Tag: dairy exports

First Quarter 2021 CWT-Assisted Export Sales Top 42 Million Pounds of Product

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

In the first three months of 2021, CWT assisted member cooperatives in securing 218 contracts to sell 11.8 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 8.8 million pounds of butter, 3.6 million pounds of anhydrous milkfat (AMF), 13.5 million pounds of whole milk powder and 4.4 million pounds of cream cheese. The milk equivalent of these 2021 contracts is 540 million pounds on a milkfat basis. The product is going to over 100 customers in 26 countries around the world. All the product will be delivered in 2021.

The year-to-date totals include March contracts for 3.7 million pounds of cheese, 1.5 million pounds of butter, 1.6 million pounds of AMF, 7 million pounds of whole milk powder and 901,691 pounds of cream cheese.

Assisting CWT member cooperatives gain and maintain world market share through the Export Assistance program expands the demand for U.S. dairy products. This, in turn, positively impacts all U.S. dairy farmers by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that directly impact their milk price.

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.

All cooperatives and dairy farmers are encouraged to add their support to this important program. Membership forms are available at http://www.cwt.coop/membership.

Trade Agreement Partners Colombia, Panama Weigh Dairy Import Restrictions

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF, working in concert with USDEC, provided early warning to U.S. trade officials in February regarding brewing safeguard tariff and regulatory threats in two key U.S. Free Trade Agreement partners’ markets: Panama and Colombia. In discussions with USTR and USDA officials in February, NMPF and USDEC underscored the importance of preserving commitments made by each country through the free trade agreements in place with the U.S. for nearly a decade.

Sparked by growing protectionist sentiment among domestic dairy interests, the Colombian and Panamanian governments are faced with calls to apply tariff safeguards on imported cheese and milk powder from the U.S. In the case of Panama, government official have used safeguard tariffs on certain cheese and yogurt products since imports have reached levels that automatically trigger the permissible safeguards under the FTA. In the case of Colombia, local dairy producers are campaigning for safeguard tariffs to be levied on U.S. milk powder imports, a move that would upend U.S. access to its 10th-largest export market. Additionally, each government is considering labeling and other regulatory changes aimed at making U.S. dairy imports more difficult.

As both countries consider protectionist measures, NMPF will continue to work with USDEC and the U.S. government to preserve access to these markets.

ITC Blueberries Decision Heads Off Potential Retaliation Concerns

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) unanimously voted Feb. 11 to reject import restrictions on blueberries from Mexico, Canada, Argentina, Chile and Peru, ending the threat of retaliatory tariffs against U.S. dairy exports.

In testimony before USTR in August, NMPF Senior Vice President Jaime Castaneda urged the commission to avoid putting U.S. dairy producers again in the crosshairs of a trade dispute with Mexico. Per U.S. census data, over $1.4 billion of U.S. dairy products were sold to Mexico in 2020 – a market that would be at risk if tariffs on blueberry imports from Mexico are imposed.

NMPF in December joined 34 other agriculture and food groups to write the US Trade Representative (USTR) opposing limitations on blueberry imports. This broader coalition effort also secured a bipartisan, bicameral Congressional letter from Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) arguing against action that would invite subsequent retaliation against U.S. agricultural exports.

Questionable Shipping Practices Prompt NMPF Action with Maritime Commission

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF staff, working together with the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), joined several agriculture organizations last month to press the Federal Maritime Commission to help address severe shipping-related challenges plaguing dairy and other U.S. agricultural sectors.

A shift in U.S. consumer preferences for stay-at-home goods has led to a surge in imports from Asia, driving up container demand around the Pacific Rim. Meanwhile, several agricultural exporters, including U.S. dairy, are struggling with cancelled shipments, exorbitant detention and demurrage charges, and broken contracts as shipping companies are moving containers and vessels quickly back to Asia. Freight costs are netting 20 to 30 times more from Asia to the U.S. than vice versa and carriers are restricting availability of containers to rural points of origin in the interior U.S., preferring coastal drop-off and pickup.

