Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (July 7, 2017)
14 CapitalPress.com July 7, 2017 Subscribe to our weekly dairy or livestock email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Dairy/Livestock Groups Oregon dairy among sustainability award winners file suit against Hawaii dairy By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Online Capital Press By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press A citizens’ group in Hawaii and the Center for Food Safety have filed suit against Big Island Dairy alleging violations of the Clean Water Act. The dairy is owned by father and son Steve and Derek Whitesides of Ru- pert, Idaho. Kupale Ookala Inc. a na- tive Hawaiian nonprofit cor- poration, and the Center for Food Safety filed the law- suit in U.S. District Court in Hawaii last week. They gave notice of intent to sue on April 28. The lawsuit alleges the dairy is violating the Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants into waters of the U.S. without a permit. It also alleges the dairy is vi- olating its National Pollut- ant Discharge Elimination System permit authorizing discharges of storm water associated with construc- tion activities. The plaintiffs are seek- ing an injunction to halt any alleged discharges, compliance with the dairy’s NPDES permit, civil pen- alties of up to $51,570 per violation per day and fees. They are also asking the court to order the dairy to remediate any harm caused by its alleged noncompli- ance with the Clean Water Act and to eliminate any potential for future harm. Phone calls to Big Is- land Dairy, the Whitesides’ dairy in Idaho and the own- ers’ Boise attorney were not immediately returned. The lawsuit alleges the dairy has repeatedly dis- charged pollutants into streams that discharge or flow into the Pacific Ocean and contaminated ground- water through improper application of wastewater to cropland and seepage or leakage of wastewater from fields, composting areas, animal pens and wastewa- ter lagoons. “These discharges oc- cur on a recurring basis and have occurred since at least April 28, 2012 — approxi- mately weekly or more…,” according to court docu- ments. Online To read the press release and complaint, go to http://www.centerforfood safety.org Rickreall Dairy, owned by Louie Kazemier of Rickreall, Ore., is one of the recipients of the U.S. Dairy Sustainabil- ity Awards in the sixth annual round of the awards by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. Award winners represent the U.S. dairy communi- ty’s voluntary efforts toward continuous improvement in sustainability, according to a press release from the Innova- tions Center. “This year’s winners demonstrated impressive leadership and creativity in the application of technology and other practices that pro- tect our land, air and water,” said Barbara O’Brien, presi- dent of the Innovation Center. “And they’re proactive about building strong rela- tionships with their commu- nities and employees. Based on this year’s nominations, it’s clear that dairy farms and companies of all sizes use sustainable practices because it’s good for the environment, good for their community and good for business,” she said. Judges evaluated nomina- tions based on their economic, environmental and communi- ty impact. The independent judging panel — including experts working in the dairy community — also consid- ered learning, innovation, scalability and replicability. Through creative problem For more details on the winners, go to www.usdairy.org Courtesy Alyssa Schukar The Dairy Sustainability Award winners are, from left, Louie Kazemier, Rickreall Dairy; Ken Nobis, Michigan Milk Producers Association; Dick Edwards, Oakland View Farms; Tim Rosen, Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy; Annie Link, SwissLane Farms; Robert Hagevoort, U.S. Dairy Education and Training Consortium; Mark Keller, Kellercrest Registered Holsteins Inc.; Lucas Fuess, Glanbia Nu- tritionals; Lee Kinnard, Kinnard Farms; Matt Nuckols, emcee, Eastview Farms Inc.; Barbara O’Brien, Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. The event took place at the Chicago History Museum on June 28. solving, this year’s winners addressed water quality, soil fertility, community outreach, energy efficiency and other topics. Kazemier is known by lo- cal residents as a good neigh- bor, and his relationships are the force behind his farm’s frequent improvements, the press release stated. For example, when sol- ids were building up in the manure lagoon, he initiated a trade with a seed farmer to provide fertilizer in exchange for feed. He also collaborated with a local food processor to use the company’s wastewater for irrigation. Kazemier depends on a whole-system approach to tend to what matters — and that turns out to be ev- erything. The results are big: for one, most of the dairy’s Global coalition keeps heat on Canada’s dairy policy