Author: Rachel Ravencraft

Snacks the Way We Like Them

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

The Wall Street Journal article last week was ostensibly about Ozempic, and how weight-loss drugs are curbing consumer appetites. But it’s the stats about snacking that stood out. 

According to data compiled by the Journal using Nielsen and BNP Paribas Exane estimates, U.S. snack food consumption is under pressure. Volume sales in 2024 for pretzels and crackers were flat; chocolates were down 5 percent; ready to eat popcorn, were down more than 7 percent. “Craveability,” a food-industry buzzword of the past few years, isn’t craved the way it used to be. Consumers – some of them using medications that limit appetites – just aren’t into gobbling up little pieces of sweet and salty things like they used to.  

But some snack categories are still up. Way up. #1 on the Journal’s list? Greek yogurt, with volumes up 12.9 percent in 2024. Runner-up? Cottage cheese, increasing 11.8 percent. Nutrition shakes and meat snacks also rose.  

The common thread? Protein. And the clear preference? Dairy.  

Turns out that when appetites are curbed, but nutrient needs remain, a nutrient-dense, appetite-satisfying product meets the need. In 2025, highly processed is out; high protein is in. And dairy is meeting that demand.  

Yet another reason to celebrate. So go ahead, indulge. Open that refrigerator, grab a yogurt or a cottage cheese. There are plenty of snack-sized options to choose from. It’s a healthy choice, and a worthwhile indulgence. And when you do that, you’re not just helping a dairy farmer. You’re a trend-setter, too.   

NMPF Celebrates Senate Support for Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

The National Milk Producers Federation celebrated strong bipartisan Senate support for the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act as senators begin considering this critical legislation.   

In a Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry hearing held Tuesday to review the measure, committee members and panelists highlighted the role this bill could have in increasing student milk consumption and nutrition access while also potentially decreasing waste.  

“NMPF commends Sens. Roger Marshall, R-KS, and Peter Welch, D-VT, for advocating for our nation’s students to have more access to nutrient-rich dairy by allowing schools to offer whole milk with school meals,” NMPF President & CEO Gregg Doud said. “We know that Americans are under-consuming dairy products, and as we heard today, students have said they want the milk they are familiar with and that they find satisfying. For many students, that’s whole milk.” 

NMPF also thanks Chairman John Boozman, R-AR, and Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar, D-MN, for voicing their support for the bill. 

“We are grateful to Chairman Boozman and Ranking Member Klobuchar for convening today’s hearing, and we look forward to working with them and the bill’s bipartisan sponsors to move it forward,” Doud said. 

The House of Representatives is considering similar legislation led by House Agriculture Committee Chairman GT Thompson, R-PA, and Rep. Kim Schrier, D-WA. The bill was approved by the House Education & the Workforce Committee with bipartisan support Feb. 12, and it now awaits floor action. Similar legislation passed the House by an overwhelming bipartisan margin in 2023 but was not taken up in the Senate. 

A Permanent Section 199(A): Now That’s Beautiful

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

The legislation President Trump has called a “big, beautiful bill” is slowly making its way through Washington. The House and Senate have both approved blueprints for the plan, but months of hard negotiations may lie ahead.

And while the tax provisions that make up the heart of the legislation will touch every American, one specific part of it — an initiative called Section 199(A) — is one we’re watching especially closely as talks unfold. We’re working across the agriculture and cooperative communities to get this critical part of the 2017 tax legislation that lapses this year made permanent in a new law. And with tax season upon us, it’s a good time to explain why this is so important for agriculture and dairy cooperatives.

Section 199(A) of the Internal Revenue Code, also known as the Qualified Business Income Deduction, provides a deduction of up to 20% on qualified business income for certain pass-through entities, including partnerships, S-corporations, and sole proprietorships. Dairy cooperatives, which are structured as pass-through entities, benefit from this deduction as it reduces their taxable income, allowing them to retain more earnings, which then can be reinvested into the cooperative.

