NMPF announced several staff changes this past month, including the promotion of Emily Meredith, formerly vice president of animal care, to chief of staff. Two new hires will also join the FARM Program team next week. These changes will strengthen NMPF’s organizational efficiency and strategic agenda going forward.

As chief of staff, Meredith will take on new responsibilities for strategic planning, organizational oversight and management of staff activities. Meredith will manage the Office of the CEO, working for president and CEO Jim Mulhern and in tandem with NMPF’s senior leadership.

“Emily has done a great job for the entire dairy industry with her skillful management of the FARM Program, building producer, processor and customer support, and effectively telling the story of the great job America’s dairy farmers are doing on animal care,” Mulhern said.  “Those skills will now be applied more broadly across the Federation’s activities. Emily’s focus and attention to detail will benefit our members and staff as we move forward,” he said.

Meredith had served as NMPF’s vice president of animal care, and manager of the FARM Program, since 2014. She will continue to oversee the FARM Program, with the support of two new staff members who will assume day-to-day management of the program and report to Meredith in her new role: Emily Yeiser Stepp will become director of the FARM Animal Care Program and Beverly Hampton will serve as FARM Program Coordinator.

For the past four years, Emily Yeiser Stepp (middle photo) served as the dairy initiatives manager for the Center for Dairy Excellence in Harrisburg, Penn. Most recently, she served as the dairy and beef extension coordinator at the University of Maryland.

While in school at North Carolina State University for a degree in poultry science, Beverly Hampton (bottom photo) worked as the communications intern for the Animal Agriculture Alliance. For the past year, Hampton has provided industry technical assistance for U.S. Poultry & Egg Association. Both women start their new roles on May 9.

In another recent announcement, Anuja Miner, NMPF’s vice president of membership services, is leaving the organization after 18 years. Beginning May 16, she will join the Council of State Restaurant Associations as executive vice president.

“After nearly two decades with NMPF, we’re sad to see Anuja go,” said Mulhern. “But this is a great chance for her to pursue exciting new opportunities, and we wish her all the best.”

NMPF thanked a bipartisan group of 26 senators last month for urging U.S. negotiators to address the needs of agriculture – including key dairy concerns – in the pending Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) free trade agreement with the European Union, which finished a round of negotiations in New York City at the end of the April.

In their letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, the senators noted that the United States’ share of the European agricultural import market is shrinking due to both tariff and non-tariff trade barriers.

“A final [trade] agreement that does not include a strong framework for agriculture could have a negative impact on Congressional support for this deal,” the senators said.

Among other agricultural issues, the letter singled out the need to address restrictive certification requirements on U.S. dairy exports, as well as the EU’s efforts to capture the sole use of food names long considered generic in this country, such as parmesan, feta and Asiago. In addition, the EU is seeking a leg up on U.S. food competitors by insisting that the U.S. government shoulder the costs to enforce protection for hundreds of EU geographical indications in the U.S. domestic market.

Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF, praised the senators for highlighting agriculture’s concerns.

“In 2015, we had a record $12 billion agricultural trade deficit with Europe, due largely to barriers erected specifically to limit exports of dairy foods and other U.S. farm products,” Mulhern said. “Any successful European free trade agreement must break down those barriers. The U.S. needs to soundly reject the EU’s desire to impose new barriers to competition around the world and to create taxpayer-funded advantages for its producers in our market. We should be using T-TIP to level the playing field.”

Dairy Farmers of America, Inc., with the support of NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council’s Trade Policy Committee Chair, met with U.S. trade negotiators at the New York City T-TIP negotiations to discuss the importance of defending common food names and removing certain EU barriers to U.S. dairy exports. The next round of TTIP negotiations is scheduled for July.

Following a March decision of the Federation’s Board of Directors to endorse the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, NMPF urged Congress to approve the trade pact, but noted several sensitive dairy issues that need further attention. In their letter to Congress last month, NMPF, joined by the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), asked House members to pass the TPP in 2016, but also pointed to critical implementation and enforcement issues that needed to be addressed before the agreement reaches the voting floor. Resolution of these outstanding issues, the letter argued, are vital to ensure that the agreement lives up to its intent to create improved international opportunities for US dairy producers.

