USDA’s Federal Milk Marketing Order modernization hearing begins Wednesday and dairy farmers are eager to be part of the process. National Milk Producers Federation Director of Economic Research and Analysis, Stephen Cain, says there is a lot of ground to cover. “We’ve developed a big package that we think is going to help the U.S. dairy farmer,” Cain told the National Association of Farm Broadcasters.
ARLINGTON, VA – Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted 27 offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture sales contracts for 2.7 million pounds (1,200 MT) of American-type cheese. The product is going to customers in Asia, Middle East-North Africa and Oceania, and will be delivered from August through November 2023.
CWT-assisted member cooperative year-to-date export sales total 31.1 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 809,000 pounds of butter (82% milkfat), 24,000 pounds of anhydrous milkfat, 31.4 million pounds of whole milk powder and 5.9 million pounds of cream cheese. The products are going to 24 countries in five regions. These sales are the equivalent of 580.8 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.
Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively affects all U.S. dairy farmers and cooperatives by fostering the competitiveness of U.S. dairy products in the global marketplace and helping member cooperatives gain and maintain world market share for U.S. dairy products. As a result, the program has helped significantly expand the total demand for U.S. dairy products and the demand for U.S. farm milk that produces those products.
The amounts of dairy products and related milk volumes reflect current contracts for delivery, not completed export volumes. CWT pays export assistance to the bidders only when export and delivery of the product is verified by required documentation.
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The Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) Export Assistance program is funded by voluntary contributions from dairy cooperatives and individual dairy farmers. The money raised by their investment is being used to strengthen and stabilize the dairy farmers’ milk prices and margins.
NMPF Senior Vice President of Communications discusses the shifting consumer preference toward milk over plant-based beverages, plus NMPF’s latest efforts toward labeling integrity, on RFD-TV. Consumer data shows consumption of plant-based drinks falling this year, while milk sales are remaining more stable. Meanwhile, NMPF has submitted comments to FDA urging it to enforce its Standard of Identity that clearly state that milk is an animal product.
ARLINGTON, VA – Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted four offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture sales contracts for 710,000 pounds (322 MT) of American-type cheese. The product is going to customers in Asia and Oceania and will be delivered from August through September 2023.
CWT-assisted member cooperative year-to-date export sales total 28.3 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 809,000 pounds of butter (82% milkfat), 24,000 pounds of anhydrous milkfat, 31.4 million pounds of whole milk powder and 5.9 million pounds of cream cheese. The products are going to 24 countries in five regions. These sales are the equivalent of 555.5 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.
Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively affects all U.S. dairy farmers and cooperatives by fostering the competitiveness of U.S. dairy products in the global marketplace and helping member cooperatives gain and maintain world market share for U.S. dairy products. As a result, the program has helped significantly expand the total demand for U.S. dairy products and the demand for U.S. farm milk that produces those products.
The amounts of dairy products and related milk volumes reflect current contracts for delivery, not completed export volumes. CWT pays export assistance to the bidders only when export and delivery of the product is verified by required documentation.
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The Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) Export Assistance program is funded by voluntary contributions from dairy cooperatives and individual dairy farmers. The money raised by their investment is being used to strengthen and stabilize the dairy farmers’ milk prices and margins.
By Tony Rice, Trade Policy Manager, NMPF
Parmesan. Feta. These are among the common cheese names that have been around for generations — and until the past 20 years, were uncontested in their use by U.S. dairy producers selling high-quality, commonly understood varieties in America and the world.
But an aggressive European Union (EU) campaign to use free trade agreement negotiations to confiscate common names through the misuse of geographical indication (GI) rules has seen American producers of cheeses like “parmesan” and “feta” forced in the past decade to withdraw from certain markets and have their products taken from store shelves.
A solution to this problem is making its way through Congress.
The bipartisan Safeguarding American Value-Added Exports (SAVE) Act was introduced in May. The legislation would spur greater action from U.S. administrations to prioritize the protection of common names. The SAVE Act would direct the secretary of agriculture to determine a list of common names frequently subject to GI restrictions around the world and deem restrictions on them by our trading partners an unfair trade practice. Currently, no such list exists, which gives the European Union and other foreign governments a free hand in claiming common names as GIs, despite them long being a part of the public domain.
The bill also directs the U.S. government to proactively negotiate the defense of generic name rights with foreign trade partners through all available avenues. It’s co-sponsored in the Senate by Senators John Thune (R-SD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Tina Smith (D-MN). In the House, sponsors include Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Jim Costa (D-CA), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN), and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA). The congressional leads are likely to try to incorporate the SAVE Act into the upcoming farm bill text.
