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Prairie Farms Wins NMPF Cheese and Yogurt Contest

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Prairie Farms Dairy won the Chairman’s Award in this year’s NMPF Cheese and Yogurt Contest, a mark of co-op quality and prestige.

This year’s annual edition of the cheese and yogurt contest for member cooperatives included 252 entries from 14 participating NMPF co-ops, a total of 3,350 pounds (1.52 metric tons) of cheese and yogurt. The high-quality cheeses and yogurt from the NMPF membership highlight U.S.-made dairy products and our continuing promotion of the REAL® Seal.

The entered products are assessed against scoring standards for the ideal cheese or yogurt in each class. NMPF thanks the judges for helping with the contest this year: Ms. Allison Reynolds (lead judge), USDA, Dairy Grading Branch, Turlock, California; Mr. Timothy Meyers, College of DuPage, Glenn Ellyn, Illinois; Dr. Gina Mode, CDR, University of Wisconsin, Madison; and Chad Galer, Dairy Management Inc., Rosemont, IL.

Prairie Farms won for its Cave Aged Rinded Swiss, produced in Faribault, MN. Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery won the Chairman’s Reserve Award for its Pepperoni with Marinara Rub produced in Menomonie, WI. Best in Class awards included:

  • Best Cheddar – Makers Reserve Extra Sharp White Cheddar 2014 from Tillamook County Creamery Association, Tillamook, OR
  • Best Cottage Cheese – Peach Yogurt from Dairy Farmers of America, Farmington, MN
  • Best Italian – Pasteurized Blue Cheese from Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc., Faribault, MN
  • Best Yogurt – Triple Cream Vanilla Bean Greek Yogurt from Agri‐Mark, Inc., Cabot, VT

In a first, the cheese contest was featured in an RFD-TV news package, highlighting the contest’s value to members and its rich history.

Extra cheese and yogurt from the contest and dairy products from the dairy bar were donated to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is a private, nonprofit organization that collects, stores and distributes donated food to more than 625 feeding partners in seven Central Florida counties: Brevard, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia.

Last year, with the help of numerous donors, volunteers and a caring, committed community, the food bank distributed enough food for 81 million meals to partner programs such as food pantries, soup kitchens, women’s shelters, senior centers, day care centers and Kids Cafes.

NMPF Gains through EPA Retreat on Manure Air Emissions

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF regulatory staff gained a years-earned win last month when the Environmental Protection Agency decided to solicit information on a proposed end to an exemption from reporting ammonia and hydrogen sulfide air emissions from manure under the Emergency Planning Community-Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) rather than to simply overturn that exemption. The somewhat surprising move all but ensures that the Biden Administration will not overturn the exemption, which benefits dairy, before the end of the presidential term that ends in 2025.

NMPF and animal agriculture groups since 2019 have worked hard with EPA to promulgate the EPCRA exemption after securing a Congressional exemption under the FARM Act in March 2018 for the same type of reporting under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). EPCRA and CERCLA are separate but interrelated environmental statutes. Both exemptions remain in place today—but while the CERCLA exemption would require Congress to overturn the CERCLA exemption, EPA retains the authority to overturn the EPCRA exemption.

Environmentalists seized on an opportunity to overturn the EPCRA exemption by modifying a complaint in ongoing litigation which challenged the final EPCRA rule. After the Biden Administration in January 2021 issued an Executive Order that called upon EPA to immediately review federal regulations issued over the past four years for consistency with national objectives, such as confronting the climate crisis, EPA that November asked the courts to return the final EPCRA rule to EPA for further review.

EPA then allegedly promulgated a proposed rule to eliminate the EPCRA exemption which was then sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, where it sat for an extended period.  During that period NMPF and other ag groups repeatedly asserted to EPA and OMB that revoking the exemption would be inappropriate and defy common sense by requiring useless emissions reports that would serve no logical purpose other than to harass farmers—even while knowing the revocation was very much on the table.

Instead, EPA has issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which solicits information pertaining to requests comments to assist in potentially developing regulations to reinstate the reporting of animal waste air emissions at farms under EPCRA. The agency is soliciting comments under five general categories: health impacts; implementation challenges; costs and benefits; small farm definition and potential reporting exemption; and national report on animal waste air emissions.

The bottom line is that while the issue is far from over, EPA did not have sufficient information to justify a proposed regulation to end the exemption and therefore had to switch to information collection. NMPF and other ag groups will continue to fight on this long-lived, cumbersome issue.

NMPF Secures Continued DMC Production History Boost in Farm Bill Extension

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF worked closely with the House and Senate Agriculture Committees last month to finalize a one-year farm bill extension that was signed into law Nov. 17 as part of a larger government funding bill.