By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press Canada’s adoption of a new dairy policy, which opponents say further distorts and dis- rupts international dairy trade, continues to draw heat from an international coalition of dairy organizations. That coalition, representing the U.S., Australia, the Euro- pean Union, New Zealand and Mexico and recently joined by Argentina, is again calling for trade representatives from their governments to intercede in the matter. Leading the charge in the U.S. are the U.S. Dairy Export Council, National Milk Produc- ers Federation and the Interna- tional Dairy Foods Association. At issue is Canada’s new national milk Class 7 pricing policy and Ontario’s Class 6, which the groups contend arti- ficially reduce prices of Cana- da’s domestic milk ingredients to Canadian processors and is designed to discourage import- ed ingredients while undercut- ting competitors’ dairy prices in the international market. In a joint letter to their trade representatives, the groups urged them to “pursue all av- enues available to challenge these measures,” including World Trade Organization dis- Dan Wheat/Capital Press A new national milk pricing policy in Canada, following a similar move in Ontario, is drawing criticism from the international dairy community and a call for intervention. pute settlement. The adoption of Class 7 — and Ontario’s Class 6 before it — is inconsistent with sev- eral commitments Canada has made in regard to export subsi- dies, the groups stated. Class 7 was created to ad- dress a structural surplus in Canada’s milk production, which has risen through pro- duction quotas based on es- timated butter consumption, which has been growing rap- idly. The co-product of milk production, milk protein, has not seen a similar increase in demand, however. “This has resulted in a struc- tural surplus of milk protein, exemplified by excess produc- tion of skim milk powder,” the groups stated. With the new Class 7, milk to Canadian processors is priced at the lowest world price to produce dairy protein ingredients. That has resulted in the substitution of Canadian dairy ingredients for imported Blocks fall fifth consecutive week By LEE MIELKE For the Capital Press C ash block cheddar cheese fell to $1.51 per pound last Wednesday but closed Friday at $1.5250, down 1 1/2-cents on the week and the fifth consecutive week of loss, 10 cents below a year ago, and 21 1/4-cents lower than on June 1. The markets closed at noon Central time Monday for the Fourth of July holi- day on Tuesday. Both block and barrel prices were un- changed. The barrels dropped to $1.35 last Thursday but closed Friday at $1.3525, down 1 3/4-cents on the week, 31 3/4-cents below a year ago, 18 cents lower on the month, and a still too-high 17 1/4-cents below the blocks. Extra loads of milk may not be as prevalent as they were the last few weeks, but some Midwest cheesemakers report distressed milk is still 25 employees have been there more than 20 years. Glanbia Nutritionals, with several operations in Idaho, was the recipient of the Out- standing Dairy Processing and Manufacturing Sustain- ability award. While consumers don’t see the Glanbia Nutritionals brand in their grocery stores, the company has a big footprint as one of the leading manu- facturers of American-style cheese and whey. To implement a sustain- ability plan, the company started with a single plant in Idaho. The team determined priority impact areas, mea- sured social presence, deter- mined metrics to demonstrate progress and identified areas where additional resourcing was needed. By 2016, the company had replicated this approach with three more plants and adopted a global sustainability strate- gy that promises to “nurture, grow and sustain the lives of our employees, milk produc- ers, customers, consumers and communities.” Other winners of this year’s sustainability awards are: Kinnard Farms, Cas- co, Wis.; SwissLane Farms, Alto, Mich.; and Kellercrest Registered Holsteins, Mount Horeb, Wis.; Honorable mention awards went to Mercer Vu Farms, Mercersburg, Pa.; Oakland View Farms and Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy, Caroline County, Md.; U.S. Dairy Education and Training Consortium Extension, College Station, Texas; and Food Bank of Eastern Michigan, The Kro- ger Co. of Michigan, Michigan Milk Producers Association and Michigan State University Extension, Novi, Mich. Dairy Markets Lee Mielke available at $1 to $3 below class, according to Dairy Mar- ket News. Demand is mixed. Inventories are heavy. Western inventories also continue to be long and con- tacts hope the price differ- ences between U.S. and in- ternational markets can spur additional sales, but large vol- umes have yet to materialize. Butter ended Friday at $2.6425 per pound, up 5 1/4-cents, 29 1/4-cents above a year ago, and up 23 1/4-cents on the month. The spot butter inched up a quarter-cent