Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Dairy Defined

NMPF elected Indiana dairy farmer Brian Rexing as its 15th chairman at its annual meeting last week, succeeding Randy Mooney of Rogersville, MO, who had served in the position for the past 17 years.

This week’s Dairy Defined Podcast is taken from their remarks at the meeting in Arlington, TX, with Mooney reflecting on his tenure and dairy’s future and Rexing outlining his hope for the years to come. 

Dairy’s future is bright, and it’s brightest when the industry is united toward common goals, the chairmen of the International Dairy Foods Association and the National Milk Producers Federation said.  

“$11 billion or so in projects are happening or about to happen that will significantly grow the industry capacity throughout the country,” said Daragh Maccabee, CEO of Idaho Milk Products and Chairman of the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) in the podcast released today. “That means the processor community is stepping up, and we all know that the dairy producer community will do its part as dairy farmers always, always do. And aligned with that investment also comes furthering innovation capabilities or further investment in innovation capabilities so that the US can continue to lead the way in delivering value for milk in increasingly sophisticated ways.” 

The discussion covers the unique qualities of the U.S. dairy industry, including its scale, efficiency, and sustainability. Maccabee and Mooney, who serves as chairman of the National Milk Producers Federation and Dairy Farmers of America, the largest U.S. dairy co-op, with the strength of cooperatives and industry organizations are also highlighted as keys to industry progress. However, dairy faces challenges around labor shortages and trade uncertainty, they said. 

“We need new laws that help farmers continue to have the labor that we need on the farms to produce the milk. And without that, that's the biggest critical issue that I see as what could affect future dairy production in this country, is just making sure the cows get taken care of and the cows get milked under the labor standards that we have today,” Mooney said. 

Still, the industry’s overall outlook remains something to cheer about, said Mooney, who soon will be stepping down as NMPF’s chairman. Reflecting on nearly two decades of leadership in that role, Mooney said it’s been an honor to be part of a profession that improves people’s lives.  

“This industry is going to be bright for the future of farming. It's going to be bright for the producers,” he said. “And not only that, what makes me feel good at the end of the day is on our individual farms.” 

After nearly four decades as an economist at NMPF, Dr. Peter Vitaliano is retiring at the end of the year. He predicts a bright future for the industry. 

 “The U.S. dairy industry produces a huge variety of great products, for which consumption is continuing to grow,” Vitaliano said in a Dairy Defined Podcast. “It has very progressive farms and farmers, and great leadership amongst our organizations, and great organizations. That has been the case when I came, it's the case now, and it's going to be the case for many years in the future.” 

 Vitaliano, NMPF’s longtime chief economist, reflects on the evolution of policy challenges for the dairy industry in the podcast, explaining how shifts in the industry have created greater unity – and a more effective NMPF. 

A massive coronavirus aid package poised to pass Congress that includes crucial assistance to dairy producers is a critical, but likely not the last, step in assisting sectors hard-hit by economic disruptions, said Paul Bleiberg, NMPF’s vice president for government relations, in an NMPF podcast.

Emily Yeiser Stepp, a National Milk Producers Federation vice president and head of the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program, is seeing rapid evolution in the initiative as the dairy industry continues to ensure quality animal care, a commitment to sustainability and best practices in the workplace even as coronavirus disrupts supply chains .

Clay Detlefsen, senior vice president of regulatory and environmental affairs for the National Milk Producers Federation, says that based on information he’s received while serving in another role -- as the private-sector chair of the Food and Agricultural Sector Coordinating Council – shortages of consumer staples in grocery stores strained by responses to coronavirus-related restrictions should begin easing, as soon as within a week.

NMPF’s Vice President for Sustainability and Scientific Affairs, Dr. Jamie Jonker, discusses why U.S. milk supplies are safe and details the precautions dairy farmers are taking to protect their workers and facilities in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lynn Boadwine, an owner of Boadwine Farms near Baltic, South Dakota, was part of a group of dairy farmers from 26 states who visited Capitol Hill last week as part of an NMPF fly-in calling for agricultural labor reform. NMPF has long advocated for farm-labor legislation in Washington, and even though last year the House of Representatives advanced its first package since 1986, much work remains to be done in the Senate. Boadwine says it’s a heavy lift – but possible.

Tangible gains from the USMCA trade agreement, as well as progress in “Phase One” trade deals with China and Japan, underscore dairy’s persistent efforts to open new opportunities in foreign markets, Jamie, Castaneda, NMPF’s senior vice president for policy strategy and international trade, says in this week’s Dairy Defined Podcast.

