Effectively representing the interests of the nation’s dairy farmers and their cooperatives requires a balance of short-, intermediate-, and long-term efforts. Nowhere is that principle more evident than in our fight against fake milk and milk products – and it motivates why we’re opening another chapter in a saga we believe will have a successful conclusion.

While the dairy industry has gone through booms and busts, advances and setbacks, the fake-dairy product issue has always loomed as one of the sector’s longest-term struggles. We’ve been engaging the FDA on it since at least 1979. Its echoes reach back even further – dairy history buffs may recall regulatory battles more than 80 years ago against plant-based alternatives we now call “margarine.”

But last summer, prompted by our persistent efforts and crystallized by FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s famous declaration that “almonds don’t lactate,” fake milk quickly became a hot-button, near-term priority. The FDA (finally) moved, and it triggered an all-hands-on-deck effort as we rallied our members to make sure dairy and its consumers stood united in support of transparency in the marketplace. An FDA request for information on labeling attracted more than 14,000 comments – a docket we won on substance, as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the School Nutrition Association, and a range of others came to our side.

The comment docket is closed now. Scott Gottlieb is moving on from FDA. With the agency’s request for information fulfilled, the most interested commissioner of the past four decades gone, and dairy farmers facing acute economic circumstances that dominate present concerns, one could easily fear that fake milk will return to a back-burner.

We are confident that will not be the case, and we are actively working to make sure it won’t.

Following the FDA docket’s conclusion, we analyzed comments, took a close look at the opposition arguments made within it, and refined our own “Road Map” that we had been working on since last September to resolve the fake-dairy issue. On Feb. 21 we submitted our proposal to the FDA as a Citizen Petition – and the FDA has opened a new docket and  set a comment period for stakeholders with a deadline of Aug. 20, 2019. The Citizen Petition gives the agency what it needs to resolve this issue to the benefit of consumers by improving labeling transparency and truthfulness.

Our key points – the ones the FDA must consider as it fulfills its mission of serving the public interest – include:

• Dairy products are nutritionally superior to its imitators. In addition to pointing out dairy’s role as the ideal package for nine essential nutrients, we also detail emerging science in areas such as protein quality that highlight the advantages of animal-based protein.
• Consumers are being misled about the nutritional value of inferior plant-based products. That’s been evident in every public survey taken on the issue; it was central to the materials we and others submitted to the docket; and frankly, some of our opposition’s comments submitted to the FDA unintentionally but effectively illustrated that point for us, with numerous reference to beverages made of almonds, oats and other plant products as “healthier” when in reality, most of these flavored imitations have clearly inferior nutritional content.
• Public health, and especially the health of children, is compromised with every day of inaction. Reports of nutritional deficiencies among children fed plant-based imitation foods as part of vegan diets were detailed during the FDA comment period. Our petition explains how this phenomenon requires decisive and swift action, given its potential to increase with the proliferation of mislabeled plant-based products inappropriately using dairy terminology.
• The need for FDA to enforce its dairy products Standards of Identity governing the allowable use of dairy terms has grown more acute with marketplace evolution. Our petition updates guidelines for the present-day, clarifying, for example, that products of sheep, goats, and other lactating animals be included in dairy-termed products.
• Requiring plant-based food manufacturers to provide factual and uncontroversial information to clearly inform consumers does not conflict with 1^st Amendment free-speech concerns. Addressing this head-on is one of the most important services of our petition, as it resolves an area of interest explicitly raised by the FDA while defusing the specious arguments of our vegan adversaries, who equate free speech with a license to mislead.

This effort complements our ongoing work to create the best possible environment into which milk producers can sell their products. Along with the new Dairy Margin Coverage program that improves the financial safety net for our farmers and our continued vigilance to expand international markets to boost demand, the fake-milk fight improves farmer fortunes by ensuring that U.S. consumers will choose products in a transparent and truthful marketplace – because we know that when competition is fair, dairy will be recognized as the superior choice that it is.

Our Citizen Petition is only one indicator of continued urgency. Others include the re-introduction of the DAIRY Pride Act in Congress, a bipartisan, bicameral effort led in the Senate by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jim Risch (R-ID) and in the House by Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Mike Simpson (R-ID). The legislation lets the FDA know that if it doesn’t act, Congress is prepared to demand enforcement of current labeling rules governing plant-based imitators. With the public momentum we have gained in the past year, the road map we have presented to FDA, the efforts of our friends in Congress, and our dogged determination, fake milk labeling is an issue whose time for resolution has arrived.

