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Farmers Ready to Face Policy Challenges, NMPF Farmers Say at Board Meeting
Dairy farmers from across the nation celebrated fairer milk prices for farmers and pledged to work together to meet challenges on labor, trade and other issues at the National Milk Producers Federation’s Board of Directors meeting, which concluded today.
“We’re in a fast-moving environment, with a new administration and things changing every day,” said NMPF Board Chairman Randy Mooney, a farmer from Rogersville, MO, in remarks at the meeting. “We are happy to have NMPF watching out for us here in Washington.”
NMPF’s board meeting brought together more than 50 farmers and dairy-cooperative leaders at the nation’s largest dairy farmer trade organization, which serves as the policy voice for dairy farmers and the cooperatives they own in Washington.
Dairy farmers at the meeting heard presentations updating pressing dairy issues, including agricultural labor, trade and H5N1 bird flu, which has now been circulating in dairy cattle for roughly one year. Milk producers also celebrated a policy win – nationwide adoption of a new Federal Milk Marketing Order that begins taking effect on June 1. The plan, spearheaded by NMPF, culminates a four-year process of seeking fairer pricing for farmers and cooperatives.
“The top two issues we have today are immigration and tariffs,” Mooney said. “Nothing else means anything else to us if we don’t have anyone to milk our cows.” On trade, he said day-to-day turbulence doesn’t change dairy’s commitment to building exports. “We intend to play in the world market, and we will invest in the world market to do it,” he said.
NMPF’s board also charted a path toward a successor organization to the Cooperatives Working Together export assistance program, which has helped dairy build overseas markets. Reflecting that reformation, the board voted to rename the program NEXT (NMPF Exports & Trade) while authorizing a new business plan for final approval in June. The board also welcomed two new directors:
- Mark Leichtfuss of FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative in Wisconsin, and;
- Richard Hill of Upstate Niagara Cooperative in New York.
The board also created the Dr. Peter Vitaliano Legacy Scholarship as part of NMPF’s National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program. The award, named for a recently retired longtime NMPF economist, will be used to help support a student who demonstrates attributes exemplified by Dr. Vitaliano to honor his decades of commitment to the success of U.S. dairy producers and cooperatives.
Dairy Organizations Urge Intensified Negotiations to Restore Trade Flows
Leaders from the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) released the following statements today in response to retaliatory measures announced by Mexico, Canada and China.
“The President believes tariffs are necessary to address the opioid crisis in the United States. We urge Mexico and Canada to take U.S. concerns seriously,” said Gregg Doud, President and CEO of NMPF. “Mexico and Canada are valuable trading partners that American agriculture depends on, and trade with those countries is critical to the well-being of dairy farmers. Let’s focus on getting the concerns ironed out quickly so we can focus on bolstering these critical trade relationships. Then, let’s put those tariff tools to work, driving change with the trading partner that’s brushed off U.S. concerns for far too long – the European Union.”
“Exports are fundamental to the health of the U.S. dairy industry. One day’s worth of milk production out of every six is destined for international consumers and U.S. dairy sales to Mexico, Canada and China account for 51% of our total global exports. That’s a lot at stake,” said Krysta Harden, President and CEO of USDEC. “Dairy farmers and manufacturers are counting on a swift resolution to this impasse and urge a redoubling of efforts at the negotiating table to find a workable way forward that addresses U.S. national security concerns while also preserving export flows that are vital to supporting American farmers and workers. We’re eager to focus on working with the Administration on expanding global opportunities for American dairy products in ways that build on the existing base of sales to our trading partners.”
NMPF Board of Directors Announces Vitaliano Legacy Scholarship
The National Milk Producers Federation announced today the creation of the Dr. Peter Vitaliano Legacy Scholarship as part of the National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program. The award will be used to help support a student who demonstrates attributes exemplified by Dr. Vitaliano to honor his longtime commitment to the success of U.S. dairy producers and cooperatives.
“NMPF and the NMPF Board of Directors are honored to establish the Dr. Peter Vitaliano Legacy Scholarship,” said NMPF President and CEO Gregg Doud. “This commitment embodies his passion for education and commitment to making a difference in the dairy industry. We are recognizing Peter’s legacy and investing in the pipeline of future leaders.”
The program also hopes to raise $500,000 this year for an endowment to support the longevity of the program, including this new legacy scholarship.
Vitaliano served as the Vice President of Economic Policy and Market Research for NMPF through 2024, leading efforts in implementing, conducting and communicating all economic analysis supporting the Federation’s programs relating to domestic and international dairy policy. He has extensive experience with, and knowledge of, U.S. dairy markets and domestic and international agricultural and trade policy.
