News for Dairy Co-Ops

NMPF backed important legislative provisions in the House and Senate versions of the fiscal year 2025 spending bills for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration.

The House Appropriations Committee approved its 2025 Agriculture-FDA bill on July 10. The measure includes key language to reverse the reduction in the maximum monthly milk allowance in USDA’s final foods package rule for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). WIC helps mothers and young children access essential nutrients they otherwise may lack; NMPF is concerned that the final rule will decrease this access by reducing the allowable milk maximum. NMPF is grateful to Representatives Elise Stefanik, R-NY, and Josh Harder, D-CA, for authoring this provision in the House bill.

Across the Capitol, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed its bill on July 11. The measure includes the Innovative FEED Act to enable FDA to review and approve animal feed ingredients using the agency’s Food Additive Petition pathway. The legislation would allow FDA to review animal feed additives, which are not drugs, in an efficient manner that would preserve animal, human, and environmental safety reviews. Doing so would better position U.S. dairy farmers to reduce enteric methane emissions quickly and proactively and remain globally competitive. NMPF commends Senators Tammy Baldwin, D-WI, and Jerry Moran, R-KS, for obtaining this critical language in the bill.

In addition, both chambers’ bills provide discretionary funding for multiple NMPF-backed programs, including the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network to provide stress assistance and support in rural communities and the Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives that fund direct technical assistance and grants to dairy stakeholders to further the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products.

Republicans and Democrats will need to reach an agreement on overall spending levels for the fiscal year for the provisions of either version to become law. With the clock ticking on the Sept. 30 federal funding deadline, Congress will likely need to pass a short-term continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown before the November elections.

NMPF’s Board of Directors will hold a special, virtual meeting Aug. 22 to review and potentially a package of changes to the Cooperatives Working Together export assistance program, with the goal of implementing the changes on Jan. 1.

NMPF’s Executive Committee approved July 9 a CWT renewal package initially developed and endorsed by NMPF’s CWT Task Force. The renewal process now requires Board approval, after which individual co-ops will determine their support for the program in its new form.

The Board will reconvene at its Oct. 21 meeting to evaluate the level of support for the program going into 2025.

The package approved by the CWT Task Force and the Executive Committee includes updates in the areas of Product Mix; Bid Process Adjustments; and Market Development. The recommendations include updates to or new resources in the following program areas:

• All cheese varieties will be eligible for CWT’s price gap support
• CWT will create targeted pilot programs to address tariff coverage for value-added skim milk powder sales to Southeast Asia, and a target market premium for cheese sales to Central America & the Caribbean
• CWT will offer fat-equivalent support for the following products: ESL/aseptic fluid milk;  evaporated/condensed milk; and ice cream
• CWT will increase its operating program bid flexibility to extend eligible delivery periods to 12 months, and remove volume limits on a trial basis
• CWT staff will provide increased insight on bid acceptance parameters, sharing a short summary with weekly offers explaining shifts in support levels
• CWT will create an advisory group to provide strategic direction and market development support, with a Phase I emphasis on pre-competitive support that provides opportunities for all cooperatives to participate.

July-to-Date CWT-Assisted Export Sales Top 5.8 Million Pounds

CWT member cooperatives secured 52 contracts in July with one week still outstanding for the month. These contracts added 5.8 million pounds of product to CWT-assisted sales in 2024. In milk equivalent, equal to 56.8 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. These products will go to customers in Asia, Central America, the Caribbean and Oceania and will be shipped from July 2024 through January 2025.

Full-month numbers were not available at the time of publication.

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.

The Dairy Margin Coverage Program margin in June was $11.66/cwt after adding $1.14/cwt over the previous month.

The June all-milk price was $22.80/cwt, up $0.80/cwt from May, and the DMC feed cost dropped by $0.34 for the month, mostly on a lower premium alfalfa price. The DMC margin calculated by USDA has risen $2.06/cwt over the past two months, reaching a level well above the threshold at which payments are generated by falling margins.

Futures-based forecasts at the end of July indicate that the DMC margin will average about $11.90/cwt during 2024, $0.40/cwt higher than similar forecasts indicated a month ago, with a peak in October, a sign that producers may have an opportunity to repair battered balance sheets over the next several months.

With FARM Animal Care and Workforce Development updates now in effect, the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program gathered program Evaluators to connect, learn about recent program updates and hear from allied industry subject matter experts at its annual Evaluator Conference, held this year July 22-24 in Lexington, KY.

This was the first in-person evaluator conference since 2021, with 50 evaluators and 29 member organizations represented.

Attendees heard from industry professionals on topics surrounding the Animal Care, Environmental Stewardship, Antibiotic Stewardship, Biosecurity and Workforce Development program areas, with Animal Care Version 5 and Workforce Development Version 2 launched July 1. President & CEO of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, Hannah Thompson-Weeman, discussed animal welfare trends in state legislatures to kick off the first session for Day 1 of the conference. Participants also heard from American Farm Bureau Federation’s Bailey Corwine on Farm State of Mind, a look into mental health and wellbeing resources for farmers and agricultural workers.

Alltech, which sponsored the conference, welcomed attendees to an evening reception at the Town Branch Distillery to close out the first day. During the reception, Alltech gave a sneak preview of its latest documentary “A World without Cows”, which examines the real economic and environmental impact of cows on our world.

Participants the next day heard from Alltech’s Agolin and Carbon lead Martha Baker on understanding carbon markets and its on-farm applications. Attendees also participated in a townhall discussion surrounding FARM Program’s resources and evaluation system. This was an opportunity for participants to provide feedback and suggestions on current program implementation. To close the conference, attendees enjoyed   optional tours at Ridge Mill Farm and Alltech Headquarters.

Evaluator trainings will continue through 2024 as program participants prepare for evaluations under these new versions.

