Tag: dairy market access

NMPF Letters Urge New Market Access

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF helped coordinate a pair of letters in February urging policymakers to prioritize new market access, as U.S. agriculture continues to lag behind competitors in the global economy.

NMPF, USDEC and other agricultural organizations signed a Feb. 15 letter to Congress that detailed how the lack of new market access is threatening food and agriculture industry profitability. The letter called for Congress to work with and press the current and future Administrations to open more doors for U.S. agriculture exports.

Meanwhile, the newly launched Ag Trade Caucus, created by Farmers for Free Trade with support from NMPF, sent a Feb. 20 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, urging the administration to continue to pursue agreements that address the trade barriers that are most harmful to U.S. dairy.

NMPF Represents U.S. Dairy at WTO Ministerial

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF Executive Vice President for Policy Development & Strategy Jaime Castaneda and Trade Policy Director Tony Rice advocated for U.S. dairy in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, Feb. 26-29, seeking improved market access and pro-dairy policies at the World Trade Organization Ministerial.

As a recognized non-government representative at the Ministerial, NMPF joined the U.S. Coalition for WTO Reform to advise U.S. government negotiators throughout the meeting, meet with the WTO Secretariat and likeminded delegations, and raise the profile of U.S. agricultural trade priorities.

Important issues at stake include:

  • Negotiations to reform the dispute settlement system.
  • The establishment of a work plan on agriculture that includes market access as a priority.
  • Pushing back against attempts to weaken WTO agricultural rules related to public stockholding subsidies and special safeguard mechanisms that would distort trade.

Castaneda also spoke at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce organized event on the importance of WTO dispute settlement reform and highlighted the outcomes that U.S. agriculture is prioritizing at the ministerial. Castaneda and Rice also met with U.S. Dairy Export Council international staff to receive the latest updates on barriers to trade in the Middle East and North Africa regions.

NMPF Leads Push for More Market Access

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Dairy producers representing NMPF members Michigan Milk Producers Association and Agri-Mark flew to Washington on Feb. 1-2 to renew calls for a more proactive and dynamic trade policy from the U.S. government.

Organized by Farmers for Free Trade, in which NMPF is an active member, dairy producers met with members of Congress and staff serving on agriculture and trade committees this session. NMPF’s Tony Rice joined the fly-in as well and represented NMPF as part of the FFT-organized meeting with Alexis Taylor, the new USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, on Feb. 3.

NMPF and its members in each meeting stressed the importance of market access to the success of American farmers, producers and exporters, and specifically asked lawmakers to advance trade promotion authority to help make the political environment more conducive to passing trade agreements.

NMPF’s Jaime Castaneda and Shawna Morris also met with Under Secretary Taylor on Feb. 17 to address a full suite of dairy trade priorities, including the need for a more competitive landscape for U.S. dairy exporters, a robust U.S. agenda on protecting common names like “parmesan,” strong enforcement of existing trade deals, and heightened action to beat back nontariff barriers in key dairy markets around the globe.

NMPF Presses U.S. Government to Pursue Market Access Opportunities

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF continues to identify and advocate for pathways that increase foreign market access for U.S. dairy while the Biden Administration remains slow to pursue comprehensive trade agreements.

The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a limited trade contract intended to strengthen trade relations, supply chain resiliency, and cybersecurity in the region, may offer the broadest non-FTA opportunity to advance that goal for now. The framework under development touts a “fair and resilient” trade module focused primarily on addressing nontariff issues.

NMPF, together with USDEC, is working to ensure the dairy industry has a hand in shaping its development as the effort gains momentum. The Senate Finance Committee held a March 15 hearing on the framework, where NMPF helped members with questions for  Sharon Bomer Lauritsen, who testified on behalf of the agricultural industry, to draw out how dairy market barriers could best be addressed in the IPEF.

Several of the recommendations Bomer offered echoed those NMPF shared with USTR in early February in a confidential submission outlining various dairy market access priorities including reductions by our trading partners of their World Trade Organization tariffs.

NMPF also worked with a coalition of agricultural organizations to generate support for a March 30 bipartisan Congressional letter to Ambassador Tai and Secretary Vilsack, urging the administration to make agriculture a priority in IPEF negotiations. Led by Reps. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Jodey Arrington (R-TX), together with Jim Costa (D-CA), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Ron Kind (D-WI) and Randy Feenstra (R-IA), the letter called on the administration to use IPEF to address barriers to U.S. agricultural exports, create mutually agreed-upon regulatory reforms that would benefit U.S. dairy and others in American agriculture, “include efforts to reduce tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports” and more.

Member Co-op CEO Highlights Need for Export Markets at Virtual Town Hall

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

Robert Chesler, CEO of NMPF member cooperative United Dairymen of Arizona, emphasized the importance of securing new dairy market access opportunities through bilateral or multilateral Free Trade Agreements during a Dec. 14 Farmers for Free Trade (FFT) virtual town hall.

NMPF collaborates with the farmer trade group on town halls and meetings with public officials to tout the benefits of free trade and the need for the United States to pursue agreements that expand U.S. farm exports. The December town hall, headlined by Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA), focused on lost competitiveness for American dairy and agricultural producers as the U.S. government fails to move forward with new trade agreements.