Since 1992, he served as project director for numerous contracts between NMPF and the various national dairy promotion organizations, including the National Dairy Research and Promotion Board, Dairy Management, Inc., and the U.S. Dairy Export Council, conducting market information and economic research relating to domestic and international dairy markets.
“This scholarship is more than just financial support; it is a commitment to nurturing the dreams and aspirations of future generations of dairy leaders,” said Chris Kraft, NMPF scholarship committee chairman and a member of NMPF’s Board of Directors, representing Dairy Farmers of America. “By investing in the future of dairy, we are not only honoring the achievements of those who came before but also paving the way for those who will come next.”
The scholarship is designed to support individuals who demonstrate a passion for the industry through community engagement, academic interests and advocacy. Individuals selected for the Vitaliano Legacy Scholarship will also demonstrate experience with mentoring, coaching, or teaching.
The Vitaliano Legacy Scholarship will be available to applicants in the 2025-26 application cycle. To find out more information, or to donate, please visit the scholarship webpage.
Milk Price Gain Raises January DMC Margin
Following three months of falling from record highs, the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program margin rose in January as milk prices increased more than feed costs.
The January U.S. average all-milk price rose by $0.80/cwt from the month before to $24.10/cwt, while the DMC January feed cost formula increased by $0.33/cwt of milk on higher prices for all three of its feed components. That moved the DMC margin up by $0.47/cwt of milk for the month.
The DMC Decision Tool on the USDA Farm Service Agency website at the end of February projected the monthly margin would average $12.37/cwt during 2025, with a low of $11.41/cwt in late spring. 2025 DMC program enrollment is now open and is scheduled to close March 31.
Dairy’s Future Depends on Trade, and the U.S. Can Deliver
A billion pounds of cheese can’t be wrong: Exports point to a bright future for U.S. dairy.
The statement is true, it’s simple, and it can be easy to get lost in the back-and-forth of trade disputes among the United States and its partners. Those headlines will remain with us, as trade policy inevitably becomes a part of discussions over national security and economic competition. What remains is the undeniably real growth of U.S. dairy exports, and their critical importance toward building a better future for our industry.
Back to that billion pounds. 2024 was a record for U.S. cheese shipments, by far. U.S. cheese exports rose 17% to 508,808 metric tons, topping 2022’s previous record by more than 75,000 metric tons. Cheese exports have never topped 500,000 metric tons, which translates to more than 1 billion pounds.
Butterfat volumes improved, as have dry whey, casein and fluid milk. And while challenges with China and its soft economy kept last year from topping 2022’s overall record, sales still rose to their second highest ever.
Trade agreements that the U.S. has negotiated over the past couple decades have played a major role in helping lay the groundwork for that growth and last year’s milestone cheese export record.
With more U.S. processing capacity online, our cheese exports are poised for even more global growth. We’re developing and expanding promising markets such as Indonesia while maintaining dominance in our backyard, even as competitors like New Zealand try to elbow their way in to offset China’s weak growth. Across dairy, these positive developments will continue to grow. From 5.2 percent of U.S. milk production in 2000 to 16.4% percent today, trade has become an increasingly important outlet for farmers’ milk. It creates a promising future — and at the same time, it means the future depends on it.
At the National Milk Producers Federation, working in partnership with the U.S. Dairy Export Council, our efforts to unlock new markets and create a positive policy environment are persistent.
- In key foreign markets, U.S. dairy exporters are at a distinct disadvantage because of tariff cuts that the European Union or New Zealand have negotiated in their own trade agreements with those countries. We’re finally now able to take advantage of lower tariffs in many countries. including the 0% tariffs phased in under the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), signed back in 2004. But that only underscores how much work hasn’t been done and remains left to do.
- Because the United States hasn’t kept pace on the trade agreements front, NMPF and USDEC have been pursuing unilateral tariff cuts with targeted trading partners. We’ve already seen successes with China on cheese, from Vietnam on various dairy products, and just last year from the United Kingdom on certain milk powder sales; we’re now actively working to chip tariffs down further with the United Kingdom, China and Taiwan. Two of my staff will head to Taiwan next month to advance that goal.
- We’re also pushing against trade barriers that are arising as countries invent new policies that threaten to disrupt our dairy sales. We’ve devoted extensive efforts to beating back a politically motivated countervailing duty case in Colombia. And, we’re focused on ensuring that currently open markets stay that way, and pursuing ways to streamline and expand trade with partners such as Indonesia, Costa Rica and Canada. Our efforts are positioning us well to make headway with the new administration.
- To advance beyond past trade agreements, we are always looking for opportunities to forge new deals that help exporters compete in targeted ways, much like how the U.S.-Japan agreement negotiated under the first Trump Administration boosted our cheese and whey exports. We’re also pushing for strong protections for our cheese exports using common names like “parmesan” and addressing the $2.7B dairy trade deficit we have with the EU.
