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14 CapitalPress.com September 18, 2015 Dairy Subscribe to our weekly dairy or livestock email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Study looks at impact of immigrant labor on industry By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press Employee Juan Cortez prepares cows for milking at Knott Run Dairy in Buhl, Idaho, on Sept. 3. A new report commissioned by the National Milk Producers Federation shows a growing reliance on foreign-born workers at U.S. dairies. Immigration reform has been a high priority for U.S. agriculture for several years, but legislative resolve to ease the farm labor crisis has con- tinued to elude Congress. That’s a major concern for U.S. dairy farmers, many of whom rely heavily on immi- grant labor. Lack of progress on the issue — exacerbated by po- litical rhetoric fueled by the 2016 presidential campaign — is part of the reason for this week’s release of a report showing the serious econom- ic consequences of stalled re- form, said Chris Galen, senior vice president of communica- tions for National Milk Pro- ducers Federation. The report, produced for NMPF by Texas AgriLife Re- search at Texas A&M Univer- sity, shows the damage to U.S. dairy farms and the broader economy if dairymen lose part or all of the immigrant work force, which accounts for 51 percent of their employees. One-third of all U.S. dairy farms, producing 80 percent of the country’s milk, employ foreign-born workers, accord- ing to the report. A loss of all that immigrant labor could lead to a loss of 1 in 6 dairy farms and 208,000 jobs nationwide. That represents $32.1 billion in economic out- put, and a 90 percent increase in the price of retail milk, the researchers stated. The total loss of immigrant labor on U.S. dairy farms, nearly 80,000 employees, would reduce both the size of the U.S. dairy herd and the nation’s milk production by nearly 25 percent and shutter more than 7,000 dairies, they reported. “This report reinforces the urgent need for Congress to address this issue,” NMPF President and CEO Jim Mul- hern said in a press release on Wednesday. The report, which includes the results of a December 2014 nationwide survey of dairy farmers, also shows that U.S. dairymen are becoming more reliant on immigrant labor. A comparison with a 2009 survey shows the number of immigrant workers increased by 35 percent, or nearly 20,000, and the portion of milk supply from farms with im- migrant labor increased by 27 percent. It also showed that the ma- jority of dairymen had low or medium levels of confidence in employment documents of their immigrant workers and were concerned about such actions as immigration raids or employee audits. Animal Ag Alliance Conference highlights innovation gets sneak peek at occurring in U.S. dairy industry activists’ agenda By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press The Animal Rights Nation- al Conference boasted 1,650 attendees at this year’s confer- ence, which was July 30 through Aug. 2 in Washington, D.C. Two of those attendees were interns with the Animal Agri- culture Alliance, an industry coalition working to educate the public and food industry stakeholders about modern an- imal agriculture. The Alliance has sent rep- resentatives to the conference for the past 10 years to better understand activists’ intentions and strategies, Alliance Pres- ident and CEO Kay Johnson Smith said. “By attending these events, we can more effectively count- er their misleading campaigns against animal agriculture,” she said. The tone and the ultimate agenda targeting animal agri- culture has remained the same over the years, but the tactics used to convince people to stop eating meat, milk and cheese have changed, she said. There’s more focus on using technology and social platforms and manipulating the media to get the message across and convince people that animals are equal to humans. Therefore, they argue that humans don’t have the right to raise animals for food or in any way to en- hance quality of life, she said. There is also a lot of focus on legislation, with the mindset that if society won’t change to a vegan lifestyle, activists will work to enact laws to force that change, she said. Speakers at this year’s con- ference also stressed the impor- tance of focusing on incremen- tal changes toward veganism by pressuring food companies and convincing consumers to gradually make the switch, she said. “They have learned that most people aren’t vegan and don’t want to be vegan,” she said. The strategy now appears to be to start with smaller, incre- mental steps to try to move the needle to support their agenda. Pushing for embargoes of animal products hasn’t worked. About 97 percent of Americans regularly eat meat, milk and eggs, she said. The concern for animal ag- riculture is not so much that people will stop eating those products but that activists are using sophisticated, high-pres- sure campaigns on food com- panies to force them to make policy changes that affect their suppliers — farmers and ranch- ers, she said. Their agenda is to increase costs for livestock and poultry producers so they’ll either go out of business or to increase the cost of animal products be- yond what consumers can af- ford, she said. Attendance at the confer- ence also allows the Alliance to get the inside scoop on un- ethical tactics and the true in- tentions of some activist groups that claim one objective