February 2, 2018
CapitalPress.com
Dairy
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2018 Oregon Dairy Princess
Ambassador selected
Dykes: Dairy industry needs to be at the table
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Online
Capital Press
To view the economic impact
of dairy, go to IDFA.org un-
der “Resources” and “Dairy
Delivers”
By GEOFF PARKS
For the Capital Press
SALEM, Ore. — Stephanie
Breazile was chosen the 2018
Oregon Dairy Princess-Am-
bassador at the 59th annual
coronation and banquet at the
Salem Convention Center on
Jan. 27.
She was chosen from a
field of five finalists at the Sa-
lem event that included Megan
Sprute of Washington Coun-
ty, Jessica Monroe of Yamhill
County, Rachel Jenck of Til-
lamook County and Donata
Doornenbal of Marion County.
Breazile is a 2015 graduate
of Hillsboro High School and is
in her second year as a student
in the agricultural sciences pro-
gram at Oregon State Universi-
ty. She hopes to become a high
school agriculture teacher when
she graduates, and said her new
title “will allow me to share my
knowledge of the dairy industry
throughout Oregon.”
She was active in Hillsboro
High School’s FFA program,
holding several leadership po-
sitions, including president. At
OSU, she is an active member
of Sigma Alpha Professional
Agricultural Sorority.
Sprute, a 2013 Banks High
School graduate, was chosen
First Alternate. She is studying
natural resources at Oregon
State University, volunteers
with Young Life and works
part-time at a veterinary clinic
near Portland.
Jessica Monroe was chosen
by the other contestants at the
ceremony as Miss Congenial-
15
Geoff Parks/For the Capital Press
Newly crowned 2018 Oregon
Dairy Princess-Ambassador
Stephanie Breazile speaks to
the crowd at the 59th annual
coronation banquet in Salem.
ity. She grew up in Sheridan,
where she was homeschooled,
and represents Yamhill County
in the Dairy Princess-Ambas-
sador program. She now at-
tends Chemeketa Community
College.
The Oregon Dairy Wom-
en’s Dairy Princess-Ambas-
sador Program has been pro-
moting the dairy industry since
1959 in collaboration with the
Oregon Dairy Farmers Asso-
ciation and the Oregon Dairy
Nutrition Council. Each year,
the program centers contestants
on a theme, which for 2018 was
“Milk Takes You to the Top.”
Breazile will spend the next
year traveling the state mak-
ing presentations at fairs, town
meetings and public events
touting the state’s dairy indus-
try. At the end of her year, she
will receive monetary awards
that in past years have exceed-
ed $17,000.
A joint advocacy effort by
the different sectors of the
U.S. dairy industry brought
successes this year on Capitol
Hill and beyond, but the chief
of the International Dairy
Foods Association says the in-
dustry must continue to band
together to push the message
of dairy’s economic impact.
The different sectors have
so many shared interests, and
they came together to ac-
complish several things this
past year, Michael Dykes,
IDFA president and CEO,
said during a live-streamed
presentation from the Interna-
tional Dairy Forum.
“I really think we’ll be
stronger if we work together,”
he said.
The collaborative effort
tackled everything from milk
in school lunches, regulatory
issues and farm bill policy
to protecting generic food
names in trade agreements.
“If we don’t advocate for
ourselves, we won’t be suc-
cessful,” Dykes said.
The effort has also had
success in the U.S. trade are-
na, with President Trump
vowing to vigorously defend
generic food names and the
industry lending a strong
voice to the discussion on the
North American Free Trade
Agreement.
But there’s more to be
done on communicating the
benefits of trade, he said.
The new administration
has already withdrawn from
the Trans-Pacific Partnership
To view the economic impact
of agriculture, go to feed-
ingtheeconomy.com
International Dairy Foods Association
Michael Dykes, president and CEO of the International Dairy
Foods Association, speaks Jan. 22 at the International Dairy
Forum in Palm Desert, Calif.
and ended negotiations with
the EU in the Transatlantic
Trade and Investment Part-
nership. It’s threatened to
withdraw from NAFTA and
the free trade agreement with
South Korea and has had se-
rious discussions with China.
There’s a lot at stake, as
half of all U.S. dairy exports
go to Canada, Mexico, South
Korea and China, Dykes said.
“These are important
countries. These are import-
ant discussions. We need to
be at the table. We need to
be advocating for the dairy
industry,” he said.
The industry is trying to
tell its story, and its message
is getting through to Trump
and Congress in regard to
NAFTA, he said.
