Congress needs to pass the DAIRY PRIDE Act soon to ensure FDA does its job by making sure consumers have accurate information for informed decisions about what to feed themselves and their families, National Milk Producers Federation Executive Vice President Tom Balmer told a congressional subcommittee in a Jan. 29 hearing.

Allowing non-dairy products to use dairy terms to promote goods with wildly different nutritional values has undermined public health and directly flouts the FDA’s own rules, Balmer said at a hearing on “Improving Safety and Transparency in America’s Food and Drugs” before the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health. Proper labeling benefits consumers by drawing clear distinctions among products, encouraging better-informed choices, he said.

“Plant-based industrial food processors typically go to great lengths to try to replicate real milk by grinding seeds, nuts or grains into a powder, adding water, whiteners, sweeteners, stabilizers and emulsifiers, possibly blending in some vitamins and minerals, and then marketing the resulting concoction using dairy terms,” Balmer said. “By calling these products ‘milk’ they are clearly seeking to trade on the health halo of real milk. Yet these imitators engage in misleading marketing because their products don’t have the same consistent nutritional offerings as real milk.”

Federal regulations clearly state that a product labeled as “milk” comes from a cow or certain other lactating animals, and that other dairy products are likewise made from animal milk. FDA has not been enforcing these regulations.

The DAIRY PRIDE Act, introduced by Representatives Peter Welch (D-VT) and Mike Simpson (R-ID) in the House and Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jim Risch (R-ID) in the Senate, would designate foods that make an inaccurate claim about milk contents as “misbranded” and subject to enforcement of labeling rules. It would require FDA to issue guidance for nationwide enforcement of mislabeled imitation dairy products within 90 days of its passage and require FDA to report to Congress two years after enactment to hold the agency accountable in its enforcement.

The legislation would force FDA to act against plant-based imitators of milk, cheese, butter and other products that flout FDA rules.

Newly confirmed FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn has voiced his support for “clear, transparent, and understandable labeling for the American people.” Still, given the agency’s inability to follow up on earlier pledges to act, NMPF is calling for DAIRY PRIDE’s passage as a vehicle to require FDA action.

President Trump signed the landmark USMCA trade agreement Jan. 29, following Senate approval earlier in the month and Mexico’s passage last year. With Canada expected to secure passage by the end of March, NMPF’s focus is shifting to the work the U.S. government must do to oversee Canada and Mexico’s implementation plans.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, USTR and USDA negotiated an agreement that will deliver a more certain future for our dairy farmers and rural economy,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “The U.S. must now remain diligent and proactively work with Canada and Mexico to implement USMCA in both letter and spirit. Full compliance is essential to achieving more fair trade with Canada and protecting American-made cheeses in Mexico.”

Dairy has been recognized as the biggest agricultural beneficiary of USMCA. NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) put together a summary document providing an overview of its advances on nontariff barriers; USDEC’s Export Guide provides an excellent summary of the agreement’s tariff-related market access provisions.

NMPF is encouraging dairy cooperatives to use this information to take full advantage of USMCA dairy provision. Member reports regarding on-the-ground USMCA implementation also will help trade officials ensure both nations adhere to their trade commitments and do it as swiftly as possible.

Members of NMPF’s board of directors were invited to the USMCA trade agreement signing ceremony at the White House, highlighting the important role America’s dairy farmers and cooperatives played in ensuring its passage.  NMPF Board members Dave Scheevel (Chairman of Foremost Farms), Steve Schlangen (Chairman of AMPI) and Dave Kyle (First Vice Chair of Foremost Farms) were among the delegation of farmers at the signing on the White House lawn.

Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen

While success is never guaranteed, we at NMPF see we’re gaining critical momentum needed to make 2020 a breakthrough year in the long-running fight against dairy imitators who misuse dairy terms on their products.

On Wednesday, Jan. 29, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee included the DAIRY PRIDE Act on its list of key pieces of legislation related to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for this year. Our executive vice president, Tom Balmer, urged immediate congressional action against proliferating products that claim dairy’s identity but have no dairy in them and offer wildly different nutritional content.

