FARM Highlights NMPF Outreach in June

NMPF outreach to the dairy community was highlighted by the FARM team in June, as staff shared expertise across the industry.

FARM’s senior director of animal care, Beverly Hampton Phifer, presented Managing an Animal Care Crisis June 5 at the Dairy Welfare Symposium in Kansas City, MO. Dr. Valerie Smith, with Food Safety Net Services, and Hampton Phifer co-presented the efforts of FARM and implementation of the Animal Care Concern Protocol.

Emily Yeiser Stepp, FARM’s executive director, attended the American Dairy Science Association conference June 16-19 in West Palm Beach, FL. Yeiser Stepp presented with Chase DeCoite, Vice President of Food Industry Relations for Dairy Management, Inc., on June 18.  The pair’s presentation, Demonstrating U.S. Dairy’s Commitment to Animal Care, discussed how FARM supports continuous improvement on all U.S. dairy farms and understanding the supply chain’s interest in animal care.

Nicole Ayache, Chief Sustainability Officer at NMPF, discussed FARM’s Environmental Stewardship Version 3 upcoming launch at the Innovation Center for US Dairy Board of Directors meeting on June 27. The Version 3 update is two years in the making, surrounding a new evaluation tool, the Ruminant Farms Systems model (RuFaS), which will support dairy industry efforts to reach GHG neutral by 2050 as well as to respond to growing customer requests.

Other staff highlights included Will Loux, NMPF’s senior vice president for global economic affairs, speaking on the state of the dairy industry to Dairy Management Inc. officers and the Innovation Center in Rosemont, IL, giving an overview of long-term trends of the industry in production, supply and demand.

NMPF Outreach Spans Denver to New Delhi in April

NMPF staff represented U.S. dairy farmers and their cooperatives at events ranging in location from Denver to New Delhi in April, showing leadership across industry while reaching out to dairy producers in the U.S. and worldwide.

Highlights from among more than six dozen public presentations from NMPF staff before members and dairy stakeholders include Regulatory Affairs Director Miquela Hanselman discussing nutrition, labeling, HPAI, and farm bill updates at the Western Milk Seminar in Denver, CO, on April 23.

In the international arena, trade and economics team leaders Shawna Morris, Executive Vice President for Trade Policy and Global Affairs, and Will Loux, Senior Vice President for Global Economic Affairs, represented U.S. dairy positions in Toronto, representing NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council during April 24-26 meetings of the International Dairy Federation’s (IDF’s) Standing Committee on Dairy Policies and Economics.

Loux became vice-chair of the committee in October, while Morris attended as the lead U.S. representative for IDF.

And Jaime Castaneda, Executive Vice President for Policy Development & Strategy with NMPF and USDEC, was part of a USDA Foreign Ag Service India trade mission, which included policy and business meetings with officials and potential importers from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, April 22-25. Castaneda also represented U.S. dairy in meetings in Brazil and Italy in April and early May.