Dairy farming continues to advance in sustainability and animal welfare as technology and scientific understanding evolves, ensuring better care for the planet and for animals, said Jamie Jonker, NMPF vice president for sustainability and scientific affairs.

Despite trade headwinds, U.S. dairy producers are seeing real export gains that are crucial for supporting milk prices now and in years to come, said Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, in this week’s Dairy Defined Podcast.

Vilsack, a former Iowa governor and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, discussed how U.S. dairy is establishing itself as a permanent presence in global markets, underscoring the increasingly important role dairy exports play as a driver of U.S. milk prices. By expanding export efforts, American dairy producers can take advantage of rising global demand, boosting income at family farms across the country, he said.

Election years always pose challenges for getting things done on Capitol Hill, but dairy is well-positioned to make gains in 2020, according to Paul Bleiberg, the National Milk Producers Federation’s vice president of government relations. 

Senate approval of the USMCA trade agreement and a Senate plan on agricultural labor are only two topics in which positive steps could occur, said Bleiberg, NMPF’s chief policy staffer for the past two years. Child nutrition, transportation could also get put on the front burner, depending on what Congress decides to take up this year. “Certainly the completion of the USMCA process and the work in the Senate on ag labor are the top two priorities,” Bleiberg said.

Bleiberg also discusses dairy’s role in the 2020 elections and how dairy producers and allies can affect policy.

U.S. milk prices ended 2019 at their highest in five years. And while 2020 may see those gains cool off a bit, they should stay high enough for many producers to start recovering from the doldrums they faced in the second half of the 2010s.  

“The bleeding of the past several years will probably stop, to some extent,” said Vitaliano, NMPF’s chief economist and creator of the Dairy Market Report, a monthly drill-down on what’s driving dairy markets. Still, producers are going to be vigilant on keeping costs under control to stay competitive both domestically and internationally, given the cyclical nature of dairy prices, he said.   

FARM Environmental Stewardship Version 3 is out – and it's a step forward for dairy farmers both as stewards and as business managers, according to NMPF Chief Sustainability Officer Nicole Ayache, who oversaw development of the initiative through the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program, in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today. 

With new, updating modeling, under FARM ES Version 3, “farmers can actually run scenarios to assess practice or technology changes, see how those would impact their greenhouse gas emissions, and any potential impact on milk productivity as well,” Ayache said. “The scenarios, being able to project what-ifs, is the biggest benefit.”

The FARM Program is a partnership between NMPF and Dairy Management Inc. that helps ensure dairy's success by demonstrating U.S. dairy farmer commitment to safe, high-quality, high-integrity milk. FARM ES Version 3 took effect Oct. 31.

For more information on FARM ES Version 3, visit the FARM Program website. 

To understand how dairy can be a part of climate solutions, it’s important to be clear about the role it plays in greenhouse gas emissions in the first place, said Dr. Frank Mitloehner, a professor in animal science at the University of California-Davis.  

“Comparing cows versus cars is a major flaw” in how climate impacts are measured, he said, because agriculture is part of a carbon life cycle, rather than an extraction of resources that have been in the ground for millions of years. “We know every detail about the impact of dairies on greenhouse gases, on air and water pollutants, and so forth. We know what these impacts are, and we know how to further mitigate those,” Mitloehner said.   

Dairy’s future will depend on its next generation of farmers, many of whom are already hard at work on farms across the country. Young farmers are an important part of the agricultural landscape, and their continued involvement and leadership is needed to preserve a bright future for our dairy cooperatives. Ensuring these farmers can sustain their livelihoods is critical to the future of the dairy industry.

Despite a recent stretch of low prices, a better safety net for dairy producers and an improving market is making now a better time for dairy farmers, said Steve Schlangen, owner of a 60-cow farm outside Albany, MN and the chairman of Associated Milk Producers Inc.

A dairy farmer since 1986, Schlangen said that if he had to start all over again, he’d go into dairy farming “in a heartbeat.” Of the new Dairy Margin Coverage program – the new safety net for producers that went into effect this year, “to know that’s going to be here for the next five years, it just makes you start focusing again on what plans you might have down the road, because you don’t have to worry about just surviving,” Schlangen said.   

U.S. dairy farmers have been through challenging times, but there is light ahead if the sector proactively engages with the challenges of trade, the environment, climate and consumer tastes, said Randy Mooney, a Missouri dairy farmer and chairman of the National Milk Producers Federation. Mooney spoke this morning at the organization’s annual meeting, this in New Orleans.

“We are a family that needs to work together to deal with all of these changes, just as we’ve always done,” he said. “Like all of you, I’m proud to be a dairy farmer, producing the most nutritious product in the world.”

