CWT Expected to Conclude Current Herd Retirement This Month

 

 

NMPF Strategic Planning Task Force Meets to Review Proposals Intended to Offer Long-Term Solutions to Milk Price Problems

 

 

As dairy farmers throughout the country continue to face a pressing financial crisis in their industry, dozens of members of the House of Representatives announced last week that they will reform and reactivate the Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus.

Led by Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Joe Courtney (CT), Peter Welch (VT), Devin Nunes (CA) and Tim Walz (MN), and joined by Caucus Vice Chairs Tom Petri (WI), Tom Rooney (FL), Chris Lee (NY) and Harry Teague (NM), the organization will help facilitate better interaction between elected officials and dairy producers from across the country. The bipartisan caucus will work with dairy industry leaders to reach common sense solutions to address both the current dairy crisis, as well as other issues of concern to the dairy producer community.

"The complexities of dairy policy, and the diverse size and scope of dairy farming in the U.S., means that we need a forum in Congress for dairy farmers to interact with their elected officials. The Dairy Farmer Caucus will help facilitate the communication between, and education of, members of Congress and the farmers they represent," said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF.

The Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus was initially started in 2006 to provide a bipartisan forum, involving both House and Senate members, to collaborate on policy issues that addressed the interests of dairy producers nationwide.

"Preserving a vibrant dairy producer community in America is essential to maintaining the health of rural communities across the country, and critical to securing continued access to wholesome, fresh, American-made foods," Kozak said. "We appreciate the leaders of the Dairy Farmer Caucus investing their time and energies in this effort, and look forward to an ongoing dialogue with them about the federal policies that can best help the American dairy producer community prosper."

Kozak said that a national, bipartisan organization will help build consensus on Capitol Hill on the range of issues affecting farms of all sizes in all regions. He added that the Caucus would also help NMPF and its members communicate with the variety of regulatory agencies involved in milk production, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Trade Representative, among others.

 

As dairy farmers throughout the country continue to face a pressing financial crisis in their industry, dozens of members of the House of Representatives announced last week that they will reform and reactivate the Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus.

Led by Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Joe Courtney (CT), Peter Welch (VT), Devin Nunes (CA) and Tim Walz (MN), and joined by Caucus Vice Chairs Tom Petri (WI), Tom Rooney (FL), Chris Lee (NY) and Harry Teague (NM), the organization will help facilitate better interaction between elected officials and dairy producers from across the country. The bipartisan caucus will work with dairy industry leaders to reach common sense solutions to address both the current dairy crisis, as well as other issues of concern to the dairy producer community.

"The complexities of dairy policy, and the diverse size and scope of dairy farming in the U.S., means that we need a forum in Congress for dairy farmers to interact with their elected officials. The Dairy Farmer Caucus will help facilitate the communication between, and education of, members of Congress and the farmers they represent," said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF.

The Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus was initially started in 2006 to provide a bipartisan forum, involving both House and Senate members, to collaborate on policy issues that addressed the interests of dairy producers nationwide.

"Preserving a vibrant dairy producer community in America is essential to maintaining the health of rural communities across the country, and critical to securing continued access to wholesome, fresh, American-made foods," Kozak said. "We appreciate the leaders of the Dairy Farmer Caucus investing their time and energies in this effort, and look forward to an ongoing dialogue with them about the federal policies that can best help the American dairy producer community prosper."

Kozak said that a national, bipartisan organization will help build consensus on Capitol Hill on the range of issues affecting farms of all sizes in all regions. He added that the Caucus would also help NMPF and its members communicate with the variety of regulatory agencies involved in milk production, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Trade Representative, among others.

NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) applauded U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack for his announcement on July 8 regarding initial allocations under the Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP) for the new marketing year July 2009 – June 2010.

"This important action by Secretary Vilsack demonstrates his commitment to continue to offer support for dairy producers at a time when dairy prices are at their lowest in years," said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF.

In order to expedite DEIP allocations, USDA extended the remainder of the uncommitted bids from 2008-2009, making available 48,176 metric tons of nonfat dry milk, 19,235 metric tons of butterfat and 2,878 metric tons of cheese for the new 2009-2010 DEIP marketing year. These quantities will count towards the new marketing year that began July 1, 2009 and that ends June 30, 2010.

"We appreciate USDA's prompt announcement," said Kozak. "Unlike the short period of time given to exporters under last year's DEIP announcement, this swift action by USDA will allow us to properly compete with other subsidized exporters. However, it is extremely important that USDA issue DEIP invitations immediately for all allowable categories of dairy products in a manner that maximizes exports so producers receive the full benefit."

USDA will continue to work with other agencies to make the rest of the full DEIP allocations (20,025 metric tons of nonfat dry milk, 1,862 metric tons of butterfat and 152 metric tons of cheese) available at a later date.

"The FY 2008-09 and FY 2009-10 allocations of DEIP could remove more than 1.5 billion pounds of milk from the U.S. market," said Kozak. "Coupled with actions being taken under our own Cooperatives Working Together program, this will help address, in a meaningful way, the imbalance currently present in our market."

