NMPF Raises Supply Chain Challenges on Multiple Fronts
April 1, 2026
NMPF’s Tony Rice took a central role in elevating serious supply chain issues from maritime reform to cargo theft before Congress and the White House in March as disruptions continue to threaten U.S. dairy exports.
Rice, NMPF’s senior director of trade policy, testified March 17 before a House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust hearing on ocean supply chain challenges, laying out the stakes for dairy exporters.
“Dairy farmers milk their cows 365 days a year,” Rice said. “For a dairy producer, these supply chain issues are not abstract policy concerns. When export shipments are delayed, cancelled, or become more expensive to move, the disruptions ripple back through the supply chain and ultimately affect farm income.”
The U.S. dairy industry exported $9.6 billion and three million metric tons of product last year, making reliable transportation vital to its economic wellbeing. Yet exporters remain heavily dependent on a handful of foreign-owned ocean carriers. Shipping disruptions ripple back through the supply chain and affect farm income.
Throughout the hearing, Rice relayed the industry’s call for greater investment in domestic shipbuilding capacity, stronger Federal Maritime Commission oversight, and improved transparency from carriers on booking decisions.
Even as supply chain challenges persist, cargo theft of intermodal shipping containers is spiking as well. Rice represented the food and ag industry as part of a coalition of supply chain stakeholders in a March 18 meeting with the National Economic Council at the White House. The group pressed the administration for resources to combat organized criminal networks that break into containers in search of high-value goods, with dairy exports caught in the crossfire.
In parallel, the NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council are working with Congress to advance the bipartisan Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA), which would give the Department of Homeland Security new tools to track and apprehend offenders.
Members experiencing supply chain issues should contact Tony Rice at trice@nmpf.org.
