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U.S. Dairy Endorses Ocean Shipping Antitrust Enforcement Act

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

In response to last week’s introduction of the Ocean Shipping Antitrust Enforcement Act, USDEC and NMPF released the following statements:

Krysta Harden, U.S. Dairy Export Council president & CEO:
The U.S. Dairy Export Council thanks Representatives Costa, Smith, Garamendi and Johnson for introducing the bipartisan Ocean Shipping Antitrust Enforcement Act last week. U.S. dairy exporters experience a litany of unfair practices from foreign-owned ocean carriers – including unprecedented shipping rates, fees often incurred out of the exporters’ control, intentional lack of transparency, and continually rolled bookings. Due to the high concentration of power in the largely foreign-owned shipping industry, American dairy exporters have little option other than to accept these unwarranted fees and delays as a business expense. We commend the introduction of this important legislation to revoke the antitrust immunity that these shipping lines exploit at the expense of American producers and consumers, and we urge Congress to expeditiously pass this measure into law.

Jim Mulhern, National Milk Producers Federation president & CEO:
At a time when ocean carriers have been enjoying record profits, U.S. dairy producers have been bearing the brunt of the export supply chain crisis, with over $1.5 billion in added costs and lost sales in 2021 alone. We welcome the introduction of the Ocean Shipping Antitrust Enforcement Act that would reign in the enormous power foreign-owned shipping lines wield over American exporters. It has been evident over the past two years that ocean carriers do not share the interest of U.S. producers and are willing to break contracts and cancel shipments without warning. International customers want U.S. dairy products, but American dairy farmers are struggling to meet deadlines due to carrier behavior and justify the increased expense of paying exorbitant fees. This puts at risk key relationships with buyers around the world. NMPF encourages swift passage of this bipartisan legislation to put a halt to these unreasonable practices.

NMPF and IDFA Join NY Members of Congress in Encouraging NYC Mayor to Maintain Milk Options for NYC School Children

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) responded today to a bipartisan letter from Rep. Antonio Delgado and Members of Congress from New York encouraging New York City Mayor Eric Adams not to eliminate flavored milk from New York City school meals. In the letter, the Members of Congress implore Mayor Adams not to eliminate flavored milk from the New York City school meals program. The letter states: “As Members representing both rural and urban communities, we are committed to supporting the dairy farmers, producers, and agriculture partners across New York, while also ensuring that children in NYC schools have access to critical, life-enhancing nutrients. Unfortunately, for many NYC families, the meals children receive in schools are their only source of many recommended nutrients.”

In response to the letter, Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF, said, “Dairy farmers across the country have long worked to provide children with nutritious food vital to their health and development. Kids need access to milk for that benefit to be realized. Low-fat flavored milk is fully consistent with the federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and it provides students one of the most complete nutrient packages around. We thank Congressman Delgado for leading this strong message to the Mayor of New York, and we thank all New York lawmakers who are stepping up to protect the flavored milk option and the key role it plays in ensuring students have access to highly nutritious options they will choose to consume.”

Michael Dykes, D.V.M., president and CEO of IDFA, added, “Rather than try to limit school milk options for kids, Mayor Adams and other policymakers should follow the lead of parents, physicians and dietitians, and school meals professionals who widely support making milk central to school meals. Studies have shown that school meals are by far the healthiest meals of the day for children thanks, in part, to nutritious milk and dairy options. Offering low-fat flavored milk increases school meal participation, leads to children consuming more nutrients of public health concern, and reduces food waste. Maintaining low-fat flavored milk options in school plays an important role in the diet and nutrition of children because milk contains 13 essential nutrients that children need for growth, development, healthy immune function, and overall wellness.”

A recent national tracking poll conducted by Morning Consult commissioned by IDFA found that 8 in 10 New York City and U.S. voters support offering low-fat flavored milk in school meals. Support among parents with children in public school is markedly higher, with 90% of New York City parents and 85% of parents nationally sharing the same belief.

Dairy a Sustainability Leader, USDA’s Bonnie Says

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Dairy has long been an agricultural leader in efforts to enhance sustainability and combat climate change, said Robert Bonnie, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation, in a Dairy Defined podcast released today.

Even during times when farmers had questions about how climate policy was evolving, “Dairy stayed engaged, and continued to look for ways to, advance opportunities for, for producers,” Bonnie said. “That is notable and really important.”

Bonnie in the podcast explains USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative that it rolled out last month, as well as how climate-smart agriculture programs may evolve and expand. He also notes that the farmer signup deadline for the Dairy Margin Coverage Program ends March 25, encouraging dairy producers to participate.“One of the things USDA is really interested in, is making sure we have better data to make that case, to drive a narrative that demonstrates that agriculture can be part of a solution that it already is, that has already done things, and that there’s more to do and that agriculture is engaged,” he said. “I think driving that narrative to the broader public is really important.”

