The USDA’s Dairy Grading and Standardization Division recently posted “Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the European Union Health Certification Program” on the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) website.

On January 1st, AMS began to phase in the new instructions relating to EU requirements for milk sampling and revised maximum somatic cell count and standard plate count in raw milk used in the manufacture of exported dairy products. AMS has received numerous inquiries asking for additional clarification and has compiled these FAQs to address the majority of the concerns. The FAQs also include the current timeline for implementation (Question #6).

Feel free to share the FAQ document as appropriate. If you have any questions, please contact Beth Briczinski.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted yesterday to remove truck weight reform language from the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act, also known as the highway bill, in lieu of a three-year study. Thursday’s 33-22 vote was a disappointment to the dairy industry, which is affected every day by transportation policies that do not reflect the needs and demands of today’s commercial environment.

A coalition of dairy industry organizations had sent a letter to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica ahead of the markup. In it, the groups argued that allowing states the option to increase their vehicle weight limits would help American businesses meet demand with fewer trucks, thus removing unnecessary trucks from the highway, lessening dependence on fossil fuels, reducing the country’s carbon footprint, and improving shipping productivity. The success of pilot programs in Vermont and Maine pointed to the safety and economic benefits of truck weight reform.

“We are disappointed by the committee’s vote to remove the truck weight reform language from the highway bill under consideration in the House Transportation Committee,” NMPF President & CEO Jerry Kozak said in a statement. “We need reform now, not after a three year study.”

On February 1, 2012, the Department of Labor decided to reissue the parental exemption notification this summer to allow for more public comment on the definition of parental farm ownership. In a statement, Secretary Solis said, “The Department of Labor appreciates and respects the role of parents in raising their children and assigning tasks and chores to their children on farms and of relatives such as grandparents, aunts and uncles in keeping grandchildren, nieces and nephews out of harm’s way.”

NMPF appreciates the recognition of the Department of Labor that increasing regulations on family farms should be done in a thoughtful manner, with the input of all the stakeholders, to not disrupt the sanctity of on-farm child education while also providing for the safest setting for America’s youth. However, reconsidering the parental exemption is only one part of the proposed rules. NMPF wants to continue to encourage America’s dairy farmers to explain the role youth play on farms and the safe manner in which they work. Specifically, farm families can continue to speak to the importance of summer workforce has in the growth of rural youth as they learn the process of providing the safest, most quality agriculture product to America’s families. The proposed rules to youth interacting with livestock or operating machinery are still a concern and we need America’s farmers to continue to tell their stories on how this would impact their way of life.

Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) has created a website to collect personal stories about how the changes would impact family farms. Please visit www.keepfamiliesfarming.com to post comments in response to the proposed laws.

The National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) 2012 Annual Conference, “Living in a World of Decreasing Resources and Increasing Regulation: How to Advance Animal Agriculture,” March 27-28, in Denver, Colo., will look at how challenges such as tight credit, increased capital requirements, environmental regulations, drought and other weather issues, more demanding animal care standards and misperceptions about how animals are raised are impacting animal agriculture—and what steps can be taken to advance animal agriculture in light on these challenges.

In addition to listening to keynote presentations, attendees are encouraged to participate in the species-specific committee meetings and council meetings: bovine committee, equine committee, poultry committee, small ruminant committee, swine committee, animal health emergency management council, antibiotics council, animal care council, emerging disease council, animal identification and information systems council and global animal health, food security and trade council. Each species-specific committee meeting and council meeting will have highly targeted speakers and attendees will address issues relevant to the species or council.

NIAA conference attendees are also welcome to participate in a Colorado cattle industry tour on Thursday, March 29. NIAA’s post-conference tour includes visits to JBS packing plant, Five Rivers Kuner Feedlot and Guttersen Ranches.

To learn more about NIAA’s Annual Conference, please visit their website.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service published updated nutrition standards last week for meals served through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

The final rule is in line with the proposed changes that were first announced in January 2011. The updated standards increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat milk in school meals. The standards aim to reduce the levels of sodium and saturated fat in meals, and establish minimum and maximum calorie levels for each age/grade group.

Milk continues to be an important part of school meals, and eight ounces of fluid milk must be offered with breakfast and lunch. In addition, schools must offer at least two different milk options. However, the new standards allow only for low-fat (one percent) or fat-free plain milk or fat-free flavored milk in the school meal programs. The rule no longer allows schools to offer whole milk or reduced-fat (two percent) milk or low-fat flavored milk as part of the reimbursable meal. The new regulations do not set any specific calorie or sugar limits for fat-free flavored milk sold on the meal line, but with new calorie restrictions for meals, which include milk, schools will be seeking flavored milk with the least possible calories or possibly may limit flavored milk.

