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CapitalPress.com
Friday, June 25, 2021
Dairy
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Dairy research awarded $10 million
U.S. dairy urges
administration to
address trade barriers
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
U.S. dairy groups wel-
comed the announcement that
the U.S. and the European
Union agreed to a fi ve-year
suspension of tariff s related to
subsidies in the Boeing-Air-
bus cases before the World
Trade Organization but say
more work needs to be done
to prevent disruptions in U.S.
dairy exports to the EU.
“The U.S. needs a holistic
approach to Europe’s contin-
ued attempts to disrupt inter-
national trade so that our
exporters have a dependable
and more reasonable playing
fi eld on which to compete,”
said Krysta Harden, president
and CEO of the U.S. Dairy
Export Council.
The European Commis-
sion published new certifi ca-
tion requirements at the end
of 2020 for a wide range of
food products, adding con-
fusing and vague require-
ments that threaten to upend
U.S. dairy exports to the EU,
according to the export coun-
cil and National Milk Produc-
ers Federation.
The mandates seek to force
the U.S. to change its regula-
tory system to match the EU’s
standards, the groups said.
Those changes are set to
take eff ect on Aug. 21.
“U.S. exporters continu-
ally have to chase new man-
dates by the European Union
to retain our current access,
even when there are no safety
concerns with American dairy
Capital Press
The Foundation for Food
and Agriculture Research
has awarded a $10 million
grant in support of U.S.
dairy’s Net Zero Initiative
as a means of advancing the
industry’s 2050 Environ-
mental Stewardship Goals.
The funding will sup-
port a 6-year project that
will produce data to be
shared by the dairy com-
munity to provide measure-
ment-based assessments of
dairy’s greenhouse gas foot-
print for feed production
and set the stage for new
market opportunities related
to carbon, water quality and
soil health.
The grant will be
matched by contributions
from Net Zero Initiative
partners such as Nestle,
the dairy industry, Newtri-
products,” said Jim Mulhern,
National Milk’s president and
CEO.
“Too often dairy trade with
the EU is a one-way street,”
he said.
The
EU’s
frequent
approach is to mandate pre-
scriptive procedures that
cause U.S. dairy export-
ers to make time-consuming
changes just to retain access
to that market, he said
The EU’s eff orts to impose
its own process-focused reg-
ulations on trading part-
ners run counter to its inter-
national commitments and
appear designed simply to
layer added cost and compli-
cations upon imported prod-
ucts to discourage trade, the
groups said.
“To continue to move
transatlantic trade relations
forward, the EU’s underlying
approach to agricultural trade
must change,” they said.
On Monday, Reps, Ron
Kind, D-Wis.; Jackie Walor-
ski, R-Ind.; Jim Costa, D-Ca-
lif.; and John Katko, R-N.Y.,
wrote to EU Ambassador to
the U.S. Stavros Lambrin-
idis calling on the EU to delay
implementation of the new
certifi cation
requirements
until U.S. and EU negotiators
can reach a mutually agreed-
upon solution.
The lawmakers said they
are concerned with the infl ex-
ibility the EU has maintained
regarding the new require-
ments for U.S. exports of
food and agriculture products,
including meat and dairy.
ent and in-kind support for
a total of $23.2 million. The
funds will be managed by
the Dairy Research Insti-
tute, which is staff ed by
Dairy Management Inc. to
conduct research on behalf
of the industry.
DMI scientists will
serve as the project leads
to address research gaps
in feed production and
manure-based
fertiliz-
ers that, once fi lled, will
enable
new
markets,
incentives and investments
Wisconsin bills target milk, meat, dairy labeling
By SCOTT BAUER
The Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. (AP)
— Vegetarian and vegan
foods sold in Wiscon-
sin could not be labeled as
meat, milk or dairy if they
don’t contain those prod-
ucts, under bills up for
votes June 22 in the state
Assembly.
The “truth in labeling”
measures are supported by
the state’s agriculture and
dairy industries as a way to
combat what they say are
misleading products that
are marketed as “Impossible
burgers” and use other words
SR 100 GII SERIES SPEEDRAKE
18’10” - 23’4” working widths
Capital Press File
New research will help scientists understand and im-
prove dairy sustainability.
•
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such as “cheese” and “milk”
but don’t actually contain
meat, milk or dairy. Bill sup-
porters say they will help
protect Wisconsin’s agricul-
ture economy while putting
pressure on the federal gov-
ernment to take action.
Opposition to the bills
came from a variety of
groups that promote plant-
based food, such as soy and
nuts, as an alternative to
meat and dairy products.
They argue that the bills are
unnecessary, bad for Wis-
consin businesses and con-
sumers, and an unconstitu-
tional infringement on free
speech rights.
A federal judge in 2019
blocked Arkansas from
enforcing a ban on using
such terms as “burger” or
“sausage” to sell vegetarian
and vegan products because
it likely violated the First
Amendment’s free speech
rights. There are similar
lawsuits against food label-
ing laws in Missouri and
Mississippi.
