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The Congress that will convene next month on Capitol Hill will be very different than the one still finishing up business in early December 2010. Given the large number of freshman legislators, NMPF will have a significant education effort ahead of it to explain how current dairy policy works, why changes are needed – and why those changes, in the form of the Foundation for the Future program, need to be implemented as soon as possible.

Given our new divided government in Washington, successful legislation must be bipartisan, and must achieve a consensus in Congress, as well as among farmers. NMPF continues to work across the entire dairy industry to build support for the program, with the goal of having the details of our Foundation for the Future package written into legislation starting in January.

In addition to existing education materials available at the News and Resources page of the FFTF website, a narrated copy of the slides that explain Foundation for the Future in depth is now available at FutureforDairy.com. We are hoping that as cooperatives and producer associations hold their member meetings this fall and winter, they use this presentation to explain in detail the merits of Foundation for the Future.

With the large turnover in Congress – particularly in the House of Representatives, where there are nearly 90 new members – the timing of when the new leadership addresses farm policy generally, and dairy policy specifically, remains up in the air. There are also new chairpersons of both the Senate and House Agriculture Committees, respectively, and we will have many new members on those panels with no experience in writing farm policy. NMPF remains focused on what it can control, which is educating both the producer community, and elected officials, about the need for change, and the benefits of our solution.