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NMPF’s Castaneda on Colombian Trade, FMMO
NMPF Executive Vice President, Policy Development & Strategy Jaime Castaneda discusses potential dairy trade issues between the U.S. and Colombia, the latest on FMMO updates, and common food names with host Jesse Allen on this Agriculture of America podcast.
Milk Serves Americans Well, Lipps Says
The federal government is seeking comments related to the next iteration of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans as it reviews the science behind healthy eating, with a plan expected next year. Dairy has always had a central role in proper nutrition, and newer science reinforces that. That doesn’t mean the process is easy, two experts said in a Dairy Defined podcast released today.
“One of the biggest distinguishing factors in this year’s advisory committee is a focus on using a health equity lens to ensure that the committee considers factors such as socioeconomic position, food security, race, and, or ethnicity and culture,” said Brandon Lipps, who during his time as USDA deputy undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, oversaw the writing of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services. “With products like milk that have so many available nutrients, we can serve Americans so well. And we need to make sure that the committee thinks about the basics when they’re talking about that.”
Lipps, co-founder of Caprock Strategies, was joined by NMPF Director of Regulatory Affairs Miquela Hanselman in the podcast. You can find and subscribe to the Dairy Defined podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify under the podcast name “Dairy Defined.”
Media outlets may use clips from the podcast on the condition of attribution to the National Milk Producers Federation.
Congress can stand up for dairy’s nutrition
By Paul Bleiberg, Executive Vice President, Government Relations, National Milk Producers Federation
Milk and dairy products supply 13 essential nutrients, including three that continue to be identified as nutrients of public health concern: calcium, potassium, and vitamin D.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services have historically recognized dairy’s important value in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are updated once every five years and are due next year. The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines should continue to maintain dairy as a distinct food group, one that does not include plant-based imitation products that are not nutritionally equivalent to real milk and do not deliver dairy’s unique nutrient package.
But before the new guidelines are completed, Congress has the opportunity this year to highlight dairy as a nutrition powerhouse that cannot be easily replicated. Below the radar of a tumultuous presidential election year, the bipartisan DAIRY PRIDE Act, introduced in both houses of Congress, has steadily picked up additional support, with nearly 50 members now cosponsoring the House measure.
The DAIRY PRIDE Act directs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enforce dairy standards of identity, which are rooted in dairy’s critical nutrient profile and the fact that milk is the product of an animal that can’t be replicated by substitute ingredients or concocted in a lab. Standards of identity were developed to promote honesty and fair dealing in the interest of consumers. These terms, including “milk” and “cheese,” have come to carry distinct meaning in the minds of consumers, with built-in expectations for nutritional values.
FDA’s continued failure to require the proper labeling of plant-based alternative products is a public health problem, plain and simple. When consumers make misguided, but well-intentioned, decisions to purchase imitation products in place of real dairy, the result will be more and more Americans not meeting the recommended intake of dairy outlined in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Multiple public health organizations have given voice to this concern, urging that young children not be fed most plant-based alternatives in place of real dairy as their nutrition profiles are largely not equivalent.
After years of anticipation, FDA issued proposed guidance last year intended to address this topic. But while the agency acknowledged the nutritional inferiority of most plant-based imitation products relative to real dairy, FDA still made no attempt to dissuade the makers of these products from labeling them using dairy terms – the true cause of consumer confusion.
The DAIRY PRIDE Act would fix this by deeming mislabeled dairy imitators as misbranded. It then would require FDA to promptly require the proper labeling of alternative products – without the unfettered use of dairy terms. This pro-public health, truth-in-labeling bill would spotlight dairy as a unique source of essential, underconsumed nutrients and can swiftly pass Congress before year’s end.
This column originally appeared in Hoard’s Dairyman Intel on Aug. 15, 2024.
Regulatory Register – Summer 2024
NMPF, USDEC Urge U.S. Government to Preempt Colombian Trade Barriers
The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) are asking the U.S. government to prepare a plan to “leverage all available tools” should Colombia move forward with imposing countervailing tariffs on U.S. milk-powder exports, making that request in a letter sent Friday to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
NMPF and USDEC also commended a complementary Congressional letter sent Friday to Colombian Ambassador to the United States Luis Gilberto Murillo in response to the investigation. Led by Reps. Jim Costa, D-CA, Adrian Smith, R-NE, Jimmy Panetta, D-CA and Dusty Johnson, R-SD, the letter highlights that the U.S. and Colombian dairy industries should be working collaboratively to promote policies that strengthen the dairy sector instead of launching “damaging protectionist investigations.”
