by the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) every five years. Three servings of dairy products per day (two for younger children) remain a core recommendation for the Dietary Guidelines. NMPF coordinated efforts with the International Dairy Foods Association and the National Dairy Council to have consistent messages on the importance of dairy product consumption in the American diet.

The DGAC Report focused on reducing the incidence of obesity through increased consumption of nutrient-dense foods while lowering caloric intake. Specifically, the DGAC Report encouraged reducing consumption of solid fats and added sugars and sodium. NMPF discussed the significant nutrient contribution of milk (providing calcium, vitamin D, and potassium – three of the four nutrients of concern – as well as other shortfall nutrients) relative to its caloric intake. NMPF also stressed the value of nominal amounts of added sugars, fats, and sodium in nutrient-dense dairy products, which enhances the palatability of these foods and, therefore, increases their consumption and improves nutrient intake without contributing excessive calories.

U.S. government staff met in early July with European Union (EU) authorities to discuss the EU’s new somatic cell count (SCC) certification requirements, which will require each farm to meet a 400,000/ml. threshold.

The meeting yielded some positive information, but much work remains. Although the basic EU SCC requirements remain unchanged, the time period for implementation of a revised SCC certificate program in the U.S. has been extended. Specifically, the U.S. will not have to put in place a new SCC testing and certification program by Dec. 1, 2010 (the date on which the new EU dairy certificate takes effect). Rather, if changes to our SCC certification program are ultimately agreed upon by the U.S. government and industry, the U.S. would have additional time to develop and implement a revised certification program.

The current anticipated steps for this are as follows, should the U.S. dairy industry agree to continue pursuing this avenue for ensuring that the market remains open:

• The Food and Drug Administration has written to its EU counterpart agency to confirm key elements of the discussion held in July on this issue.
• After receiving the EU’s response, it is expected that the U.S. government will work closely with the U.S. industry to develop a new implementation program and propose a revised certification system. The development by the U.S. government and dairy industry of a workable program has been a core NMPF priority throughout this process.
• This program would be made public for comment.
• After the comment period and evaluation of input from the dairy industry, a final proposal would be released.
• Following an industry educational period, the new program would then be put in place. No collection of data prior to the effective date of the new program is anticipated.

New information continues to come to light about the many ways in which EU countries allow their producers to undermine the stated intent of the EU regulations to maintain somatic cell count levels less than 400,000. NMPF continues to explore these reports in order to ensure that U.S. dairy producers are not held to a higher standard than EU dairy producers with respect to this requirement, particularly given the complete lack of scientific or trade justification for the necessary imposition of a 400,000 SCC limit on individual dairy farms.

NMPF will be reaching out to members to continue to gain additional information and share details as this process moves forward. If you have any questions about this issue, please contact Shawna Morris (smorris@nmpf.org).

NMPF submitted joint comments last month with the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) in response to President Obama’s call for input on the National Export Initiative (NEI), a goal to double U.S. exports over five years (from 2009 levels). NMPF and USDEC focused on several important areas which would help to reach this goal and either stimulate or safeguard dairy export markets for U.S. products.

The dairy organizations addressed major concerns that could impede U.S. dairy exports, such as the ongoing dairy health certificate discussions with China, the EU’s unscientific somatic cell count regulation, and India’s de-facto ban on U.S. dairy exports through its inappropriate dairy certificate requirements. The comments also addressed the need for greater coordination between the agencies skilled in determining the best strategies for resolving trade disputes (USTR and FAS) and the regulatory agencies that frequently are essential in securing resolution from a technical standpoint (FDA, AMS, and APHIS).

The comments urged support for the three pending U.S. free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama, with a particular focus on the significant importance of the agreement with South Korea (NMPF also joined a coalition of 41 other agricultural and food organizations that urged congressional leaders to take action on the three trade deals). The comments also noted that our competitors are swiftly negotiating meaningful agreements such as with China and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in important dairy markets; the only new U.S. trade initiative is the TPP, which offers only very limited new export potential to the U.S. dairy industry. Given this greater focus by competing nations on bilateral trade deals, it makes the conclusion of a well-negotiated WTO Doha Round agreement all the more important.

NMPF and USDEC addressed the topic that NMPF wrote to President Obama about in July: the concern that ongoing lack of U.S. compliance with our NAFTA trucking obligations to Mexico puts U.S. dairy exports at risk of retaliatory tariffs from Mexico. Given that Mexico is by far largest export market for the U.S., this poses a grave risk to U.S. exports. On another front, the EU’s efforts to claw back generic cheese names such as parmesan, feta, and provolone poses a threat to growing U.S. cheese exports. The comments urged USTR to expand its efforts to combat this inappropriate market share grab by the EU.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced that NMPF would receive matching funds of $25,000 to inform and educate producers about revised regulations for oil storage and pending regulations for milk storage containers.

Funding will be used to help dairy producers understand the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulation, including development of a self-certification template. The Environmental Protection Agency requires farms, under the SPCC, to have a plan in place to minimize any problems from oil spills. Later in the year, NMPF anticipates conducting a series of webinars to train dairy producers in the use of the self-certification template. Additionally, NRCS will work with NMPF to evaluate how NRCS can most effectively provide technical assistance to dairy producers to comply with the SPCC regulations.