That’s critical to help co-ops stay competitive in today’s marketplace. When Congress cut the corporate tax rate in 2017 from 35% to 21%, it recognized that other forms of businesses — including cooperatives — should also have an equitable tax reduction. Section 199A does that. It’s helped farmer cooperatives and their owners navigate through a global pandemic, geopolitical conflict, supply chain problems, and record inflation. Allowing Section 199A to expire would raise taxes on agricultural cooperatives and their farmer-owners at a moment of renewed challenges; making it permanent will remove a critical piece of uncertainty for farmers and give them a chance to plan a brighter future.

Including Section 199(A) in tax legislation is critical for the continued economic stability of dairy farmers and the cooperatives they own. It helps co-ops make capital investments. It encourages investment in innovative technologies, sustainable practices, and advanced infrastructure, all of which enables them to produce high-quality products at lower costs. And in the end, that benefits consumers too — by providing them with affordable and nutritious dairy products.

Making 199(A) permanent also supports the whole reason the cooperative system was established under the Capper-Volstead Act passed more than a century ago, by keeping the playing field level with other businesses that benefit from tax provisions other than 199(A). Dairy cooperatives operate on principles of mutual assistance, democratic governance, and equitable distribution of benefits. Section 199(A) aligns with these principles by providing a tax benefit that is shared among cooperative members.

Dairy needs Section 199(A) to thrive. That’s why we’ve been working across not only agriculture, but across the entire cooperative community, signing letters that include signatures ranging from community bankers to building contractors and that cut across the entire U.S. economy. Section 199(A) doesn’t only support dairy farmers of all sizes, in all regions, and the rural communities they support — it ensures economic stability, enhances competitiveness, and serves consumers all across America.

That’s big. And, it’s beautiful. As the bill makes its way to the president’s desk this year, we’ll be fighting for Section 199(A) at every turn. It’s the right thing to do for dairy — and as it turns out, for everyone in our rural communities too.

Gregg Doud

President & CEO, NMPF

 

A win for everyone

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

By Paul Bleiberg, Executive Vice President, Government Relations, National Milk Producers Federation

Amid a frenetic daily pace in Washington, Congress is slowly moving toward renewing the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, a major tax legislation that President Trump signed into law during his first year in office. The provisions are due to expire this year. The House and Senate have each approved their blueprints for the plan, but challenging negotiations lie ahead.

The National Milk Producers Federation is focusing attention on one piece: The Section 199A deduction, which is vital to dairy farmers and the cooperatives they own and merits being made permanent in this year’s tax law.

Section 199(A) of the Internal Revenue Code, known as the Qualified Business Income Deduction, was enacted in the 2017 tax law. It provides an up to 20% deduction on qualified business income for certain pass-through entities. It includes the benefits previously afforded to agricultural cooperatives under the earlier Section 199 tax deduction for domestic production. Dairy cooperatives benefit through their domestic manufacturing activity; they can either pass the deduction directly back to their member-owners or reinvest it into the cooperative.

This important public policy boosts economic stability in rural America, but it wasn’t an easy road to this point. Early in 2017, congressional tax writers indicated they were likely to repeal the previous Section 199 that dairy cooperatives had used for many years. Congress believed the previous provision would be redundant because most of the domestic manufacturers that had benefited from it would now benefit from the planned reduction in the corporate tax rate.

This would not have been the case for cooperatives, which don’t file taxes as corporations. Accordingly, farmers were staring down a significant tax increase, so NMPF got to work making a case for the important role Section 199 played in helping ag cooperatives stay competitive in today’s marketplace. House members wrote letters, Senators filed amendments, and stakeholders spoke loudly and in unison in support of preserving the benefits of Section 199.

The result of agriculture’s united efforts was the inclusion of farmer-owned cooperatives in the new Section 199A deduction. Letting it expire this year would raise taxes on dairy farmers and the cooperatives they own while other businesses enjoy continued tax relief. Congress should make this important deduction permanent to maintain certainty for producers and help them prosper in the coming years.