“While we will continue to press for FDA to enforce its own rules to address the public health issues that have arisen from their inaction, we believe the time has come for Congress to take legislative action,” Balmer said in his testimony. “The DAIRY PRIDE Act would require foods that inappropriately use standardized dairy terms to be considered ‘misbranded’ under the law and subject to enforcement. It would also direct FDA to issue guidance regarding its enforcement approach within 90 days of enactment and to keep Congress informed of its work.”

The need for FDA action against dairy imitators – as Tom testified – is clear. If left to the agency it’s also not certain – recent history certainly hasn’t been encouraging. While then-Commissioner Scott Gottlieb stated the need to act in mid-2018, resolution didn’t come during his tenure. And while his successor, Dr. Stephen Hahn, clearly understands the issue and its importance, other pressing issues – teen vaping and food safety, to name just two examples – can quickly overwhelm the bureaucracy, and the clock can easily be run out by government inertia, or by those determined not to get things done.

That’s why the DAIRY PRIDE Act is so important. Balmer’s testimony at the hearing comes on the heels of a letter spearheaded by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI, and Sen. Jim Risch, R-ID, urging the FDA to act against dairy imitators. Baldwin and Risch are the Senate’s co-sponsors of DAIRY PRIDE; its lead House sponsors are Reps. Peter Welch, D-VT, and Mike Simpson, R-ID.

Raising the legislation to a House hearing level is a positive sign that the bill is gaining traction in Congress. We’ve also been successful in raising attention within the agency, as evidenced at Hahn’s confirmation hearing in November, when he said Americans need “clear, transparent and understandable labeling” in an exchange with Sen. Baldwin.

In 2020, we must fully focus on resolving the proliferation of mislabeled non-dairy products in the marketplace at a time when Congress is giving it attention and we have an FDA commissioner who says he understands the problem. The DAIRY PRIDE Act may be essential to the solution. We have a call to action on our website, www.nmpf.org, where you can tell your lawmaker to support the legislation. Before Washington slips into election-year inaction, now is the time to let government officials know this issue must be fixed.

We’re thankful that Congress asked us to address the importance of resolving this issue now. And whether that action comes via an FDA decision to enforce its own rules, or passage of the DAIRY PRIDE Act, we’re ready for common sense labeling and an end to consumer deception in the marketplace.

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ARLINGTON, Va. – Despite trade headwinds, U.S. dairy producers are seeing real export gains that are crucial for supporting milk prices now and in years to come, said Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, in this week’s Dairy Defined Podcast.

Vilsack, a former Iowa governor and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, discussed how U.S. dairy is establishing itself as a permanent presence in global markets, underscoring the increasingly important role dairy exports play as a driver of U.S. milk prices. By expanding export efforts, American dairy producers can take advantage of rising global demand, boosting income at family farms across the country, he said.

“There are 37,000, 38,000 families who have been struggling for the last couple years in a very tough market situation. I don’t forget that. I don’t forget them,” Vilsack said. “I know that our work not only helps those folks, but also helps nearly 100,000 people that are working in processing facilities that are exporting products. So there are a lot of jobs, and a lot of people, and a lot of livelihoods that depend on what we do, and these are really good, hard-working people.”

Vilsack also discusses dairy’s commitment to climate-change solutions; the challenges of plant-based products that mislead consumers on nutrition by inappropriately using dairy terms; and how dairy has managed through trade restrictions brought on by international tariff conflicts. To listen to the full podcast, click here. You can also find the Dairy Defined podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,  SoundCloud and Google Play. Broadcast outlets may use the MP3 file. Please attribute information to NMPF.

(Note: NMPF’s Dairy Defined podcast explores today’s dairy farms and industry using high-quality data and podcast-style interviews to explain current dairy issues and dispel myths.)

ARLINGTON, VA – The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN) expressed appreciation for Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s denunciation of geographical indications (GIs) as trade barriers.

During recent meetings with European agriculture and trade officials, Secretary Perdue made it clear that the European Union (EU) must drop its aggressive campaign to confiscate common food names in order to successfully negotiate a trade deal with the U.S.