Because of the nature of government decision-making we can’t quite say resolution will be immediate. We don’t control the FDA, and leadership transitions and competing priorities undeniably consume time. But this issue has never been about one person or one administration. And we believe this matter is now one that will be resolved sooner rather than later.

That’s a key part of how this has shifted from the old days, when we knew that we were right on principle, but opportunities to advance that principle were limited by bureaucratic intransigence. Now, through the hard work and support of the dairy community, as well as our tenacity on this issue, prospects for positive resolution are higher than ever, for good reason. The dairy community must stay engaged with us, and together we will see this through.

ARLINGTON, VA – April 1, 2019 – An administration proposal to close the U. S. southern border with Mexico would send shock waves through the U.S. dairy industry, closing off access to its largest dairy export market, according to leading U.S. dairy organizations. The dairy industry is suffering through one of its worst economic periods ever,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF). “Low milk prices are already creating hardship for farmers, and further supply disruptions would only prolong producer difficulties.” More than seven dairy farms close each day in the United States, according to data from the USDA. “Dairy exporters already are suffering from diminished access to export markets due to high tariffs and lack of progress on U.S. trade agreements,” noted Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC). “Closing the U.S. southern border to Mexico would be a gut punch that could set the industry back by a decade or two.” Mexico is U.S. dairy’s largest export customer, purchasing $1.4 billion (USD) in 2018. “There is not a ready alternative market for the millions of gallons of milk that are converted into the thousands of tons of dairy ingredients and cheese we ship to Mexico,” Vilsack said. “It is very difficult to fathom the impact closing the U.S.-Mexico border would have on U.S. agriculture, and both the American and Mexican food industries.” USDEC has spent more than two decades building the market for U.S. dairy products in Mexico. Mulhern and Vilsack noted that as bad as a southern border closing would be for the U.S. dairy industry, it will hurt their friends and colleagues in Mexico even worse, given the dependence of its consumers on U.S. products. “U.S. dairy products are the lifeblood to the Mexican food industry, whose development USDEC and NMPF have helped foster,” Mulhern said. “We cannot condone limiting access to food as a bargaining chip in solving immigration issues,” Vilsack concluded. U.S. Dairy Exports to Mexico at a Glance: ·       In 2018, a record 15.8 percent of U.S. milk production was exported. Mexico was the largest single customer for U.S. dairy exports, with sales of $1.4 billion (USD). ·       U.S dairy exports totaled $5.59 billion (USD) in sales in 2018—an increase of 619 percent since 1995. Mexico and Southeast Asia are America’s top two dairy export markets, accounting for 39 percent of total annual export value. ·       Mexico is the largest customer for U.S. milk powder, cheese and butterfat. 2018 was a record year for U.S. sales of nonfat dry milk/skim milk powder and butterfat to Mexico while milk protein concentrate sales reached a 10-year high. ·       Every $1 of U.S. dairy exports to Mexico generates $2.50 of economic activity in the United States, according to a study by Informa Economics.

 

 

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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, visitwww.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.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The National Milk Producers Federation today thanked key House and Senate dairy leaders for adding bipartisan momentum to implementing new, greatly needed dairy programs, a top priority for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The letters from the House and Senate to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue urge the department to implement dairy-related provisions of the Farm Bill passed in 2018 as swiftly as possible. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) and senior committee member Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA) led the House effort, and Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) led in the Senate. As noted in the letters, the new Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program and other improvements in the new farm bill will provide critical help to dairy farmers this year.

The letters, signed by 77 House members and 38 Senators from both parties, also urge active USDA engagement with farmers on multiple levels, including mailings, phone calls and local meetings, as well as collaboration with stakeholders including state officials, cooperatives, producer groups and institutions of higher education.

“We commend Chairman Peterson, Rep. Thompson, Ranking Member Stabenow, Senator Blunt, and their numerous colleagues for drawing attention to the difficulties dairy farmers are enduring,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “Implementing dairy programs in a fast and farmer-friendly manner is important to NMPF members. We applaud Secretary Perdue for his efforts to commit to a timeline that gives farmers some certainty for financial planning. We need to ensure that outreach is broad and that farm-specific issues that arise during implementation are addressed with flexibility.”

“We look forward to working with USDA to continue to best serve our hard-working, economically stressed producers, and we support the congressional support of this process,” Mulhern said.

 

Here’s what farmers are saying about implementation efforts: 

“Our dairy farmers have endured four consecutive years of low prices – both here in Missouri and across the country.  I commend the bipartisan support in Congress for quickly implementing the new dairy provisions of the farm bill, which will be a significant help in times like these.  I’m particularly appreciative of my own Senator, Roy Blunt, for co-leading this effort on the Senate side.  He has been a friend and ally of dairy dating back to his past service in the House.”