During the virtual event, Chesler addressed the challenges that American dairy exporters face as trade competitors secure greater dairy market access in key export markets. Countries such as New Zealand, Australia, and the EU are aggressively pursuing new trade deals, which then harms the competitiveness of U.S. dairy products at a time when international demand is growing, Chesler said.

“We urge the Administration to seek Trade Promotion Authority renewal to go after new trade agreements,” Chesler said. “This is critical to realizing fully the potential of dairy markets in places like Vietnam, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and other major dairy purchasers. In the meantime, the U.S. should be using all types of trade tools to expand access and reduce barriers to U.S. exports with major agricultural importing markets.”

Chesler’s comments echoed statements made by Doug Chapin, Michigan Milk Producers Association chairman, at a Nov. 3 FFT town hall, part of NMPF’s effort to maintain grassroots pressure for the administration to act.

An NMPF and USDEC member based in Tempe, the United Dairymen of Arizona is a full-service milk marketing cooperative founded in 1960. Its farmer-owned manufacturing facility produces milk powder, cream, butter, and a variety of other dairy ingredients, many of which are exported around the world.

NMPF Urges USTR to Expand Dairy Market Access Opportunities

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF joined with the U.S. Dairy Export Council on Oct. 27 in filing with the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office a highly detailed set of comments outlining barriers to U.S. dairy exports. The submission was made to inform USTR’s National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, an annual compilation of constraints around the world to U.S. exports.

NMPF emphasized the importance of expanding market access opportunities to better support the U.S. dairy sector, urging the pursuit of new agreements and tariff reductions with key trading partners. The comments also highlighted nontariff trade barriers, particularly those driven by protectionism or overly burdensome policy prescriptions, that make it harder than necessary for U.S. dairy companies to compete in foreign markets. For instance, extensive sections highlight ongoing issues with key trading partners like Mexico (product standards revisions, conformity assessments, geographical indications) and the EU (the bloc’s intervention scheme, certifications, border measures, geographical indications, Farm to Fork plans). Newer barrier areas were also covered, such as Colombia’s milk powder safeguards investigation, Indonesia’s excessively slow dairy facility registration process, and Egypt’s WTO-illegal single-source halal certifier mandate, among other issues.

In total, the comments outline trade issues with 30 countries or regions, as well as concerns related to Codex, the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization.

Michigan Dairy Farm Leader Highlights Need for Market Access Opportunities for U.S. Dairy in a Farmers for Free Trade Virtual Townhall

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

A Michigan dairy farmer stressed the job-creating and farm-supporting benefits of generating greater dairy market access opportunities during a virtual townhall organized by Farmers for Free Trade (FFT).

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) are members of FFT and play an active role in helping the organization carry out its mission of informing the public about the benefits of free trade and supporting the pursuit of beneficial trade agreements that expand export opportunities for American farms.

During today’s event, Doug Chapin, dairy producer and Chairman of the Michigan Milk Producers Association, highlighted the importance of exports for his family’s farm and the thousands of workers throughout the dairy supply chain. To support those American jobs, he urged a more aggressive pursuit of trade policies that can expand market access for U.S. dairy exports by removing tariff and non-tariff barriers that make it harder to compete around the world.

In his remarks, Chapin said that American exporters are facing an increasingly uneven playing field as the European Union and New Zealand continue to ink new trade deals with key markets while the United States falls behind.

“Aside from the USMCA update to NAFTA, the last new U.S. free trade agreements went into effect nearly a decade ago with negotiations having taken place even earlier than that,” Chapin said. “We seem to either be evaluating or at times negotiating deals, but not implementing new comprehensive trade agreements that eliminate tariffs on our exports.”

Chapin comes from a farming family that has operated a dairy in Remus, Michigan, for over a century. He manages Chapin Family Farms LLC along with his wife, Cheri, and son, Sam. In his comments, Chapin noted that his farm directly employs 14 workers, supporting the local economy as dairy farms do across the United States.

“We appreciate the opportunity this Farmers for Free Trade townhall has provided to highlight the need for expanded market access for American-made dairy products, and we thank Doug for being willing to share how Washington does impact dairy farmers throughout the country,” said NMPF president and CEO Jim Mulhern. “We believe greater access to other key dairy markets where the U.S. is facing the challenge of competing at a disadvantage, particularly in Asia, will mean continued opportunity and growth for America’s dairy farmers like Chapin Family Farms.”

“The U.S. Dairy Export Council supports Doug’s comments today on the need for the administration to pursue new trade agreements that benefit the dairy producers and processors in Michigan and elsewhere in America,” said USDEC president and CEO Krysta Harden. “U.S. dairy exporters are able to compete on quality and price anywhere in the world – so long as there is a level playing field. Unfortunately, that playing field continues to tilt in our competitors’ favor as the tariff gap between the United States and our trade competitors only widens. We thank Doug for highlighting this trade situation and the ripple effects it has throughout the supply chain. We urge the administration to take more aggressive steps to grow agricultural market access opportunities.”

Chapin is a participant in NMPF and USDEC’s inaugural class of Dairy Trade Envoys, a select group of dairy producers and processing staff focused on educating elected officials and media about dairy trade policy priorities.