The popular Dairy Margin Coverage program signed up more than 22,000 dairy farmers – more than participated in the last year of the Margin Protection Program that it replaced — and paid out more than $302 million in its first year. That’s $302 million more than what farmers would have received under the MPP, which would have actually cost farmers money in 2019, according to an analysis of USDA data done by NMPF.

Monthly milk price/feed cost margins so far in 2019 have been above the $8 per hundredweight coverage cutoff that existed under MPP, but below the new $9.50 per hundredweight coverage limit under DMC, the stronger dairy safety net in the farm bill enacted last year with support from NMPF and the dairy community. Under the old MPP rules, the total paid out under the entire program so far this year would have been $75,000 — about $3 per farmer and a net loss for them after premium costs. Instead, the new DMC threshold has triggered hundreds of millions of dollars in much-needed assistance for dairy producers, showing the program’s value and helping farmers stay afloat who otherwise may not have been able to continue.

“The Dairy Margin Coverage program has proven its worth, with more than $300 million in farmers’ pockets as a result of our work on the farm bill with Congress and USDA,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “None of that assistance would have occurred under the MPP. We encourage farmers who haven’t already signed up for all five years of Dairy Margin Coverage to re-new their sign up for 2020, and for farmers who decided not to participate in the 2019 program to consider it in the future.”

According to the latest USDA data, 22,631 dairy producers signed up for DMC. Based on reported margins for the first eight months of the year, payouts so far for 2019 have been $302,906,824. More than half of all farmers who signed up chose to sign up for one year, with the rest signing up for the full five years at a 25 percent premium discount. Wisconsin signed up the largest number of farmers, while California enrolled the highest production volume of any state.

A key change to the program that boosted aid was the inclusion of dairy-quality alfalfa into the feed-cost calculation, which narrowed the difference between milk prices and feed costs and adjusted margins to better reflect dairy expenses, a change that NMPF pushed for throughout legislation and implementation.

“We thank USDA not only for prioritizing the DMC in farm-bill implementation but adjusting it in a way that provided additional benefit to producers,” Mulhern said. “The DMC’s success has truly been a partnership throughout, from a united dairy community that aided Congress as it crafted and approved the program, to USDA’s work with that community in making it reality.”

Wisconsin had the most farms sign up, while California enrolled the most production. More than half of all farmers who signed up chose to sign up for one year, with the rest signing up for the full five years at a 25 percent premium discount.

The 2020 DMC sign-up will start Oct. 7. NMPF has a resource page on its website with more information about the DMC.

ARLINGTON, VA. – The popular Dairy Margin Coverage program signed up more than 22,000 dairy farmers – more than participated in the last year of the Margin Protection Program that it replaced — and paid out more than $302 million in its first year. That’s $302 million more than what farmers would have received under the MPP, which would have actually cost farmers money in 2019, according to an analysis of USDA data done by NMPF.

Monthly milk price/feed cost margins so far in 2019 have been above the $8 per hundredweight coverage cutoff that existed under MPP, but below the new $9.50 per hundredweight coverage limit under DMC, the stronger dairy safety net enacted last year in the farm bill. Under the old MPP rules, the total paid out under the entire program so far this year would have been $75,000 — about $3 per farmer and a net loss for them after premium costs. Instead, the new DMC threshold has triggered hundreds of millions of dollars in much-needed assistance for dairy producers, showing the program’s value and helping farmers stay afloat who otherwise may not have been able to continue.

With 2020 signup beginning on Oct. 7, that success is worth keeping in mind as farmers weigh the program’s affordable cost versus its proven benefits.

“The Dairy Margin Coverage program has proven its worth, with more than $300 million in farmers’ pockets as a result of our work on the farm bill with Congress and USDA,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “None of that assistance would have occurred under the MPP. We encourage farmers who haven’t already signed up for all five years of Dairy Margin Coverage to re-new their sign up for 2020, and for farmers who decided not to participate in the 2019 program to consider it in the future.”

According to the latest USDA data, 22,631 dairy producers signed up for DMC. Based on reported margins for the first eight months of the year, payouts so far for 2019 have been $302,906,824. Wisconsin signed up the largest number of farmers, while California enrolled the highest production volume of any state.

A key change to the program that boosted aid was the inclusion of dairy-quality alfalfa into the feed-cost calculation, which narrowed the difference between milk prices and feed costs and adjusted margins to better reflect dairy expenses, a change that NMPF pushed for throughout legislation and implementation.