The standards for school meals will go into effect for the 2012-2013 school year and are available online. Read thefull NMPF press release.

The Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) export assistance program continued to expand in February with assistance made available for American-type cheeses and butter.

Accepted requests for assistance of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheeses totaled 13.8 million pounds, bringing the 2012 year-to-date total to 26.9 million pounds. Requests accepted for assisting members in exporting 82% butterfat butter totaled nearly 12 million pounds, which brought the year-to-date total to 23 million pounds. The milk equivalent on a butterfat basis of the products to be delivered between February and June is 750 million pounds. That was equal to the annual production of about 35,000 cows.

Producers concerned about the decline in milk prices should encourage their cooperative management to commit two cents per hundredweight to the CWT program for 2012 and 2013. A list of cooperatives (31 in total), as well as a membership application, can be found on the CWT website.

In 2011, Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) helped member cooperatives make 280 export sales totaling 92.4 million pounds of cheese, a new benchmark for the Export Assistance program. That total was nearly 20 million pounds higher than exports achieved in 2010, when CWT assisted with 241 export sales totaling 73.9 million pounds of cheese.

CWT continued to play a significant role in exports of American-type cheese in general, and Cheddar cheese specifically. While data for all of 2011 is not yet final, initial analysis indicates that the volume of CWT-assisted Cheddar cheese export shipments in the first ten months of 2011 – 69.7 million pounds – accounted for 76% of Cheddar cheese loaf exports, 79% of American-type cheese exports in loaf form, and 19% of the total cheese exported in all forms.

Dairy product sales assisted by CWT and shipped in 2011 have added an average of 22 cents per hundredweight on all milk marketed. That is an increase in producer revenue of $120 million, according to an analysis by Dr. Scott Brown, University of Missouri and FAPRI.

Asian countries accounted for 35% of the total pounds sold, with Japan taking 84% of the sales volume. The Middle East was close behind, representing 32% of the total tonnage, with Saudi Arabia accounting for 50% of the pounds sold in that region.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) milk residue survey project is now underway. The FDA residue survey involves the collection of a total of nearly 2,000 universal milk samples at central milk testing laboratories: 900 milk samples from dairy producers with a cull dairy cow tissue residue violation, and another 900 random milk samples. FDA will have the samples blinded at the central laboratories, and then shipped to the Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH) at Illinois Institute of Technology.

The milk samples will then be shipped to FDA laboratories for analysis. The milk samples will be tested for about 30 different antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory residues which may include the following: Ampicillin, Cephapirin, Cloxacillin, Penicillin G, Erythromycin, Tylosin, Ciprofloxacin, Sarafloxacin, Chlortetracycline, Oxytetracycline, Tetracycline, Doxycycline, Sulfachloropyridazine, Sulfadiazine, Sulfamerazine, Sulfadimethoxine,Sulfamethazine, Sulfaquinoxaline, Sulfathiazole, Tripelennamine,Thiabendazole, Pirlimycin, Flunixin, Bacitracin, Virginiamycin, Tilmicosin, Neomycin, Gentamicin, Florfenicol, Chloramphenicol and Tulathromycin.

NMPF anticipates that the sampling and laboratory analysis will take about one year. As a reminder, the NMPF Milk and Dairy Beef Drug Residue Prevention Manual is available on the National Dairy FARM Program website.

Last October, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) announced that it would cut a number of its statistical reports in anticipation of substantial budget cuts imposed by Congress. In November, Congress voted to give NASS $6 million more than anticipated, and directed the agency to re-evaluate the reports that had been slated to be cut. NMPF wrote to Cynthia Clark, NASS’ Administrator, requesting that she restore the July Cattle report, along with the annual table containing the national breakdown of dairy farms by size.

On December 8, Dr. Clark informed NMPF that both the July Cattle report and the Farms, Land in Farms, and Livestock Operations report – which contains the dairy farm size breakdown – would be restored to NASS’ publication schedule. The Cattle report, which is also published in January, provides the only comprehensive data on dairy heifers and cows. (This is the foundation for the monthly cow estimates in the Milk Production report.)

NMPF has also been in discussions with NASS about ensuring the accuracy of its reported alfalfa hay prices.