To listen to the full podcast, click here. You can also find the Dairy Defined podcast on Spotify and SoundCloud. Broadcast outlets may use the attached MP3 file. Please attribute information to NMPF.

With farmers receiving a $300 million financial boost via the 2019 Dairy Margin Coverage Program, signup is now underway for the 2020 program. But every year is different, and Chris Galen, NMPF’s Senior Vice President for Member Services and Strategic Initiatives, said farmers should be paying attention to prices, production histories and financial priorities as they consider their 2020 signup options.

“For those who aren’t locked in for the full five years, you have several choices to make,” he said. “You have to look at, do you want to ensure again at the $9.50 per hundredweight maximum coverage level, or is there a level below that, that you want to pay for? Again, the premiums are higher, the higher the levels of coverage that you choose.”

The National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) program spent last week at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, talking to farmers about the initiative’s updated standards for animal care. Emily Yeiser-Stepp, FARM director, said closer relationships between farmers and veterinarians, enhanced care standards for calves and non-ambulatory animals, and workforce training that spotlights quality animal care, all keep dairy a livestock leader in treatment of animals.

“It’s critically important for the dairy community to demonstrate what we’re doing within the animal care space,” she said. “It allows, again, for that assurance for our customers and consumers to feel good about the dairy products that they’re purchasing.”

President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister’s Shinzo Abe’s agreement this week to a limited trade deal between the two countries is an important development in expanding one of dairy’s most important trade relationships.

Still, the announcement is only an initial step – more will need to be done to ensure that a U.S.-Japan trade pact’s full benefits for U.S. producers are realized. We at the National Milk Producers Federation, along with our colleagues at the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and producers and processors across the industry, are primed to work for further progress, helping to bolster the economic recovery we’re just beginning to see in our sector.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday is holding a public meeting on “Horizontal Approaches to Food Standards of Identity Modernization” -- horizontal being the idea that by making changes to food standards of identity that cut across categories, goals like “innovation” and “flexibility” may be encouraged.

Sounds great, right? Maybe – but Clay Detlefsen, senior vice president for regulatory and environmental affairs at NMPF, is providing comments at the meeting. He says the FDA should proceed with caution. Food products are unique, and an across-the-board approach could have unintended consequences that could harm consumers, he said.

“It’s a nice approach on its face, but I think when you start to get into details, concerns start to surface,” he said. “Consumers definitely could be misled.”

In a move demanded by no one other than a marketing department desperate to rebrand its product away from a declining sales category, Country Crock, longtime maker of a vegetable-oil spread, this summer has begun peddling its new “Plant-Based Butter,” in the hopes that consumers will be fooled by this “old wine in a new bottle.

Dairy farmers are remaining resilient as they manage their way through H5N1 in dairy cattle and respond to natural disasters that have devastated farms, NMPF Chairman Randy Mooney said in remarks at the organization’s annual meeting.

“Farming is hard. I said that. We all know that. But when you get hit with weather events like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, the list goes on and on, unexpected costs, that makes it even harder,” Mooney said in his remarks Oct. 22. “You get hit with things like bird flu that a year ago we didn't even know was a problem,” he continued. “And if you've been hit by one of these either weather event or something really unexpected, my heart goes out to you. These things are difficult. It puts strains on farms, put strains on families, put strains on financials.”

“Everything we do, the future is going to take a level of cooperation and coordination from all of us. And we’ve had that, but it’s going to take more than we’ve ever had,” said Mooney, a Dairy Farmers of America member-owner who farms near Rogersville, MO. “I continue to be inspired by all of you and the work that you’re doing. Amid great change and preparation for the future, we are still part of the greatest industry that there is.

Mooney also talks about the 2024 Farm Bill, efforts to modernize milk pricing, labor shortages and dairy’ need to promote exports. 

With the dietary guidelines for American Scientific Advisory Committee reviewing the science for the upcoming 2025 guidelines, better nutrition for diverse American communities is getting a lot of attention. Dr. Priscilla Mpasi, a Philadelphia physician and board member of the National Medical Association, said dairy’s essential to support in the dietary recommendations the guidelines make, given its importance to nutrition in families with diverse backgrounds.

“The science is very clear about the health benefits, from birth to our senior population,” said Mpasi, a primary care pediatrician, in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today. “The recommendations have been three servings of dairy a day, and we're hoping it stays at three servings of dairy a day.”

Mpasi also addresses misperceptions regarding lactose intolerance, misinformation on dairy among consumers, and the contrasts between dairy and plant-based beverages. 

The federal government is seeking comments related to the next iteration of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans as it reviews the science behind healthy eating, with a plan expected next year. Dairy has always had a central role in proper nutrition, and newer science reinforces that. That doesn’t mean the process is easy, two experts said in a Dairy Defined podcast released today. 

