ARLINGTON, VA – The new legislative draft of National Milk Producers Federation’s (NMPF) Foundation for the Future program adheres closely to two key principles: that it be national in scope, and apply equally to all producers, the organization said today.

Those key objectives were established two years ago when NMPF Chairman Randy Mooney, a dairy farmer from Rogersville, MO, formed a task force to examine how best to improve dairy policy.

“The task force had to generate policies that were national in scope, meaning that because they would apply to all dairy farms across the country, they must treat all regions equitably – and any policy changes must not discriminate among producers in any way, especially with respect to the size of their farms,” Mooney said. The Foundation for the Future (FFTF) package “follows those principles because it treats each producer fairly and equally.”

As a result of volume caps, current dairy safety net programs contain a major shortcoming in that they do not protect the majority of U.S. milk production, leaving large segments of the industry exposed to the inherent, unique financial risks associated with dairy farming. This exposure threatens not only dairy farmers, but also American consumers by undermining the ongoing ability of producers to produce a reliable supply of nutritious, wholesome, and affordable dairy products, according to Mooney.

FFTF’s Dairy Producer Margin Protection Program (DPMPP) guards against the economic hardship resulting from poor margins caused by low milk prices and high feed costs, and provides for a basic level of no-cost insurance coverage for all producers (and a larger share of the U.S. milk supply). It also incorporates an additional measure of risk management for those producers looking for supplemental protection – but largely at their own cost. In addition, by allowing farmers of all sizes to choose their own level of supplemental margin protection, the DPMPP gives smaller producers access to a form of self-directed risk management that previously had been unavailable to them.

For the same reason of fairness, Mooney said that NMPF rejected any consideration in its DPMPP of adjustments to feed costs that would contain regional considerations or biases. DPMPP also places no limitations on individual producers’ ability to participate in the program as a result of their production volume.

“NMPF recognizes that just as farmers of all sizes, and in all regions, contribute equally to the dairy promotion and research checkoff (fifteen cents for every hundred pounds of milk produced), they should also share equally in the benefits of sensible dairy policy reform,” Mooney said.

Another member of the NMPF task force that created the Dairy Producer Margin Protection Plan said that while each farm has different feed costs, those differences are minimal when margins are greatly compressed, as they were in 2009.

Ken Nobis, a producer from St. Johns, MI, noted that “while operational costs will always differ among producers – even within states or local regions – these differences should have no bearing in the establishment of a safety net provided by the federal government. The Dairy Producer Margin Protection Program and the other elements of Foundation for the Future recognize this, and were designed to be available to all without bias.”

To learn more about Foundation for the Future, including the Dairy Producer Margin Protection Program and the Dairy Market Stabilization Program, visit www.futurefordairy.com.

The National Milk Producers Federation, 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 31 cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of more than 40,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.

ARLINGTON, VA – “The National Milk Producers Federation has long supported a mandatory, national animal identification and traceability system as a means of safeguarding the health of the nation’s livestock. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has struggled for years to create a national system that would permit 48-hour traceback and rely on currently-available technology, such as RFID tags.

“Today, the USDA said it was ready to move forward with a revised approach, one that recognizes that various types of animal identification techniques, and various approaches already in use in states and tribal areas, can still help achieve a national system of disease traceability.

“We believe today’s announcement by Secretary Vilsack is an important development, one that allows the entire livestock industry, both private parties as well as the government, to collectively focus on what is possible. Rather than dwell on past efforts that didn’t work out, it is vital that we now focus on a new system that will help the livestock sector be better prepared in the case of a disease outbreak.

“We look forward to reviewing the proposal and working with the USDA to ensure the dairy industry is at the animal ID forefront as a collective insurance policy in the event of an animal disease emergency.”

The National Milk Producers Federation, 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 31 cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of more than 40,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.

Commentary from Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF

ARLINGTON, VA – Dairy producers realize that the status quo protections offered by current federal policies have failed them during the past decade – especially in 2009 – yet some may understandably be apprehensive about advocating comprehensive reform of those policies.

The Dairy Product Price Support Program (DPPSP) and the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program combined constitute nearly 80 percent of the dairy budget baseline over the next ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. However, the DPPSP has become an ineffective safety net for farmers, and has created an unintended outcome whereby the U.S. has become burdened with balancing the world’s milk supply.

