Rules allowing voluntary supply management advance in the European Union. Canadian dairy farmers want tighter enforcement of cheese standards to cut ultrafiltered milk imports. This and other U.S. dairy industry news can be found here.

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Dave Natzke
Editor / Progressive Dairy

EU moves to allow voluntary milk supply management

New European Union (EU) rules allowing producer organizations and associations to establish temporary voluntary supply management programs have been finalized.

Speaking to a European Parliament plenary session, EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan urged quick approval of the rules, which would be in place for 6 months.

Hogan cited the prolonged period of market imbalance, declining milk prices, low demand from China and the Russian import ban. Based on current market analysis, EU milk production is not expected to experience significant declines over the next two years.

The enabling regulation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, April 12.

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Ultrafiltered milk creating Canadian/U.S. border war

Presidential candidate Donald Trump may want a bigger fence between the United States and Mexico, but it’s the U.S.-Canadian border that’s seeing an escalating conflict. At the center of the dispute is ultrafiltered (UF) milk (called diafiltered milk on the Canadian side of the border).

Canadian dairy producers are upset over the flow of U.S.-produced UF milk into cheese vats. They’re asking for stricter enforcement of Canadian cheese standards to stem that flow.

Under those standards, a minimum percentage of protein used in making cheese must be sourced directly from fluid milk. The Canadian dairy farmers contend imported lower-cost milk proteins, including UF milk, are displacing milk in the country’s cheese production. Sales of UF milk are duty-free under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

South of the border, New York’s dairy industry is concerned. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) threatened a trade war, calling on the U.S. Trade Representatives and USDA to protect U.S. dairy exports by ensuring Canada doesn’t impose restrictive trade rules.

Schumer recently hosted a press conference at western New York dairy cooperative O-AT-KA of Batavia, which exports about 20 percent of its production to Canada annually. He said potential trade restrictions and tariffs on UF milk, which add up to 180 million pounds of milk and $19 million in sales, threaten O-AT-KA and the entire western New York dairy industry.

Upstate Niagara Cooperative, made up of nearly 400 dairies, is the majority owner of O-AT-KA. Dairy Farmers of America owns the remaining 10 percent. A $16 million expansion expanded UF capabilities in 2012.

Organic Valley adds 17 Grassmilk® farmers in Northeast

Organic Valley added 17 northeast U.S. dairy farmers to increase production of its Organic Valley Grassmilk products.

The new Organic Valley Grassmilk milk farmers are connected with a new milk route winding from Canastota, New York to Gillet, Pennsylvania. It is then transported to Mountainside Farms in Roxbury, New York, where it is packaged. With the addition, the farmer-owned cooperative now has 81 Grassmilk milk farms.

Organic Valley’s Grassmilk milk is sourced from farmers feeding 100 percent fresh and dried forages, with no grain supplementation.

Organic Valley trademarked the Grassmilk term in 2011, and began producing Organic Valley Grassmilk milk in northern California’s Humboldt County in 2012. Production was expanded to Wisconsin in 2013, with distribution going national.

Organic Valley Grassmilk Yogurt was launched in 2015. According to the cooperative, the “grass-fed” yogurt category is experiencing 82 percent dollar growth, more than three times the growth of yogurt without the “grass-fed” claim.

Read more about Organic Valley.

CWT assists with 1.7 million pounds of cheese, WMP exports

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) accepted 11 requests for export assistance to sell 1.614 million pounds of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese and 132,277 pounds of whole milk powder (WMP) to customers in Asia, the Middle East, Central America and South America.

Bids were accepted from Dairy Farmers of America, the Michigan Milk Producers Association, the Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold) and Tillamook County Creamery Association. The products have been contracted for delivery in the period from April through October 2016.

So far this year, CWT has assisted member cooperatives to sell 13.975 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 7.716 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat) and 14.808 million pounds of WMP to 14 countries. The sales are the equivalent of 410.706 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.

Snowville Creamery offering A2/A2 yogurt

Ohio-based Snowville Creamery said all milk used in its yogurt products is now sourced from cows tested 100 percent for A2/A2 genetics.

According to Snowville, A2/A2 beta-casein refers to a variation of protein found in cows’ milk, which some research has shown to be easier to digest than the A1 milk predominantly produced by U.S. cows.  PD

Dave Natzke