“One of the biggest distinguishing factors in this year's advisory committee is a focus on using a health equity lens to ensure that the committee considers factors such as socioeconomic position, food security, race, and, or ethnicity and culture,” said Brandon Lipps, who during his time as  USDA deputy undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, oversaw the writing of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services. “With products like milk that have so many available nutrients, we can serve Americans so well. And we need to make sure that the committee thinks about the basics when they're talking about that.”

Lipps, co-founder of Caprock Strategies, was joined by NMPF Director of Regulatory Affairs Miquela Hanselman in the podcast. 

USDA’s plan for modernizing the Federal Milk Marketing Order system aligns well with the principles outlined in NMPF’s own proposals, NMPF economists Peter Vitaliano and Stephen Cain said in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today. Still, analysis is ongoing, and NMPF will be suggesting improvements during a public comment period that lasts through mid-September. 

“It's important that we have a national system that helps level the playing field across the country,” said Cain, NMPF’s senior director for economic research and analysis. “We do not want regulation to create winners and losers or incentivize actions that distort the marketplace or market dynamics in any way.

With FDA’s review complete, Elanco’s Bovaer is getting ready for the U.S. marketplace. But the methane-reducing feed additive’s success will be as much about economic as environmental sustainability, said Katie Cook, Elanco's Vice President of Livestock Sustainability and Farm Animal Marketing, in a Dairy Defined podcast released today. 

“The biggest thing, and the thing that's most important, is not only are we making sure that we're providing an environmental sustainability practice to our producers, but most importantly we're providing them with additional profitability,” Cook said. “It's a key tool as we think about telling our dairy story and the value that our dairy products bring to consumers. But more importantly, as a producer, it's also giving you an additional revenue stream as we think about the economic viability of our farms' longer term.”

Dairy farmers are descending on Washington next week, as NMPF's Young Cooperators lead the organization’s annual fly-in. Hannah and Matthew Lansing, this year’s chairs for the YC Program, say policy engagement is critical to dairy’s future. 

“There are so many things that affect us, but they don't affect us in a way that we see every day,” said Matthew Lansing, who along with his wife and her family milk 1,100 cows and farm more than 5,000 acres at Blue Hill Dairy in Clinton, Iowa. said. “Keeping involved and up-to-date as much as we can and pushing for things that we need on a farm on a day-to-day basis is really key for us to propel forward into the future and be what we need to be for consumers going forward.”

You can find and subscribe to the Dairy Defined podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music under the podcast name “Dairy Defined.” For more on the YC Program, click here. 

Media outlets may use clips from the podcast on the condition of attribution to the National Milk Producers Federation. 

Biosecurity – what it is, and how to achieve it – is at the top of every dairy farmer’s mind as cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) have been found in dairy cattle in several states. Every farmer can take simple, but meaningful, steps to ensure a well-protected industry, said Karen Jordan, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, chairwoman of the National Dairy FARM Program’s animal care task force, and a member of NMPF’s Board of Directors, in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today.

 “When you start trying to protect against organisms that you can't see, that puts you in a whole different ballpark,” said Jordan, who also raises about 200 dairy cattle in Siler City, NC. “The bright side is, we've got a disease that we don't have dead animals. We do have an economic disruption, severely. But this gives us an opportunity to really take a hard look at our farms and see what that biosecurity really needs to look like and then how we really enhance it.” 

 Jordan is joined in the podcast by NMPF’s Chief Science Officer, Jamie Jonker, who is leading NMPF’s HPAI response. 

The briefs are in, and now it’s up to USDA to consider the arguments and craft a proposed modernization for Federal Milk Marketing Orders, which govern milk pricing. NMPF economists Peter Vitaliano and Stephen Cain said they’re confident in the strength of NMPF’s proposals in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today. 

“If you were to read through our brief, I think you'd be struck by the fact that it is an integrated, well-reasoned, constructive proposal for doing some long overdue maintenance on the federal order program to position it for many more years of effective operation,” said Vitaliano, vice president for economic policy and market research at NMPF. “We're very confident that when we see what USDA comes up with in a recommended decision in early July, we're very confident that we've made a good enough case, that a lot of it will be adopted.”

Life as an influencer means entering free-wheeling debate with perspectives from all sides. But to advance better nutrition with ample servings of dairy, it’s necessary to do, says social media personality Lauren Twigge. 

Twigge, a registered dietician and nutritionist with a degree in animal science, offers “Nutrition at Its Roots,” an online and social media platform she uses to advance the message of dairy’s benefits and high-quality nourishment. Her work has been featured in Prevention, Health, Shape, Good Housekeeping, and other media outlets helping to demystify nutrition and offer sound guidance for families and individuals navigating an often-confusing nutrition landscape.