in pub- lic and another in private, she said. A lot of misinformation was presented at the conference to paint farmers and ranchers in a bad light. And those in atten- dance were encouraged to use questionable means to convince the public of ills in animal agri- culture and sway them toward veganism, she said. BOISE — National and global dairy industry experts discussed the latest innova- tions and advancements in dairy technology occurring within the industry Sept. 10 during the inaugural U.S. Dairy Innovation Conference. John Wright, a dairy pro- ducer from Wendell, Idaho, said he was impressed with the innovations discussed during the day-long confer- ence. “Some of the stuff I’ve heard here is really encourag- ing to me,” said Wright, one of a handful of Idaho dairy- men who attended the event. “There probably should have been more dairymen here.” The event included dairy industry leaders, experts, ana- lysts and food scientists, who discussed the marketplace and the latest innovations and ad- vancements in dairy technol- ogy. “We’ve got some of the smartest minds in dairy foods research here in Boise today,” said United Dairymen of Ida- ho CEO Karianne Fallow. “It’s a pretty exciting day.” The event was co-hosted by UDI and the U.S. Dairy Export Council. Many of the presentations focused on the latest research showing the unique nutrition- al benefits of whey and other Otto Kitsinger/United Dairymen of Idaho Attendees participate in the interactive presentation “The Wide World of Cheddar Cheese Flavor” at the U.S. Dairy Innovation Conference presented by the U.S. Dairy Export Council in cooperation with the United Dairymen of Idaho on Sept.10 at the Boise Centre in Boise, Idaho. dairy proteins and how man- ufacturers are finding new ways to pull these ingredients from milk, which is helping them manage costs. One of the more unique areas dairy experts have been focusing on is a co-product of whey called “permeate,” which is high in lactose and essential minerals, said Vikki Nicholson, USDEC’s senior vice president of global mar- keting. “They have some very unique properties and combi- nations that can help reduce the amount of salt in foods,” she said. Because at times there are limited world supplies of lac- tose, she added, permeates could also replace other dairy ingredients, such as sweet whey, when their inventories are tight. “The innovations going on in the dairy industry are tremendous,” Nicholson said. “There’s a lot of excitement (here) about being able to show off what the U.S. indus- try has been working on for years.” There is also a lot of inno- vation going on in the cheese industry, Fallow said, includ- ing the development of unique cheese profiles. Cheese prices squeezed, but butter soaring By LEE MIELKE Dairy Markets Lee Mielke For the Capital Press U.S. cheese prices are un- der pressure as traders antic- ipate Friday’s August Milk 38-2/#4N Production report. While CME block Cheddar held the Labor Day-shortened week at $1.6950 per pound, 65 1/2-cents below a year ago, the barrels dropped 8 cents, to $1.59, 74 1/2-cents below a year ago. Five cars of barrel was all that traded hands last week. The blocks were un- changed Monday and Tuesday but the barrels lost three-quar- ters Monday and dropped 3 1/4-cents Tuesday, slipping to $1.55, the wlowest barrel price since March 27, and an unsus- tainable 14 1/2-cents below the blocks. The blocks will either fall or the barrels recover and the twain shall meet some- where between. Twelve cars of barrel traded hands on Tues- day and more product may be headed to Chicago. “Adequate milk supplies continue to flow into cheese vats,” says Dairy Market News. “Cheese production is steady. Some processors report a little lull in sales. Industry contacts note there is plenty of cheese available. Although inventory levels are a little higher, they have not concerned many cheese mak- ers because of the anticipated increase in cheese demand from football season, school meal programs and the up- coming Fourth Quarter holi- days.” Western contacts report that cheese is readily available but regular customer demand is steady, and cheese production has remained relatively strong through the end of summer. The dip in cheese production that normally occurs in late August through September has yet to materialize fully. Milk intakes have held higher than normal. Currently, cheese supply is a little stron- ger than demand, causing in- ventories of some varieties to build. Manufacturers are not yet concerned and are hopeful that the fall demand will in- crease and start to draw down inventories. Spot butter repeated the previous week’s 11 1/4-cent high jump, closing Friday at $2.5650 per pound, still 43 1/2-cents below a year ago when the spot price made history, jumping 15 1/2-cents and hit $3 per pound. The spot price was unchanged Monday but tacked on 3 cents Tuesday, hitting $2.5950 per pound. Only six cars were sold at the CME last week. DMN says Central but- ter production is slowing as butterfat components decline alongside farm milk intakes. Western output is steady and still somewhat dictated by the availability of or demand for cream. Butter demand has been firm. Cash Grade A nonfat dry milk closed Friday at 87 cents per pound, down 3 cents on the week and 46 cents below a year ago. The powder inched a half-cent lower Monday but gained 3 1/4-cents Tuesday, climbing to 89 3/4-cents per pound. Fifteen cars were sold last week at the CME.