MAHA Strategy Supports Dairy as NMPF Urges Whole Milk Action

The formal release of the Make America Health Again Commission’s report on Sept. 9 gave NMPF a chance to tout dairy’s critical place in nutrition and the science behind milk’s benefits.

“The MAHA Commission’s Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy recognizes what the latest science indicates and what we’ve long been saying: that getting whole milk back into schools and boosting dairy in diets helps meet America’s nutritional needs, and that it is critical to improving the health of our nation’s children,” NMPF President and CEO Gregg Doud said in a statement upon the report’s release.

“To further assist in dairy’s positive contributions to a healthier nation, we also urge Congress to pass the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which would provide schools the opportunity to serve the nutritious whole and 2% milk that school kids love and codify into law the endorsement given in the administration’s report.”

The MAHA strategy, aimed toward reducing childhood chronic illnesses, highlighted upcoming efforts to better align federal nutrition programs with scientific evidence, including overwhelming evidence showing the benefits of dairy at all fat levels.

NMPF Statement on the ‘Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy’

From NMPF President and CEO Gregg Doud: 

“The MAHA Commission’s Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy recognizes what the latest science indicates and what we’ve long been saying: that getting whole milk back into schools and boosting dairy in diets helps meet America’s nutritional needs, and that it is critical to improving the health of our nation’s children.  

“We appreciate the commission’s attention to our nation’s public-health needs, and we are excited that scientific evidence showing the benefits of dairy at all fat levels is finally gaining appropriate recognition. We are hopeful that the upcoming Dietary Guidelines will also reflect the overwhelming evidence that NMPF has shared for years: dairy, including whole and reduced-fat, is an excellent source of nutrients in American diets. And we look forward to working with the administration on furthering the health of American children. 

“To further assist in dairy’s positive contributions to a healthier nation, we also urge Congress to pass the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which would provide schools the opportunity to serve the nutritious whole and 2% milk that school kids love and codify into law the endorsement given in the administration’s report.”

Dairy is Meeting the MAHA Moment

Few topics have gained as much discussion in agriculture in the second Trump administration as the Make America Healthy Again initiative, which this month sent its report on food and agriculture to the president. MAHA is many things, and for dairy it offers opportunities for policies that better align with what nutrition scientists and families already know — that dairy boosts public health and its consumption should be encouraged. But it could also be a double-edged sword for both farmers and consumers — which is why, as MAHA evolves, dairy needs to be ready to support good ideas and educate both policymakers and consumers in ways that benefit everyone it serves.

First: A little bit of a shakeup isn’t a bad thing. Dairy’s been in several decades-long battles that at this point can’t be explained by anything other than bureaucratic inertia. Some examples: Science supports the benefits of dairy at all fat levels, so why not whole milk in schools? Consumer transparency demands that plant-based beverages stop misleadingly using dairy terms to imply nutritional values they don’t have, so why can’t FDA enforce its own Standard of Identity for milk?

MAHA’s energy can break through some of these generations-old policy logjams. It also provides some tangible benefits to dairy consumers and the industry, such as:

  • Potential increased demand for whole-food dairy: MAHA’s emphasis on nutrient-dense “real” foods, including whole milk, could further raise demand for traditional dairy products. Fluid milk, yogurts, and butter are viewed as less processed than their alternatives. Those products are gaining market share — just look at cottage cheese and yogurt in the snack category. MAHA is part of this trend toward consumers shifting away from additive-laden options toward time-tested nutrition.
  • An even greater competitive edge against plant-based alternatives: Many plant-based alternatives rely heavily on synthetic ingredients, making them suspicious to the often-discussed “MAHA moms” who prefer a diet for their children that’s less dependent on products whose labels read like science projects. We’ve been talking about this for years, and the preference for so-called clean labels is yet another competitive advantage for dairy, which already wins on nutrition, cost and taste.
  • A focus on nutritional benefits: Speaking of nutrition — the MAHA conversation provides an opportunity to highlight the essential nutrients present in dairy products, including calcium, vitamins, and bioactive fatty acids. Dairy can be front-and-center in a healthy diet. We can lead the conversation.

MAHA cuts through many of the weeds that have grown up around food policy. At the same time, cutting through bureaucratic weeds shouldn’t hamstring farmer efforts to control actual weeds — you know, the ones that require herbicides. And that’s where the double-edged sword comes in.

  • Education about innovation: As the MAHA discussion continues, agriculture and dairy will need to be very clear in communicating the value modern agriculture provides to U.S. and global consumers. Technology and innovation has made America the world’s agricultural leader — and giving up on any of it without a thorough conversation and understanding the implications of any actions is essential. The administration has pledged to listen to farmers — let’s take them up on that. It’s a conversation to welcome, not to worry about, because agriculture and dairy have a great story to tell.
  • Continued commitment to food safety: The same is true for food safety, in which, again, America is the world’s leader. The impulse to help the small farmer who sells products locally, perhaps even directly, has long been a feature of agricultural policy in both parties. But any moves that create a two-tiered food-safety system will backfire against everyone. It will limit markets for small producers and create massive headaches in trade negotiations, just when agriculture badly needs better deals.

And a final thing to remember:

  • Dairy as an industry doesn’t need to rely on any single policy movement to thrive. Every opportunity MAHA creates for dairy unfortunately will have knee-jerk detractors who will question the administration’s motives, its science, and the legitimacy of its actions, often to score cheap political points at the expense of consumers. It’s just the moment we’re living in. But dairy’s current $10 billion investment opportunity isn’t being driven by Washington headlines. It’s driven by American and global consumers who recognize how dairy helps them, regardless of their ideological orientation. Milk isn’t Democratic or Republican — it’s universal, as household data shows. That’s something to prize in 2025. It should stay that way.

Dairy will do well in any marketplace that’s based on facts, transparency and quality. From the smallest Amish dairies to complex family businesses with thousands of cows — all of which are necessary to make sure that demand is met and preferences are served — the commitment to providing a product that genuinely serves the public is palpable.

MAHA may help create promising opportunities for dairy. It’s one part of an exciting time for the industry. Proactively engaging with policy shifts, embracing positive changes and staying alert for new challenges will be crucial for the dairy industry to thrive in this evolving landscape. We’re ready to do so.


Gregg Doud

President & CEO, NMPF

 

MAHA Report Criticizes U.S. Food System, Cites Whole Milk’s Benefits

A White House commission’s report on food and public health released last week outlined numerous criticisms of the U.S. food system, alarming some segments of agriculture as dairy considered its implications.

The report from the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) commission defended the importance of nutrient-dense “real” foods and specified whole milk for its benefits. “Whole milk and other dairy products are rich sources of calcium vitamin and bioactive fatty acids which support bone health help regulate inflammation and may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes,” the report said.

The commission, chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, released the report May 22.

As expected, the Kennedy-led report noted that American children are often unhealthy, which the commission attributed to ultra processed food, exposure to chemicals, lack of exercise, stress and overprescription of pharmaceuticals. The report criticized corporate influence of food marketing and said industry-funded nutrition research has led to “skewed outcomes” in dietary patterns and even the government’s recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

The report didn’t single out farm chemicals atrazine and glyphosate as major problems requiring a ban while raising doubts about them by calling for more research into the effects of cumulative exposure to chemicals such as pesticides.

The report said the MAHA Commission will immediately begin developing a strategy to improve child health outcomes, with the report due in August.