Anyone seeking a bigger online presence should just get out there and engage, she said. “For farmers or health professionals like me that want to share facts, start putting the content out there. Your themes, your trends, your approach will come as you go, because you're going to start to get people asking you questions.” And while sometimes the interactions aren’t the most pleasant, in the end it’s worthwhile, she said. 

“You've got so many great farmers online that are sharing their stories, showing days in their life, and I think that it really helps put a face to the industry, and that's what consumers need to see,” she said. “My big piece of advice would be, start the content, post the content, share your story, talk about your family, talk about the industry, and talk about why you love it. Connect people with your passion. And that is content that people resonate with, and content that people resonate with is content that people remember and learn from.”

Its Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) hearing now concluded, USDA is now considering more than 12,000 pages of testimony as it formulates its plan for FMMO modernization. NMPF is still doing what it can to ensure that proposal best reflects the interest of dairy farmers and their cooperatives, two NMPF economists said in a Dairy Defined podcast. 

The key to successful modernization is a comprehensive approach that addresses the complexity of federal orders in a way that respects the entire dairy industry while keeping in mind that orders most fundamentally must work for farmers, Dr. Peter Vitaliano, Vice President for Economic Policy and Market Research, and Stephen Cain, Senior Director for Economic Research and Analysis at NMPF. That’s always been the bedrock principle behind NMPF proposals on areas ranging from returning to the “higher-of” Class I mover to updating milk composition factors.

 “What separates National Milk's proposals from processor groups is more of our holistic approach,” Cain said. “You can't look at the federal order system having not been updated in 20 years and not address all facets of the industry, right? You can't say in good faith that Class I differentials need to be updated because costs have gone up without also conceding the fact that make allowances need to go up for the same reason. So we took that holistic approach. That is going to help move the industry forward together.”

With consumer choice scientific research and congressional legislation all going its way, 2024 promises to be a breakthrough year for whole milk, NMPF's Head of Nutrition Policy Claudia Larson and Regulatory Affairs Director Miquela Hanselman said in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today.

The variety that shoppers prefer is poised to return to school lunch menus given the bipartisan approval of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act in the House of Representatives, and it will figure prominently in consideration for updated federal Dietary Guidelines that are due next year. 

“This is important to our students, this is important to our schools, this is important to our parents,” said Larson, a senior director of government relations at NMPF. “Reach out to your senators, let them know that this is important to you and your children in your community and ask them to please co-sponsor the bill.”

NMPF has a call to action urging lawmakers to support the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act here. 

The dairy sector has benefited from strong leadership, as farmers work together to meet today’s challenges, National Milk Producers Federation Chairman Randy Mooney said in a Dairy Defined podcast.

A new farm bill, a national hearing on modernizing the Federal Milk Marketing Order system, and ongoing challenges in sustainability and risk management have challenged dairy farmers, Mooney said in the podcast, taken from his remarks at the organization’s annual meeting in Orlando on Tuesday. Farmers have responded with their trademark resilience, uniting to advance their industry, he said.

“This year we came together as an industry to unite around a number of issues that helped build that resiliency. Together we worked to make every drop count, every meeting, count every call, every email, every handshake,” he said. 

It may be one of NMPF’s most-hidden secrets to its members – an influential quarterly publication that puts dairy’s side of the story before the government regulatory and regulatory experts who directly influence dairy policy. But it’s a secret that’s hiding in plain sight, as the Regulatory Register is a critical part of NMPF regulatory work. And in this week’s Dairy Defined Podcast, the organization’s regulatory team talks about the critical work they’re doing for dairy – and previews the next Register. 

“It's important for us to get our side of the regulatory story out to the broader community, not only the dairy industry itself, but also the regulators at the federal and state level on the variety of issues that happen in the regulatory space that are important for the US dairy industry,” said NMPF’s Chief Science Officer, Jamie Jonker, on the podcast, where he was joined by Senior Vice President for Regulatory Affairs and NMPF Chief Counsel, Clay Detlefsen, and Miquela Hanselman, NMPF’s Director of Regulatory Affairs. 

Between the USDA Federal Milk Marketing Order Modernization hearing and efforts to pass a new farm bill, dairy’s policy plate is full this fall – with plenty of opportunities for different parts of the industry to argue over what’s their favorite dish.

That’s to be expected, and disagreement along doesn’t forestall progress, said Peter Vitaliano, NMPF vice president for economic policy and market research, in a Dairy Defined podcast released today. “There's always been contention in this industry, and as an economist, I can appreciate that, because there are genuine economic interests at stake,” he said. “So certain conflicts are inevitable, and they tend to come out in an issue such as federal orders.” 