One of the Wisconsin
bills up for a vote would ban
labeling a beverage as milk
unless it comes from cows,
goats and other hooved
mammals. Another would
prohibit selling a product
as cream, yogurt or cheese
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unless it includes dairy.
Those would only take
eff ect if 10 states out of a
group of 15 approve simi-
lar bans by 2031. The move
is designed to make sure
the bills don’t violate the
Constitution’s commerce
clause, which gives Con-
gress — not states — the
right to regulate interstate
commerce.
Only two states in the
group, Maryland and North
Carolina, have passed milk
labeling laws, but those
laws haven’t taken eff ect
because of similar provi-
sions requiring other states
to follow suit.
Milk production
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in dairy sustainability.
“Addressing the U.S.
dairy industry’s emissions
is a critical solution to cli-
mate change,” said Sally
Rockey, FFAR executive
director.
“I know dairy farmers are
working hard to decrease
their environmental foot-
print, and I’m thrilled to
support their eff orts by
advancing research needed
to adopt climate-smart
practices on dairy farms
across
the
country,”
she said.
Through foundational
science, on-farm pilots and
development of new prod-
uct markets, the Net Zero
Initiative aims to knock
down barriers and create
incentives for farmers that
will lead to economic via-
bility and positive environ-
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S228102-1
.S. milk output shot
sharply higher in
May, hitting a record
19.85 billion pounds, accord-
ing to the USDA’s prelim-
inary data. That’s up 4.6%
from May 2020, and the big-
gest month-to-month increase
since March 2006, thanks to
good weather, increased cow
numbers, and increased milk
per cow.
It was the 12th month in
a row to top year ago out-
put and up a hefty 4.1% from
May 2019. May output in the
top 24 producing states hit
18.9 billion pounds, up 4.9%.
Keep in mind a year ago
the nation was coping with
the COVID pandemic, which
had caused dairy product
prices to plunge due to shut-
tered restaurants and a drop
in foodservice demand, cre-
ating havoc throughout the
entire food chain. In addi-
tion, many dairy farmers
faced milk production restric-
tions mandated by their
cooperatives.
Revisions added 45 mil-
lion pounds to the April
50-state estimate, now put
at 19.34 billion pounds, up
DAIRY
MARKETS
Lee
Mielke
3.5% from a year ago, instead
of the originally reported
3.3%.
May cow numbers were
up for the 11th consecu-
tive month, totaling 9.5 mil-
lion head in the 50 states,
up 145,000 from May 2020.
May numbers were up 5,000
from the April count, which,
with USDA revisions, was up
an astounding 26,000 head
from March.
May output per cow aver-
aged 2,088 pounds, up 61
pounds or 3% from 2020.
California cows added
179 million pounds or 5.0%
more milk in the tank than
a year ago, thanks to a 105-
pound gain per cow, but
1,000 fewer cows. Wiscon-
sin output was up 144 mil-
lion pounds or 5.6%, on an
85-pound gain per cow and
17,000 more cows.
Idaho was up 2.7%, on
10,000 more cows and 25
pounds more per cow. Mich-
igan was up 5.1%, on 17,000
more cows and a 25-pound
gain per cow.
$1M settlement reached in
dairy worker overtime lawsuit
The Associated Press
S250206-1
YAKIMA, Wash. —
Yakima County Superior
Court has approved a $1
million settlement that pro-
vides retroactive overtime
pay for workers at a Lower
Yakima Valley dairy.
The settlement wraps up
a class-action lawsuit fi led in
2016 by Jose Martinez-Cue-
vas and Patricia Aguilar on
behalf of nearly 300 workers
of DeRuyter Brothers Dairy
of Outlook, the Yakima Her-
ald reported.
Martinez-Cuevas
and
Aguilar alleged that they
worked nine to 12 hours a
day, six hours a week with-
out rest breaks, meal pay or
overtime pay.
Most of the wage claims
were resolved in a $600,000
settlement approved in 2017.
That settlement left unre-
solved a challenge to state
law that exempted workers
from overtime pay.
The case went to the Wash-
ington Supreme Court, which
ruled last fall that the overtime
exemption for the dairy work-
ers was unconstitutional. How-
ever, the question of whether
the DeRuyter workers were
entitled to retroactive over-
time pay went back to Yakima
County Superior Court.
The case was set for a
hearing, but a settlement was
reached, said Andrea Schmitt,
an attorney for Columbia
Legal Services, which repre-
sented the workers.
Former owners Jacobus
and Geneva DeRuyter have
sold the dairy but will still ful-
fi ll the settlement terms.
The DeRuyters’ law-
yer said the original com-
plaint challenged state law
on overtime, but didn’t claim
DeRuyter violated the law as
written at the time.