The MILC program also has been ineffective in providing a safety net for farmers, and treats farms and entire regions of the country unequally. More specifically, it does not address the rise in volatile feed costs, and has not prevented the exodus of farms during its decade of existence. In 2001, there were 97,460 U.S. dairy farms, but by 2010, that figure was 62,500 – a loss of 36 percent of the nation’s dairy farmers, almost all of which were small to medium-size operations of 500 cows or less. This clearly demonstrates the inadequacy of the current program and the need for better dairy policy.

The policy proposals contained in the National Milk Producers Federation’s Foundation for the Future (FFTF) eliminate the DPPSP and MILC programs, and create a more efficient and effective safety net in the form of a Dairy Producer Margin Protection Program, the costs of which are shared by dairy farmers and the federal government. FFTF also establishes a Dairy Market Stabilization Program to prompt producers to respond more quickly to economic signals from the marketplace and at no cost to the government.

Existing farm programs, including the dairy title within the Farm Bill, are expected to undergo further cuts as part of the new federal budget deal passed by the House and Senate. FFTF was created to achieve better economic protection for farmers, while also yielding a budget savings – compared to current baseline spending levels – precisely because farm safety nets are going to shrink in the future. The Congressional Budget Office says FFTF will save $166 million over the next five years, at a time when Congress has now pledged to cut more than a trillion dollars from federal spending.

Dairy producers have acknowledged that shrinking federal resources are the reality. Keeping the status quo is not an option, either economically, as the best safety net to producers, or fiscally, due to budget demands. Producers have been calling for something better for the past two years. We can’t stay where we are and change is needed, which is why Foundation for the Future was developed.

To learn more about Foundation for the Future, including the Dairy Producer Margin Protection Program and the Dairy Market Stabilization Program, visit www.futurefordairy.com.

The National Milk Producers Federation, 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 31 cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of more than 40,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.

Today’s consumers want to know that the food they purchase is safe, wholesome, nutritious, and produced with integrity. U.S. milk producers are demonstrating that commitment by enrolling at a rapid pace in the National Dairy FARM Program: Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM). In fact, since enrollment began in September 2010, 45 percent of the nation’s milk supply now comes from farmers, cooperatives, and proprietary processors implementing the FARM program.

Voluntary and open to all producers, FARM is a national dairy animal care, third-party verified program designed to demonstrate dairy farmers’ commitment to outstanding animal care and a quality milk supply. Independent dairy producers, proprietary processors, and cooperatives are quickly coming on board.

“Telling this story is essential at a time when consumers want to know how their food is produced,” said John Miles, Land O’Lakes FARM implementation leader. “The FARM program helps us reach out to customers, consumers, and the entire marketing chain. It sends a strong message that Land O’Lakes member producers work hard caring for their animals and producing quality milk.”

FARM was created by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), along with support from Dairy Management, Inc. FARM provides thorough animal care education for producers, on-farm evaluations, and objective third-party verification, giving customers and consumers the assurances they deserve.

Participating producers are provided comprehensive training materials and undergo an on-farm evaluation conducted by a trained veterinarian, extension educator, co-op field staff member, or other FARM-trained professional. Evaluators then provide a status report and, if necessary, recommendations for improvement.

To protect the integrity and credibility of the program, a certain number of participating dairy farms will be randomly selected for objective third-party verification. Validus, an Iowa-based certified auditing company with more than 10 years of experience verifying on-farm animal care, has been selected to conduct all third-party evaluations and will begin that process this summer.

A complete list of participants and all training materials in both English and Spanish can be found at www.nationaldairyfarm.com.

On June 29, 2011, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) San Francisco District office sent a warning letter to CytoSport^TM, Inc., Benicia, CA, concerning alleged misbranding of some of the company’s Muscle Milk^® products.