The goal of the SPCC program is to prevent oil spills into waters of the United States and adjoining shorelines. A key element of the program calls for farmers and other facilities to have an oil spill prevention plan, called an SPCC plan. The SPCC plans are required for farms which have an aggregate storage capacity of oil products of 1320 gallons, or more, for every storage container larger than 55 gallons. A farm with less than 10,000 gallons of total storage capacity and no single storage greater than 5,000 gallons can self-certify its SPCC plan. Farms that do not meet this exemption must have a plan certified by a professional engineer.

In a letter to NMPF dated June 9th, the EPA committed to finalizing the SPCC exemption for bulk milk storage “as expeditiously as possible…to have that process completed by early 2011.” In addition, EPA will be extending the compliance deadline for the revised regulation.

The National Dairy FARM Program has concluded the last of three “Train the Trainer” workshops, and will begin second-party evaluator courses in the coming weeks. The Train the Trainer workshop is a two-day course with classroom and on the farm training designed to prepare instructors to teach the “Second Party Evaluator” course. The second-party evaluator course is a four-hour classroom training session to train for on-farm evaluations. Three regional Train the Trainer workshops were completed by the end of last month (Rochester, MN on May 24-25; Fresno, CA on June 29-30; and Harrisburg, PA on July 20-21) with attendees from all areas of the dairy industry including veterinarians, cooperative staff, processor staff, and university extension personnel.

Outreach continues to various groups across the country. Dairy FARM staff has met with a variety of different cooperatives, producer groups, universities, and processors about the program. Response continues to be supportive and we expect to have good participation in the program as it is put into operation. In California, DFA, Land O’Lakes, Hilmar, and CDI have all supported the implementation of the program. Dairy FARM will be rolling out participation information to cooperatives, processors, and independent producers in the coming months including the participation fee, which will be used to perform third-party verification.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton issued a temporary injunction last week blocking implementation of the toughest provisions of Arizona’s controversial immigration law, known as SB 1070. As expected, Judge Bolton allowed other less controversial sections of the state statute to stand. The ruling blocks the section that required local and state law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of those they suspected were illegal immigrants. The Obama administration argued that the law would usurp the exclusive federal right to implement and enforce immigration law.

Bolton’s injunction also blocks the portion of the law that made it a state crime for an illegal foreign resident in Arizona to solicit, apply for, or perform work. Much of the rest of the law remains intact and those provisions took effect Thursday, July 29.

The judge’s ruling means that Arizona officials will begin enforcing the remaining parts of the law, even while litigation about the entire law – and the enjoined sections – continues in the courts. Among the parts of the law that have taken full effect is a provision allowing Arizona residents to sue any state office or agency for failing to fully enforce immigration laws. Also still in the law are provisions creating a new state crime of human smuggling, stopping a motor vehicle to pick up day laborers, and knowingly employing illegal foreign residents.

Mark your calendars now for the 2010 Joint Annual Meeting of NMPF, the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board (NDB), and the United Dairy Industry Association (UDIA). The three organizations will be at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, NV from October 26 – 28, which has reduced the room rate to $79 for attendees. When available, information about the meeting will be posted online at www.nmpf.org/nmpf-joint-annual-meeting.

At its June meeting, the NMPF Scholarship Committee was pleased to select five M.S. and Ph.D. students to receive $9,500 in scholarships as part of the 2010 NMPF National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program.

These five scholarship recipients are all conducting research in areas that will benefit dairy cooperatives and producers.

The 2010 Hintz Memorial Scholarship, given to the top scholarship candidate, was awarded to Chad Mullins (left). As a student at Kansas State University, Mullins is working toward his Ph.D. in Animal Science. His research will test whether or not zilpaterol hydrochloride improves transition cow health. Mullins hopes to provide the dairy industry with a way to enhance the metabolic status of periparturient dairy cows by inducing prepartum lipolysis and increasing lean tissue mass.

The other four scholarship recipients were:

• Karen Lobeck, a student at the University of Minnesota, is working toward her M.S. in Animal Science. Her research will examine dairy calf health and behavior with automated group feeding.
• Phil Cardoso is attending the University of Illinois, as he works for his Ph.D. in Animal Science. Cardoso will study the bioavailability of Naringenin administered to lactating dairy cows and their metabolic responses to an insulin resistance induction (IRI).
• Jaymelynn Farney, a student at Kansas State University, is pursuing a Ph.D. in Ruminant Nutrition and Physiology. Her research will address the therapeutic treatment of bovine fatty liver by sodium salicylate.
• Joseph Loquasto is pursuing his Ph.D. in Food Science at Penn State University. Loquasto will conduct a comparison of the complete genomes of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. animalis ATCC 25527 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis DSMZ 101040.

The Scholarship Committee was impressed by the response rate this year. Committee members thanked all of the students who submitted applications for the 2010 program and encouraged them to apply again next year.

Photos of this year's scholarship recipients are posted in an album at www.facebook.com/nationalmilk. If you have any questions about the NMPF scholarship program, please contact Sarah Olson