In response, USDEC, NMPF and CCFN issued the following joint statement:

“The EU’s patently unfair trade policies, including the misuse of GI protections, have resulted in a lopsided trade dynamic where trade benefits only flow one-way: toward Europe. As Secretary Perdue rightly noted, Europe’s unfair trade barriers have less to do with preserving the rights of legitimate GIs than with restricting competition from exceptional U.S. products.

“We commend Secretary Perdue for his firm stance defending the rights of U.S. farmers and food producers to use the common names consumers know and love. Dismantling EU trade barriers that drive the dairy deficit and cause undue harm to our industry must remain a top priority in negotiations with the EU.”

ARLINGTON, VA. – Congress needs to pass the DAIRY PRIDE Act soon to ensure FDA does its job to ensure consumers have accurate information for informed decisions about what to feed themselves and their families, National Milk Producers Federation Executive Vice President Tom Balmer told a congressional subcommittee today.

Allowing non-dairy products to use dairy terms to promote goods with wildly different nutritional values has undermined public health and directly flouts the FDA’s own rules, Balmer said in testimony at a hearing on “Improving Safety and Transparency in America’s Food and Drugs” before the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health. Proper labeling benefits consumers by drawing clear distinctions among products, encouraging better-informed choices, he said.

“Plant-based industrial food processors typically go to great lengths to try to replicate real milk by grinding seeds, nuts or grains into a powder, adding water, whiteners, sweeteners, stabilizers and emulsifiers, possibly blending in some vitamins and minerals, and then marketing the resulting concoction using dairy terms,” Balmer said. “By calling these products “milk” they are clearly seeking to trade on the health halo of real milk. Yet these imitators engage in misleading marketing because their products don’t have the same consistent nutritional offerings as real milk.”

Federal regulations clearly state that a product labeled as “milk” comes from a cow or certain other lactating animals, and that other dairy products are likewise made from animal milk. FDA has not been enforcing these regulations.

The DAIRY PRIDE Act, introduced by Representatives Peter Welch (D-VT) and Mike Simpson (R-ID) in the House and Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jim Risch (R-ID) in the Senate , would designate foods that make an inaccurate claim about milk contents as “misbranded” and subject to enforcement of labeling rules. It would require FDA to issue guidance for nationwide enforcement of mislabeled imitation dairy products within 90 days of its passage and require FDA to report to Congress two years after enactment to hold the agency accountable in its enforcement. The legislation would force FDA to act against plant-based imitators of milk, cheese, butter and other products that brazenly flout FDA rules.

Newly confirmed FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn has voiced his support for “clear, transparent, and understandable labeling for the American people.” Still, given the agency’s inability to follow up on earlier pledges to act, NMPF is calling for DAIRY PRIDE’s passage as a vehicle to require FDA action.

Read the full testimony here.

ARLINGTON, Va. – In less than a year, someone will take the presidential oath of office, charged with leading America for the following four years. To get there, whomever wins the 2020 election – a competition that starts in earnest with next week’s Iowa caucuses – will need to win over key constituencies, including farmers and rural voters.

This isn’t a revelation. So many articles have been written since 2016 taking the temperature of voters in Flyover Country that it may be difficult to find a farmer who hasn’t been interviewed by a coastal media outlet. But looking at the farm vote with a little more depth, it’s worth noting which farmers are best-positioned to hold the keys to the White House. Looking at the electoral map, those farmers may be the ones milking cows.

In 2020, dairy farmers find themselves unusually concentrated in states with large numbers of electoral votes, and in swing states, compared to producers of other agricultural commodities. A presidential candidate who wins the five biggest milk-producing states (California, Wisconsin, New York, Idaho and Texas) would gain 136 electoral votes, more than half the total needed to win the White House. Winning the top five growers of the most-valuable crops — corn and soybeans — in comparison, would only get 52 votes.

The top five cattle states garner 111 electoral votes. Top wheat states hold 28 electoral votes. Other ag products tend to be highly regional or have most of their production in a limited number of states.