The full podcast is below. You can find and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,   Google Podcasts and Amazon Music under the podcast name “Dairy Defined.” Broadcast outlets may use the MP3 file below. Please attribute information to NMPF.

NMPF and USDEC Slam Canadian Proposal on USMCA Dairy Market Access

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) rejected a proposal issued late yesterday by Global Affairs Canada that outlines the Canadian “changes” to their current scheme for allocating U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) dairy tariff-rate-quotas (TRQ).

In January the United States Trade Representative’s office announced that it had won USMCA’s first-ever dispute settlement panel by prevailing in its case against Canada regarding how Canada’s USMCA dairy TRQ allocation process violated the agreement. Ambassador Tai noted at the time that, “This historic win will help eliminate unjustified trade restrictions on American dairy products and will ensure that the U.S. dairy industry and its workers get the full benefit of the USMCA to market and sell U.S. products to Canadian consumers.”

“Enough is enough. U.S. dairy producers are sick and tired of Canada’s game playing on dairy market access. From their irrelevant celebration that the panel upheld Canada’s right to retain a supply management system, a fact that no one has challenged and was not at issue in the USMCA case, to the continual efforts to undermine established trade commitments in order to favor Canadian dairy farmers, this pattern of behavior has gone on too long. All that American dairy farmers want is fair and good-faith implementation of USMCA’s dairy provisions. That doesn’t seem like a high bar, yet it appears to be insurmountable for Canada based on yesterday’s proposed dairy TRQ scheme changes,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “We urge the administration to demand that Canada go back to the drawing board until it can genuinely deliver on providing the U.S. dairy industry the full benefit of USMCA.”

“U.S. dairy farmers and manufacturers have only limited access to the Canadian market under USMCA. That makes it essential that Canada abide by its original commitments under that agreement,” said Krysta Harden, president & CEO of USDEC. “Canada’s recent dairy TRQ proposal will not lead to that result. While it’s not surprising that Canada is trying to see just how little will be demanded of them, it’s essential that the U.S. government insist on real reforms.”

As the first case brought and decided under USMCA, the U.S.-Canada dairy TRQ panel is a test-case for whether or not the USMCA dispute settlement process can provide effective enforcement and deliver genuine compliance with the agreement. NMPF and USDEC will continue to work with the Biden administration and Congress to seek to ensure that the process provides the type of strong precedent needed for future USMCA disputes as well.

February CWT-Assisted Dairy Export Sales Continue Strong Start to 2022

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

CWT member cooperatives secured 105 contracts in February, adding 14.9 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 12.2 million pounds of whole milk powder and 1.4 million pounds of cream cheese to CWT-assisted sales in 2022. These products will go customers in Asia, Central America, Middle East-North Africa, Oceania and South America, and will be shipped from February through August 2022.

CWT-assisted 2022 dairy product sales contracts year-to-date total 29.9 million pounds of American-type cheese, 3.1 million pounds of cream cheese and 14.1 million pounds of whole milk powder. This brings the total milk equivalent for the year to 402 million pounds on a milkfat basis. Over the last 12 months, CWT assisted sales are the equivalent of 1.483 billion pounds of milk 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.

FARM ES Launches Pilot Program for Conservation Practice Questionnaire

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

FARM Environmental Stewardship (ES) launched a pilot program Jan. 21 to field-test the Conservation Practice Questionnaire (CPQ). The CPQ will serve as an optional add-on questionnaire to the existing FARM ES Version 2.0 evaluation once finalized. The questionnaire covers dairy farmers’ field and dairy-level conservation practices to capture a more holistic sustainability story.

The goals of the pilot are to test the CPQ with dairies across the country and receive feedback from producers and evaluators. All producer information and feedback will be kept anonymous and used only for the continued development of the CPQ. The pilot will be completed by mid-March 2022. FARM will then refine the questionnaire based on pilot feedback.

Ten FARM ES Participants have so far signed on to pilot the CPQ, including Agri-Mark, Associated Milk Producers Inc., California Dairies Inc., Foremost Farms, Glanbia, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, Michigan Milk Producers Association, Northwest Dairy Association, Sartori Cheese and United Dairymen of Arizona.

The final version of the CPQ will be reviewed for approval by the FARM ES Task Force as well as the NMPF Environmental Issues Committee before it is implemented as an optional tool for ES Participants.

If your organization is interested in this pilot program, please reach out to Nicole Ayache at nayache@nmpf.org.

FARM Animal Care Program Announces Version 5 Survey Results

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The FARM Program announced the results of its Animal Care Version 5 Development Survey on Feb. 9. The report summarizes stakeholder perspectives on animal care issues of importance and captures ideas and levels of support for potential changes to the industry’s animal care standards.

“We are pleased with the level of engagement and the quality of feedback that we received from dairy farmers, veterinarians and other industry representatives that will help inform the development of FARM Animal Care Version 5,” said Emily Yeiser Stepp, vice president of the FARM Program. “We remain committed to ensuring updates made to the program reflect the needs and goals of the entire dairy supply chain.”