But that said, NMPF’s proposal for comprehensive modernization remains the strongest path forward, as shown in hearing testimony. “It's almost two years now since National Milk began crafting a very carefully balanced proposal that is in the interest of dairy farmers and their marketing cooperatives,” he said. “I think we're doing a great job of presenting our case at this hearing. That's the whole purpose of the hearing, to make our case in great detail based on factual evidence for our proposal, which our board of directors approved unanimously.” 

Vitaliano is joined on the podcast by Executive Vice president for Government Relations Paul Bleiberg, discussing the likely path forward for yet-to-be-passed farm bill, a twice-a-decade reauthorization of USDA programs that expired Sept. 30. 

Even as the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) provides USDA officials with exhaustive research and expert analysis at its Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) Modernization hearing in Carmel, IN, the department is paying attention to what farmers have to say as they testify to support NMPF’s plan. That makes farmer participation critical to the hearing’s success, said Stephen Cain, NMPF’s Senior Director or Economic Research and Analysis, in the latest Dairy Defined podcast.  

“They want to hear from farmers. This is a federal program that is meant to support farmers and is continued at the behest of farmers,” Cain said. “USDA has really wanted to hear from them, and that's a big piece to make sure that these proposals that are being put forth are the right things to do.”

For more information on NMPF’s FMMO efforts and to follow the hearing, click here. 

The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act may have its best chance yet of passing Congress this year. But the potential return of whole and 2% percent options to school lunch menus is only one piece of the evolution of dairy’s role in federal nutrition policies, as two NMPF experts say in a Dairy Defined podcast released today.

“We’re in a pretty exciting spot right now for dairy and nutrition,” said Miquela Hanselman, NMPF’s manager for regulatory affairs. “National Milk is working with other dairy organizations to kind of make sure that we have all of our bases covered.”

Hanselman is NMPF’s point person on the upcoming, twice-a-decade revision to the dietary guidelines used in federal nutrition programs, due in 2025. She’s joined in the podcast by Senior Director for Government Relations Claudia Larson, who is advocating for whole milk legislation in Congress. Evolving science – and attitudes – toward the benefits of whole milk in children’s diets is building momentum for expanded milk options in federal programs.

“The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act expands the varieties of healthy milk options schools can choose to serve in meal programs, and we see this as a commons-sense approach for addressing nutrition insecurity among our nation's youth,” she said. “Children and adolescents do not meet their daily dairy intake recommendations, and this is a nutrition problem for our kids because dairy plays an unparalleled role in delivering the vital nutrients they need to grow and thrive.”

hat’s in a name? Quite a lot. In dairy, a name defines a taste and experience. And that’s why European Union attempts to monopolize commonly understood cheese names poses a problem for consumers and cheese companies, as John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association in Madison explains in the latest Dairy Defined Podcast. 

“Our dairy farmers here in Wisconsin and other states, we can't go to Europe and sell a Parmesan cheese. We can't go to Europe and sell a cheese called feta,” he said. “It's infuriating because those names are used worldwide and the cheeses are produced worldwide. But the EU has put up walls.”

Umhoefer, joined by NMPF Senior Vice President for Trade Policy Shawna Morris, also discusses recent legal victories and a congressional effort to help U.S. producers stifle EU attempts to use cheese names as a trade barrier 

Dairy’s future will be increasingly global and diverse, as emerging markets increase demand and women take on greater leadership roles in the industry, this year’s chairwoman of the NMPF Young Cooperators program said in a dairy defined podcast.

“The U.S. really had a competitive edge, as far as the quality and safety of the products,” said Lorilee Schultz, who milks 60 registered Holsteins and manages more than 200 acres at Mil-R-Mor Farm in Orangeville, IL, said of her time briefly working with the USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service. The member of Prairie Farms cooperative is very active in community leadership and has a special interest in teaching kids about agriculture, including interactions with more than 200,000 school children through the Adopt-A-Cow program, a free, years-long virtual experience where students care for a calf and interact with a dairy farmer. 

That investment in dairy’s future will also be critical as new leaders emerge through programs such as NMPF’s YCs, which will be in Washington next week for their annual congressional fly-in, she said. Schultz, 38, said one of her messages to lawmakers will be that “If we want to retain the talented young people that we have in our rural communities, we really need to make sure that we're investing in those communities, making sure we have things like good schools, access to healthcare, quality and affordable childcare.”