FDA reviewed the labels for the company’s Chocolate Muscle Milk^® Protein Nutrition Shake, Vanilla Creme Muscle Milk^® Light Nutritional Shake and Chocolate Peanut Caramel Muscle Milk^® products, and concluded that these products are misbranded because the labels are false or misleading. The warning letter pointed to the “Contains No Milk” statement on the front of the package, which contradicted the presence of milk-derived ingredients in the ingredient statement and in the allergen statement. FDA’s warning letter also noted that Muscle Milk^® Shake products were misbranded because they purported to be milk – based on the prominence of the word “Milk” on the front of the package – but did not conform to the standard of identity for milk according to the ingredient statement.

NMPF, whose own past efforts to draw attention to misbranded imitation dairy products have specifically cited Muscle Milk^® products, welcomed FDA’s warning letter to CytoSport^TM.

“We hope that FDA’s recent warning letter to Muscle Milk^®’s CytoSport^TM is an indication the agency is finally going to flex some of its own muscle against brands and products that misappropriate dairy terms on their labels,” said Beth Briczinski, NMPF’s Director, Dairy Foods and Nutrition.

During the past month, NMPF has continued to advocate for the advancement of the three pending Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. However, it doesn’t appear Congress will take final votes prior to the upcoming August recess.

In the month of July, both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed different versions of the FTAs. The Senate Finance committee approved a bill that included the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), while the House Ways and Means Committee approved the FTAs on their own with a plan to move the TAA in parallel fashion through the House. There is still some concern on whether the House and Senate will be able to come to an agreement on the FTAs. However, several Republican Senators, including Sens. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Rob Portman (R-OR), have secured several other Republican Senators who are committed to vote for the current FTA agreements including the TAA.

At its June meeting, the NMPF Scholarship Committee selected four graduate students to receive scholarships as part of the 2011 NMPF National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program.

These students are all conducting research in areas that will benefit dairy cooperatives and producers.

The 2011 Hintz Memorial Scholarship, given to the top scholarship candidate, was awarded to João Paulo Nascimento Martins (in the photo), a Ph.D. candidate in Animal Science at the Michigan State University. His research project is “The effect of enhanced luteinizing hormone pulses during ovulatory follicle development on oocyte competency and subsequent pregnancy losses in dairy cattle.”

Other scholarship winners included:

• Daniel Garrido, a Ph.D. candidate in Food Science at the University of California-Davis, with his research project, “Molecular validation of the prebiotic properties of casein glycomacropeptides.”
• Amanda Sterrett, a M.S. candidate in Animal Science at the University of Kentucky, with her research project, “Characterization of relationships between lying behavior, rumination behavior, and core body temperature using novel precision dairy farming techniques.”
• Laura Bradner, a M.S. candidate in Biochemistry at the Iowa State University, with her research project, “Optimization of methods for the detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in milk and colostrum of naturally infected dairy cows.”

The Scholarship Committee was impressed with the quality of applications and thanked all of the students who applied for the 2011 program. All eligible students are encouraged to apply next year.

If you have any questions about the NMPF scholarship program, please call the NMPF office at 703-243-6111, or email Beth Briczinski.

Although it’s still more than three months way, staff members have been working on plans for the 2011 annual meeting that NMPF shares with the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board and the United Dairy Industry Association. This year’s meeting will be held November 14 – 16 at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center in San Diego, CA.

Centering on the theme “Navigating a New Course,” attendees will arrive for a few days of speeches, reports, banquets, general sessions, town hall meetings, and award ceremonies. Dairy producers, cooperatives, Young Cooperators (YCs), industry representatives, staff, and others from within the dairy sector are all invited to attend.

Information will be posted online at www.nmpf.org/nmpf-joint-annual-meeting as it becomes available.

July was a very challenging month in Congress, where partisan battling over government spending was the only game in town. The federal debt ceiling and budget reduction debate continued until the final hours, almost literally. But the House of Representative finally passed a package of spending cuts yesterday, hours before the August 2nd deadline for increasing the debt threshold. The Senate is expected to vote today, Tuesday, on the House-passed version and send it to the White House for President Obama’s signature.

The bill includes nearly $1 trillion in deficit reduction, while allowing the President the authority to increase the debt limit by at least $2.1 trillion, eliminating the need for further increases until 2013. A bipartisan committee must accept or identify an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction by November 23, 2011. These cuts may include entitlement program reductions, and also tax reforms.