The letter asked Congress to insist that both Canada and Japan be held to their commitments – both existing ones and new ones to open their markets to U.S. dairy exports.  It also highlighted the importance of the United States government actively ensuring active enforcement of its own market access provisions.

“TPP can help support the continued growth of a robust U.S. dairy industry, provided not only that the commitments captured in the text of the agreement are fully implemented, but also that countries are not allowed to backtrack on existing market access agreements to offset what has been granted via TPP,” the letter continued.

“We are endorsing the outlines of the agreement, but will continue to insist that the terms agreed to need to be followed by the other countries in this agreement,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “The U.S. needs to be continually vigilant with the TPP signatories and really hold their feet to the fire both now and down the road.”

The same sentiments were echoed in the dairy organizations’ letter sent last month to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.

Later in the month, key members of the U.S. House of Representatives issued a similar call affirming the need for the Obama Administration to address the implementation and enforcement issues related to dairy provisions of the agreement. The House letter touched on three “priority” areas: 1) ensuring Canada faithfully implements its TPP commitments and does not restrict existing avenues for U.S. market access; 2) ensuring U.S. trading partners adhere to the intent of the TPP agreement’s geographical indication commitments; and 3) establishing U.S. procedures to actively ensure compliance with the terms of the market access that the U.S. will provide to TPP trading partners.

In an effort to further advance the National Milk Producers Federation’s strategic agenda, Emily Meredith, formerly NMPF’s vice president of animal care, has been promoted to chief of staff, the organization announced Thursday. NMPF also welcomes two staff to the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) animal care program team to help ensure that the effort continues to effectively serve the needs of the farmers, cooperatives and processors who participate in it.

As chief of staff, Meredith will take on new responsibilities for strategic planning, organizational oversight and management of staff activities. Meredith will manage the Office of the CEO, working for president and CEO Jim Mulhern and in tandem with NMPF’s senior leadership.

 

“Emily has done a great job for the entire dairy industry with her skillful management of the FARM Program, building producer, processor and customer support, and effectively telling the story of the great job America’s dairy farmers are doing on animal care,” Mulhern said.  “Those skills will now be applied more broadly across the Federation’s activities. Emily’s focus and attention to detail will benefit our members and staff as we move forward,” he said.

 

Meredith had served as NMPF’s vice president of animal care, and manager of the FARM Program, since 2014. She will continue to oversee the FARM Program, with the support of two new staff members who will assume day-to-day management of the program and report to Meredith in her new role.

 

The new hires include Emily Yeiser Stepp as Director, FARM Animal Care Program, and Beverly Hampton as FARM Program coordinator.

For the past four years, Emily Yeiser Stepp (above left) served as the dairy initiatives manager for the Center for Dairy Excellence in Harrisburg, Penn. Most recently, she served as the dairy and beef extension coordinator at the University of Maryland.

 

Yeiser Stepp, of Annapolis, Md., got her start in the dairy industry through the 4-H dairy leasing program. She received a degree in animal science from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s in dairy science from Virginia Tech. Her research was focused on how mastitis and metabolic diseases affect dairy cow behavior.

 

Beverly Hampton also comes from an agriculture background, as she grew up on her family’s farm and helped run her parent’s agritourism business. She attended North Carolina State University, where she served as a North Carolina State FFA Officer and a National Collegiate Agriculture Ambassador. She graduated with a degree in poultry science.

 

While in school, Hampton (below left) worked as the communications intern for the Animal Agriculture Alliance. For the past year, Hampton has provided industry technical assistance for U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.

 

Both women start their new roles on May 9.

 

“We are very excited to welcome Emily and Beverly to NMPF and the FARM Program,” said Mulhern. “Their individual experience, expertise and enthusiasm will help ensure that the FARM Program continues to address the needs of farmers, and the entire dairy supply chain.”

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The dairy industry today welcomed an assessment of the Obama Administration’s fight to ensure that the EU’s geographical indication (GI) initiatives with other countries and regions do not undercut U.S. industries’ market access opportunities.