– Randy Mooney, Rogersville, Missouri, dairy farmer. Chairman of the Board for NMPF and Dairy Farmers of America. 

“As a constituent dairy farmer of Chairman Peterson’s, I have long appreciated his commitment to standing up for Minnesota’s hardworking dairy farmers. He is a leader on countless issues for dairy and ag, and mostly recently spearheaded efforts to reform dairy policy in the 2018 Farm Bill. The new Dairy Margin Coverage program will make a meaningful difference for all dairy farmers, especially as we head into a fifth consecutive year of low milk prices. I am thrilled the Chairman is leading a bipartisan group of 77 members urging USDA to quickly implement this important program.”

– Steve Schlangen, Albany, Minnesota, dairy farmer. AMPI (Associated Milk Producers Inc.) Chairman of the Board.

“The dairy industry has faced a number of challenges in recent years, ranging from low prices to export challenges to high costs of labor, and Michigan is no exception.  I’m extremely grateful for the work that Senator Debbie Stabenow has done on behalf of dairy farmers in Michigan and across the country to improve dairy policy.  The improvements made in the farm bill build on helpful reforms made last year, and I’m eager to see them implemented as soon as possible.  This bipartisan letter that Senator Stabenow has led helps reinforce this important need.”

– Ken Nobis, St. Johns, Michigan, dairy farmer. NMPF First Vice Chairman.

“Pennsylvania dairy farmers are entering a fifth consecutive year of depressed milk prices.  As a dairy farmer myself, I’ve watched countless neighbors of mine close up shop in recent years during this challenging time.  Rep. GT Thompson has been an outstanding advocate for Pennsylvania’s dairy farmers through his work on the Agriculture Committee.  We look forward to working with him and his colleagues to quickly implement the new Dairy Margin Coverage program, which will provide important benefits to farmers here and around the country.”

– Amanda Condo, Pennsylvania dairy producer. Paul Dotterer & Sons Inc.

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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 the majority of U.S. milk, making NMPF the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The National Milk Producers Federation voiced strong support for the DAIRY PRIDE Act today, calling it another means toward a crucial end for consumers: the end of mislabeled non-dairy products as “milks” in the marketplace.

The legislation, introduced by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jim Risch (R-ID) in the Senate and Representatives Peter Welch (D-VT) and Mike Simpson (R-ID) in the House, further prods the FDA toward increasingly necessary action as plant-based imitators of milk, cheese, butter and other products brazenly flout FDA rules that restrict the use of dairy terms on non-dairy products. While NMPF continues to press the agency to strengthen its own enforcement, substantial support for dairy in Congress only underscores the urgency for the FDA to act, said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the NMPF.

Following NMPF’s submission of a citizen petition to FDA last week outlining a path forward as the agency considers more than 13,000 comments submitted to it on the proper use of dairy terms, the DAIRY PRIDE Act would protect the integrity of food standards by prompting FDA to enforce labeling requirements for dairy. The measure would require FDA to issue a guidance for nationwide enforcement of such requirements within 90 days and mandate that FDA report to Congress two years after enactment to hold the agency accountable.

“We hope that the FDA will soon do the right thing by updating and enforcing rules that aid consumers by providing clear, accurate labeling on what is, and what isn’t, milk, and we are ready to help the agency in any way we can,” Mulhern said. “This bipartisan, bicameral legislative effort demonstrates strong support within Congress for fixing this problem, and we commend these lawmakers for laying down this important marker.”

Key leaders in both the House and Senate have chastised the FDA for failing to enforce existing food standards that specify products labeled as “milk” have to come from a dairy animal. The legislation adds momentum to NMPF’s longstanding campaign to encourage the FDA to enforce its own regulations, which has gained steam in the past year through the FDA comment period, prompted by NMPF activism, and the NMPF’s new petition.

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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 the majority of U.S. milk, making NMPF the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

NMPF is now accepting applications for its National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program for academic year 2019-2020. The deadline to apply is Friday, April 5.

Each year, NMPF awards scholarships to outstanding graduate students (enrolled in master’s or Ph.D. programs) who are actively pursuing dairy-related fields of research of direct interest to NMPF member cooperatives and the greater U.S. dairy industry.

Graduate students pursuing research of direct benefit to milk marketing cooperatives and dairy producers are encouraged to apply. (Applicants do not need to be members of NMPF to qualify.)  The top scholarship applicant will be awarded the Hintz Memorial Scholarship, which was created in 2005 in honor of the late Cass-Clay Creamery Board Chairman Murray Hintz, who was instrumental in establishing NMPF’s scholarship program.