Monday, to $2.6450. The market is preparing for lower trending milk pro- duction and butterfat declines to deter available cream. Hence, in the next few weeks, producers expect that cream will be readily absorbed into Class II ice cream, prompting reductions in churning rates. Western butter makers re- port cream is available but seasonal demand is making cream supplies tighter. Cash Grade A nonfat dry milk closed Friday at 84 1/2-cents per pound, down a quarter-cent on the week but a penny above a year ago. The powder lost a half- cent Monday and slipped to 84 cents per pound. FC Stone points out that Mexico has been “noticeably absent from the market as of late.” GDT lower There were no Fourth of July fireworks at the Global Dairy Trade auction, where the weighted average for all products offered slipped 0.4 percent, following a 0.8 per- cent decline on June 20, end- ing six consecutive sessions of gain. Skim milk powder led the declines Tuesday, down 4.5 percent, after inching 1.4 percent higher in the June 20 event. Anhydrous milkfat fol- lowed, down 3.5 percent, af- ter leading the gains last time with a 4.4 percent advance. Cheddar cheese was off 3.2 percent, following a drop of 3.8 percent last time, and but- ter slipped 0.1 percent, after jumping 2.9 percent last time. Buttermilk powder was up 10.8 percent, followed by whole milk powder, up 2.6 percent, after falling 3.3 per- cent last time. HighGround Dairy equated the GDT butter price to $2.62 per pound U.S. CME butter closed Monday at $2.6450. GDT cheddar cheese equated to $1.84 per pound U.S. and compares to Monday’s CME block cheddar at $1.5250. GDT skim milk powder aver- aged 95 cents per pound and whole milk powder averaged $1.41. CME Grade A nonfat dry milk price closed Monday at 84 cents per pound. milk protein and an increase in non-WTO-compliant Canadian exports of milk protein. Evidence of the impacts includes the cancellation of contracts by Canadian chee- semakers for U.S.-sourced ul- trafiltered milk and the huge jump in Canada’s exports of skim milk power, adding to the already swelling global sup- ply of milk protein, the groups said. “Our respective dairy indus- tries are firmly of the view that the operation of Ontario’s Class 6 and Canada’s Class 7 con- travene Canada’s international commitments,” the groups stat- ed. “Canada’s increasingly pro- tectionist policies are diverting trade with attendant global price-depressing impacts and are in conflict with the prin- ciples of free markets and fair and transparent trade,” they said. Canada’s supply-managed dairy industry operates by al- locating production quotas, setting prices that vary through a range of milk classes and con- trolling imports with tariff rate quotas varying between 200 percent and 300 percent, they said. The groups are insisting that Canada remove the recently implemented policies they say are facilitating the dumping of Canadian dairy products on in- ternational markets and making already prohibitive restrictions on dairy imports even more onerous. “This policy must stop now, before any more damage is done to American farmers and those from other nations seek- ing to compete on a level global playing field,” Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of Nation- al Milk Producers Federation, said. UI plans workshops on manure, dairy goats, sheep By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press The University of Ida- ho extension is hosting two workshops in July for dairy producers. The first is a ma- nure and compost application workshop on July 12 and the second is on dairy goat and sheep production on July 25. The manure workshop is free and will be 1-5 p.m. at Swager Farms Dairy, 1749 East 3800 North in Buhl. “The workshop audience are custom manure applica- tors, dairy owners and oper- ators and any other operator that applies manure or com- post,” said Mario de Ha- ro-Marti, Gooding County extension educator and dairy and livestock environmental specialist. Topics will cover nutrient management, calibration of equipment for solid and liq- uid applications, prevention and emergency planning on what to do in case of spills or runoff situations, he said. The workshop will in- clude a demonstration of the Low Elevation Spray Appli- cation — known by the acro- nym LESA — system, which allows for lower pivot opera- tion cost and lower consump- tion of irrigation water. Other field demonstrations will in- clude solid manure spreader calibration and pivot calibra- tion. Manure injection and lagoon mixing equipment will be on display. Other topics will cover neighbor relationships when applying manure, caring for roads during application sea- son and how to increase the sustainability and safety of application operations. The dairy goat and sheep workshop will be at the Uni- versity of Idaho Extension Gooding County office at the Gooding County Fair- grounds at 203 Lucy Lane in Gooding.
