At $9.27 per cwt., the July margin under the Dairy Margin Coverage program came in under the maximum $9.50 per cwt. program coverage level for the seventh, and likely final month in 2019, given current Chicago Mercantile Exchange forecasts.

Absent any additional payments for the final five months of the year, the net payment for the full year to producers signing up at that maximum coverage level for their first five million pounds of covered production history will be $0.36 per cwt., after sequestration reduction and payment of premium. Nine cents of this average payment comes from including dairy-quality alfalfa hay in the DMC feed-cost calculation, a change in policy NMPF pushed for throughout farm bill discussion and implementation.

Producers have until September 20 to enroll in the program for this year.

The changes in the July DMC margin and its components from the month before are shown in the chart on the left.  All numbers are per hundredweight of milk and are rounded to the nearest cent.

The DMC information page on NMPF’s website offers a variety of educational resources to help farmers make better use of the program. NMPF also posted a new video last week explaining how farmers can benefit from the DMC.

With the signup deadline for the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program quickly approaching on September 20, NMPF urges all dairy farmers to enroll in the program. The DMC is guaranteed to pay all producers enrolled at the maximum $9.50/cwt. coverage level for at least every month of production this year through July, according to USDA data.

The latest enrollment numbers indicate that 68 percent of dairy operations with an established production history have enrolled so far for this year. This represents more than 18,000 producers nationwide.

“Dairy farmers want their income to come from the market. But given continued poor prices through the first half of this year DMC payments will provide welcome certainty for farmers,” said Jim Mulhern, NMPF President and CEO. “DMC offers better support for dairy farmers than its predecessor, the Margin Protection Program. It’s worthwhile for every farmer.”

Created in the 2018 Farm Bill, the DMC offers a much more robust safety net for dairy producers of all sizes. 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 new option for producers to receive a 25 percent annual discount on their premiums if they agree to lock in their coverage for the five-year period of this Farm Bill. Producers are still able to pay premiums annually even if they elect the five-year discount.
• An improved feed-cost formula, which includes dairy quality hay values and better reflects the true cost of feeding dairy cows.
• Affordable $5.00 coverage that lowers premium costs by roughly 88 percent, creating a 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 website with more information about the program, including a  brochure, which summarizes key facts about the DMC. “Time for sign-up is running out,” Mulhern said. “Anyone who hasn’t enrolled yet should contact their local USDA Farm Service Agency office immediately to gain the benefits of the DMC program.”

It’s sad and infuriating. It’s also inevitable when the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t enforce its own regulations.

In a move demanded by no one other than a marketing department desperate to rebrand its product away from a declining sales category, Country Crock, longtime maker of a vegetable-oil spread, this summer has begun peddling its new “Plant-Based Butter,” in the hopes that consumers will be fooled by this “old wine in a new bottle.” It’s far from the only corporation jumping on the “plant-based” bandwagon, but it’s a good example of why the arguments the vegan lobby makes on plant-based labeling are built on lies, and how the increasingly brazen flouting of FDA rules shows it’s long past time for the agency to fulfill its responsibilities to consumers and the marketplace.

First, Country Crock’s rebranding shows that plant-based encroachment on the dairy world is about sales and money above all else. There’s nothing new about a plant-based Country Crock product. The company has made imitation butter — margarine and vegetable-oil spreads — since the 1940s. Other than changed packaging and different oil sources, their take on “plant-based” is same-old, same old.

So why the name change? Because sales data shows that consumption of vegetable-based butter imitators is steeply declining while real butter is on the rise. According to USDA data, margarine consumption in 2017 was at 3.5 pounds per person, the lowest since 1942, while butter consumption has jumped to over 5.7 pounds per person, rising to the highest per-capita consumption since 1968.

While margarine is tanking, the innovative-sounding term “plant-based” is, like butter, also increasing. Given that perspective, it’s hardly surprising that various manufacturers of vegetable-oil spreads that already have a 150-year history as margarine would want to try to re-invent themselves as purveyors of “plant-based butter”.

Aside from the crass consumer deception at play here, the marketing ploy doesn’t get past another fundamental point about this type of labeling: It’s illegal.