Recommended fields of study include but are not limited to: Agriculture Communications and Journalism, Animal Health, Animal and/or Human Nutrition, Bovine Genetics, Dairy Products Processing, Dairy Science, Economics, Environmental Science, Food Science, Food Safety, Herd Management, and Marketing and Price Analysis.

For an application or more information, please visit the NMPF website or call the NMPF office at 703-243-6111.

The Cooperatives Working Together program assisted member cooperatives in securing 58 contracts with sales of 8.5 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 476,199 pounds of butter and 8.8 million pounds of whole milk powder. The product is going to customers in Asia, Central America, the Middle East, and South America and will be shipped during the months of February through August 2019.

CWT’s self-help mechanism will be extended to three additional product categories in March: Processed cheese and cream cheese will now be eligible for CWT Export Assistance, and anhydrous milkfat will be re-introduced. NMPF Executive Vice President Tom Balmer introduced the change at NMPF’s monthly board meeting, noting the additional channels will help boost dairy sales overseas, the fundamental mission of CWT.

“Stay on the lookout for that,” he said.

These transactions bring the 2019 total of the CWT-assisted product sales contracts to 20.278 million pounds of cheese, 1.184 million pounds of butter and 11.098 million pounds of whole milk powder. These contracts will move the equivalent of 294.8 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis overseas in 2019.

Assisting CWT member cooperatives to gain and maintain world market share through the Export Assistance program in the long-term expands the demand for U.S. dairy products and the milk that produces them. This, in turn, positively impacts all U.S. dairy farmers by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that affect their milk price.

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 dairy farmers are encouraged to add their support to this important program. Membership forms are available at http://www.cwt.coop/membership.

The Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN), of which NMPF is a member, submitted detailed comments Feb. 7 on the European Union’s abuse of geographical indications and related restrictions on the use of common food names to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office as part of the office’s annual “Special 301 Report” review.

USTR’s Special 301 Report identifies countries that are not providing adequate protection of intellectual property rights or are denying fair and equitable market access to Americans who rely on intellectual property protection. As a part of this review, the USTR solicits comments from the public identifying concerning policies or trade barriers.

NMPF, in partnership with the U.S. Dairy Export Council, submitted comments supporting CCFN’s outlined concerns regarding the abuse of GIs at the intentional expense of American companies, their employees and supplying farmers, specifically singling out egregious EU attempts to impede competition by adopting overly broad GI policies and pressuring countries to restrict common cheese names, such as parmesan and feta, in exchange for market access into the EU.

These policies are “anti-trade, anti-competitive, anti-free market, and anti-intellectual property,” NMPF wrote. “America and developing nations alike are harmed greatly by EU efforts to erect onerous trade barriers for common food name products, resulting in lost sales, jobs and economic development and undermining our existing free trade agreements.”

NMPF’s Jaime Castaneda, acting in his capacity as CCFN’s Executive Director, drove this point home further at a USTR-led hearing Feb. 27 designed to gather more information to inform USTR’s Special 301 Report. Castaneda urged the Administration to strongly oppose the EU’s increasingly aggressive efforts, saying that U.S. negotiators must stand firm and not “give into the EU’s sweeping demands on GI protections that over-step the bounds of fair trade.”

Through its active participation in CCFN, NMPF is continuously working dismantle trade barriers that prevent the U.S. dairy industry from selling common-name cheeses abroad.

ARLINGTON, Va. – With the U.S. Department of Agriculture reporting the first month of data applicable to farmer payments under the new Dairy Margin Coverage program, the National Milk Producers Federation commended USDA for helping farmers understand the scope of DMC program and offered its own example to illustrate the potential benefits of maximizing coverage under the new top margin-coverage level of $9.50 per hundredweight.

The new $9.50 “margin” (the difference between the price of milk and the cost of feed) threshold for the first 5 million pounds of a dairy farmer’s production, which replaces the old $8 per hundredweight limit under the now-lapsed Margin Protection Program, may be better tailored to expected market conditions in 2019 and future years than less-comprehensive coverage, according to an NMPF analysis.

For example: A dairy operation with an established milk-production history of 5 million pounds that elects the $9.50 coverage level for 95 percent of its production history – the new  maximum level of protection under the 2018 farm bill — would be covered for 4.75 million pounds (95 percent of 5 million, also referred to as 47,500 cwt. – a unit covering 100 pounds of milk) of annual production during 2019. Breaking it into monthly increments, farmers maximizing coverage would be eligible to receive payments at the USDA-determined monthly payout rate on 395,800 pounds (also expressed as 3,958 cwt.) each month that the margin fell below $9.50 per hundredweight.

