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14 CapitalPress.com February 13, 2015 Subscribe to our weekly dairy or livestock email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Dairy/Livestock COOL challengers drop lawsuit against USDA By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press The North American Meat Institute and its allies filed legal papers in U.S. District Court Feb. 9 to dismiss their lawsuit against USDA over mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef and pork. The lawsuit, initiated in July 2013 by NAMI, Ameri- can Association of Meat Pro- cessors, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council and others, attempted to block implementation of USDA’s amended COOL rule. Dismissal of the lawsuit was just a formality because the case had run its course, said Colin Woodall, vice pres- ident of government affairs for NCBA. The case was based on First Amendment rights, with the meat organizations argu- ing the government could not “compel them to speak” — la- beling product as to country of origin — in a marketing program as it does not involve the welfare or safety of con- sumers, he said. A ruling in the case would have affected every labeling program in the country, and the court wasn’t ready to take that on, he said. But dismissal of the case is not the end of the discus- sion and not the final say on whether COOL should remain in place, he said. Given last fall’s decision by the World Trade Organiza- tion (that USDA’s COOL rule is out of compliance with U.S. trade obligations) the issue could lead to legislative ac- tion, he said. The court case suffered three legal defeats before plaintiffs decided not to ap- peal to the U.S. Supreme Court and agreed to have the case dismissed, according to a press release from R-CALF, and other groups that inter- vened in the case on behalf of USDA. NAMI verified the agree- ment to dismiss but declined comment beyond the follow- ing written statement by its president and CEO Barry Car- penter: “While we remain disap- pointed with the court’s ruling on country of origin label- ing, we agree with the World Trade Organization’s assess- ment that the U.S. rule is out of compliance with its trade obligations to Canada and Mexico. “As Secretary (Tom) Vil- sack has said, a statutory fix is needed to bring the U.S. into compliance to avoid retaliato- ry tariffs and we’re committed to working with Congress to fix COOL once and for all.” In October 2014, a WTO compliance panel ruled that USDA’s amended COOL rule violates international trade obligations with its detrimen- tal effects on Canadian and Mexican livestock exported to the U.S. and upheld Cana- da’s and Mexico’s challenge to COOL. The panel found the amended rule increased the original rule’s detrimental impact on the competitive op- portunities of imported live- stock in the U.S. market and increased the incentive for U.S. meatpackers to choose domestic livestock over im- ported livestock. The ruling came as no surprise to the U.S. meat in- dustry, which has warned of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products exported to Canada and Mexico. Last week, Canada’s Ag- riculture Minister Gerry Ritz met with key representatives of the U.S. Senate and House agriculture committees, call- ing for a legislative fix to COOL and stating that Canada will continue to assert its rights to achieve a fair resolution, according to Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada. “We will use all options, including retaliation, to ensure this harm is put to a permanent end,” Ritz said in an AAFC press release. Lawmakers hear howls, but California dairy co-ops petition no action expected on wolves for federal marketing order By CAROL RYAN DUMAS By DON JENKINS Capital Press Capital Press OLYMPIA — Ranchers, county commissioners and rural lawmakers told a House committee Thursday that wolves are jeopardizing more than livestock. “It’s really wreaking havoc with our economy,” Stevens County Commissioner Wes McCart told the House Agri- culture and Natural Resources Committee. “Our citizens are ready to leave, and they’re ready to lynch me.” McCart said he can’t do anything for angry constitu- ents. State wildlife managers will be in control at least until wolves are numerous enough and widely distributed enough to be taken off the state’s en- dangered species list. State officials estimate that will be 2021 at the earliest. To speed things up, Repub- lican lawmakers Joel Kretz and Shelly Short have intro- duced bills to relocate some wolves closer to Western Washington or take wolves off the endangered species list in Eastern Washington. De-listing wolves by re- Don Jenkins/Capital Press Klickitat County, Wash., ranchers Clay Schuster, left, and Pace Amidon sign in Feb. 5 in Olympia to testify on wolf-related legisla- tion. The bills, introduced by lawmakers concerned about livestock predation, are unlikely to pass this session. gion will “absolutely not” pass the Democratic-con- trolled House this year, the agriculture committee’s chair- man, Aberdeen Democrat Bri- an Blake, said. Transferring