At their 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 2009 NMPF National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program.

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

The 2009 Hintz Memorial Scholarship, given to the top scholarship candidate, was awarded to Matthew Ranieri. As a student at Cornell University, Ranieri is working toward his Ph.D. in Dairy Science, Microbiology, and Applied Economics and Management. His research will examine the development of a single raw milk assay to predict shelf-life performance of pasteurized milk. Ranieri hopes to provide the dairy industry with appropriate tests for measuring raw milk quality that would accurately predict the performance of the milk in commercial products.

The four other scholarship recipients were:

• Jessica Tekippe, a student at Pennsylvania State University, is pursuing her M.S. in Animal Science. Tekippe's research will study the effect of plant extracts on production, nutrient utilization, and ruminal fermentation.
• Jaime Curbelo is working for his Ph.D. in Animal Physiology at Mississippi State University. He will be researching the use of biophotonic imaging technologies as a novel approach to understanding pathogen progression in bovine uterine infections.
• Amy Hazel is pursuing her M.S. in Animal Science at the University of Minnesota. Hazel's research will examine rotational crossbreeding in 10 Minnesota commercial dairies.
• Corwin Nelson, a student at Iowa State University, is pursuing his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Immunobiology. Nelson's research will study the effects of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 on the expression of genes involved in the immune response of the bovine mammary gland.

If you have any questions or comments about the NMPF National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program or the NMPF Scholarship Committee, please contact Sarah Olson.

To further enhance NMPF's efforts in the constantly evolving regulatory arena, NMPF staff member Dr. Jamie Jonker was promoted to the position of Vice President of Scientific & Regulatory Affairs. He assumed the lead     regulatory role with NMPF following the resignation of Dr. Rob Byrne, who is now working for Schreiber Foods.

In his new role, Jonker will expand his current responsibilities in regulatory affairs, including animal health and welfare, animal biotechnology, dairy farm bio-security, dairy farm air and water quality, dairy processing and products, and technical service issues. He will also continue to coordinate relationships with NMPF's Animal Health & Welfare Committee, Regulatory Committee, NCIMS Committee, and Environmental Task Force; and with the National Institute for Animal Agriculture and Animal Agriculture Coalition.

Jonker actively represents NMPF on numerous national and international committees, including the Johne's Disease Working Group, the National Dairy FARM Program, and the in-country U.S. Delegations to the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs and the Codex Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Food Derived from Biotechnology. In 2008, he was appointed to the USDA Advisory Committee on Biotechnology & 21st Century Agriculture and the International Dairy Federation's Standing Committees on Animal Health and Farm Management.

Jonker received a Ph.D. in Animal & Avian Sciences from the University of Maryland. Prior to joining NMPF, his career included six years of experience in agricultural policy including service at the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture.

He spent his formative years on a 100-cow family dairy farm in New York, participating in all aspects of dairy production from crop production to animal health to nutrition.

 

Dairy Industry Groups Participate in House Subcommittee Hearings

 

 

CWT Finishes Spring Herd Retirement Round

 

 

The National Milk Producers Federation last month asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to boost its purchase prices for cheese and milk powder in order to bolster the current rock-bottom milk prices that are threatening the livelihoods of thousands of dairy farmers.

In a letter sent June 25th to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, NMPF requested that the USDA raise the purchase price for cheese blocks from $1.13/lb. to $1.19; raise the purchase price for barrel cheese from $1.10 to $1.16/lb.; and raise the purchase price for nonfat dry milk powder from $0.80/lb. to $0.84. These price levels are identical to those suggested by NMPF to Congress as it wrote the farm bill in 2007 and 2008. Higher product prices will translate into higher farm-level prices, according to NMPF.

The current price levels were written into the 2008 Farm Bill, passed by Congress a year ago, but the USDA has the authority to increase those prices, according to NMPF. The letter to Vilsack asks the USDA to temporarily boost those purchase prices for a three-month period of July through September.

NMPF Addresses Producer Confusion about MILC Eligibility Regarding Adjusted Gross Income

Some dairy producers were misinformed about their eligibility for the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program due to concerns about their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI).

The MILC payments are limited to producers with non-farm AGI below $500,000. However, for the MILC program, there is no limit with respect to farm AGI.
Farm AGI was redefined last year to include many farm-related enterprises (http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/agi2009.pdf).

A careful reading of the form CCC-926, the "Statement of Adjusted Gross Income", required for these payments makes this clear:

"For commodity, price support benefits, disaster assistance programs, and for the Milk Income Loss Compensation Program, if the person or legal entity has:

• "average adjusted gross non-farm income greater than $500,000, the person or legal entity is not eligible for payments and benefits from these programs.
• "average adjusted gross farm income greater than $750,000, the person or legal entity is not eligible for direct payments under the Direct and Countercyclical Program." This does not apply to the MILC payment.

 

NMPF Supports Legislation to Improve Trucking Efficiency