“We thank USDA not only for prioritizing the DMC in farm-bill implementation but adjusting it in a way that provided additional benefit to producers,” Mulhern said. “The DMC’s success has truly been a partnership throughout, from a united dairy community that aided Congress as it crafted and approved the program, to USDA’s work with that community in making it reality.”

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The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce more than two-thirds of U.S. milk, making NMPF dairy’s voice on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister’s Shinzo Abe’s agreement last week to a limited trade deal between the two countries is an important development in expanding one of dairy’s most important trade relationships.

Still, the announcement is only an initial step – more will need to be done to ensure that a U.S.-Japan trade pact’s full benefits for U.S. producers are realized. We at the National Milk Producers Federation, along with our colleagues at the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and producers and processors across the industry, are primed to work for further progress, helping to bolster the economic recovery we’re just beginning to see in our sector.

The agreement set to go into effect includes an important win for dairy, the phase-out of some tariffs on cheeses and whey. This is a noteworthy beginning to potentially greater gains that will be needed down the road, ones that build upon what our key competitors – the European Union, Australia and New Zealand – have secured there.

The stakes are meaningful: Japan is the fifth-biggest market for U.S. dairy, with $270 million in exports last year. It’s also a promising growth market – Japan’s milk production is declining, even as its per-capita consumption is increasing. While our exports have steadily met about one-fifth of Japan’s growing need for outside products for the past decade, the European Union has been growing as a major exporter into the country.

The U.S. is facing tougher competition due to a new trade agreement between the EU and Japan as well as the new Asian-Pacific trade agreement — the CPTPP — that both went into effect this year. A USDEC study earlier this year found that, without a level playing field for dairy, the U.S. risked losing $1.3 billion in exports over a decade, costing dairy farmers $1.7 billion in farm income. Status quo on Japan simply is not acceptable – because it is stepping backwards. We commend the administration for recognizing that and beginning the process of strengthening a long-term, mutually beneficial bilateral relationship.

We agree with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, as he noted to the House Ways and Means Committee this summer that “you cannot treat your best customer worse than you treat people from all these other countries in Europe and all the other TPP countries.” This deal appears to make headway toward that goal — but achieving it will depend on dogged determination in continued negotiations for a successful outcome.

As outlined in a letter coordinated by NMPF and USDEC and signed by 70 dairy companies, farmer-owned cooperatives, and associations to USTR and USDA, we need the U.S. government to move swiftly to finalize a strong comprehensive trade agreement with Japan that secures critical market access for the U.S. dairy industry. The agreement represents a valuable down-payment toward that goal. We will continue to advocate for a deal that builds upon the best dairy components of the Japan-EU agreement and the CPTPP, and affirmatively safeguards the use of common cheese names.

We can’t let this issue lose urgency, even after Prime Minister Abe and President Trump have gone home and the devilish details have been left to the negotiators. In addition to the deepened trade relationship we urge the U.S. to continue to pursue on dairy with Japan, more trade policy advancements are needed to advance dairy’s long-term sustainability, such as additional treaties with other agricultural-importing trading partners and quick congressional approval USMCA. We are ready to do all we can to turn this early portion of the U.S.-Japan trade agreement – this important “down payment” on expanded access — into a fuller and broader agreement that will help U.S. dairy exporters keep pace and make gains in this great and growing dairy market.

(Note: NMPF’s Dairy Defined 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. – One important lesson we’re taught in high school science class is the adage that “correlation is not causation.”

One example is the commonly reported, “milk is losing market share to plant-based beverages,” which implies that nut-flavored water is winning a one-on-one-battle with milk. It’s true that per-capita fluid milk consumption has declined. It’s also true that beverages made of almonds, oats, and other crops have entered the dairy case. But is the market share relationship as directly A-to-B as a plant-based industry lobbyist would like you to think? To consider:

First, let’s look at market share. Today, milk still outsells plant-based imitators by a margin of more than 11 to 1:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, remember that as new beverages enter the market, the marketplace segments. Consumption of established beverages tends to decline as competitors take up shelf space. It’s easier to grow from a smaller base than a larger one. Despite that dynamic, milk is holding up better against new entrants than some other established beverages. For example, here’s the trendline for milk compared to orange juice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, if plant-based beverages aren’t the main factor affecting fluid milk’s market share, what is? The truth is it’s one of the food industry’s biggest “innovations” of the 21^st century – convincing consumers it’s better to buy water in a bottle than to drink it for free from a tap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where milk-drinkers have gone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to a 2017 study by IRI, about 82 percent of lost sales volume for white milk came from consumer switching, with most of the rest from lower overall beverage consumption. Of the volume lost to switching, 53 percent of milk went to bottled water (unfortunate, in light of the recent study showing that milk is better than water for hydration). More than a quarter of the rest went to coffee, tea and fruit juices. Plant-based beverages were in a lowly fifth place, accounting for 6.6 percent, with another 4.3 percent going to other dairy beverages, such as flavored milk or yogurt. That’s enough to alert an industry already passionate about nutrition and labeling integrity, but far from the breathless hype some in food marketing and food media would have you believe.

The decline in fluid milk consumption remains a dairy-industry concern, even as total dairy-product use reaches its highest per capita levels since 1962. With leading medical and nutrition organizations recommending only milk or water for children under 5, and with a natural product tailor-made to prevent numerous common vitamin deficiencies, milk remains essential for many diets. The sad truth is consumers lose out when they make an inferior choice (especially when they don’t realize it), and we’re working hard to protect milk’s strong consumer reputation and make its merits clear when compared to the competition.

But any argument that ties milk-consumption trends to an imaginary mass switching to plant-based beverages misses most of the story. One might even suspect the only reason this narrative exists at all is because plant-based imitators have gotten away with calling their products “milk,” contrary to federal regulatory definitions. The imitations are sincerely flattering, in a way. But when it comes to comparing market share, don’t let them flatter themselves.

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The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce more than two-thirds of U.S. milk, making NMPF dairy’s voice on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

The National Milk Producers Federation, with support from Dairy Management Inc., today announced updates to animal care standards under the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management, or FARM, Animal Care program after a rigorous 16-month stakeholder review.

The fourth iteration of the FARM Animal Care Program’s standards supports closer farmer-veterinarian relationships, requires continuing education for all employees and adds a new standard for pain management when disbudding animals. As with previous versions of FARM Animal Care, a robust suite of materials that include templates, FAQs, continuing education videos and other resource tools will be made available to help producers meet the outlined standards. These resources are available to producers through their cooperative or processor and can be found on the FARM Resources web page. Hard copy resources are also available upon request.

“FARM’s Animal Care Program 4.0 underscores the dairy community’s commitment to continually improving animal care and incorporating the latest animal-welfare research, demonstrating to consumers that dairy is a leader in the humane and ethical care of our animals,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “We are committed to ensuring that farms are prepared to meet the updated standards and that the supply chain – from farm to fork — has full transparency as well as high-quality dairy products.”

FARM Animal Care is updated once every three years to ensure relevance to current industry best management practices and scientific research related to on-farm animal care. Farmers nationwide, dairy veterinarians and animal-welfare experts and dairy-industry leaders are all represented in drafting and approving new standards received 370 submissions that guided final decisions made on Version 4.0.

Significant changes going into effect beginning Jan. 1 include:

• If tail docking is found to have continued to occur, immediate action must be taken to cease the practice.
• Standards that generate a Mandatory Corrective Action Plan — ranging from veterinarian engagement (Veterinarian-Client-Patient-Relationship and herd health plan review), calf care, non-ambulatory, euthanasia and fitness to transport management practices, and disbudding prior to 8 weeks of age — will need to be addressed within nine months of the evaluation. For additional specifics around the standards updates, please visit this site.

FARM staff will be attending and exhibiting at the World Dairy Expo from Oct. 1-5 at booth EH4508. FARM is also hosting a lunch at Expo on Thursday, Oct. 3^rd at noon CT to more broadly discuss current initiatives within FARM. RSVP is required and can be completed by emailing the FARM Inbox at dairyfarm@nmpf.org.

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The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce more than two-thirds of U.S. milk, making NMPF the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.

Created by the National Milk Producers Federation in partnership with Dairy Management Inc, the National Dairy FARM (Farmers Assuring Responsible Management) works with all U.S. dairy farmers, co-ops and processors, to demonstrate to dairy customers and consumers that the dairy industry is taking the very best care of cows and the environment, producing safe, wholesome milk and adhering to the highest standards of workforce development.