Colombia’s recent decision to initiate an unwarranted Subsidies and Countervailing Measures investigation into U.S. exports of milk powder is a tariff threat without merit, USDEC and NMPF say in the letter, noting that no causal link exists between U.S. milk powder exports and the injury alleged by Colombian officials. The letter also explains that imported milk powder products and domestically produced fluid milk are not interchangeable ingredients in a food manufacturing facility.
“The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement has been a success story for American and Colombian producers and consumers alike,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “Initiating unfounded investigations undermines this progress and is a step backward in our trade relationship. We appreciate the Ag Trade Caucus leaders for recognizing this investigation for what it is – baseless. USDEC commends the U.S. interagency team for their extensive work on the ongoing investigation and will continue to work closely with the U.S. government and Congress as the legal process moves forward.”
“NMPF appreciates Representatives Costa, Smith, Panetta and Johnson for standing up for American dairy producers’ market access rights,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of NMPF. “We will continue working with the U.S. government to ensure this unsubstantiated investigation doesn’t set a dangerous precedent.”
Trust is a Dairy Superpower
What makes dairy so valued that milk alone is in 94 percent of U.S. refrigerators? Nutrition is one factor. So is affordability. But perhaps the greatest value is one that data supports: People trust it.
The dairy checkoff’s latest consumer perception tracker, conducted by Kantar Group, shows just how much confidence dairy has from consumers – and it’s a great contrast to the loud braying of the anti-dairy fringe, which takes up more brain space among the sane and grounded than should. Rated on a 1-7 scale of trust, with 1 being none and 7 being total, 58 percent of consumers rated dairy at 5 or above, according to the nationally representative sample of consumers aged 13-65.
That same survey, conducted last November and December, showed 35 percent either strongly or completely trusting dairy, shown by ratings of 6 and 7. That high trust level held across generations. Baby boomers led at 38 percent of strong or complete trust; Generation X, a cohort famed for trusting no one, was lowest at 33 percent. And the future looks stable and bright. About 34 percent of teenagers strongly or completely trusted dairy, with young adults at 35 percent and Millennials at 36. And again, these were the highest ratings of trust – including less-fervent support, clear majorities spanned generations.
Dairy also did well when compared with other foods and industries. Dairy’s 58 percent trust level compares well with beef (53), almonds (51), tech (53, sorry Zuckerberg and Musk) and finance (43 – with apologies to Wall Street).
To sum up: In an increasingly fractured climate plagued by misinformation, dairy continues to attract broad-based support across wide swathes of society. In a superpower nation where trust is declining, dairy has its own superpower – trust from consumers that remains strong.
Pretty heavy stuff, when you think about it. But dairy can carry the load, with unparalleled nutrition, uncommon consumer reach and high levels of consumer trust. It’s a refreshing situation, appropriate for refreshing products.
NMPF, USDEC Expand Strong Partnerships in South America
The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) advanced a pair of partnerships in South America this week. The organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Abraleite, a prominent Brazilian milk producers association, and renewed an existing MOU with Argentine farmer organization Sociedad Rural Argentina (SRA).
The agreements enhance cooperation between the United States and South American dairy industries, focusing on critical areas such as the economic and social significance of the dairy sector and the removal of trade barriers affecting both producers and consumers.
“Our engagements in South America this week underscored the shared challenges and opportunities facing dairy producers and processors in the United States, Brazil and Argentina,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “Partnerships with likeminded organizations have been proven to be crucial as we strive to promote the benefits of dairy on the international stage and tackle attempts to erect trade barriers throughout the Americas.”
The updated MOU with SRA includes the launch of a Sustainability and Trade Taskforce, an initiative to provide a balance to European policies that could unfairly impact producers in the United States and Argentina. Objectives include demonstrating that livestock production is a cornerstone of sustainable food systems and advocating for science-based trade policies.
“Dairy producers throughout the Western Hemisphere confront many of the same issues and priorities,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of NMPF. “We look forward to working alongside Abraleite and SRA to advance policies that promote dairy and limit trade barriers.”