According to new USDA data, the January “margin” payment will be $1.51/cwt. for farmers who select $9.50 coverage – that’s the difference between the $9.50 level selected and the actual margin of $7.99/cwt. An operation maximizing coverage on its first 5 million pounds for the year would thus receive a January payment of $5,977 (the 3,958 cwt. covered for the month, multiplied by the $1.51/cwt. January difference in actual margin).

Meanwhile, under the premium rates set by Congress under the 2018 farm bill, the 2019 full-year premium for coverage at the $9.50 level on 95 percent of a 5-million-pound production history in this example would be $7,125 (47,500 cwt. times $0.15/cwt. premium fee), if the operation signs up for DMC coverage just for 2019.  If the operation makes a one-time election offered via the farm bill to sign up for DMC coverage this year through 2023 at the same coverage levels, it will be eligible to receive a 25 percent discount on its premiums. In that case the total premium cost for all of 2019 would be $5,344 (47,500 cwt. times the $0.1125/cwt. discounted premium fee).

In other words, under maximum coverage, a dairy operation would receive back more than its full annual premium with the January payment alone, if it signs up for coverage at the discounted five-year locked-in premium rate. If a farm signs up for this year only, it would still recoup most of its full-year premium from the January payout – with more payments likely, given prices forecast by current futures markets.

Dairy Margin Coverage signup is scheduled to begin on June 17. That means payment amounts for up to the first five months of the year may already be known when farmers sign up. Again, based on forecasts, it is very likely that when signup begins the benefits of $9.50 coverage will substantially outweigh the costs, given that coverage will be retroactive from January 1.

“While the cash-flow and financial situations are different for every dairy operation, farmers should strongly consider signing up their 2019 production at the maximum coverage level of $9.50 per hundredweight for 95 percent of their first five million pounds of production history,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “The unique circumstances of already knowing what payments will be for the year’s early months, combined with the current price outlook for milk, makes it an attractive option for producers this year during a difficult time for dairy.”

Dairy operations that elect to sign up this year for DMC coverage at the discounted premium rate will be committed to pay the same discounted premium each year through 2023. That option will be available this year only, except for new dairy operations in subsequent years.

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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 the majority of U.S. milk, making NMPF the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

Using every tool at its disposal to combat the threat of retaliatory tariffs that damage U.S. dairy’s domestic health and ability to expand sales abroad, NMPF wasted little time endorsing bipartisan legislation introduced in each chamber of Congress to reform the Section 232 process, which governs tariffs imposed in the name of national security.

Section 232 tariffs imposed on aluminum and steel imports under the guise of national security concerns have led to a wide range of U.S. exports, including dairy products, being hit with tariffs, causing more than $1 billion in income losses to dairy farmers in 2018, according to NMPF and other studies. Legislation introduced by Representatives Ron Kind (D-WI) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN) in the House of Representatives and Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Doug Jones (D-AL) in the Senate attempts to ensure that Section 232 is used as intended by Congress, for true national emergencies and in service of the national interest.

NMPF quickly endorsed the Trade Security Reform Act on Feb. 6, after its introduction.

“Dairy prices have steadily fallen since Mexico imposed its retaliatory tariffs, harming farmers,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “Exports to our most important market are being threatened, hurting dairy businesses and the thousands of Americans they employ.”

The Trade Security Reform Act tightens Section 232 rules to ensure it is only used to respond to genuine national security threats while taking into consideration a broad range of economic and security concerns. This legislation also expands the oversight role Congress plays in the process by allowing for a congressional resolution of disapproval of Section 232 action.

Removing the retaliatory tariffs on dairy and addressing how Section 232 power may be wielded is an urgent priority for NMPF, which is why we have asked policymakers to take immediate action. NMPF considers the legislation a good step toward preserving Section 232 powers while ensuring this tool is used effectively to combat national security threats.

NMPF staff also communicated the urgency to resolve Sec. 232 tariffs and Mexico’s retaliatory response to officials from Mexico’s new government earlier last month in meetings with the new Mexican government. Staff met with government officials from Mexico’s ministries of Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, and Economy to stress the importance of restoring the U.S.-Mexico trade relationship to normal conditions.

NMPF will continue to work to encourage both sides to move swiftly to resume normal trading conditions and to improve the rules underpinning this process moving forward.