The Special 301 Report is prepared annually by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).  It identifies trade barriers to U.S. companies and products due to the intellectual property policies, such as copyright, patents, trademarks and geographical indications in other countries. Increasingly, those barriers are taking the form of GI restrictions that risk preventing food companies in many countries from using generic names that have been in commerce for generations.

Decades after parmesan, feta and asiago became household favorites in the United States, Europe now argues that these names, and others, can only appear on cheeses produced in Italy and Greece, thus blocking U.S. sales of the products to the European Union and increasingly affecting sales to various foreign markets. The U.S. government has been using a variety of tools to combat these types of barriers to U.S. exports, as well as to promote the importance of balanced and thorough due process procedures for the consideration of GIs.

Although much work remains underway, to date these efforts have yielded concrete results including last year’s agreement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership on groundbreaking GI provisions and the announcement earlier this year of a breakthrough on GI issues with an important Central American Free Trade Agreement partner, Honduras.

Tom Suber, president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council said, “U.S. dairy exporters believe it is critical for USTR to maintain a strong focus on the importance of firmly rejecting barriers to U.S. products driven by our competitors’ desires to use GIs to monopolize the use of common food names around the world. This year’s Special 301 Report rightfully spotlights some of the progress being made in addressing this challenge. At the same time, much work remains, including ensuring that TPP partners fully abide by the intention of the TPP GI commitments and that the EU reforms the flaws in its own GI policies that negatively impact the rights of common name users.”

“Our dairy industry has been gearing up to compete globally and open markets to our products. It’s vitally important that U.S. trade policy reject the EU’s attempts to slam doors shut in areas in which we are increasingly competing head to head against their producers,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “The barriers to our products are the result of deeply problematic EU GI policies that give short shrift to the rights of common name users. These deficiencies must be addressed as U.S. work on this important issue continues.”

# # #

 

About USDEC

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.

About NMPF

The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance the wellbeing of dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. The members of NMPF’s cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. Visit www.nmpf.org for more information.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Key members of the U.S. House of Representatives issued a strong statement today affirming the need for the Obama Administration to take concrete steps to address implementation and enforcement issues related to dairy provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.

Led by Reps. Suzan DelBene, Reid Ribble, Ron Kind and David Valadao, 47 House members (including leaders of the House Ways & Means Trade Subcommittee and the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee) signed a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack underscoring “critical implementation components related to dairy trade.”

The U.S. Dairy Export Council, National Milk Producers Federation and the International Dairy Foods Association commend the action, which called on Ambassador Froman and Secretary Vilsack to address three dairy “priority areas” in TPP as Congress prepares to consider the agreement:

• Ensuring Canada faithfully implements its TPP commitments and also does not alter existing avenues for U.S. market access.
• Ensuring U.S. trading partners, particularly major markets such as Japan, adhere to the intent of the TPP agreement’s geographical indication (GI) commitments.
• Establishing U.S. procedures to actively ensure compliance with the terms of the market access that the U.S. will provide to TPP trading partners.

“Each of these considerations will be an important factor in how we view the overall agreement,” the letter concludes.

The House message echoes a joint letter USDEC, NMPF and IDFA sent to Ambassador Froman and Secretary Vilsack on April 19. This industry message also urged action by the Administration to address critical TPP implementation and enforcement issues.

“As the Representatives noted in their letter, U.S. dairy exports have borne the brunt of regulatory actions specifically created to limit U.S. access to the Canadian dairy market,” said Tom Suber, president of USDEC. “It is critical that USTR ensure that Canada doesn’t take away what little access they gave the United States under TPP. We must ensure that this pattern does not continue, and make sure that Canada neither undermines existing access nor its new access commitments under TPP.”

“The fine print in implementing TPP really matters,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “We have endorsed the outlines of the agreement, but must insist that the terms agreed to need to be followed by the other countries in this agreement. The U.S. needs to remain vigilant with the TPP signatories and really hold their feet to the fire both now and down the road.”

