NMPF Statement on Dairy Industry Advisory Council Vote on March 3rd from Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF
March 4, 2011
ARLINGTON, VA – “The vote taken Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Dairy Industry Advisory Committee is a welcome development, in that many of the recommendations in the report approved by the Committee are reflected in the Foundation for the Future program already developed by NMPF.
“Foundation for the Future is all about protecting farmers’ margins, stabilizing marketplace imbalances, reforming the Federal Milk Marketing Order system, and allowing future growth. The concepts endorsed this week by the DIAC are, in many respects, similar to or even identical with the philosophy behind FFTF. [A draft copy of that DIAC report is available online.]
“NMPF will continue to drive the process of reforming dairy policy using Foundation for the Future as its platform. It’s good to see that other industry experts looking at the challenges facing the dairy sector – and examining possible future actions – are coming to the same conclusions that our members reached in the past year.
“We will have more to say once the formal report is issued by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. We greatly appreciate Secretary Vilsack’s leadership in creating an inclusive, deliberative method to thoroughly examine current dairy policy, and explore what changes are needed. He has helped foster a once in a generation opportunity to make some badly-needed improvements.”
The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance the well being of dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. The members of NMPF’s 31 cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of more than 40,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.
