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Dairy industry testifies at House hearing
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Dairy farmers and processors
had the ear of the House Agriculture
Committee on June 22 to address
industry issues within the scope of the
farm bill and beyond.
Lolly Lesher, a seventh-genera-
tion Pennsylvania dairy farmer and
a member-owner of Dairy Farm-
ers of America, testified on behalf of
National Milk Producers Federation.
She said dairy farmers are grate-
ful to the committee for its work to
improve the Dairy Margin Cover-
age program, which made it a strong
safety net for producers.
“However, as valuable as the pro-
gram has been, many farmers have
not been able to fully benefit because
DMC’s underlying production calcu-
lation is outdated,” she said in written
testimony.
She thanked the committee for
enacting Supplemental DMC pay-
ments to compensate farmers for
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
U.S. Capitol
incremental production increases
since 2014, accounting for nearly
a decade-old production history
formula.
“It is critical that this production
history adjustment be carried over the
into the 2023 Farm Bill so that DMC
remains a viable safety net,” she said.
Dairy farmers are also pleased
USDA recently approved several
improvements to Livestock Gross
Margin Dairy, including simplifying
the purchase process to align more
closely with Dairy-Revenue Protec-
tion program and making the pro-
gram available in all counties in every
state.
“We also support further improve-
ments, including permitting concur-
rent use of Dairy-RP and LGM-Dairy
in the same month and allowing pro-
ducers who already have revenue
coverage through Dairy-RP to obtain
LGM-Dairy coverage with premi-
ums and indemnities solely driven by
changes in feed input costs,” she said.
She also demonstrated the need to
update the Federal Milk Marketing
Order system, particularly the pric-
ing of Class I fluid milk. A change to
the “Class I mover” in the 2018 Farm
Bill combined with heavy govern-
ment purchases of cheese resulted in
a $750 million loss to dairy farmers in
the last six months of 2020, she said.
The Class I mover sets the Class I
base price to which a location differ-
ential is added. The previous mover
was calculated as the “higher of” the
advance prices for Class III (milk for
cheese) and Class IV (milk for butter
and powder).
It was changed to the average of
Class III and Class IV plus 74 cents
per hundredweight.
Government purchases of cheese
for food assistance significantly
increased the price of Class III milk,
making the average of Class III and
IV significantly lower than the pre-
vious “higher of” the two. The $750
million loss is compared to what
farmers would have made using the
previous mover.
USDA created the Market Volatil-
ity Assistance Program to reimburse
farmers for some of that loss, pay-
ing 80% of the loss on up to 5 million
pounds of annual production, which
limited reimbursement for producers
with larger production.
“We urge Congress to provide
additional funding to close the gap for
those producers who were adversely
impacted by the program’s 5-mil-
lion-pound per producer limitation,”
she said.
In other areas, she said there is a
need for additional funding of conser-
vation programs, the Market Access
Program, the Foreign Market Devel-
opment program, the Dairy Donation
Program and the Farm and Ranch
Stress Assistance Network.
Dairy cooperative sets priorities for federal order reform
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Washington DOE
Cows feed at a Washing-
ton state dairy. The De-
partment of Ecology has
proposed new terms for
its CAFO permit.
Washington
Ecology
proposes
CAFO
permit
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — The Wash-
ington Department of Ecol-
ogy has proposed new rules
for concentrated animal
feeding operations, toughen-
ing regulations in response
to a court decision.
The rules, proposed
June 22, will apply to 24
operations, mostly dairies,
where manure seeped into
groundwater or ran into sur-
face water. Because of the
release, the farms had to get
a CAFO permit.
An appeals court last year
agreed with environmen-
tal groups that manure-con-
trol rules Ecology adopted
in 2017 were too lax. Ecol-
ogy said the court decision
guided its revision.
“Large livestock opera-
tions must effectively man-
age their manure to pro-
tect drinking water, shellfish
resources, and fish-bearing
streams,” Ecology’s water
quality program manager
Vince McGowan said in a
statement.
“We are committed to
continuing to work with
livestock owners and stake-
holders to ensure these facil-
ities are using best practices
to prevent pollution,” he
said.
The Washington State
Dairy Federation said it was
reviewing the rules.
A CAFO permit requires
farms to follow rules for
maintaining manure lagoons
and testing for pollutants
in fields where manure has
been applied.
The permit requires
farms to file plans to pre-
vent manure pollution
and mandates extensive
record-keeping.
The rules are in addi-
tion to regulations enforced
on all dairies by the state
Department of Agriculture.
The revisions include
shortening the distance
between lagoons and water
tables. The rules will add
requirements on monitoring
the condition of lagoons.
In some cases, farms will
have to hold off fertilizing
with manure if rain is in the
forecast.
Ecology will take public
comments on the proposal
until Aug. 3.
Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative,
one of the largest dairy co-ops in the
country, is stressing flexibility and
fairness in its priorities for reforming
the federal milk pricing system.
“Edge is focused on improving
the relationship between farmers
and processors in a way that would
increase transparency, fairness and
competition and give farmers a rea-
sonable amount of price certainty,”
said Tim Trotter, Edge CEO.