“Making sure our trade partners adhere to their current and negotiated commitments is essential to the U.S. dairy industry, especially since we received limited market access gains in Canada and Japan in the final TPP negotiations,” said Connie Tipton, president and CEO of IDFA. “We certainly appreciate congressional efforts to address dairy’s concerns and to recommend activities that will ensure compliance.”

“The TPP agreement has the potential to help create international trade opportunities and support robust growth for the U.S. dairy industry, but only if it is fully implemented and enforced,” said Mulhern. “Addressing the priority areas outlined in the House letter will go a long way toward helping the industry capture TPP’s potential.”

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About IDFA

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C., represents the nation’s dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers, with a membership of 550 companies within a $125-billion a year industry. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association (IICA). IDFA’s nearly 200 dairy processing members run nearly 600 plant operations, and range from large multi-national organizations to single-plant companies. Together they represent more than 85 percent of the milk, cultured products, cheese, ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States. IDFA can be found online at www.idfa.org.

About USDEC

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.

About NMPF

The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance the wellbeing of dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. The members of NMPF’s cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. Visit www.nmpf.org for more information.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Milk Producers Federation and the International Dairy Foods Association urged members of Congress this week to insist that the United States request a more thorough analysis of a World Health Organization (WHO) proposal seeking to discourage parents from feeding toddlers milk and certain dairy products.

At the beginning of the year, the WHO issued “Ending Inappropriate Marketing of Foods for Infants and Young Children,” a guidance document urging the prohibition of the promotion and marketing of various milk products for children up to age three.

“The WHO guidance document is a de facto criticism of all milk consumption by toddlers,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF.  “This flies in the face of all credible, international nutrition research, and would confuse consumers across the globe.”

“The WHO guidance should be focusing on how to encourage the serving of nutrient-dense foods to provide young children and toddlers with a nutritious basis for meals and snacks,” said Connie Tipton, IDFA president and CEO. “It should not restrict the flow of important information regarding the nutritional benefits of dairy foods for young children to parents, caregivers and healthcare providers.”

In a letter sent to members of the House and Senate, both organizations want the U.S. government to insist that the WHO revise this document to rectify the misleading suggestion that dairy is inappropriate for young children. The proposal was modified somewhat in late March, but the recent revisions still run counter to established science that highlights milk’s unique nutritional attributes.

The groups ask Congress to insist that the WHO conduct “a much more thorough analysis of the scientific basis for and potential consequences of this proposal before the WHO pushes forward with further action in this area,” the letter said.  “Until that type of careful scrutiny and revision takes place, we urge the U.S. to insist on the importance of placing this proposal on hold.”

If the guidance were adopted, it could have negative health effects on children worldwide. It also counters ample scientific evidence that dairy plays a significant and positive role in children’s diets, as seen in the recently updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the inclusion of dairy foods in programs such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

NMPF and IDFA are part of a coalition that objects to the WHO proposal. Among their efforts, NMPF and IDFA have met with numerous U.S. agencies and submitted detailed comments to the Department of Health and Human Services, the lead federal agency on the matter.

“This is of great concern to the U.S. dairy industry because the policies proposed contradict decades of federal nutrition policy, which recognizes dairy foods as safe, nutrient-rich foods to be encouraged for growing children under three years of age,” the letter argued.

# # #

About IDFA

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C., represents the nation’s dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers, with a membership of 550 companies within a $125-billion a year industry. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association (IICA). IDFA’s nearly 200 dairy processing members run nearly 600 plant operations, and range from large multi-national organizations to single-plant companies. Together they represent more than 85 percent of the milk, cultured products, cheese, ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States. IDFA can be found online at www.idfa.org.

About NMPF

The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance the wellbeing of dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. The members of NMPF’s cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. Visit www.nmpf.org for more information.

ARLINGTON, VA – Several important improvements in the new safety net program for dairy farmers were announced Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, following recommendations made to the agency by the National Milk Producers Federation to enhance the value of the dairy Margin Protection Program (MPP).

“We very much appreciate these steps by USDA to implement administrative changes that will improve the program’s usefulness to dairy farmers,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF.  “USDA is constrained in what it can do to strengthen MPP, but the program must continue to evolve based on the experiences of NMPF’s members and others in the dairy industry.”

