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