In multiple meetings with maritime commissioners in February, NMPF and other organizations representing agricultural exporters stressed the urgent need to step-up regulatory compliance on detention and demurrage guidelines issued last year and to explore ways to address the container shortage issues. Alongside these organizations, NMPF is pursuing congressional outreach to encourage tougher FMC enforcement while working with other sectors to evaluate the need for changes to legislation to better equip the FMC to deal with such issues.

NMPF’s Mulhern Speaks on Tom Vilsack’s Nomination to Lead USDA

Posted on by Alan Bjerga

NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern talks about Tom Vilsack’s nomination to become USDA Secretary on Brownfield Ag News. “He has a deep understanding of our industry and frankly, I think a deeper understanding of all of U.S. agriculture,” Mulhern says in the broadcast.

NMPF excited for Vilsack’s White House return

Podcast: Sen. Pat Roberts on His Past and Agriculture’s Future

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts is leaving Congress after 40 years in January. The only person to lead both the House and Senate agriculture committees takes with him a wealth of wisdom in agriculture policy – but also holds optimism for agriculture’s ability to get things done in an environment of difficult challenges.

“I would just say that I am very confident that the people who will be taking my place, they have a lot of experience,” Roberts said in a Dairy Defined interview released today. “They’re good folks. I think the same attempt, at least, with regards to making it bipartisan, will continue.”

Roberts, who first came to Washington as a congressional staffer a half-century ago, also reflects on the two farm bills he led — 1996’s Freedom to Farm law and the 2018 bill — as well as one area where he wished he could have done more: his leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee during the Iraq War. He also said he doesn’t consider his career to be over – without revealing plans, he said that when it comes to farm policy, “I intend to have my finger in the pie somewhere.”

To listen to the full discussion, click here. You can also find this and other NMPF podcasts on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify,  SoundCloud and Google Play. Broadcast outlets may use the MP3 file. Please attribute information to NMPF.

Dairy Industry Applauds USTR Action to Address Canadian TRQ Violations

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) applaud today’s announcement that the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) will initiate official consultations with Canada to examine the administration of its dairy Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) obligations. The two organizations, with strong bipartisan backing from Congress, have long raised the alarm about the need to ensure the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is fully enforced, due to Canada’s history of undermining its trade commitments.

“USMCA is designed to improve trade with Canada, while modifying some of Canada’s trade-distorting dairy policies. We knew from day one that enforcement would be key to bringing the intended benefits home to America’s dairy industry. I applaud USTR for hearing our concerns and relying on our guidance to take this critical enforcement step to ensure that the agreement is executed in both letter and spirit,” said Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of USDEC. “This is the critical first step, but more work may be needed to ensure Canada complies with its Class 7 related USMCA commitments as well.”

Even prior to its entry into force, USDEC and NMPF monitored Canada’s actions regarding its USMCA commitments and urged Congress and the administration to make this a priority as soon as USMCA entered into force. Canada has distorted its TRQ administration to limit imports from the U.S. Earlier this year, USDEC and NMPF highlighted for USTR and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) the inconsistencies between Canada’s dairy TRQ allocations and Canada’s USMCA obligations. In a detailed filing submitted to the administration, NMPF and USDEC provided the agencies with a specific legal review of the Canadian TRQ system and an explanation of the negative impacts resulting from them.

“America’s dairy farmers appreciate USTR’s commitment to the fair and transparent enforcement of USMCA. Enforcement has been one of the top priorities of our industry since the final agreement was announced, and we’ve worked diligently to ensure that it remains one of USTR’s top priorities, as well. Only when Canada is held fully accountable to its trade commitments will America’s dairy farmers be able to realize the full benefit of the provisions that the U.S. government worked so hard to secure,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “We look forward to working closely with the incoming administration as well since enforcement efforts are likely to require sustained focus going forward.”