The plan would result in $21 billion in cuts in its first year. Time and again, members of Congress have called for cuts to agricultural programs. The best-case scenario appears to be $11 billion in agriculture spending cuts over the next 10 years. This will require real and significant farm policy reform that will impact direct payments and conservation programs.

NMPF’s dairy policy reform, Foundation for the Future, was written in order to provide a better safety net to dairy producers while staying within the current budget baseline, with likely savings of more than 10% over 10 years.

In response to concerns that the use of E-Verify may soon become mandatory across the country, the National Milk Producers Federation, along with several other agricultural interest groups, sent a letter to the House leadership seeking inclusion of a “workable, efficient worker program that encompasses all of U.S. agriculture.” This came as a response to a bill offered by Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) that would impose mandatory E-Verify for all businesses in the United States, but would also pre-empt all state bills that have instituted similar and harsher legislation.

The letter makes the argument that in order to continue food production, the agricultural industry needs an opportunity to secure a suitable workforce. While no date has been scheduled for the House to start marking up H.R.2164, Smith’s Legal Workforce Act, NMPF and the agricultural community will continue to advocate for positive changes to be made so that the agricultural industry can continue to function in an efficient and productive manner.

 

Nearly 50 Percent of Milk Supply Now Under FARM Umbrella

ARLINGTON, VA – Today’s consumers want to know that the food they purchase is safe, wholesome, nutritious, and produced with integrity. U.S. milk producers are demonstrating that commitment by enrolling at a rapid pace in the National Dairy FARM Program: Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM). In fact, since enrollment began in September 2010, 45 percent of the nation’s milk supply now comes from farmers, cooperatives, and proprietary processors implementing the FARM program.

Voluntary and open to all producers, FARM is a national dairy animal care, third-party verified program designed to demonstrate dairy farmers’ commitment to outstanding animal care and a quality milk supply. Independent dairy producers, proprietary processors, and cooperatives are quickly coming on board.

“Telling this story is essential at a time when consumers want to know how their food is produced,” said John Miles, Land O’Lakes FARM implementation leader. “The FARM program helps us reach out to customers, consumers, and the entire marketing chain. It sends a strong message that Land O’Lakes member producers work hard caring for their animals and producing quality milk.”

FARM was created by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), along with support from Dairy Management, Inc. FARM provides thorough animal care education for producers, on-farm evaluations, and objective third-party verification, giving customers and consumers the assurances they deserve.

“Dairy farmers are passionate about the care they provide to their animals and have an excellent track record of responsible management practices,” said Jamie Jonker, Vice President of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at NMPF. “This program quantifies that passion and allows them to speak with one voice as they market nationally and internationally. The pace of participation has surpassed our expectations.”

Developed in partnership with producers, veterinarians, and animal care experts, FARM is a comprehensive program that incorporates the latest innovations in animal care from birth to marketing.

Participating producers are provided comprehensive training materials and undergo an on-farm evaluation conducted by a trained veterinarian, extension educator, co-op field staff member, or other FARM-trained professional. Evaluators then provide a status report and, if necessary, recommendations for improvement.

To protect the integrity and credibility of the program, a certain number of participating dairy farms will be randomly selected for objective third-party verification. Validus, an Iowa-based certified auditing company with more than 10 years of experience verifying on-farm animal care, has been selected to conduct all third-party evaluations and will begin that process this summer.

In addition to Land O’Lakes, participating cooperatives and proprietary producers include Agri-Mark, Inc., Hilmar Cheese Company, Foremost Farms USA, and Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers (MDVA) Cooperative.

“In today’s society we have to prove that animal care is important to all dairy farmers in a manner that our neighbors and customers can understand and respect. The best solution is FARM,” said Kevin Satterwhite, a dairy farmer and MDVA member from Newberry, S.C., who is an active participant in the FARM program.

A complete list of participants and all training materials in both English and Spanish can be found at www.nationaldairyfarm.com.

Dairy Management Inc., based in Rosemont, IL, is the domestic and international planning and management organization that builds demand for dairy products on behalf of America’s 60,000-plus dairy producers. DMI works with state and regional dairy promotion organizations to integrate marketing, promotion, advertising, public relations, nutrition education, and nutrition, product and technology research programs. www.dairycheckoff.com

The National Milk Producers Federation, 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 31 cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of more than 40,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.