As dairy prepares for the hard work that lies ahead, the agriculture community is again speaking with one voice. NMPF is grateful to the many producer associations, cooperatives, and agricultural partners that have joined a letter in support of making Section 199(A) permanent in this year’s tax legislation. This early strong showing underscores the consensus behind continuing this key policy — a consensus that will be essential to getting the job done.

This column originally appeared in Hoard’s Dairyman Intel on March 27, 2025.

Dairy’s Pronounced Advantage Over Plant-Based Alternatives

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

“This is a list of ingredients from foods — carrageenan, riboflavin, monosodium glutamate and 20 others that I can’t pronounce.” – HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

This column isn’t here to call out specific food ingredients — carrageenan, for example, has made many an ice cream pint hold together well, proving the value of the raw seaweed extract. But if the idea is to take a more critical look at food ingredients that sound more like science experiments gone bad than healthy, nutritious products, we might just offer one helpful hint: Take a look at the plant-based “dairy” substitutes section and see what you find.

It takes a lot of substances to turn a slurry of chemicals, emollients, emulsifiers, additives and colorings — plus few almonds, oats, etc. — into something that looks like a dairy product. Things like, “mixed tocopherols.” Or “gellan gum,” (which, admittedly, is used in ice cream if you want it to stay stable when placed in flaming alcohol). Or “calcium disodium edta,” (which is also good at treating lead poisoning), among others.

Again, not casting aspersions on anything, just noting that your grandmother probably didn’t talk much about these ingredients over Thanksgiving dinner. Meanwhile, milk is made of… milk, with some vitamin fortification that dates back nearly a century. Cheese is made of… milk, with some additives that follow processes developed over generations. And other dairy products are made of… milk, with whatever else helps keep it safe and stable for consumers who are, in the end, experiencing the same nutrition and wholeness their forebears would have recognized in earlier, less pronunciation-challenged times.

This revelation isn’t anything new: In fact, Dairy Defined did a whole quiz on this theme in 2022 that’s still fun to complete. But it bears repeating as food policy gets a new look. Plant-based products or products derived from the fermentation of a fungus that are engineered to superficially resemble dairy are, by definition, imitations or (poor) substitutes of something that was already out there, already serving a public that understood what it did and what was in it. But in this case, the imposters want to call their product the same thing as the real thing, implying equivalencies in nutrition that just aren’t there and creating confusion in the marketplace.

And that needs to stop.

The last three FDA commissioners, serving both Republicans and Democrats, all recognized the problem — all that’s left is action. Regardless of one’s feelings about specific ingredients or the values they bring to specific foods, being transparent about what something is and what it isn’t, is an important principle from which to build.

Truth in labeling. Not hard to say. And long past time to do.

USDEC and NMPF Sign Partnership with Guatemalan Dairy Association

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), and Guatemalan Dairy Development Association (ASODEL), signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday that will strengthen ties between the U.S. and Guatemalan dairy industries as they advocate for free and fair trade policies and promote greater dairy consumption.

The agreement outlines objectives aimed at strengthening communication and knowledge-sharing between the two industries, underscoring the economic and social significance of the dairy sector, and addressing trade barriers that negatively impact both producers and consumers alike.

The agreement outlines objectives aimed at strengthening communication and knowledge-sharing between the two industries, underscoring the economic and social significance of the dairy sector, and addressing trade barriers that negatively impact both producers and consumers alike.

“This agreement marks an important milestone in the U.S. dairy industry’s ongoing dedication to collaborating with and supporting our partners in Guatemala and throughout Latin America,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “A strong trade relationship benefits both U.S. and Guatemalan dairy sectors, and it’s clear that imposing misguided trade barriers harms everyone, particularly Guatemalan consumers. We are excited to work together to continue to build a strong partnership between our two industries.”

“The U.S. and Guatemalan dairy sectors share values and common goals,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of NMPF. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with ASODEL to champion effective, forward-thinking policies that will strengthen the dairy industry in the Americas and globally.”

