14 CapitalPress.com
September 18, 2015
Dairy
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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.