This effort wouldn’t be taking place without the hard work and advocacy of the dairy community. The Consortium for Common Food Names, in partnership with National Milk Producers Federation and U.S. Dairy Export Council, has been at the forefront of opposing bad-faith GI recognitions that restrict generic terms, including winning a landmark court case in March that preserves free use of “gruyere” in the United States. As important as the defense strategy has been, growing aggressiveness by the EU on GIs and persistent lack of action by previous U.S. administrations has made the Capitol Hill effort necessary.
The benefits of tackling illegitimate GIs would extend up and down the dairy supply chain. Farmers’ and manufacturers’ international markets access would be preserved, consumers would have more choices at the grocery store, and retailers would benefit from the competition of more options and greater sales. Without adequate protection for generic terms, lost export opportunities due to GI misuse and rebranding to alter the name of a product translate to lower demand for fluid milk to make those products.
The SAVE Act is not a silver bullet. The EU will continue to push for illegitimate GIs in markets around the world. But after years of losing ground as American dairy farmers and producers had their rights violated and market opportunities lost, Congress has demonstrated that they are ready to take on this fight. NMPF has a call to action here for dairy advocates who wish to contact their lawmakers to support this important legislation. America’s dairy industry deserves nothing less than a fair playing field to compete in, and the SAVE Act is a key step to securing international market access for U.S. dairy farmers for generations to come.
This column originally appeared in Hoard’s Dairyman Intel on Aug. 3, 2023.
Chris Galen, NMPF’s senior vice president of membership services and strategic initiatives, discusses NMPF’s latest effort to prevent misleading labeling on Dairy Radio Now. While FDA’s draft guidance on plant-based beverages acknowledges the public health concern regarding nutritional confusion, it falls short of ending the decades-old problem of misleading plant-based labeling using dairy terminology, he says. Galen discusses the comments NMPF submitted to FDA this week that emphasize the importance of transparent product labeling to ensure consumer understanding and informed purchasing decisions.
CWT member cooperatives secured 36 contracts in July, adding 3.2 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 44,000 pounds of butter, 679,000 pounds of cream cheese and 130,000 pounds of whole milk powder to CWT-assisted sales in 2023. In milk equivalent, this is equal to 36.7 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. These products will go to customers in Asia, Oceania, Central America, the Caribbean and Middle East-North Africa, and will be shipped from July through December 2023.
CWT-assisted 2023 dairy product sales contracts year-to-date total 27.6 million pounds of American-type cheese, 809,000 pounds of butter, 24,000 pounds of anhydrous milkfat, 5.9 million pounds of cream cheese and 31.4 million pounds of whole milk powder. This brings the total milk equivalent for the year to 548.9 million pounds on a milkfat basis.
Exporting dairy products is critical to the viability of dairy farmers and their cooperatives across the country. Whether or not a cooperative is actively engaged in exporting cheese, butter, anhydrous milkfat, cream cheese, or whole milk powder, moving products into world markets is essential. CWT provides a means to move domestic dairy products to overseas markets by helping to overcome U.S. dairy’s trade disadvantages.
The amounts of dairy products and related milk volumes reflect current contracts for delivery, not completed export volumes. CWT will pay export assistance to the bidders only when export and delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.
Dr. Jamie Jonker, NMPF Chief Science Officer, spoke at the inaugural Agriculture Working Group of G20, International Symposium on Sustainable Livestock Transformation, held July 17-18 in Anand, India. In his role as Chair of the International Dairy Federation Science Program Coordinating Committee, Jonker used examples from U.S. dairy to discuss the role of animal health, genetics and nutrition on dairy farm economic, environmental and social sustainability. Maintaining healthy animals and reducing disease incidence increases milk sales while reducing greenhouse gas intensity and antimicrobial use.
On July 24, Dr. Jonker joined antimicrobial resistance (AMR) experts from around the world at the virtual GLG-UN Food Systems Summit event Country Progress and Political Action on AMR in Agrifood Systems: Building Towards the UNGA High-Level Meeting on AMR in 2024. As a member of the Global Leaders Group on AMR, he stressed the importance of the One Health approach which considers animal health, human health and the environment. This approach addresses the need for additional innovation to support additional biosecurity and animal health interventions which maintain animal health and reduce the need for antimicrobial use.
NMPF’s annual scholarship fundraising raffle is now live, running through this year’s Joint Annual Meeting that concludes Nov. 15 when winners are announced. Prizes this year include American Express gift cards, Target gift cards, a Cabot Creamery Premium Gift Box, and more. The raffle can be accessed here.