The extension continues the successful Dairy Margin Coverage program for 2024. At NMPF’s urging, it also incorporates the 2019 partial production history update, previously known as Supplemental DMC, into the underlying DMC safety net.

Through 2023, Supplemental DMC offered payments to those producers whose DMC production history was below five million pounds, but whose actual production had increased to that level by 2019. Eligible farmers received payments totaling 75 percent of the difference between their actual 2019 production and their DMC production history. Enactment of the farm bill extension now converts this supplemental program into a base production history update within DMC, ensuring it will continue going forward without requiring a separate extension.

Congress’s move also funds those programs that did not have a budget “baseline” to ensure that they would be funded into the next farm bill. This includes the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, which was created in the 2014 Farm Bill with NMPF’s support to leverage both private and public resources to maximize agricultural research needs.

NMPF thanked congressional leaders for their work on the extension and reinforced the importance of passing a five-year farm bill as soon as possible. “We commend House and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairs Glenn Thompson and Debbie Stabenow, as well as Ranking Members David Scott and John Boozman, for their bipartisan work to finalize this farm bill extension as part of the congressional spending agreement President Biden signed today,” NMPF president and CEO Jim Mulhern said in a statement. “With this bill passed, we stand ready to work closely with the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to deliver a strong, five-year farm bill as swiftly as possible.”

Doud, Economists Explore Dairy’s Future

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The future of U.S. dairy farming is bright as global growth and American capacity for innovation and production combine to create a powerhouse, NMPF incoming president and CEO Gregg Doud and the organization’s economists said in presentations at NMPF’s annual meeting.

“In terms of the world of protein, dairy is a huge part of the future,” said Gregg Doud, who will take over NMPF’s reins on Jan. 1. Doud, a former chief agricultural trade negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, said opportunities are there for U.S. dairy’s taking with robust outreach and appeals to consumers worldwide.

“My message to you today is very simple,” he said. “Let’s go. Let’s get it in gear.”

Dairy producers in the past year have faced operating margins at their lowest since the federal dairy safety net was adopted in its current structure in 2014 as prices plummeted from record highs. In a panel of NMPF economists following Doud’s remarks, forecasts showed an improving price outlook next year, even as inflation continues to pose challenges for consumers.

“We see a road to recovery in 2024,” said Will Loux, head of the joint economics unit serving NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “Things aren’t all roses, we still have really significant headwinds on the demand side both here at home and abroad, but we look at the world with a lot of optimism still, especially in the long run.”

Annual Meeting Spotlights Dairy Farmer Unity

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF Chairman Randy Mooney commended U.S. dairy farmers for their persistence in supporting positive change for their industry at the organization’s annual meeting in Orlando held Nov. 13-15, noting that challenges are nothing new to producers and that their unity has brought progress toward better federal farm policy.

“We’re nourishing families around the world through milk’s unbeatable nutritional value,” said Mooney in remarks at the meeting held jointly by NMPF, the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board and the United Dairy Industry Association. “I’ve dairied for a long time, through good times and bad times, but there’s never been a time that I haven’t laid my head down on my pillow at night and been proud of what I accomplished on my farm,” said Mooney, a Dairy Farmers of America member-owner who farms near Rogersville, MO.

Dairy producers in the past year have faced operating margins at their lowest since the federal dairy safety net was adopted in its current structure in 2014 as prices plummeted from record highs. Meanwhile, the U.S. farm bill expired at the end of September before Congress passed an extension until next October, and dairy farmers are seeking a fairer milk pricing system through a USDA-led Federal Milk Marketing Order hearing.

Following Mooney onstage was NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern, who is retiring at the end of this year after leading the organization for a decade. Mulhern reflected on the challenges dairy farmers have met and how they will meet the challenges to come.

“I’ve tried to remain true to what I see as the hallmark of the dairy community: people who work hard, approach things with common sense, care passionately about the product they produce,” Mulhern said. “You all strive to do the right thing. And I can tell you, looking over the course of my career, those are qualities that can take you a very long way.”

Also at the meeting, NMPF’s Board of Directors approved the organization’s policy positions and elected new members. New directors elected to the Board of Directors and approved by NMPF delegates include Brad Bateman of Dairy Farmers of America and Rick Burkhamer of Foremost Farms. Burkhamer, who farms near Richland Center, WI, was also named to NMPF’s Executive Committee. Pete Kappelman of Land O’Lakes, a member of the Executive Committee, was elected Treasurer to replace retiring Board member Dave Scheevel of Foremost Farms. The members awarded Honorary Directors for Life recognition to Brian Hardy and Rick Smith of DFA, and Joe Wright of Southeast Milk.