“But we must continue to
advocate and communicate
for our industry. … We’ve
got to be aggressive. We’ve
got to tell our story,” he said.
That’s why last year IDFA
commissioned a report on the
economic impact of the dairy
industry, he said.
For the last 20-some
years, “we’ve talked about
trade in terms of market ac-
cess. But if we look at the last
election, most of the people
in society don’t relate to mar-
ket access,” he said.
It’s more about two things
— jobs and wages, he said.
With data from the report,
the dairy industry can tell
the story that dairy supports
nearly 3 million jobs and has
an economic impact of more
than $600 billion, he said.
“That changes the conver-
sation when you can go visit
with an elected official, with
a policy maker, and you can
take those kinds of numbers
to them,” he said.
IDFA also joined with oth-
er agricultural organizations
to show the broader impact
of agriculture — 43 million
jobs and nearly $7 trillion
in economic impact. In ad-
dition, food and agriculture
is the largest manufacturing
sector in the nation, he said.
“So when we take these
kinds of data to policy mak-
ers, these kinds of messages,
we can have an impact,” he
said.
Trump emphasis on trade balance challenged
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
A panel of trade negotia-
tors at the International Dairy
Forum in Palm Desert, Calif.,
agreed there’s growing op-
portunity in world dairy trade,
given a growing population and
expanding middle class.
But they also agreed the
current political atmosphere
in the U.S. and the Trump ad-
ministration’s position on trade
could sideline the U.S.
David O’Sullivan, EU am-
bassador to the U.S., said he’s
fairly optimistic “that the rest
of us are moving towards in-
creased trade liberalization and
barrier-removing trade deals.”
President Donald Trump
has put a lot of emphasis on the
balance of trade, other coun-
tries selling more to the U.S.
than the U.S. buys from them,
said Michael Dykes, president
and CEO of the International
Dairy Foods Association.
“We haven’t heard those
kinds of arguments in the past,”
he said, asking negotiators their
view of the issue.
“I’ll put it directly but not
too harshly. We don’t see the
world like that at all,” said Tim
Groser, New Zealand’s ambas-
sador to the U.S.
New Zealand chooses to
import product from fair trad-
ing partners that have a surplus
with New Zealand because it
makes sense, such as importing
most of its refined oil from Sin-
gapore. And an opposite state-
ment could be made regarding
trade with countries that have a
deficit, he said.
“We look at our overall
global current account deficit
and surplus, and we address
this with macroeconomic poli-
cy rather than with trade poli-
cy,” he said.
In general, trade deficits and
surpluses are driven by mac-
roeconomic
considerations,
O’Sullivan said.
“Respectfully, I think that’s
much more the case of the
United States’ deficit than it is
elsewhere,” he said.
That’s not to say there aren’t
situations where people are be-
having unfairly, he said.
“I think we share common
concerns about China. I don’t
think any of us feel it’s a level
playing field and we have is-
sues with China that need to be
addressed,” he said.
But there needs to be a dis-
tinction between addressing
those who aren’t playing by the
rules verses looking at the mac-
roeconomic numbers of deficits
and surpluses, which don’t nec-
essarily identify who’s cheating
and who’s trading fairly, he said.
There are in fact cases of
actors not playing by the rules,
said Darci Vetter, former chief
U.S. agricultural negotiator.
“But it strikes me that the
language we’re using in the
U.S. to talk about trade is win-
ning and losing, rather than a
comparative advantage or find-
ing opportunities to add value
by using supply chains that are
increasingly global,” she said.
Trying to measure success
in a global economy by an
accounting with one trading
partner is missing the bigger
picture, she said.
The U.S. has a trade deficit
with Mexico. But it isn’t logi-
cal to think with its 150 million
people, Mexico could buy as
much from the U.S. as the 350
million U.S. consumers can
buy from Mexico, she said.
Much of what the U.S. im-
ports from Mexico are inputs
to create something of greater
value for export, adding jobs
and new value in the process,
she said. A bilateral trade defi-
cit isn’t a very good measure
of whether the U.S. is winning
or losing at trade in general or
even with a particular country,
she said.
From left, Michael Dykes, president
and CEO of the International Dairy
Foods Association; Darci Vetter, for-
mer chief agricultural negotiator for
the U.S. trade representative; Tim
Groser, New Zealand’s ambassador
to the U.S.; and David O’Sullivan,
delegation of the European Union
to the U.S.
Courtesy International Dairy
Foods Association
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