ARLINGTON, VA – The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) today thanked the U.S. government for its work to reach an interim agreement with Japan that will deliver improvements in market access for the U.S. dairy industry, while noting that the work to secure a sufficient competitive landscape in Japan for dairy is not finished.

NMPF and USDEC look forward to reviewing with their members the details of this first stage of a trade agreement with Japan to take advantage of the new opportunities it will provide on a near-term basis while continuing to work with the Administration to secure the additional elements that are still needed to ensure a strong final dairy package in a comprehensive agreement.

“This enhanced access into the Japanese market is welcome news. Japan represents a rapidly growing market, and without a trade deal, our competitors are poised to seize valuable market share from U.S. dairy,” said Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of USDEC. “This first stage of a US-Japan agreement will improve upon today’s status quo, which has been unsatisfactory ever since Japan’s treaties with the CPTPP nations and the EU went into effect. To continue that progress toward closing the competitiveness gap with both CPTPP and EU suppliers, it’s essential that the U.S. secure further market openings and assurances in the second stage of negotiations with Japan to best position the U.S. to compete against all of our major competitors in Japan.”

“This interim trade agreement with Japan is welcome news for farmers across the U.S. who have seen their incomes damaged by trade disputes,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “Today’s news is not the end of the road though; it’s the first leg of the journey. We thank America’s trade negotiators for their pursuit of a deal aimed at benefiting our dairy farmers and expanding international markets for their high-quality milk. To reap those full rewards and ensure the U.S. is able to best compete in the Japanese market, the subsequent stage of negotiations must secure further inroads into Japan, building upon what our key competitors – the European Union and New Zealand – have secured there.”

NMPF and USDEC agree with what Ambassador Lighthizer told the House Ways and Means Committee during his testimony in June: “You cannot treat your best customer worse than you treat people from all these other countries in Europe and all the other TPP countries.”

Last month, USDEC and NMPF coordinated a letter signed by 70 dairy companies, farmer-owned cooperatives, and associations to the United States Trade Representative and the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture asking the U.S. government to move swiftly to finalize a strong trade deal with Japan and secure critical market access for the U.S. dairy industry. The objectives outlined in that letter remain the industry’s expectation for a comprehensive agreement with Japan.

The U.S. exported $270 million in dairy products to Japan in 2018 with room for further growth. However, without a strong trade agreement that addresses the inequalities in market access granted to our competitors by the Japan-EU and CPTPP agreements, a 2019 USDEC study found that the U.S. risked losing $1.3 billion in exports over a decade, costing dairy farmers $1.7 billion in farm income.

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The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce more than two-thirds of U.S. milk, making NMPF dairy’s voice on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) is a non-profit, independent membership organization that represents the global trade interests of U.S. dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders. Its mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and assist the U.S. industry to increase its global dairy ingredient sales and exports of U.S. dairy products.

 

(Note: This is the first installment of NMPF’s Dairy Defined podcast, part of its “Dairy Defined” series exploring 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. Food and Drug Administration on Friday is holding a public meeting on “Horizontal Approaches to Food Standards of Identity Modernization” — horizontal being the idea that by making changes to food standards of identity that cut across categories, goals like “innovation” and “flexibility” may be encouraged.

Sounds great, right? Maybe – but Clay Detlefsen, senior vice president for regulatory and environmental affairs at NMPF, is providing comments at the meeting. He says the FDA should proceed with caution. Food products are unique, and an across-the-board approach could have unintended consequences that could harm consumers, he said.

“It’s a nice approach on its face, but I think when you start to get into details, concerns start to surface,” he said. “Consumers definitely could be misled.”

To listen to the full podcast, click here. You can also find the Dairy Defined podcast on Spotify and SoundCloud.

NOTE: Broadcast outlets may use the MP3 file. Please attribute information to NMPF.

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The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce more than two-thirds of U.S. milk, making NMPF dairy’s voice on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

ARLINGTON, VA. – The National Milk Producers Federation is urging farmers to take advantage of a one-week extension in the Dairy Margin Coverage program signup deadline to Sept. 27, announced by USDA today.

“Dairy farmers have much to gain by signing up for this program, and another week to take advantage of this benefit can be nothing but helpful for them,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “We urge producers to take advantage of this added opportunity to sign up.”