“ASODEL is dedicated to improving the competitiveness and long-term viability of the Guatemala dairy industry,” said Ramiro Pérez, director general of ASODEL. “This collaboration with USDEC and NMPF strengthens our capacity to fulfill that mission, supporting not only our members but also Guatemalan consumers who rely on both domestic and imported dairy products.”

The agreement complements similar agreements USDEC and NMPF have made throughout Latin America, including with the Colombian Association of Dairy Industry (Asoleche), Sociedad Rural Argentina, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Chilean Federacion Nacional de Productores de Leche (Fedeleche).

Expanded resources benefit farmers

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

By Nicole Ayache, Chief Sustainability Officer, National Milk Producers Federation

The National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program launched FARM Environmental Stewardship (ES) Version 3 late last year, using the latest science and technology to support producers in assessing sustainability opportunities that align with their business goals. Since its launch, the FARM Program has developed additional training and guidance materials to help participants better understand FARM ES Version 3.

The Version 3 User Guide was released last month. It provides key information about the evaluation tool and details the data inputs of an evaluation to foster consistency and confidence in data collection. The guide dedicates a chapter to interpreting outputs from the Version 3 assessment to support accurate interpretations of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions footprints.

FARM ES launched a self-paced, online evaluator training course that covers the core elements of an evaluation and is required for certification. Advanced training sessions are available for evaluators looking to deepen their expertise. Each session addresses key areas of the evaluation process, such as data inputs, interpreting results, and available resources. Sessions also explore the new scenario analysis function of the Version 3 evaluation tool, so evaluators can better support farmers in using this new functionality to inform decision-making.

The program area will also offer a Prep Guide, outlining steps producers can take to prepare for an on-farm evaluation. Both the recently published User Guide and the forthcoming Prep Guide share information on expectations and best practices for completing an evaluation.
FARM ES Version 3 enables robust scenario analysis so a farm can analyze the effects of potential management or practice changes, including the potential effect on milk productivity as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Ruminant Farm Systems (RuFaS) model, which powers the Version 3 evaluation tool, incorporates cutting-edge research to model a whole-farm system. Through this process, FARM ES results can highlight potential opportunities for improved efficiency and cost savings.

FARM ES is working on expanded capabilities for the evaluation tool, such as making it easier to run what-if scenarios by offering preset options. FARM ES will also incorporate scientific updates from the RuFaS model over time. The economic module coming to RuFaS, for example, will offer FARM ES users the option to run a partial-budget analysis when reviewing scenario results.

The FARM Program continues its mission of fostering a culture of continuous improvement by providing farmers with tools and resources for on-farm best management practices. The FARM ES tool provides a unified platform built by and for the U.S. dairy community, powered by peer-reviewed credible science. U.S. dairy farmers are actively involved in shaping the FARM ES Program. It unifies industry response to customer requests for sustainability data, helping to streamline sustainability measurements into one program.

For more information on FARM Environmental Stewardship, please visit nationaldairyfarm.com.

This column originally appeared in Hoard’s Dairyman Intel on March 17, 2025.

Lactose-Free Milk Makes Schoolkids Smile

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

Jessica Shelly is the Director of Student Dining Services for Cincinnati Public Schools in Cincinnati, Ohio. She’s responsible for overseeing the service of more than 60,000 meals a day in the lunchroom operations at 65 schools.

And in 2023, her school system tried something different: It offered its students lactose-free milk. The hugely successful pilot project has now been adopted district-wide, improving nutrition, boosting school lunch participation and reducing food waste. The Cincinnati model points to a promising path for milk in schools, as student bodies become more diverse and millions of children rely on school meals as their main nutrition source for the day.

“These are kids who may not be able to go home to a refrigerator full of food, and so it’s our job to make sure that we are providing them with the most healthy and nutritious meals possible when they’re here with us at school,” she said. “Part of that is making sure they have all the nutrients and protein they need, and we know that milk plays a large role in that.”