The use of butter terms for imitation butter products is in some ways an even more egregious slap in the face of the law than misuse of dairy terms in other categories. Milk has a regulatory standard of identity, which the FDA should enforce. Butter, meanwhile, has specific legislation – the Butter Act, which has set federal standards for butter since 1923 – that was explicitly established to bar inferior plant-based products from using the name. Such products have, for generations, been referred to as “margarine,” a product with its own federal standard of identity. But with margarine sales falling, no one is flocking to the term “plant-based margarine,” even though that would seem to be the correct term to use.

(As an aside – even in its traditional packaging, Country Crock isn’t actually margarine. The product is a “spread,” a term for vegetable-oil products that didn’t meet the standards of margarine, which didn’t meet the standard for butter. Their purported “butter,” then, is more appropriately an imitation of an imitation.)

Country Crock’s use of a dairy term also proves a third important point: The argument that consumers need such language to understand what a product is, is false. Anyone who has gone grocery shopping since the end of World War II knows what Country Crock is – a cheap butter substitute, served in large buckets, often at all-you-can-eat buffets. That’s a reminder that “plant-based” doesn’t equal “innovation,” no matter what an entrepreneur who’s raised a bunch of venture capital and hopes to cash out quickly will tell you. Consumers not fooled by Country Crock’s crock – owned by infamous, deep-pocketed corporate raiders KKR & Co., the original “Barbarians at the Gate” — also shouldn’t be impressed by Pure Blends, Miyoko’s or other producers of plant-based, er, margarine and spread, products that mimic butter. It’s a tired, but oft-repeated, tale: highly processed, industrially crafted products attempting to ride on dairy’s reputation for high quality, all in the name of profits.

Country Crock’s attempt at rebranding is ridiculous, but it isn’t a laughing matter. The problem FDA needs to fix is only getting worse. Labeling abuse is out of control, with outcomes that would be comic were they not so unfortunate. It doesn’t take an expert to see that “plant-based butter” is one of the biggest crocks in the dairy case. For consumer understanding and marketplace clarity, it’s high time FDA ends this charade.

ARLINGTON, VA – With one month left until the 2019 sign-up for the Dairy Margin Coverage program closes, the National Milk Producers Federation urged all dairy farmers to enroll in the program, which guarantees a payout for cash-strapped producers in 2019.

The DMC, a retooling of dairy programs included 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 June, with another payment predicted for July, according to USDA data and forecasts.  Enrollment numbers released yesterday indicate that 63% of dairy operations with an established DMC production history have enrolled so far for this year. This represents nearly 17,000 producers nationwide.

“Dairy farmers prefer to get their income from the market, but much-needed payments for the first half of this year provide welcome certainty for farmers,” said Jim Mulhern, NMPF President and CEO. “DMC offers better support for dairy farmers than its predecessor, the Margin Protection Program. It’s worthwhile for every farmer.”

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 – In an effort organized by the National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council, 70 dairy companies, farmer-owned cooperatives, and associations today sent a letter to the United States Trade Representative and the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture asking the U.S. government to capitalize on the conclusion of Japan’s national elections and quickly finalize a strong trade deal with Japan in order to secure critical market access for the dairy industry here at home.

“Given that Japan is an established market with a growing demand for dairy products, the successful negotiation of a robust trade agreement with Japan will bring a much-needed boost to the economic health of the U.S. dairy industry and set our industry up on a path to compete effectively there moving forward. Securing robust dairy export opportunities into this overseas market will be critical to restoring confidence for our dairy farmers and processors across the country,” they wrote.

The continued success of the U.S. dairy industry relies on stable export opportunities to markets abroad and Japan represents a major opportunity to expand growth. However, the Japan-EU agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) have allowed the European Union, New Zealand and Australia to position themselves to seize sales from the U.S. dairy industry. Swift negotiation of a trade deal with Japan that builds upon the best components of the Japan-EU agreement and the CPTPP is urgently necessary for America’s dairy farmers and processors.

“Eroding dairy competitiveness in Japan is at a critical point. The time to re-level the tariff and access playing field is right now,” said Stan Ryan, President and CEO of Darigold. “Today Darigold supplies over 50% of the US American-style cheese exports to Japan. Those sales will soon be lost as competitor trade deals take effect.”