Since MPP’s enactment in 2014, NMPF has worked with USDA to make the program a more flexible and effective national safety net for all of America’s dairy farmers. Mulhern said the program remains a work in progress, given the challenging farm milk price situation facing dairy farmers in 2015 and this year. “We will continue to work with USDA and the Congress to further improve and strengthen the program’s effectiveness,” he said.

One change announced by USDA today will ensure that all farms enrolled in the MPP will receive catastrophic coverage at the basic $4 per hundredweight margin level on 90% of their production history – with the ability to purchase buy-up coverage at less than 90% of their history.

“Decoupling coverage options under MPP improves the ability of the program to offer effective risk management options to dairy farmers,” said Mulhern.

Mulhern anticipates that decoupling the coverage options will increase dairy farmer use of the program by not reducing benefits to farmers who elect to purchase supplemental coverage, and by providing more flexibility in coverage design. For $100 a year, dairy producers receive basic $4 protection that covers 90% of their milk production. At higher premium levels, farmers can protect from 25% to 90% of production history with margin coverage levels from $4.50 to $8, in 50 cent increments.

This change is effective for the current 2016 coverage year. While a majority of farmers using the program in 2016 are protected at the $4 level, for those who bought up a higher level of margin, but did not cover 90% of their milk production, this change ensures that they are still receiving catastrophic protection on the maximum level of production allowed by the MPP.

The USDA also announced a rule change to allow a farm’s production history to be restructured in order to accommodate new family members joining a particular dairy operation. This will accommodate the intergenerational transfer of production history for children, grandchildren, and their spouses to join a dairy operation.  Any dairy operation already enrolled in MPP that had an intergenerational transfer occur will have an opportunity during the 2017 annual coverage election period to increase the operation’s production history up to 4 million pounds per year.

The next enrollment period begins on July 1, 2016, and ends on Sept. 30, 2016.  Each participating dairy operation is authorized one intergenerational transfer at any time of its choosing until 2018.

“This measure will help younger farmers, as they become part of a multi-generation dairy operation, to more fully use MPP.  That will help families keep their farms into the future,” Mulhern said.

The rule released today also codifies a policy change made earlier this year giving dairy farmers the opportunity to pay their premium through additional options, such as a periodic milk check deduction handled by their cooperative.

###

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance the well-being of dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. The members of NMPF’s cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more on NMPF’s activities, visit our website at www.nmpf.org.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Milk Producers Federation, U.S. Dairy Export Council and the International Dairy Foods Association asked members of Congress in a letter today to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement while also addressing a number of critical implementation and enforcement issues that are key determinants in how the agreement is likely to work in practice. As part of this, the dairy associations urged the federal government to ensure that the other participating countries adhere to their respective commitments within the pact.

The TPP is an historic pact between 12 countries containing features that will help America’s dairy farmers and processors in the future. After months of analysis and deliberation, all three organizations have endorsed the pact, saying the agreement presents, on balance, a step forward for U.S. dairy farmers and companies that process and market their milk.

In the letter, the three dairy groups outlined the benefits the agreement could bring to the industry, such as improving the rules of the road governing trade throughout the TPP region. For instance the letter addresses TPP’s ground-breaking commitments on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues, as well as geographical indications (GIs) and common food names.

“The geographical indications provisions in TPP, for the first time, establish a more equitable process for considering GIs and emphasize the importance of safeguarding usage of common food names,” the letter said. “This is a key priority for our industry as we face the European Union’s global efforts to wield GIs as nontariff barriers to trade in order to limit competition and market access from U.S. suppliers.”

However, the three organizations also noted several issues that need to be addressed during the TPP’s implementation process, which are vital to ensure that the agreement lives up to its potential to create improved international opportunities. The letter asks Congress to insist that both Canada and Japan be held to their own commitments – both existing ones and new ones under the agreement. It also highlighted the importance of the United States carefully ensuring active enforcement of its own market access provisions.