Stakeholders identified care for sick animals, calves, and non-ambulatory cattle as dairy’s greatest priority to maintain focus on for Version 5. The survey also showed general support for making minor modifications and adding clarity to the program while avoiding large overhauls. Most survey respondents, including farmers, showed they would willingly support small changes to better address animal care vulnerabilities. Respondents also were in consensus that standards that aren’t direct measures of good animal welfare practices should be updated to prioritize an outcomes-based approach.

The results of this survey will be used to inform all levels of governance of FARM and will help guide ongoing discussions about the development of Version 5. The National Milk Producers Federation Board of Directors provide final approval on FARM standards, which will come into effect starting July 1, 2024. For more information, visit the Version 5 development page.

NMPF Accepting Applications for 2022 Scholarship Program

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF is now accepting applications for its National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program for academic year 2022-2023.

NMPF awards scholarships annually to outstanding graduate students (enrolled in Master’s or Ph.D. programs) who are actively pursuing dairy-related fields of research that are of immediate interest to NMPF member cooperatives and the US dairy industry at large.

Graduate students pursuing research of direct benefit to milk marketing cooperatives and dairy producers are encouraged to submit an application (applicants do not need to be members of NMPF to qualify). Scholarship recipients will be invited to present their research via webinar during the summer of 2022. Top applicants are eligible to be awarded the Hintz Memorial Scholarship, created in 2005 in honor of the late Cass-Clay Creamery Board Chairman Murray Hintz who was instrumental in establishing NMPF’s scholarship program.

Recommended fields of study include but are not limited to Agriculture Communications and Journalism, Animal Health, Animal and/or Human Nutrition, Bovine Genetics, Dairy Products Processing, Dairy Science, Economics, Environmental Science, Food Science, Food Safety, Herd Management, and Marketing and Price Analysis.

Applications must be received no later than April 15. For an application or more information, please visit the NMPF website or email scholarship@nmpf.org.

Member Resources Enhanced with NMPF Web Redesign

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF unveiled important updates to its website, nmpf.org, designed to offer more complete information to dairy farmers and their cooperatives as well as an easier-to-navigate interface that will bring them more information, faster.

Updates to the website include an improved menu navigation, expansion of key issue areas and a streamlined sign-up for users seeking to stay up to date with the latest news from NMPF under its “Stay Informed” option. Making this information more readily available for members serves NMPF’s mission and makes nmpf.org even more essential to the dairy community, said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern.

“A better visitor experience and rich resources is a critical part of our service to our member cooperatives and everyone with an interest in dairy,” said Mulhern. “We strive to continue to be the one-stop-shop for information important to the dairy community,” said Mulhern.

NMPF Campaigning for Quick Senate Action on Ocean Shipping Reform Act

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF’s work to advance key export supply chain legislation made significant progress with the Senate introduction of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) on Feb. 3, companion legislation to a House-passed measure meant to take strides to alleviate the supply chain crisis that is impeding dairy exports.

The bill introduced by key dairy allies Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen. John Thune (R-SD) comes after months of NMPF effort. While there are some differences between the two bills, the trade policy team continues its work with the Senate to strengthen the measure further as it advances through Congress.

NMPF has launched a grassroots campaign to demonstrate the bill’s support among a broad base of constituents. NMPF members, friends and allies can ask their Senators to ensure its passage here.

As part of NMPF’s multi-prong strategy to alleviate the export supply chain congestion, the trade policy team, together with agriculture coalition allies, also met Feb. 4 with the White House National Economic Council to discuss export supply chain concerns and work to identify additional solutions, reiterating its recommendation that the administration consider suspension of “box rules” that limit ag shippers’ ability to mix and match containers and chassis equipment and discussed other potential strategies to alleviate the crisis.

NMPF staff also joined a small group of agricultural organizations in a Feb. 22 meeting with White House Port Envoy John Porcari to further discuss potential changes to the box rules, urge the administration to replicate the Port of Oakland pop-up site designated for staging agricultural exports and explore options to increase data transparency for U.S. exporters.

Work Continues to Fight EU Cheese Name Monopoly Tactics

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

As a part of NMPF’s continued fight to preserve U.S. dairy companies’ rights to use common food names like “parmesan” and “feta,” NMPF highlighted for the U.S. government examples of continued European Union abuse of geographical indicators (GIs) to seize market share in third-country markets. NMPF provided several examples of GI misuse in Jan. 31 comments for USTR’s Annual Special 301 Report on intellectual property issues. The comments pointed to a more detailed filing from the Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN), the independent, international organization staffed by NMPF’s trade policy team.

The CCFN comments urged the administration to fight the EU’s name monopolization effort by securing “firm and explicit commitments assuring the future use of specific generic food and beverage terms” from U.S. trade partners. This approach has strong bipartisan support in Congress – in letters NMPF and CCFN spearheaded in 2020, over 160 Senators and Representatives called for a proactive approach to common name protections to foster a more equal playing field for American-made products in international markets.