We’re laying out all of these goals, and more, to the new administration to position them as key deliverables as USTR prepares to meet the White House’s April 1 deadline for submitting major trade plans.
These efforts will continue to build on the momentum we’ve created through decades of patient work, from USDEC’s on-the-ground efforts to our unparalleled global market intelligence to collaborative efforts such as the Cooperatives Working Together program, which is currently in the midst of a reinvention.
And one more thing about that billion pounds of cheese. There are more than eight billion people on this planet. We’ve only just begun.
Gregg Doud
President & CEO, NMPF
Hain Joins NMPF as Chief Veterinary Officer
Dr. Meggan Hain has joined NMPF as its Chief Veterinary Officer for NMPF and the National Dairy FARM Program, a new position leading NMPF’s efforts to advance animal welfare standards, support dairy producers and promote science-based best practices across the industry.
With two decades of veterinary expertise in dairy health and welfare, Hain has been instrumental in developing animal welfare programs, disease response strategies and quality assurance initiatives.
Meggan comes to NMPF after serving as the Managing Veterinarian and Animal Care Specialist at Organic Valley, overseeing the animal health and welfare program for 1,800 farms nationwide. She holds both a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science from Ohio State University.
NMPF Staff Address Conferences, Co-op Meetings
NMPF staff actively engaged with dairy farmers and the broader industry in early 2025, informing producers and addressing wide-ranging needs.
NMPF Chief Science Officer Dr. Jamie Jonker’s continued outreach on H5N1 in dairy cattle this year has included panel discussions at the Dairy Farmers of Canada Winter Policy Conference in Ottawa and the 2025 USDA Ag Outlook Forum in Arlington, VA. Also appearing at the forum, in addition to NMPF President and CEO Gregg Doud, was Executive Vice President Jaime Castaneda, who presented in a panel on finding opportunities in changing markets.
Also speaking on H5N1 was Theresa Sweeney-Murphy, senior director of communications and outreach, who participated in Ontario Dairy Days on Feb. 12-13, where she shared with Canadian dairy farmers insights and lessons learned from the U.S. dairy industry’s experience with H5N1.
Senior Director for FARM Animal Care Beverly Hampton Phifer hosted a conversation during FarmFirst’s Annual Conference in Onalaska, WI, on Feb. 7, providing background on the FARM Program, its role within the dairy supply chain and implementation of FARM Animal Care.
Regulatory Affairs Director Miquela Hanselman shared resources to help vets better understand the FARM Program’s mission of continuous improvement at the American Association of Bovine Practitioner’s annual Recent Graduate Conference in Norman, OK, Feb.14 -15.
Chief Sustainability Officer Nicole Ayache attended the Ohio Dairy Quality Conference in Wooster, OH, Feb. 11-12, to provide information about industry-level sustainability initiatives and introduce the updates to FARM Environmental Stewardship.
Will Loux also traveled to Boise, ID, Jan. 23 to speak on the year ahead in dairy to Darigold Young Cooperators (YC) on Jan. 23. Loux also gave a market outlook to new NMPF associate member Idaho Milk Products. Loux spoke on exports in the coming year at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA on Feb. 11.
FARM Environmental Stewardship was another topic of discussion at Darigold’s YC meeting. Sage Saffran presented to the group on Jan. 21, highlighting the recent updates to FARM ES and how Version 3 enables on-farm decision making.
FARM Program releases ES Version 3 User Guide and Trainings
FARM released Feb. 14 its new Environmental Stewardship Version 3 User Guide, providing key information about the evaluation tool to its participants and aiding evaluators when completing Version 3 evaluations.
The guide details the data inputs of the new FARM ES evaluation to foster consistency and confidence in data collection. It also explains the output of the Version 3 assessment to support results interpretation.
FARM ES Version 3, launched last October, gives dairy farmers a scientifically robust tool with more advanced features to assess the impact of potential practice or technology changes. Version 3 incorporates the Ruminant Farm System (RuFaS) model, a whole-farm model simulating dairy farm production and environmental impact. FARM continues to create resources for on-farm best management practices, advancing its mission of continuous improvement within the dairy industry.
The FARM Program in tandem with the guide also launched a self-paced, online training course through the FARM Database. The training contains six modules that evaluators can choose to complete in one session or throughout multiple sessions. The course covers information about the program, how to consistently collect the data inputs, and how to interpret the results. Evaluators must complete the course to be certified to complete FARM ES Version 3 assessments.
To complement the self-paced, online training, FARM evaluators can enroll in advanced training sessions that take a deeper dive into several FARM ES topics. Each session is designed to address key areas of evaluations such as data inputs, interpreting results and available resources. Sessions also explore the new scenario analysis function of the Version 3 evaluation tool, so evaluators can better support farmers in using this new functionality to inform decision-making.