“TPP can help support the continued growth of a robust U.S. dairy industry, provided not only that the commitments captured in the text of the agreement are fully implemented, but also that countries are not allowed to backtrack on existing market access agreements to offset what has been granted via TPP,” the letter continued.

“The fine print in implementing TPP really matters. We are endorsing the outlines of the agreement, but will continue to insist that the terms agreed to need to be followed by the other countries in this agreement. The U.S. needs to be continually vigilant with the TPP signatories and really hold their feet to the fire both now and down the road,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF.

“The SPS and GI commitments in particular should help keep in check the ability of countries to erode existing and future market access for U.S. dairy exporters through arbitrary, unjustified and oftentimes sudden regulatory determinations,” said Tom Suber, president of USDEC. “But for them to live up to their potential we need to ensure our trading partners realize we’re serious about their compliance with these pieces.”

“The successful negotiation and implementation of ambitious trade agreements like TPP are vital to the future growth of America’s dairy industry,” said Connie Tipton, IDFA president and CEO. “For those benefits to be realized, however, it’s imperative that our trading partners be held accountable and live up to their current and future commitments.”

# # #

About IDFA
The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C., represents the nation’s dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers, with a membership of 550 companies within a $125-billion a year industry. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association (IICA). IDFA’s nearly 200 dairy processing members run nearly 600 plant operations, and range from large multi-national organizations to single-plant companies. Together they represent more than 85 percent of the milk, cultured products, cheese, ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States. IDFA can be found online at www.idfa.org.

About USDEC
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.

About NMPF
The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance the wellbeing of dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. The members of NMPF’s cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. Visit www.nmpf.org for more information.

At the beginning of the year, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a draft guidance document urging the prohibition of the promotion and marketing of milk products to children up to age 3. NMPF has engaged in extensive efforts to counter the premise of the document, which runs contrary to ample scientific evidence of the benefits of dairy foods in young children’s diets. The proposal was modified in late March, in some areas addressing points NMPF had sought changes to, but the revisions are not enough to address NMPF’s concerns with this proposal.

The WHO proposal, titled “Ending Inappropriate Marketing of Foods for Infants and Young Children,” also conflicts with U.S. nutritional recommendations such as the recently-updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the inclusion of dairy foods in programs such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

“The WHO guidance document goes beyond the appropriate recommendations of encouraging breast feeding for infants, and instead is a de facto criticism of all milk consumption by toddlers,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF.  “This flies in the face of all credible, international nutrition research, and would confuse consumers across the globe.”

NMPF joined a coalition of several other organizations to object to this proposal, highlighting both the nutritional and trade problems that could result from WHO pushing adoption of the guidance around the world. Among its efforts, NMPF met with numerous U.S. agencies and submitted detailed comments to the Department of Health and Human Services, the lead federal agency on the matter. These efforts, coupled with support from congressional offices, helped form the official U.S. comments to the WHO that incorporated many of the concerns NMPF and its coalition partners had cited.

NMPF wants the U.S. government to insist that the WHO revise this document to address the egregiously incorrect suggestion that dairy is inappropriate for young children. Following consultations with member countries this Friday, the WHO is currently planning to move this document forward for adoption by the World Health Assembly in May. However, National Milk believes more time is needed for consultations and evaluations of scientific evidence to ensure that any final guidance document recognizes the strong nutritional benefits of dairy to young children.

New biosecurity resources to help farmers prevent the spread of animal diseases are now available, thanks to ongoing efforts by NMPF to marshal additional tools for farmers.

In 2014, the NMPF Animal Health and Wellbeing Committee identified the need for educational resources on Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) for dairy farmers and veterinarians. NMPF approached the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other groups about the possibility of developing such materials. This resulted in a cooperative agreement from the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to the Center for Food Security and Public Health (Iowa State University) with contributions from NMPF, the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, and the National Cattleman's Beef Association, for the development of a variety of FMD educational resources.

An FMD poster and pocket guide were published last September. Three new biosecurity resources have recently become available:

• General biosecurity in English and Spanish
• Visitors with animal biosecurity  in English and Spanish
• Visitors without animal contact biosecurity in English and Spanish

The posters are also available on the Secure Milk Supply website.