For more of the Dairy Defined podcast, you can find and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music under the podcast name “Dairy Defined.”

Dairy’s Future Depends on Trade, and the U.S. Can Deliver

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

A billion pounds of cheese can’t be wrong: Exports point to a bright future for U.S. dairy.

The statement is true, it’s simple, and it can be easy to get lost in the back-and-forth of trade disputes among the United States and its partners. Those headlines will remain with us, as trade policy inevitably becomes a part of discussions over national security and economic competition. What remains is the undeniably real growth of U.S. dairy exports, and their critical importance toward building a better future for our industry.

Back to that billion pounds. 2024 was a record for U.S. cheese shipments, by far. U.S. cheese exports rose 17% to 508,808 metric tons, topping 2022’s previous record by more than 75,000 metric tons. Cheese exports have never topped 500,000 metric tons, which translates to more than 1 billion pounds.

Butterfat volumes improved, as have dry whey, casein and fluid milk. And while challenges with China and its soft economy kept last year from topping 2022’s overall record, sales still rose to their second highest ever.

Trade agreements that the U.S. has negotiated over the past couple decades have played a major role in helping lay the groundwork for that growth and last year’s milestone cheese export record.

With more U.S. processing capacity online, our cheese exports are poised for even more global growth. We’re developing and expanding promising markets such as Indonesia while maintaining dominance in our backyard, even as competitors like New Zealand try to elbow their way in to offset China’s weak growth. Across dairy, these positive developments will continue to grow. From 5.2 percent of U.S. milk production in 2000 to 16.4% percent today, trade has become an increasingly important outlet for farmers’ milk. It creates a promising future — and at the same time, it means the future depends on it.

At the National Milk Producers Federation, working in partnership with the U.S. Dairy Export Council, our efforts to unlock new markets and create a positive policy environment are persistent.

  • In key foreign markets, U.S. dairy exporters are at a distinct disadvantage because of tariff cuts that the European Union or New Zealand have negotiated in their own trade agreements with those countries. We’re finally now able to take advantage of lower tariffs in many countries. including the 0% tariffs phased in under the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), signed back in 2004. But that only underscores how much work hasn’t been done and remains left to do.
  • Because the United States hasn’t kept pace on the trade agreements front, NMPF and USDEC have been pursuing unilateral tariff cuts with targeted trading partners. We’ve already seen successes with China on cheese, from Vietnam on various dairy products, and just last year from the United Kingdom on certain milk powder sales; we’re now actively working to chip tariffs down further with the United Kingdom, China and Taiwan. Two of my staff will head to Taiwan next month to advance that goal.
  • We’re also pushing against trade barriers that are arising as countries invent new policies that threaten to disrupt our dairy sales. We’ve devoted extensive efforts to beating back a politically motivated countervailing duty case in Colombia. And, we’re focused on ensuring that currently open markets stay that way, and pursuing ways to streamline and expand trade with partners such as Indonesia, Costa Rica and Canada. Our efforts are positioning us well to make headway with the new administration.
  • To advance beyond past trade agreements, we are always looking for opportunities to forge new deals that help exporters compete in targeted ways, much like how the U.S.-Japan agreement negotiated under the first Trump Administration boosted our cheese and whey exports. We’re also pushing for strong protections for our cheese exports using common names like “parmesan” and addressing the $2.7B dairy trade deficit we have with the EU.

We’re laying out all of these goals, and more, to the new administration to position them as key deliverables as USTR prepares to meet the White House’s April 1 deadline for submitting major trade plans.

These efforts will continue to build on the momentum we’ve created through decades of patient work, from USDEC’s on-the-ground efforts to our unparalleled global market intelligence to collaborative efforts such as the Cooperatives Working Together program, which is currently in the midst of a reinvention.

And one more thing about that billion pounds of cheese. There are more than eight billion people on this planet. We’ve only just begun.

