14 CapitalPress.com
July 7, 2017
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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.