wolves to the westside also is a non-starter in the House. “I have never supported the translocation of the wolf population, and that has not changed,” Blake said. “I have no interest in having wolves in the (his) 19th Dis- trict.” Nevertheless, Blake, sym- pathetic to problems faced by Kretz’s and Short’s constitu- ents in northeast Washington, scheduled hearings on the wolf-related bills. “I find it a little disconcerting that folks who aren’t bearing the im- pacts aren’t recognizing the problems,” Blake said. He said after the hearing that he hopes the Legislature will at least pass a statement asking state managers to re- view the wolf plan. California Dairies Inc., Dairy Farmers of America and Land O’Lakes, represent- ing 80 percent of California’s milk production, have sub- mitted a proposal to USDA petitioning for a federal milk marketing order in California. The co-ops submitted the proposal this week in sup- port of their farmer-owners, seeking more equitable milk pricing for California pro- ducers as compared with milk producers in the rest of the nation, said Marie teVelde, di- rector of communications for California Dairies Inc. Significant disparity be- tween the state’s pricing of Class 4b milk, used to man- ufacture cheese, and Class III pricing for like milk in federal marketing orders initiated the effort to join the federal order system, she said. The discrepancy lies in how whey is valued in the state’s 4b pricing, she said. California dairy farm- ers operate under statewide milk-pricing plans adminis- tered by the California De- partment of Food and Agri- culture and have petitioned CDFA numerous times to correct the whey value in the pricing formula, she said. Those efforts, as well as attempts to seek legislative pricing changes, have proved unsuccessful, she said. “By proposing a Federal Milk Marketing Order in Cal- ifornia, we are striving to ob- tain fair, equitable pricing for our members, allowing them to effectively manage their margins and secure the future of their operations,” said Den- nis Rodenbaugh, senior vice president and CEO for DFA Western Fluid Group. The state order served Cal- ifornia dairy farm families well for decades but in the past five years, Rodenbaugh said CDFA has failed to rec- ognize changes in milk pro- duction costs and the critical need for California producers to receive milk prices on par with the rest of the country. He said the failure to adapt to changing global market dynamics and to properly ad- minister the state order has resulted in a significant pric- ing disparity for California producers. “This inequitable pricing system has resulted not only in severe pressure to on-farm margins for our members, but also a weakening of Califor- nia’s dairy industry as numer- ous producers have exited the industry or have relocated out of the state in order to receive a better milk price,” he said. In addition, the large in- vestment in manufacturing infrastructure in the state has diminished due to concerns about an adequate milk sup- ply, he said. About 45 percent of Cal- ifornia’s milk production is used to manufacture cheese, and the state’s pricing formula is providing a huge discount for processors, according to Milk Producers Council. The gap between 4b pric- es and Class III prices began to widen in 2010, with the 4b monthly price averaging $1.82 per hundredweight of milk lower from 2010 through 2014. That differ- ence adds up to $1.64 bil- lion and a loss of more than $940,000 for California’s average 1,000-head dairy, ac- cording to MPC data. Cash dairy prices start February mixed By LEE MIELKE For the Capital Press Cash dairy product pric- es were mixed the first week of February. Block Cheddar closed Friday at $1.5350 per pound, up a quarter-cent on the week but 69 3/4-cents below a year ago. The blocks were unchanged Monday and Tuesday. The Cheddar barrels fin- ished the week at $1.4825, down 2 1/4-cents, and 72 1/4-cents below a year ago. Ten cars of barrel traded hands on the week. The bar- rels were also unchanged Monday but slipped a quar- ter-cent Tuesday, to $1.48 per 7-5/#14 Dairy Markets Lee Mielke pound, 5 1/2 cents below the blocks. Cash butter, after jumping 20 cents last week, appeared to be racing toward $2 per pound again but ran out of steam after gaining a dime by Wednesday. It gave back 5 1/2-cents Thurs- day and Friday and closed at $1.7950, up 4 1/2-cents on the week but 2 1/2-cents below a year ago. Spot butter dropped a nickel Monday but was un- changed Tuesday, holding at $1.7450. Eighteen cars were sold last week in the spot mar- ket. Cash Grade A nonfat dry milk started the week losing 6 cents after an 8 3/4-cent climb the previous week, but then ral- lied and ended Friday at $1.10 per pound, up 3 cents on the week. The powder inched a half-cent lower Monday and inched down a quarter-cent Tuesday, to $1.0925 per pound. A headline-grabbing record 54 carloads traded hands in the spot market last week, up from 34 the previous week, and 16 cars had already traded by Tuesday, a likely response to New Zealand-based Fonterra lowering its milk production estimate. 7-2/#5