Gregg Doud

President & CEO, NMPF

Dairy Groups Applaud Administration Vaccine Support, Thank USDA for Plan

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

Leaders from the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) released the following statements today in response to the Trump Administration’s updated response plan for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that is affecting our nation’s dairy herds.

NMPF President and CEO Gregg Doud said the following: “Dairy farmers and cooperatives appreciate USDA’s leadership in supporting American agriculture and safeguarding animal health as it deals with what soon will be a second year of H5N1 bird flu disruptions in dairy cattle. Dairy farmers and all of agriculture takes biosecurity seriously, and we thank USDA and the Trump Administration for actions that will further those efforts.

“We support the department’s initiatives to advance vaccine development and deployment that will help control, and ultimately eliminate, the virus in dairy cattle. And we also want to remind consumers that, even as dairy farmers are working with veterinarians and officials at all levels of government to eliminate this animal health threat, milk for consumers remains safe to drink because of the effectiveness of pasteurization.”

IDFA President and CEO Michael Dykes, D.V.M., said the following: “The International Dairy Foods Association is grateful to Agriculture Secretary Rollins for investing up to $100 million in new and ongoing research into animal vaccinations and therapeutic tools to manage highly pathogenic avian influenza in our nation’s dairy herds and commercial poultry flocks. We continue to urge USDA and its federal partners to act quickly to develop and approve the use of safe, effective bovine vaccines to guard against current and future strains of avian influenza affecting U.S. dairy. It is essential that the federal government work with our industry to ensure a vaccination strategy is feasible and cost-effective for farmers while working with international trading partners to assure the use of vaccines does not limit or disrupt U.S. agricultural exports.”

 

Milk-Drinking is Having a Moment

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

The good news keeps coming for fluid milk.

According to year-end USDA data, fluid milk consumption, in a slow decline for the past five decades, increased in 2024. The 0.6% increase to 42.98 billion pounds is the first year-over-year gain since 2009. And unlike that year, it didn’t happen because low prices and a bad dairy economy prompted grocery stores to practically give it away. Milk prices are relatively high these days, and people are drinking more milk because… well, because they want to.

And the story isn’t just that they’re drinking more milk. It’s also about why they’re drinking milk, as well as what kind of milk they’re drinking.

Source: USDA. Note: Whole milk total includes flavored varieties. Flavored Reduced-Fat includes 2%, 1% and skim. Other Milk includes buttermilk. All categories include both conventional and organic milk.

Driving much consumer interest in real milk consumption is the awareness that it’s a protein powerhouse. And that’s only part of the unique package of essential nutrients milk has to offer that leaves over-engineered, nutritionally inferior plant-based substitutes in the dust. (Not to mention their many weird ingredients.)

Fluid milk’s gains are built on whole milk, also known as “the milk that tastes most like milk.” Not to begrudge lower-fat varieties — dairy farmers support whatever milk you choose, as long as it’s actual milk and not one of the misnamed beverages — but whole milk’s popularity shows just how intrinsically tasty dairy is, as well as how much more popular milk could be if it, say, were offered on a school lunch menu to children who drink it at home.

The increase also accentuates the lie of the plant-based imposters, which fell in sales for the third straight year. After years of their misinformation, painting their gains as inevitable, milk isn’t just getting back its market share — it’s adding to its already overwhelming preference in the marketplace. And no amount of over-processing of nut-of-the-moment re-engineering is going to change that.

And with that, it’s time for government policy to match consumer reality. The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act (which you can support here) would bring whole and 2% back to schools, giving schoolkids access to the same popular, healthy varieties they drink at home. And FDA’s enforcement of its own rules on milk’s Standard of Identity (or congressional passage of the Dairy PRIDE Act), would do a lot to clear up consumer confusion over nutrition in the marketplace.

Milk has a lot of momentum heading into the year — which, really, just puts it in the same position as the rest of dairy, the popularity of which remains the highest it’s been since the 1950s. So really — literally — raise a glass to this today. Because the number of glasses being raised is only growing.