The NMPF National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program supports Master’s and Ph.D. students conducting research important to dairy farmers. The scholarship program is largely funded through the raffle fundraiser, making ticket purchases essential to its funding. Sustaining this program means ensuring that critical research benefiting the entire dairy community can continue.
Scholarship winners for 2023 selected by the NMPF Scholarship Committee included five graduate students who are conducting research in areas that will benefit dairy cooperatives and producers. Scholarships, announced to NMPF’s Board of Directors in June, were awarded to:
NMPF’s Jaime Castaneda pushed to protect common food names at the July 10 World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) general assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. NMPF’s executive vice president for policy development and strategy represented the U.S. dairy sector as well as other manufacturers of common-food-named products.
The Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN), which NMPF’s trade policy team staffs, holds observer status in the organization because of its leadership on protecting common names like “parmesan” and “feta.” Castaneda advocated for a balanced approach that protects the rights of common names users while still honoring legitimate geographical indications (GIs). NMPF’s engagement with WIPO – an influential organization that has traditionally supported an agenda that has favored GI interests – is critical for countering the European Union’s common name monopolization campaign and keeping markets open for U.S. dairy producers around the globe.
Castaneda also joined a non-governmental organizations session with WIPO Director General Daren Tang and met with government representatives from the United States and elsewhere who participated in the assembly.
While in Geneva, Castaneda also met with World Trade Organization (WTO) officials and government representatives on July 11-13 about the upcoming WTO Ministerial Conference taking place Feb. 26-29, 2024. Castaneda participated in sessions with the New Zealand and Australian Ambassadors to the WTO, Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Committee Marco Molina, WTO Deputy Director General Angela Ellard and several country delegations to discuss agricultural priorities for the upcoming February ministerial, including WTO dispute settlement reform and market access.
Shawna Morris, NMPF’s Senior Vice President of Trade Policy, moderated a July 12 trade policy panel with U.S. Chief Agricultural Negotiator Doug McKalip and USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor at the annual U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council conference in McLean, VA.
Morris underlined the importance of exports for the U.S. agricultural industry and highlighted the ways that the Biden Administration can work with the industry to make progress in opening new markets. Morris and Tony Rice, NMPF’s Trade Policy Manager, joined USDEC staff in a series of meetings with USDA Foreign Agricultural Service attachés during the conference to brief them on dairy trade issues specific to the attachés’ markets around the world.
NMPF and USDEC also organized a July 7 letter with 22 other leading agricultural organizations to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai ahead of the July 9-15 Indo-Pacific Economic Framework negotiations. The letter points out American agriculture’s preference for resuming comprehensive trade negotiations, spells out the agricultural industry’s priorities for the negotiations including securing specific commitments on common name protections, burdensome facility listing and certification requirements, and sanitary and phytosanitary barriers to trade.
Brad Vold, a Glenwood, MN farmer and a member of the Land O’Lakes cooperative, testified to the value of rules-based trade at a July 10 House Ways and Means Committee field hearing in Kimball, MN.
Vold, co-owner of Dorrich Dairy, spoke on the need for the United States to negotiate new comprehensive free trade agreements, enforce existing trade deals and address nontariff barriers to exports. Vold pointed to the importance of reducing tariffs and enforcing clear and consistent rules for trade, as well as the U.S. government’s responsibility to combat the European Union’s monopolization of common food names. NMPF’s trade policy team collaborated with Land O’Lakes and helped Vold prepare testimony and briefed congressional offices on U.S. dairy trade priorities prior to the briefing.
NMPF also participated in a July 11 briefing with congressional staff at the U.S. Capitol on the importance of USDA’s Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) funding to promote U.S. dairy exports. NMPF Trade Policy Manager Tony Rice explained how USDEC uses the funds to build relationships in overseas markets and promote U.S. dairy products to foreign customers. Rice emphasized that despite the proven success of the MAP and FMD investments in growing international market share, the programs have not had an increase in nearly two decades and are routinely oversubscribed.
NMPF and USDEC are working to advance bipartisan legislation to double MAP and FMD funding in the upcoming farm bill. The Expanding Agricultural Exports Act is led by Senators Joni Ernst, R-IA, Tina Smith, D-MN, Susan Collins, R-ME, and Chuck Grassley, R-IA, and the Agriculture Export Promotion Act is led by Representatives Jim Costa, D-CA, Tracey Mann, R-KS, Kim Schrier, D-WA, Ashley Hinson, R-IA, Jimmy Panetta, D-CA, Brad Finstad, R-MN, and Chellie Pingree, D-ME.