Of course, barring an extreme shift in U.S. political coalitions, no candidate is likely to count California, Wisconsin, New York, Idaho and Texas in their win column on Nov. 3, so perhaps dairy’s large-state prominence isn’t relevant. After all, conventional wisdom holds that presidential contests are decided by swing states – the ones that aren’t deeply Democratic or Republican and might make the difference for a candidate.

So, how important is dairy in swing states?

Let’s look at two lists – the top eight U.S. dairy states, and the eight closest states in the 2016 presidential election. Notice anything? Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Minnesota – three states that flipped the White House to President Donald Trump in 2016, and another state that came very close – are all top dairy producers.

Dairy’s swing-state strength is the confluence of the industry’s history and America’s political evolution. Livestock and commodity crops were served by railroad networks that could transport the bounty of Midwest and Plains states to more heavily populated regions. Dairy, being more perishable, developed closer to urban areas. As U.S. politics has become increasingly polarized on urban-rural lines, dairy farmers find themselves living in states where big cities and small towns collide.

Dairy farmers live where the political battlegrounds are. They didn’t ask to be there, but if they’re potential difference-makers, it’s worth knowing what they want. Expanded exports are a start. A workable farm-labor system is needed to maintain productivity. Making sure that fake dairy products are properly labeled would go a long way toward ending consumer deception and warming a dairy farmer’s heart. And maybe a candidate could consider drinking a refreshing glass of whole milk at an event – it’s good for them, in many ways.

The next year will be exciting, and crucial for the direction of America. Dairy farmers will play an important role in this decision. We at NMPF already know how much dairy votes matter. Smart candidates will know that too.

Chris Galen, senior vice president of membership services and strategic initiatives, discusses the latest updates in trade policy and how recent developments affect the U.S. dairy industry.

ARLINGTON, VA. – NMPF is pleased that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army Corp of Engineers have released a new final Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. Today’s action puts an end to years of contentious rulemaking and will provide a common-sense approach to regulating waters of the U.S.

On Oct. 22, 2019, the EPA and the Department of the Army published a final rule to repeal the 2015 Clean Water Rule: Definition of “Waters of the United States” to restore regulatory text that existed prior to the 2015 Rule. That final rule became effective Dec. 23.

In the interim between repealing the 2015 Rule and introducing a new one, the agencies implemented pre-2015 Rule regulations, as informed by applicable agency guidance documents and consistent with Supreme Court decisions and longstanding agency practice. This action was a temporary fix as the agencies continued their work in crafting the WOTUS replacement issued today.

NMPF has engaged with EPA on this issue for years, in meetings and in numerous written comments, seeking improvements to the 1986 WOTUS rule, which lacked clarity for farmers. While NMPF will need to carefully review today’s new rule, we were pleased with the proposed rule and believe it will provide much-needed clarity and not infringe on the rights and responsibilities of state jurisdictions.

December’s CWT-assisted sales of 4.1 million pounds of cheese, butter, whole milk powder and cream cheese raised the 2019 export sales to 48.9 million pounds of America-type cheeses, 5 million pounds of butter, 46.1 million pounds of whole milk powder, and 6.8 million pounds of cream cheese. The milk equivalent of these 2019 CWT-assisted sales is 956.3 billion pounds on a milkfat basis.

These sales mean an estimated 135 million pounds of CWT-assisted dairy products have been shipped out of the U.S. and into overseas markets in 2019, the milkfat equivalent of 1.257 billion pounds of milk.

In December, CWT assisted six member cooperatives in securing 42 sales contracts for 2.1 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 332,898 pounds of butter, 1 million pounds of whole milk powder, and 634,931 pounds of cream cheese. The products will be shipped during the months of December 2018 through April 2019.

Assisting CWT member cooperatives gain and maintain world market share through the Export Assistance program positively impacts all U.S. dairy farmers by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that directly impact their milk price. It does this by expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products beyond the domestic market thereby increasing the total demand for U.S. farm milk.

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 all dairy farmers benefit from CWT’s activities and should add their support to this important program in 2019 and beyond. Membership forms for 2019-2021 are available at http://www.cwt.coop/membership.