Dairy Community Responds to Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Scientific Report
NMPF submitted comments to USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services Feb. 10 to reiterate dairy’s importance as the departments begin writing the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. NMPF also encouraged its members to share their voices by participating in NMPF’s advocacy campaign Jan. 16 through Feb. 10.
The comments and advocacy campaign were the final opportunity to highlight dairy’s key role in American diets until after the next guidelines are drafted. This round of comments also gave the public an opportunity to respond to the Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which was published Dec. 10. The advisory committee reviewing what Americans should be eating spent two years evaluating scientific evidence and considering stakeholder input.
The final report reflects a great deal of hard work by NMPF’s members and allies to maintain dairy foods’ central role in American diets and maintains the prominent role of dairy foods in a healthy diet, including recommending three servings daily, a big win for the dairy community. The review also made clear that expanding the dairy food group to include additional plant-based alternative beverages (outside of fortified soy beverage, which is already included) is not supported by scientific evidence.
NMPF had hammered the point that imitators do not offer the same consistent package of nutrition provided by real milk. The committee agreed, which is especially important to the school lunch program, as the dietary guidelines affect the food options available to children through school meals and other nutrition programs.
NMPF expressed disappointment that the committee only recommends consumption of unflavored milk, especially as it acknowledged that flavored milk contains beneficial nutrients, and the committee did not explicitly conclude any connection between flavored milk consumption and obesity risk. And while the committee found evidence that substituting higher-fat dairy for lower-fat dairy showed no association with cardiovascular disease morbidity, the committee still only recommends consumption of low-fat and non-fat dairy products.
NMPF will continue to urge the departments to look more fully at recent science supporting the benefits of full-fat dairy in the diet as they develop the final guidelines.
NMPF’s Morris Testifies Before USTR
NMPF Executive Vice President for Trade Policy and Global Affairs Shawna Morris testified at a hearing of the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative (USTR) Feb. 19, outlining the European Union’s misuse of Geographical Indication systems to monopolize generic terms such as “parmesan.”
Morris urged the U.S. government to proactively establish protections for common names and address the European Union’s GI campaign through the new U.S. “fair and reciprocal tariff plan.”
Morris was testifying on behalf of the Consortium for Common Food Names, which NMPF staffs. CCFN also on Jan. 27 submitted comments on the issue as part of the agency’s annual Special 301 Review, which is used to set USTR’s intellectual property agenda.
Doud Calls for Greater Trade Enforcement in Congressional Hearing, Ag Outlook Forum
NMPF President and CEO Gregg Doud told members of the House Ways & Means Trade Subcommittee on Feb. 25 that the U.S. government needs to make sure trade agreements are enforced, benefiting dairy producers, workers, and shippers who rely on exports.
“In addition to pursuing greater market access, Congress and the administration have a responsibility to work together to enforce existing U.S trade agreements,” Doud said in his oral remarks. “Trade enforcement is not a matter of political or legal technicalities. We have seen that inadequate enforcement has real-world consequences by restricting opportunities for American farmers.”
Exports are indispensable for U.S. dairy farmers and workers, Doud said in the opening of his testimony. Most of those dairy exports are shipped to markets where the United States has an existing bilateral trade agreement—underscoring the need for an initiative-taking U.S. trade agenda. Doud urged policymakers to pursue trade policies that empower U.S. dairy to compete with the European Union and New Zealand, who have benefited from increased market access from recent trade agreements made by their governments.
Priority U.S. trade agreements for enforcement and focus include the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Doud said. Roughly 44 percent of U.S. dairy exports are shipped to USMCA partners, illustrating why it is critical to ensure that Canada and Mexico are in full compliance and that the United States maximize dairy export opportunities with both partners, he said.
Doud in both written and oral testimony outlined specific USMCA enforcement issues the United States should prioritize, including Canada’s misadministration of its tariff-rate quota system and circumvention of dairy protein export caps. Doud emphasized the need for new deals that cut tariffs, tackle nontariff trade barriers, and are vigorously enforced.
A link to his written testimony can be found here.
Doud later that week spoke at the USDA’s annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, elaborating on his testimony with an overview of U.S. trade relationships around the world, specifically calling out the European Union for misusing rules and protections to shield their markets from U.S. farmers.
“If I say anything nice about the way Brussels does ag, it was completely by mistake,” he said. “I think it is also reasonable to assume its own farmers have the same opinion.”
Later that day Doud joined a roundtable discussion hosted by the House Agriculture Committee to discuss how Congress and the Trump Administration can promote trade policies that best support the dairy and agricultural industries.