And for dairy’s next generation of leadership – especially for women, who are currently under- represented in top industry positions – it’s critical to get involved, Schultz said. “It's really important to have our voices heard,” she said. “I just want to encourage everybody to know that they can be involved in leadership and make a difference.”

A record snowpack that’s far from fully melted, combined with last winter’s record rains, may mean it will be some time before Cory Vanderham, owner of Vanderham West Dairy in Corcoran, CA, will get his 4,500 cows all back to his farm.

In the meantime, he’s relying on leases in other locations, help from friends, and faith, to get through an ongoing disruption to the dairy industry in the nation’s top milk-producing state that creates new challenges every day. 

“You don't realize how strong this community is and how strong ag is until things get wild like this,” said Vanderham, a member of NMPF’s Board of Directors and the California Dairies Inc. cooperative, said in a Dairy Defined podcast released today. “And when it got wild, everybody showed up to help.”

Vanderham also discusses his on-the-ground observations on what kind of policy changes and investments at all levels of government could improve the state’s water management and infrastructure as farmers look toward a more resilient future in the face of weather extremes. 

A massive tax and spending bill is now law – but with half a year left, Congress now can turn its attention to getting whole milk back in schools, NMPF’s Paul Bleiberg said in a Dairy Defined podcast. 

“One item I'll single out first that we're hopeful to get done really in the next couple months here is the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act,” Bleiberg, NMPF’s executive vice president for government relations, said in a podcast released today. “We had a great voice vote, bipartisan voice vote out of the Senate Agriculture Committee just over a month ago, so we're hoping that we can get that through the Senate and then through the House, and begin that work of getting whole milk and 2% milk back into schools and getting kids better access to the nutrient-dense dairy options that really give them the benefits they need and that they enjoy.”

Bleiberg also discussed efforts toward agricultural labor reform, the farm bill provisions included in current law and NMPF’s policy priorities for the rest of the year. Joining Bleiberg in the podcast is Maria Brockamp, NMPF’s new manager of government relations.

To learn more about NMPF’s policy efforts via a new bill tracker, please visit nmpf.org/bill-tracker. 

With Earth Day placing a spotlight on environmental stewardship, dairy cooperatives are a critical link in ensuring dairy-farmer leadership in meeting ambitious sustainability goals, said Lindsay Reames, executive vice president of sustainability and external relations for Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association. 

“Sustainability does have a number of different meanings, and I think the most important thing that we can do as a dairy co-op is understand what it means on each of our individual farms,” said Reames. “The way we approach sustainability with our member owners is by finding ways where we can add value to their operation and improve the environmental outcomes from their farm. 

“So, any investments that we make through our partnerships and through our sustainability programs have to align with that farm's business model to bring them real value back to their operation. And we found that a number of new technologies, best management practices not only improve the environmental outputs on that operation, but also improve the overall economic wellbeing of the farm, which is a really important component of sustainability.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) unwillingness to limit dairy terms to true dairy products makes passage of the DAIRY PRIDE Act more necessary than ever, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI, said in a Dairy Defined podcast released today.

“They're going to continue to allow mislabeled imitation products to be on the market,” Baldwin said. “Wisconsin farmers work so hard to meet the FDA standards of nutrition and quality. They can't put the word ‘milk’ on the side of a carton of milk unless they meet those standards. It is not fair for plant-based products to be able to say they're milk when they don't meet those standards at all.

Baldwin, along with Sens. Jim Risch, R-ID; Peter Welch, D-VT, and Susan Collins, R-ME, last week reintroduced the DAIRY PRIDE Act, which would require FDA to enforce its standards of identity and supersede the inadequate draft guidance it offered in February, in which plant-based beverages could call themselves “milk” as long as they clearly state their nutritional differences with real dairy. 

Baldwin said DAIRY PRIDE could pass Congress this year via one of several vehicles, including the farm bill due this year. 

“Many of the folks that I'm joining forces with are going to have significant input as we draft a new farm bill, which is something that I expect to get completed this calendar year. So that's certainly one area that we can look towards. We also have funding bills for the Food and Drug Administration, and that would certainly be another opportunity to look at this type of legislation.”

DAIRY PRIDE is an acronym for the Defending Against Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, Milk, and Cheese to Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday Act.

FDA’s guidance is open for public comment until April 24. Dairy advocates may learn more about the issue and offer comments here. 

One year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, dairy cows are critical to keeping Kees Huizenga’s crop and livestock operation running as the war continues to bring hardship and suffering to the country and its agriculture.

When the war began, “I went to the people, to the old employees to talk to them and tell them not to panic and that we will all stay, and that we have to keep on running the farm and keep on feeding and milking the cows because they don't care if it's rockets or not. They have to be milked three times a day. And that's what we did. And everybody stayed,” said Huizenga, who is now living in his home country of the Netherlands while managing the 2,000-cow dairy and crop farm he began more than 20 years ago near Cherkasy, Ukraine, about 120 miles southeast of its capital city of Kiev. 