“Japan has been a very important market for Leprino Foods Company’s US-produced products for years,” said Sue Taylor, Vice President of Dairy Policy and Procurement for Leprino Foods Company. “We invested heavily in developing lactose and whey protein exports several decades ago and, more recently, mozzarella exports into this important market and believe that the market has significant further growth potential.  We risk losing these sales and growth opportunities to competitors who recently finalized preferential trade agreements unless the US negotiates a strong agreement.  We are very supportive of the administration’s efforts to secure an agreement that allows us to retain and grow this important market.”

“Japan is an important market for Glanbia Nutritionals, where we have the opportunity to grow our dairy exports,” said Wilf Costello, Chief Commercial Officer for Global Cheese with Glanbia Nutritionals. “We are at an important juncture where our competitors have secure preferential trading terms that are impacting US dairy ambitions. To ensure we can deliver on the opportunity in Japan, we need our trade negotiators to quickly finalize a trade agreement that secures access for American dairy products and ample room to grow.”

The U.S. exported $270 million in dairy products to Japan in 2018 with room for further growth. However, without a strong U.S.-Japan trade agreement, half of U.S. dairy sales to Japan will be wrested by competitors, mounting to a toll of $5.4 billion in lost export sales when Japan’s deals with the EU and CPTPP are fully phased in.

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The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, Va., develops and carries out policies that advance the well-being of U.S. dairy producers and the cooperatives they collectively own. The members of NMPF’s cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S, milk supply, making NMPF the voice of nearly 32,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more on NMPF’s activities, 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. USDEC accomplishes this through programs in market development that build global demand for U.S. dairy products, resolve market access barriers and advance industry trade policy goals. USDEC is supported by staff across the United States and overseas in Mexico, South America, Asia, Middle East and Europe. The U.S. Dairy Export Council prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, disability, national origin, race, color, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, political beliefs, marital status, military status, and arrest or conviction record.

Listen to the latest updates on trade mitigation payments and the Dairy Margin Coverage program with Chris Galen, senior vice president of membership services and strategic initiatives on Dairy Radio Now.

The NMPF Scholarship Committee selected three graduate students at its June meeting to receive scholarships as part of the 2019 NMPF National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program. These students are conducting research in areas that will benefit dairy cooperatives and producers.

The 2019 Hintz Memorial Scholarship, given to the top scholarship candidate, was awarded to Amber Roberts, an MS candidate in Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities studying the factors that influence resilient dairy farms.

Additional scholarships were awarded to:

Cesar Matamoros, a PhD candidate in Integrative and Biomedical Physiology at the Pennsylvania State University studying the role of volatile fatty acids as metabolic regulators of mammary lipogenesis in the bovine.

Russell Pate, a PhD candidate in Ruminant Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studying nutritional and environmental stressors and their effect on performance and immunological parameters in dairy cattle.

Congratulations!

The FARM Program welcomes Tyler Knapp as FARM Program Coordinator. Tyler, who holds degrees from the Oregon State University, the University of Arkansas, the University of Georgia and Ghent University, most recently worked in community and economic development with the University of Arkansas Extension Service.

Knapp will also assist FARM Program participants with managing and troubleshooting within the FARM Database, as well as handling administrative duties. “It is really exciting to get to work on projects for the dairy industry that will help farmers remain profitable while improving the welfare of cows, the environment and workers,” he said.

As part of the leadup to the implementation of FARM Animal Care Version 4.0, the National Dairy FARM Program hosted the first of four FARM Animal Care Version 4.0 Evaluator and Evaluator Trainer Courses in Madison, Wisconsin July 15^–17. FARM also held its fourth annual evaluator conference July 23-25.

FARM Animal Care Version 4.0, which will launch on Jan. 1 through the end of 2022, establishes a more refined process for animal care evaluator selection and training, including an increase of previous on-farm experience, more robust initial application and increased length of training. These updates, the focus of the training sessions, serve to increase the integrity and consistency of implementation of the FARM Animal Care Program. Evaluator requirements and application can be found here.

At the evaluator conference held in Denver, evaluators from across the country gathered to network and discuss updates to FARM. Evaluators had the opportunity to listen to speakers discuss relevant topics such as implementing FARM Environmental Stewardship at the participant level and the impact on animal welfare due to labor-related matters.