The meeting drew roughly 750 attendees and also featured breakout sessions on industry topics as well as the Dairy Experience, an exhibit and snacks area featuring industry vendors and dairy products.

NMPF Statement on U.S. Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

From NMPF President & CEO Jim Mulhern:

ARLINGTON, VA – “Our prayers are with our longtime friend Rep. GT Thompson and his family as they navigate his diagnosis. Rep. Thompson has always been a fighter, and we know he will face this challenge head-on. We are here to support Rep. Thompson through his treatment and know that his strength and spirit will help him through a speedy recovery.”

CWT Assists with 5.2 Million Pounds of Dairy Product Export Sales

Posted on by Khadija Gibson-White
ARLINGTON, VA – Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted 42 offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture sales contracts for 4.6 million pounds (2,100 MT) of American-type cheese and 525,000 pounds (238 MT) of cream cheese. The product is going to customers in Asia and Middle East-North Africa, and will be delivered from November 2024 through February 2024.

CWT-assisted member cooperative year-to-date export sales total 46.1 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 1.1 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat), 26,000 pounds of anhydrous milkfat, 39 million pounds of whole milk powder and 8.3 million pounds of cream cheese. The products are going to 24 countries in five regions. These sales are the equivalent of 801.6 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 dairy farmers’ milk prices and margins.

 

Thank You for All You Do.

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Throughout my career, whether I was working on Capitol Hill or consulting for Fortune 500 companies, I found myself returning, in various ways, to dairy. And it was always because of the people.

Those who produce our food literally make life possible for all of us. But there’s something special about this dairy community. I’ve long felt dairy’s uniqueness is in its daily harvest – the ability to see in real time the fruits of your labor reflected in the health of your animals and the quality and quantity of milk they produce.  It gives dairy a different character than other agricultural operations, producing people committed to nourishing our bodies with nutrient-rich milk and dairy products harvested through work that is hard and honest, and never lacking in integrity.

That’s what I will miss after more than four decades working in and near dairy. And that’s why the most important words I’ve been saying as I approach my final weeks at NMPF are “thank you” — to everyone from NMPF Chairman Randy Mooney and the many dairy-industry leaders who I’ve been fortunate to work with, to the farmers and staff who have supported and advanced our important work at NMPF.

And I also need to say, “I’m proud of this industry” for all the successes we’ve seen, and for how that success will help position everyone who cares about dairy for further gains to come – from the farmers and cooperatives I have represented to the entire industry.

I’ve had the opportunity to be part of nearly every major dairy policy debate since the early 1980s – from the establishment of the national dairy checkoff program in 1983, the very first dairy issue I worked on Capitol Hill, to the USDA Federal Milk Marketing Order modernization effort currently under way.

No achievements are ever static: The checkoff has become an incredibly vital instrument for our industry, and it continues to evolve, showing strong leadership in critical areas. Our Federal Order system is evolving as well – for the better, I predict, after our modernization proposal becomes the basis for a comprehensive USDA plan next year. The changes we are advocating, if approved, will strengthen the program’s ability to aid producers and improve orderly marketing of milk. And that change will happen because of the leadership, engagement, and hard work of all of NMPF’s dairy cooperative members.

Other examples of which we should all be proud – and confident in our future success – includes our sustainability journey. We recognized the climate issue as a looming challenge more than 15 years ago. We knew that our opponents would try to position dairy as part of the problem. But we vowed to be part of the solution. I was fortunate to be involved in those early efforts as the checkoff program engaged key stakeholders, conducted a carbon Life Cycle Assessment of fluid milk – the first-ever on a U.S. agricultural product – and helped develop the science to establish our industry’s baseline.

From there, we have identified numerous opportunities for dairy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to climate improvements. NMPF has focused on programs and policies that provide voluntary incentives to assist farmers in these improvements and prevent onerous, costly regulations. We are seeing the fruits of these efforts, as federal programs are beginning to provide funding to enable on-farm technologies to mitigate emissions and help facilitate our U.S. dairy industry goal to be Net Zero by 2050. There is much yet to be done, but with the right policies and approaches I am fully confident we will achieve our goal even before then.

I am also proud of our work in the economic policy arena to help producers of all sizes deal with the volatility inherent in commodity milk prices. The Dairy Margin Coverage program provides protection without stimulating increased milk production, and we have helped develop better and more effective risk management tools for larger farms through the USDA-supported Dairy Revenue Protection and LGM-Dairy programs. Collectively, these efforts provide the most comprehensive federal risk management suite our industry has ever had.