“The creamery, the processing factory, they never skipped one day in picking up the milk. They never skipped a day in paying. We gave them some milk for free and they processed it for free and they gave these products to refugees and to the army. And a lot of people, a lot of farmers did similar things.”

Looking at the next year, the biggest challenge for Ukrainian farmers is “the uncertainty,” he said. “You never know what's going to happen tomorrow, if that rocket might hit your farm. We are still far away from the front line, but I know farmers who've been hit and who've been tortured and killed as well. So, I don't know what the biggest uncertainties are. If there will be enough fertilizer available to grow a good crop. Seeds, are they more or less available. Prices because of these export complexities.”

Farming is a uniquely stressful occupation, and farmer mental-health needs tend to be underserved, said Loganville, WI dairy farmer Randy Roecker in the latest Dairy Defined podcast. Roecker, a board member for Foremost Farms USA, is a co-founder of the Farmer Angel Network, a Wisconsin organization that helps support farmers’ mental health needs. 

“A lot of farmers are very isolated and they don't get off the farm very much. This leads to getting stuck in the same rut over and over again,” he said. “The main thing is to just be there for each other.”

Record milk prices seen in 2022 likely won’t repeat themselves, as production increases and consumers grapple with an economic slowdown, according to members of the NMPF and U.S. Dairy Export Council’s joint economics unit, in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today. But exports are on track to increase, and demand will likely be resilient as dairy remains must-have for buyers.

“Consumers around the world still gravitate towards dairy, even when they're experiencing tighter economic situations,” said Will Loux, head of the team Vice President for Global Economic Affairs with NMPF and USDEC. “They ultimately view dairy as an essential item and will continue to consume it.”

Loux discusses the global and domestic dairy outlook with NMPF’s Chief Economist, Peter Vitaliano; Economic Research and Analysis Director, Stephen Cain; and the joint economic team's newest member, Economic Policy and Global Analysis Coordinator, Allison Wilton. 

Holiday giving season is under way, and NMPF's National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program is a worthy beneficiary for anyone who cares about a better industry future, explains Nicole Ayache, who leads the program at NMPF, in the latest Dairy Defined podcast. The scholarship supports graduate students, enrolled in master's or doctoral programs, who are actively pursuing dairy related fields of research that directly benefit milk marketing cooperatives and the U.S. dairy industry at large. To learn more about it or to donate, just go to NMPF’s home page, nmpf.org, and click on the blue bar. 

“As we look at the last 10 years or so of recipients, all of those recipients have stayed within agriculture,”  said Ayache, who also serves as NMPF’s vice president for environmental stewardship and sustainability and leads the FARM Program's Environmental Stewardship initiative. “In research, academia, allied industry, whatever it might be, those individuals have stayed within agriculture, and the majority within dairy itself. So we do believe that the scholarships we are awarding are really fulfilling our goal, which is to support the future of dairy.”

The International Dairy Federation (IDF) World Dairy Summit brings unique opportunities for U.S. dairy as the host nation for the Chicago event, to be held next Oct. 16-19. The global conference returns to the United States for the first time in three decades, at a moment when rising exports and world-leading sustainability gives the U.S. industry a great story to tell, according to three leaders in organizing next year’s events.

“It's a really exciting time for our industry, and we think that there's a tremendous opportunity, a tremendous amount of potential that dairy, globally, has here,” said Shawna Morris, Senior Vice President for Trade at the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC). “Looking at how we tap into that together is what we're focused on doing through the conference.”

“Bringing all of these folks to the United States creates an opportunity to get folks into facilities, to get them out to farms, to really show the rest of the global dairy industry what the U.S. dairy industry is all about,” said Nick Gardner, chairman of the U.S. International Dairy Federation, the Senior Vice President for Sustainability and Multilateral Affairs at USDEC, and with Morris the co-chair of next year’s summit.

“This is an excellent opportunity for the U.S. dairy industry to highlight its world leading dairy production from the farm through our cooperatives and processors and out to the consumers,” said Jamie Jonker, NMPF’s chief science officer and chair of IDF’s Science Program Coordinating Committee. “It's a way for us to step on the world stage, reintroduce U.S. dairy, its innovation and technology to the global marketplace, and demonstrate how we are world leaders.”

Morris, Gardner and Jonker also discuss how the dairy community can get involved with supporting the event, already highlighted by platinum-level sponsor Dairy Management Inc., as planning for it is already in full swing.