Discussions about the future of the
Federal Milk Marketing Order sys-
tem have increased in recent years,
and the effects of the pandemic inten-
sified the debate.
Edge has done research, had con-
versations with its members, partici-
pated in a multi-state task force and
engaged other stakeholders across
the country for more than a year, he
said during a virtual press conference
on Monday.
MORE INFORMATION
For more details, visit https://
www.voiceofmilk.com
The discussion keeps coming
back to the relationship between
farmers and processors, he said.
“This relationship must transition
from strictly transactional to strategic
― one that’s based on a long-term
view, adaptability to the markets and
customers and requirements of prod-
ucts. A transparent, business-to-busi-
ness approach will be critically
important to success for both our
farmers and processors,” he said.
Differences across the federal
orders require added flexibility to
meet their needs, and current mar-
kets driving milk outside the FMMO
system point to a need for a standard
set of contracting principles to build
a more fair and equitable pricing sys-
tem, he said.
“Given the wide differences in
product mixes across the country,
we believe more regional flexibility
in the federal orders would benefit
everyone,” said Mitch Davis, manag-
ing partner of Davis Family Dairies
in Le Sueur, Minn., and an Edge
board member who participated in
the task force.
“We believe that regulations
should support fair and equitable
dealings between farmers and pro-
cessors. A standard set of contract-
ing principles would make the sys-
tem more fair and equitable and, we
believe, strengthen the trust between
farmers and processors,” Davis said.
Edge believes the changes it pro-
poses would be beneficial for all
producers and processors whether
federal orders remain or not and wel-
comes the opportunity to work with
other groups to come to an agreement
on priorities, he said.
“The end result must be a system
that fosters transparency, trust and
collaboration between farmers and
processors and a more attractive mar-
ketplace for both parties,” he said.
Marin Bozic, an economist at
the University of Minnesota and an
advisory member on Edge’s board
of directors, said reform needs to go
beyond federal orders.
“We need to set a new foundation
for success and trust between produc-
ers and processors,” he said.
He cautioned against defining
consensus too narrowly and crafting
policies behind closed doors.
“We need a broad and open
debate,” he said.
Edge’s proposal includes a more
flexible system that gives each fed-
eral order the authority to operate its
milkshed in a way that is sensible for
that order.
It also includes 10 contracting
principles that would cover time-
liness of payments, transparency
in pricing formulas, incentive pay-
ments, competitive risk manage-
ment and other aspects of business
between farmers and processors.
Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association
Policy Information Release
June 13, 2022
Gov. Inslee’s and Sen. Murray’s Dam Replacement Report,
Impact on Lower Snake River (LSR) Hydro Litigation
Initiated last October with the resurgence of ESA BiOp-EIS litigation forced by EarthJustice and key
environmental organizations, the State of Oregon, and Tribal groups, the Report now being released by
WA Gov. Jay Inslee and WA Sen. Patty Murray attempts to answer the question of how would the regional
“economic services” provided by the LSR dams be replaced? Are replacement actions, or equivalent
mitigation measures, realistically possible, and what are the costs?
Inslee-Murray Report Key Conclusions—What Next?
The breaching of the LSR dams is viewed by many parties as necessary to prevent some further
salmon and steelhead declines, or to avoid potential extinction trends. The Report stresses that
further changes “are inevitable” for the LSR and mainstem Columbia River systems; but it also
states that dam breaching would require Congressional authorization and funding. The Report
is moot on whether Congressional authorization is likely.
The Report conveys that LSR dam breaching would negatively affect several major economic
sectors, including clean hydro power production, river navigation-transportation, irrigation and
related food processing, recreation, and some environmental resources.
The potential disruption to regional economic sectors is certain, but an ability to either replace
sector infrastructure or adopt viable alternatives is considered doable—although the cost range
is very uncertain, perhaps $10-27 billion. Replacement measures would include:
,
•
Power Production: renewable resources, like wind-solar energy, are being integrated into
utility power resources portfolios, along with purchases of inter-regional power, near-
term reliance on gas-fired turbines, demand-side management, and perhaps some small-
scale nuclear power plants in the future.
•
River Navigation-Transport: current river movement for wheat and other products would
most likely be replaced with rail shipments; further evaluation will be made.
•
Irrigation: direct irrigation pumpers from Ice Harbor (and Upper McNary pools) would
rebuild their own pump stations/mainlines with mitigation payments obtained from
federal and state sources. (Note: the Report irrigation sector impact estimates are
inaccurate, excluding the Upper McNary Pool area, below the Ice Harbor Dam tailrace.)
•
Other LSR Project Alternatives: Other alternatives for LSR river operations were noted,
including deep pool drawdowns, to the two upper LSR projects; or lacking dam breaching,
more project spill, basin-wide water releases, and pool drawdowns may be reconsidered.
The Final Report (July) will include recommendations to the BiOp litigation plaintiffs and
defendants; further evaluation requirements, and action steps, may be identified for the Court.