The concerns raised by USDEC and NMPF have been echoed by a broad bipartisan coalition of members of Congress. In August, 104 Representatives sent a letter to USTR and USDA asking for Canada to be held accountable to its trade promises while a letter in the Senate was signed by 25 Senators. USDEC and NMPF commend the continued engagement of so many members of Congress on this important issue.

NMPF Issues Summary of Dairy Trade Barriers for Incoming Officials

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council submitted detailed comments on Oct. 29 to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in response to its annual call for input to inform its National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers. The organizations also prepared an Executive Summary to inform and guide the work of the incoming Biden Administration and other key policymakers over the coming year.

The full comments outline the challenges and opportunities facing U.S. dairy exports in more than 30 foreign markets. These challenges include high tariffs, retaliatory duties, geographical indications, import licensing, and unscientific health requirements to keep U.S. goods at bay.

Expanding opportunities for U.S. dairy exports has become extremely important for the industry, as growing overseas sales is essential to supporting domestic dairy farmers, cooperatives and a healthy rural economy. The comments and summary are one part of how NMPF and USDEC are working to reduce trade barriers that hamper exports.

“Our comments to the USTR provide a road map for dozens of opportunities to create a more level and consistent global playing field for the U.S. dairy sector,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF.

Washington May Be Divided, But Bipartisanship Aids Dairy Gains

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

A bitter election season is winding down, and the shape of the Biden Administration and Congress is becoming clear. Just as clear is another political reality: Washington next year will be, if anything, more closely divided than it was before.

That places bipartisanship at a premium, as any lasting solutions to policy challenges will require cooperation from both sides of the aisle. Fortunately, dairy is well-situated to play an important role in the agreements that will be necessary to get anything done in Washington, as evidenced by the many bipartisan policy gains that bore fruit for dairy in 2020.

Consider this. At the beginning of this year, dairy prices were projected at levels sufficient to keep income-over-feed-costs margins high enough to avoid triggering payments under the Dairy Margin Coverage Program. Instead, as the coronavirus crisis seized the nation beginning in March, prices plunged, leading to emergency-milk dumping and triggering about $200 million in payments to producers who enrolled in DMC.

That assistance came about because of the 2018 farm bill, passed with the support of both parties and including a revamp of dairy risk management tools that literally paid off at an incredibly crucial time. Signup for DMC coverage in 2021 is open until Dec. 11, and with payouts projected for the first eight months of the year, it’s important that farmers take advantage of this important program. Doing so directly delivers the benefits of effective bipartisan policymaking to the farm.

On top of DMC assistance, bipartisan cooperation yielded several benefits to dairy this year that have proven crucial to farmers’ economic health. The Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (the latest round of which also has a Dec. 11 signup deadline) bolstered many farmers’ cash flows, with two rounds of payments providing disaster assistance averaging as high as $2.47 per cwt for all milk marketed in 2020 and softening the blows of pandemic disruptions for many farm families. In tandem with CFAP, the Farmers to Families Food Box program has fed those in need and kept processors in business, benefiting communities, preserving jobs and ensuring that farmers have supply chains to serve.

NMPF also helped ensure that programs implemented for small businesses nationwide worked for dairy. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs), two coronavirus-related rescue measures implemented by the Small Business Administration (SBA), initially evolved from a hope to a frustration for dairy producers, who didn’t have equitable access to the programs. Working with allies, members of Congress from both parties, and administration officials, NMPF rectified many of the hurdles to the programs, increasing dairy’s access to the small business support as the SBA programs continued.

This more than $5 billion infusion of federal aid, and ongoing improvements in their administration, has been a difference-maker for dairies across the nation. Albeit, not all our farmers received the same level of support due to issues including payment limitations, organizational structures or market volatility. Nevertheless, in a telling statistic, the pace of dairy farm consolidation appears to be slowing this year – this is counterintuitive given the disruptions farms have faced, but a tribute to the effective efforts made to help farmers weather these storms.