The two MOUs follow a partnership signed on June 4 with the Colombian dairy organization Asoleche. The partnership formalized USDEC and NMPF’s prior collaboration with Asoleche, demonstrating the value in focusing on areas of common ground, in contrast to the politically driven countervailing duty investigation into U.S. milk powder exports recently initiated by the Colombian government.
In addition to the Latin American partnerships in Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia, USDEC and NMPF have also established MOUs with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Chilean Federacion Nacional de Productores de Leche (Fedeleche).
NMPF Defending Need for Dairy Foods in Dietary Guidelines Refresh
NMPF’s Director of Regulatory Affairs, Miquela Hanselman, explains to Dairy Radio Now listeners what to expect in the coming year from the federal government’s twice-a-decade-effort to generate food consumption recommendations through the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. NMPF has been providing input the past two years to the scientific experts considering how dairy foods fit into an overall healthy diet, as the refreshed guidelines are due in 2025.
NMPF Finds (Ice Cream) Thrills on Blueberry (Capitol) Hill Event
July is National Ice Cream Month – and National Blueberry Month. That observation was the root of a first-ever joint Ice Cream Social with the North American Blueberry Council, held July 22 in the House Agriculture Committee hearing room (and its outdoor patio). DFA provided Friendly’s Ice Cream, here gladly consumed by (l to rt) NMPF’s Paul Bleiberg and Tony Rice, North American Blueberry Council’s Alyssa Houtby and NMPF’s Peter Vitaliano and Alan Bjerga.
Morris Represents Dairy at Congressional Briefing; Saffran Co-Hosts Thought Leaders
NMPF Executive Vice President for Trade & Global Affairs Shawna Morris represented NMPF at a House Agricultural Trade Caucus briefing for Congressional staff on July 22, underscoring the critical role of trade for U.S. dairy and agriculture. She was joined by representatives from the American Soybean Association, the North American Blueberry Council, and the National Grain and Feed Association.
The event drew over 60 congressional staff in the inaugural briefing for the caucus, which NMPF helped launch in January.
Morris emphasized the benefits of market-opening trade agreements for the U.S. dairy industry and called for more proactive congressional engagement in trade policy, highlighting the growing tariff disadvantages faced by U.S. dairy exporters as the European Union and New Zealand continue to pursue agreements advantageous to their exporters. She also touched on examples of the various trade agreement compliance and non-tariff barrier challenges the U.S. dairy industry is facing around the world.
This session marked the first in a series to be hosted on educating congressional staff on agricultural trade policy issues. And the event was one of several highlights of NMPF staff outreach in July.
Sage Saffran, NMPF’s manager for sustainability initiatives co-hosted a session at Midwest Dairy’s Sustainability Thought Leader Symposium in Rosemont, IL on July 30 with Suzanne Vold, owner of Dorrich Dairy near Glenwood, MN. The session detailed the FARM Program’s five program areas, highlighting the standardization of greenhouse gas emission measurement through the FARM Environmental Stewardship tool.
Beverly Hampton-Phifer, NMPF’s senior director of animal care, spoke with The Center for Dairy Excellence on July 12 during its monthly “Protecting Your Profits” webinar to share an overview of the FARM Program and explain how FARM serves dairy farmers.
Hampton-Phifer also discussed Animal Care Version 5 updates that launched July 1, in addition to sharing how adhering to FARM guidelines can effectively mitigate risk for dairy producers.
Science Based Targets Initiative Informational Session Recap
NMPF, the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and the International Dairy Foods Association jointly hosted July 11 a meeting with individuals from the Science Based Targets initiative, SBTi, to discuss questions that U.S. dairy has in interpreting and implementing SBTi standards.
Diana Farmer, North American Regional Lead, and Kyra Power, North America Engagement Manager, joined from SBTi, addressing topics such as:
- SBTi governance and opportunities for stakeholder participation;
- SBTi FLAG standards (https://sciencebasedtargets.org/sectors/forest-land-and-agriculture);
- SBTi consideration of market instruments (e.g. carbon credits, and others)
- SBTi target setting and validation process; and
- SBTi develops standards, tools and guidance which allow companies to set greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions targets in line with what is needed to keep global heating below 1.5 degrees C and reach net-zero by 2050. Companies may use FARM Environmental Stewardship aggregate data in assessing progress toward their SBTi targets.
The FARM Program aims to stay informed of the corporate GHG accounting standards, like SBTi, to ensure FARM Environmental Stewardship remains useful and relevant for aggregating GHG data.