The USDA said Thursday that more than 21,000 dairy farms have signed up for the new program, the main risk-protection tool for dairy farmers enacted in the 2018 Farm Bill, nearing the level that participated last year in the Margin Protection Program, which DMC replaced. DMC is guaranteed to pay all producers enrolled at the maximum $9.50/cwt. coverage level for every month of production through July, according to USDA data. DMC improvements from the MPP include:

• Affordable higher coverage levels that permit all dairy producers to insure margins up to $9.50/cwt. on their Tier 1 (first five million pounds) production history, a higher level than previous programs.
• A 25 percent premium discount for farmers who lock in coverage for the full five years of the program.
• Affordable $5.00 coverage that lowers premium costs by roughly 88 percent. This creates more meaningful catastrophic-type coverage at a reasonable cost for larger producers without distorting the market signals needed to balance supply with demand.
• An improved feed-cost formula to better reflect the true cost of feeding dairy cows.

NMPF has a resource page on its new website with more information about the DMC.

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The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce more than two-thirds of U.S. milk, making NMPF dairy’s voice on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

ARLINGTON, VA. – With sign-up for the 2019 Dairy Margin Coverage program ending Friday, the National Milk Producers Federation urged all dairy farmers to enroll in the program, which guarantees a payout for producers that’s higher than program premiums in 2019.

The DMC, the main risk-protection tool for dairy farmers enacted in the 2018 farm bill, is guaranteed to pay all producers enrolled at the maximum $9.50/cwt. coverage level for every month of production through July, according to USDA data.  More than 71% of dairy operations with an established DMC production history have enrolled so far for this year, representing more than 19,000 producers nationwide.

“DMC signup, especially at the maximum $9.50 coverage level, is a no-brainer for dairy producers,” said Jim Mulhern, NMPF President and CEO. “But to take advantage of this program, delay is no longer possible. Farmers need to sign up now.”

The DMC, created in the 2018 Farm Bill, is a much more robust safety net for dairy producers of all sizes than the Margin Protection Program, which has been discontinued. DMC improvements include:

• Affordable higher coverage levels that permit all dairy producers to insure margins up to $9.50/cwt. on their Tier 1 (first five million pounds) production history, a higher level than previous programs.
• A new option for producers to receive a 25 percent discount on their premiums if they agree to lock in their coverage for the five-year period of this Farm Bill.  However, producers will be allowed to pay their premiums annually even if they elect the five-year discount.
• The feed-cost formula has been improved to include dairy quality hay values, which better reflects the true cost of feeding dairy cows.
• Affordable $5.00 coverage that lowers premium costs by roughly 88 percent. This creates more meaningful catastrophic-type coverage at a reasonable cost for larger producers without distorting the market signals needed to balance supply with demand.

NMPF has a resource page on its new website with more information about the program, including this 4-page brochure summarizing key facts about the DMC.

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The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce more than two-thirds of U.S. milk, making NMPF dairy’s voice on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

ARLINGTON, Va. – Dairy is facing challenges. In a crowded beverage marketplace, per-capita fluid milk consumption in the U.S. is down by a quarter in the past 20 years, and the number of U.S. dairy farms dropped 6.8 percent in 2018.

That’s one part of the story. But a more accurate picture of the health of the dairy industry is much brighter than the doom and gloom conjured from selective use of data. No matter what critics may say, attempts to craft a “death of dairy” narrative are mistaken.

Looking more broadly than milk in a glass, per-capita dairy consumption has been on the rise since the 1970s, according to USDA data. Last year’s level – 646 pounds per person – was the most popular year for dairy in the U.S. since 1962.

Individual products tell similar stories. Cheese per-capita consumption has tripled since 1971. Butter is at its highest per-capita use since 1968. Contrast that with nose-diving sales of margarine, the longest-established “plant-based” dairy alternative, which in 2010 was at its lowest per-capita consumption since 1942. After that, the federal government stopped tracking it altogether.

Milk, like every other beverage, exists in a competitive marketplace. Bottled water, orange juice, energy drinks, and yes, plant-based dairy imposters, all compete for shelf space. But spinning a segmenting beverage market into a “declining dairy” narrative is disingenuous at best, dishonest at worst. Just like Mark Twain when he said of an erroneous news story, “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” dairy is very much alive — and on the rise. _­­­

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The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce more than two-thirds of U.S. milk, making NMPF dairy’s voice on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.