All of it has been the product of fruitful collaboration, from within the dairy community as we at the National Milk Producers Federation and cooperatives and dairy associations across the country together pursued policy goals, to Capitol Hill, where champions in both parties spoke out on the need for dairy initiatives, and in the administration, which implemented programs funded by a Democratic House of Representatives and a Republican Senate for the betterment of dairy.

We’ve also fostered bipartisan collaboration on trade, with lawmakers from both parties calling for action against protectionist EU practices that inhibit dairy-export growth and defending the use of common cheese names. And we’ve worked for bipartisan agreement on immigration – a promising package passed in the House nearly one year ago stalled in the Senate as coronavirus demanded attention, but renewed efforts are expected in the next Congress.

In the near term, we remain hopeful that Congress may pass another COVID-19 relief package this month, given the acute strains our health-care systems and economy are facing now and for at least the next several months. Times of crisis demand unity – and despite the tendency toward reflective naysaying about Washington, consensus is possible to achieve, as the gains of the past year have shown. NMPF is advocating for additional relief for dairy producers that reflects the losses they have suffered, no matter the size of an operation. We are also urging Congress to approve a dairy donation program that can maximize dairy consumption among food-insecure populations.

In 2021 NMPF will continue its work as an advocate for dairy producers and their cooperatives in policy decisions, with our hallmark bipartisanship giving us a seat at the table wherever, whenever, and with whomever is making important decisions affecting farmer livelihoods.

Dairy Farms Innovating Their Way to a Sustainable Future

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

“Innovation” is a buzzword thrown about to the point of cliché. What it is varies with the circumstance.

For tech professionals, innovation could be an updated app or a streamlined solution. For teachers, it might be the newest way to engage students remotely. For those in health care, it may be a vaccine or more-effective treatment.

On dairy farms, innovation can look like … entomological wastewater filtration and effluent subsurface drip irrigation. Neither are buzzwords. Both are examples of how dairy is innovating its way toward a more sustainable future.

Royal Dairy in Royal City, Washington, wanted to enhance its waste-management system and reduce GHG emissions. Seeking solutions, Austin Allred, owner of Royal Dairy and a member of Northwest Dairy Association, piloted and adopted the BIDA® System developed by BioFiltro. The international wastewater filtration company uses worms within a passive aerobic system to clean wastewater from the dairy for irrigation. By investing in this technology, Royal Dairy has reduced its Total Suspended Solids (TSS) by 99% and reduced total Nitrogen (TKN) by 83%. As an added benefit, it also creates a rich fertilizer from the worm castings.

Another sustainability solution is found at De Jager Dairy North and California Dairies Inc., member McRee Dairy, both near Chowchilla, California, where drip irrigation is leading toward a future of better harvests and reduced emissions.

The two dairies partnered with Israeli company Netafim and Sustainable Conservation to develop and test a sub-surface irrigation system that delivers liquid dairy cow manure as a fertilizer close to the crop’s root system. This results in needing up to 35 percent less water while maintaining or even increasing crop yields in addition to reducing irrigation-related greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent – saving costs and building resilience against droughts projected to worsen with climate change.

Projects like these, which put in the work today to develop solutions for a better tomorrow, are only two of the many on-farm innovations taking place on dairies. For those who spend their time planting as well as milking, carbon sequestration made possible by cover cropping and conservation tillage further maximize efforts like Allred’s. From improved anaerobic digesters and technology that separates nutrients, to feed additives that reduce methane emissions, dairy farming is continuing to advance – and lead – in adoption of sustainable technologies and practices in agriculture.

And they’re efforts the industry supports, with programs like the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Environmental Stewardship initiative that measures a farm’s carbon and energy footprints. The initiative equips farmers with data that helps them understand their sustainability impact and chart a course for continued progress that’s essential to ensure industry progress toward the collective 2050 environmental goals of becoming carbon neutral or better; optimizing water use; and improving water quality.

On-farm innovation on dairies may not always be as obvious as an app or a vaccine. But they’re no less real or important. Dairy farms are sites of constant innovation, with farmers embracing new methods and new measures. And their proven track record of innovation is set to grow even further.