There are so many other issues I could talk about where we’ve made great progress, and a few – like immigration reform to help address our ag labor problem – where success remains elusive.

Despite these challenges, I know that the future of this industry is very bright. And that’s because of what I may be most proud of – how our industry works together to advance common goals.

By proactively engaging with a host of stakeholders – policymakers, customers, proprietary processors, consumer and public health groups, other agricultural organizations and even potential critics – we endeavor to advance our collective interests. I’m proud of the countless times we have engaged critical debates from a position of unity and strength.

When I accepted the role of NMPF president and CEO, I told the organization’s Board that my goal was simple: to strengthen the dairy cooperative and dairy producer community and help build a brighter future. Any success I’ve had has been because of great people – on the farm, in our marketing and processing operations, and in the policy and promotion organizations.

We produce a great product with a demand that’s growing both domestically and internationally. We have the most efficient, productive, resilient and sustainable dairy industry in the world. And it’s because of what you have done. Our industry is stronger because of our work together – and, under the leadership of my successor, Gregg Doud, our work is poised for greater success, as U.S. dairy remains a critical part of the American diet, and increasingly, the world’s.

My career journey has exceeded the wildest dreams of what I thought might be accomplished when I started in it many years ago. I’m proud of what we have accomplished together and gratified by the opportunity I’ve had to work with so many great people.

Thank you again, and Godspeed.

Jim Mulhern

President & CEO, NMPF

 

NMPF’s Bjerga on Trade, FMMO

Posted on by Alan Bjerga

NMPF Executive Vice President Alan Bjerga speaks with RFD-TV about how all of agriculture needs to fight for the integrity of trade agreements in the wake of a USMCA dispute panel decision that failed to protect U.S. access to Canada’s market. The President’s Export Council, with member co-op Land O’Lakes representing farmers, discussed the importance of market access in a White House meeting on Wednesday. Bjerga also talked about the resumption of the USDA Federal Milk Marketing Order hearing in Indiana this week, and how repeated delays aren’t helpful for milk producers.

NMPF Cheese Contest: A Tradition of Excellence

Posted on by Alan Bjerga

NMPF’s annual cheese contest, held in conjunction with its annual meeting, has evolved from a quality-improvement initiative to a showcase of some of the world’s top cheeses, as produced by NMPF member cooperatives. RFD-TV goes behind the scenes to talk with cheese judges, contest coordinators and winners to show how the contest — which now features other dairy products — encourages the best in NMPF co-ops, and the best in cheesemaking as well.

USMCA Dispute Panel Limits Canadian Market Access

Posted on by Alan Bjerga

Today’s ruling by a U.S-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) dispute panel allowing Canada to restrict the dairy access that the United States negotiated for in the USMCA pact weakens the agreement’s value to the US dairy industry, according to the National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council.

An earlier panel ruled in January 2022 that Canada had improperly restricted access to its market for U.S. dairy products. In response, Canada made insufficient changes to its dairy tariff rate quota (TRQ) system, resulting in an outcome that still fell far short of the market access the U.S. expected to receive under USMCA. To address that shortcoming, the U.S. brought a second case to challenge the changes that Canada instituted. Today the panel announced that Canada was not obligated to make further changes.

“It is profoundly disappointing that the dispute settlement panel has ruled in favor of obstruction of trade rather than trade facilitation,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “Despite this independent panel’s adverse ruling, we’d like to thank the Biden Administration and the many members of Congress who supported us for their tireless pursuit of justice for America’s dairy sector. We urge Ambassador Tai and Secretary Vilsack to look at all available options to ensure that Canada stops playing games and respects what was negotiated.”

Since the U.S. Trade Representative initially launched the first dispute settlement case against Canada in 2021, USDEC and NMPF have worked with USTR, USDA, and Congress to try to secure full use and value of USMCA’s dairy TRQs for American dairy producers and processors.

“By allowing Canada to ignore its USMCA obligations, this ruling has unfortunately set a dangerous and damaging precedent,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “We do however want to express our appreciation for allies in Congress and the Administration for their efforts and commitment to fighting for U.S. dairy. This is unfortunately not the only shortcoming in Canada’s compliance with its international commitments. We are committed to working with USTR and USDA to evaluate efforts to address Canada’s continued harmful actions that depress dairy imports while simultaneously evading USMCA’s dairy export disciplines.”

When first implemented in 2020, USMCA established 14 different TRQs, which allow a predetermined quantity of imports at a specified low tariff rate. The TRQ system that Canada implemented awarded the vast majority of TRQ volumes to Canadian processors and granted very limited access to TRQs to distributors – resulting in limited market access for U.S. exporters. Minor modifications to that system made in 2022 have continued that imbalanced approach.