14 CapitalPress.com
February 17, 2017
Dairy
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U.S. dairy industry rallies against new Canadian strategy
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
U.S. dairy organizations,
companies and state depart-
ments of agriculture have been
intensifying efforts to thwart
the imminent implementation
of a national ingredient strate-
gy in Canada, which they say
is expressly intended to slash
imports from the U.S.
Already implemented in
Ontario, the policy establish-
es a new ingredient milk class
priced to undercut imports. It
provides both an incentive to
substitute domestic ingredi-
ents for foreign products and
a subsidy on the production of
end products containing those
ingredients.
The policy will enable
Canada to sell ingredients be-
low cost of production inter-
nationally, effectively dump-
ing product in competition
with U.S. exports.
The U.S. Dairy Export
Council, National Milk Pro-
ducers Federation and Inter-
national Dairy Foods Asso-
ciation have raised concern
over the policy for the past
year.
Those groups — along
with the National Association
of State Departments of Ag-
riculture — urged President
Donald Trump to discuss the
issue during Monday’s meet-
ing with Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau.
They called it “one of the
most sensitive and urgent
topics complicating the re-
lationship between the two
countries,” saying the pricing
policy would further antag-
onize industry relationships
between the U.S. and Canada.
Implementation of the
pricing measure comes at a
time when compliance with
the letter and spirit of trade
agreements is of paramount
importance, Jim Mulhern,
NMPF president and CEO
said in a press release on
Monday.
“Despite this, Canada still
wants to move ahead with a
policy that clearly violates
its trade agreements with our
country. We hope President
Trump will remind Prime
Minister Trudeau how im-
portant it is that Canada honor
its commitments,” he said.
The groups had raised the
issue of Canada’s “protec-
tionist milk pricing policy”
with Trump last month before
he assumed office, saying
the policy violates the coun-
try’s trade obligations under
NAFTA and the World Trade
Organization.
Hard winter tests dairies
in Western Washington
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
7-2/#4x
WHATCOM COUNTY,
Wash. — Washington dairy
farmers near the British Co-
lumbia border are rediscover-
ing the hardships of feeding,
milking and protecting cows
in freezing temperatures, icy
winds and snowdrifts.
“You kind of forget about
it after a few mild years,” Su-
mas dairy farmer Dan Heerin-
ga said. “It’s been at least 10
years, probably more.”
The 2015 drought is long
gone. Snowpacks throughout
Washington are near or above
100 percent of normal. The
state went through its coldest
January since 1993, according
to the federal National Cen-
ters for Environmental Infor-
mation. Earlier this month, on
Super Bowl Sunday, a strong
winter storm struck northwest
Washington.
The next day, Sumas dairy
farmer Doug Visser spotted a
barn roof sagging under the
weight of the snow.
“Not a fun way to start a
Monday,” he said.
That weekend, parts of
Whatcom County received
more than 2 inches of precip-
itation, according to the Na-
tional Weather Service. Gen-
erally, 1 inch of precipitation
translates into 10 inches of
snow, according to the Natu-
ral Resources Conservation
Service.
Strong winds blowing
south from Canada pushed
snow drifts several feet high,
dairy farmers said.
“I don’t mind plowing
snow, but it just got old after
a couple days of doing noth-
Courtesy of Doug Visser
A pile of snow sits in a barn damaged in a snowstorm this month at
a dairy in Sumas, Wash. After several mild winters, dairy farmers
in the northwest corner of the state were confronted with protecting
herds and getting milk to markets in the snow and cold.
ing but plowing snow,” Hee-
ringa said. “I’m enjoying life
a lot more now that things are
thawing out.”
Coldstream Farms, a fam-
ily owned dairy in Deming,
was without electricity for 36
hours. The dairy fired up gen-
erators and re-bedded stalls to
keep cows from slipping on
the ice.
Family member Galen
Smith said frozen manure had
to be pushed out of barns and
toward lagoons. Waiting for
the manure to thaw would
have been a mess and a health
hazard for the animals, he
said.
“We spent hours keeping
barns clean for the cows,”
Smith said.
“Fortunately, this time
around, we didn’t lose any
animals,” he said. “They eat a
little more groceries and don’t
produce quite as much milk
when it’s that cold.”
The biggest challenge may
have been keeping milk runs
on schedule, or at least close
to on schedule.
Heeringa had to make a
late night foray into the snow
to pull a milk truck out of a
snowdrift. “That was a long
night,” he said. “It was kind
of a mess.”
Visser’s
dairy
went
through the same ordeal. “It’s
something new, something
different, but when you’re
going through it, it isn’t much
fun to be out in it,” he said.
Fortunately, Visser said
that he, employees, and driv-
ers were able to stay in com-
munication.
Prices still under pressure
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7-2/#16
Cheese prices fell the
week of Feb. 6. Block ched-
dar closed at $1.61 per pound,
down 13 cents but still 12
cents above a year ago, and
the lowest since Oct. 17.
The barrels finished at
$1.65, down 5 3/4-cents on
the week and 17 cents above
a year ago. Twenty-five cars
of each traded hands on the
week.
The blocks lost a penny
Monday but gained it back
Tuesday, closing at $1.61.
The barrels were unchanged
both days, holding at $1.65,
an inverted 4 cents above the
blocks.
Cheese exports up
The U.S. Dairy Export
Council reported that Decem-
ber cheese exports were up 16
percent from a year ago, the
highest monthly volume since
March 2015.
FC Stone says, “A lot of
the product is thought to have
been exported to Southeast
Asia, which normally does a
lot of business with Australia.
With milk production down
in Australia, and not looking
to rebound soon, the U.S. has
been more than happy to fill in
the void.”
Fluid milk is readily avail-
able for Midwestern cheese
producers.
Spot butter climbed to
$2.1775 per pound last
Wednesday but faltered Fri-
day, dropping 7 1/2-cents, to
$2.1025, down 5 1/2-cents on
Dairy
Markets
Lee Mielke
the week, three-quarter cents
below a year ago.
FMMO advances
The California Department
of Food and Agriculture re-
leased its 2015 manufacturing
cost study and indicated that
the 2015 average cost to make
nonfat dry milk and cheese
inched up by about a half-cent
per pound of product over the
2014 study averages.
Current class 4a formula
make allowances were set in
2011 so it was expected that
processors would ask for an
adjustment, and they did via
the Dairy Institute of Cali-
fornia which filed a hearing
petition, requesting changes
to the Class 4a & 4b pricing
formulas.
The changes, if granted,
would mean less money for
California dairy producers but
they received a gift on Valen-
tine’s Day, in the form of a
Recommended Decision pro-
posing a Federal Milk Mar-
keting Order for California.
The proposed FMMO in-
corporates the entire state and
would adopt the same dairy
product classification and
pricing provisions used in the
current FMMO system.
The Agricultural Market-
ing Service’s will hold a pub-
lic meeting Feb. 22 in Clovis
to explain how the proposed
FMMO would operate.