NMPF underscored dairy’s important role in American diets in comments submitted July 26 to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC). Milk supplies 13 essential nutrients and dairy is a good or excellent source of nutrients that continue to be identified as nutrients of public health concern—calcium, vitamin D and potassium.

NMPF stated in its comments that dairy should remain a distinct food group, with at least three servings recommended for older children and adults, and corresponding amounts for younger children in the next Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). NMPF also argued against suggestions that plant-based alternatives be included as allowable substitutes for dairy beyond fortified soy, noting that little to no science supports the nutritional equivalence of plant-based alternatives.

“Dairy foods have been well-studied over decades, and the evidence for the benefits of the dairy food matrix, including nutrient bioavailability and impacts on health outcomes, is well-established,” the comments state. “We are aware of few if any studies that have similarly tracked and identified health outcomes for highly-processed plant-based dairy alternatives. These products vary tremendously in their nutrient content, and in contrast to dairy foods, FDA has not established Standards of Identity for any of the alternatives, so there is no requirement that they meet any particular nutrient content.”

NMPF also encourages the DGAC to review the growing body of science that shows dairy foods have beneficial or neutral effects on chronic disease risk at all fat levels.  “The scientific evidence supports removing low-fat and fat-free limitations on dairy recommendations, although consumers should certainly be able to choose these varieties if they enjoy them or they need to limit caloric intake,” NMPF said.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans has significant impacts on nutrition in the United States because it forms the basis of federal nutrition policy and programs; it also helps guide health promotion and disease prevention initiatives at the federal, state and local levels. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is expected to release its scientific report with recommendations to USDA and HHS for updating the DGA in the fall.

NMPF’s Jaime Castaneda joined USDEC leadership and staff in Brazil July 28-31 to explore market opportunities and address trade barriers for U.S. dairy products. While there, Castaneda met with key executives, agribusiness leaders, and policymakers in São Paulo and Brasília, Brazil. The discussions in Brazil focused on the quality, safety, and sustainability of U.S. dairy products and the tariff and nontariff barriers to reaching the market.

The group then traveled on to Argentina for additional meetings Aug. 1-3.

A key focus of the mission was the signing of two Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs). NMPF and USDEC established a new MOU with Abraleite in Brazil to foster collaboration and strengthen trade relationships. The organizations also plan to renew an existing MOU with Sociedad Rural Argentina, continuing their commitment to cooperation and support for U.S. dairy exports and a unified voice at international gatherings.

NMPF, the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and the International Dairy Foods Association jointly hosted July 11 a meeting with individuals from the Science Based Targets initiative, SBTi, to discuss questions that U.S. dairy has in interpreting and implementing SBTi standards.

Diana Farmer, North American Regional Lead, and Kyra Power, North America Engagement Manager, joined from SBTi, addressing topics such as:

• SBTi governance and opportunities for stakeholder participation;
• SBTi FLAG standards (https://sciencebasedtargets.org/sectors/forest-land-and-agriculture);
• SBTi consideration of market instruments (e.g. carbon credits, and others)
• SBTi target setting and validation process; and
• SBTi develops standards, tools and guidance which allow companies to set greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions targets in line with what is needed to keep global heating below 1.5 degrees C and reach net-zero by 2050. Companies may use FARM Environmental Stewardship aggregate data in assessing progress toward their SBTi targets.

The FARM Program aims to stay informed of the corporate GHG accounting standards, like SBTi, to ensure FARM Environmental Stewardship remains useful and relevant for aggregating GHG data.

NMPF Executive Vice President for Trade & Global Affairs Shawna Morris represented NMPF at a House Agricultural Trade Caucus briefing for Congressional staff on July 22, underscoring the critical role of trade for U.S. dairy and agriculture. She was joined by representatives from the American Soybean Association, the North American Blueberry Council, and the National Grain and Feed Association.

The event drew over 60 congressional staff in the inaugural briefing for the caucus, which NMPF helped launch in January.

Morris emphasized the benefits of market-opening trade agreements for the U.S. dairy industry and called for more proactive congressional engagement in trade policy, highlighting the growing tariff disadvantages faced by U.S. dairy exporters as the European Union and New Zealand continue to pursue agreements advantageous to their exporters. She also touched on examples of the various trade agreement compliance and non-tariff barrier challenges the U.S. dairy industry is facing around the world.

This session marked the first in a series to be hosted on educating congressional staff on agricultural trade policy issues. And the event was one of several highlights of NMPF staff outreach in July.

Sage Saffran, NMPF’s manager for sustainability initiatives co-hosted a session at Midwest Dairy’s Sustainability Thought Leader Symposium in Rosemont, IL on July 30 with Suzanne Vold, owner of Dorrich Dairy near Glenwood, MN. The session detailed the FARM Program’s five program areas, highlighting the standardization of greenhouse gas emission measurement through the FARM Environmental Stewardship tool.

Beverly Hampton-Phifer, NMPF’s senior director of animal care, spoke with The Center for Dairy Excellence on July 12 during its monthly “Protecting Your Profits” webinar to share an overview of the FARM Program and explain how FARM serves dairy farmers.

Hampton-Phifer also discussed Animal Care Version 5 updates that launched July 1, in addition to sharing how adhering to FARM guidelines can effectively mitigate risk for dairy producers.

July is National Ice Cream Month – and National Blueberry Month. That observation was the root of a first-ever joint Ice Cream Social with the North American Blueberry Council, held July 22 in the House Agriculture Committee hearing room (and its outdoor patio). DFA provided Friendly’s Ice Cream, here gladly consumed by (l to rt) NMPF’s Paul Bleiberg and Tony Rice, North American Blueberry Council’s Alyssa Houtby and NMPF’s Peter Vitaliano and Alan Bjerga.