CWT Renewal Effort Establishes Three Expert Working Groups
June 2, 2024
The task force of farmers and cooperative leaders working on a new vision for Cooperatives Working Together established three working groups in May to develop specific recommendations on revamping the self-help program.
The three groups, composed of cooperative staff experts, include Product Mix; Bid Process Adjustments; and Market Development. The first two groups are examining the types of products CWT allows members to submit bids for, as well as how the bidding process is conducted between member coops and CWT staff. The third is engaging in a bigger-picture assessment of business opportunities that CWT may wish to pursue that will achieve the program’s overall goals. Each team will assess ways to make the overall program more effective in 2025 and beyond.
The CWT Task Force also agreed to be guided by three tenets that reflect its overall mission to:
- Promote exports of critical dairy products to support domestic market balance and producer prices;
- Promote U.S. dairy’s reliability in international markets by helping mitigate price gaps between the U.S. and alternative suppliers for critical dairy products; and
- Promote long-term U.S. export success through building international demand for U.S. dairy.
The task force was formed earlier this year to consider how the CWT program should evolve in the future to better meet the needs of its members. It’s generating ideas to present a series of potential extensions of CWT’s current operations to the NMPF Board of Directors for approval.
May CWT-Assisted Export Sales Nearly 13.5 Million Pounds
CWT member cooperatives secured over 41 contracts in May, adding 13.5 million pounds of product to CWT-assisted sales in 2024. In milk equivalent, this is equal to 105.8 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. These products will go to customers in Asia, Central America, the Caribbean, Middle East-North Africa, Oceania and South America and will be shipped from May through December 2024.
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.
