Digest Highlights

Senate proposal opens school lunchrooms to all varieties of milk

A proposal introduced in the Senate would allow schools to offer all forms of milk, including flavored and unflavored whole milk and 2% milk, in school lunch and breakfast programs. The Milk in Lunches for Kids (MILK) Act, introduced by U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) and Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania), would lift current rules which restrict milk offerings to flavored and unflavored skim and 1% milk.

Natzke dave
Dave Natzke
Editor / Progressive Dairy

The MILK Act also requires the U.S. secretary of agriculture to revise regulations to exclude milkfat from the cap on saturated fat in school lunches.

“Overregulation has limited the healthy varieties of milk schools can serve students,” said Johnson. “Greater choice allows schools and students to make the best choice for them.”

The Senate bill follows the introduction of H.R. 832 (The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2019) in the House last February. That bill, introduced by U.S. Reps. Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) and House Ag Committee Chair Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota), would also allow whole and flavored milk back in school lunchrooms.

Read: Is whole milk headed back to schools?

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Another House bill, the School Milk Nutrition Act of 2019, was previously introduced by U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney (D-Connecticut) and Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-Pennsylvania). It allows individual school districts to determine which milk varieties to offer their students, provided that they align with the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Read: School Milk Nutrition Act introduced

Earlier this year, the USDA advanced a final rule – titled “The Child Nutrition Programs: Flexibilities for Milk, Whole Grains and Sodium Requirements” – which broadened the milk options in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program by allowing local operators to permanently offer flavored, low-fat milk. For consistency across nutrition programs, it also allows flavored, low-fat milk in the Special Milk Program for Children and in the Child and Adult Care Food Program for participants ages 6 and older.

April fluid sales weaker

April 2019 sales of whole and flavored whole milk were up from year-ago levels, but sales in all other categories were down, based on the USDA’s latest monthly sales report.

  • At 3.74 billion pounds, overall April 2019 sales of packaged conventional and organic fluid milk were down 3.1% compared to a year earlier. January-April 2019 sales were estimated at 15.5 billion pounds, down 2.5%

  • April sales of conventional products totaled 3.56 billion pounds, down 2.4% from the previous year. Year-to-date sales totaled 14.7 billion pounds, down 2.3%. In the conventional category, April sales of whole milk were up 0.7%, at 1.2 billion pounds, and year-to-date sales totaled 4.95 billion pounds, up 0.2%

  • April sales of organic products at 176 million pounds were down 16.5% from a year earlier. Year to date, organic sales totaled 807 million pounds, down 7.4%. Organic products represented about 4.7% of total sales in April and 5.2% year to date.

The U.S. figures represent consumption of fluid milk products in Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) areas and California (now a part of the FMMO system), which account for approximately 92% of total fluid milk sales in the U.S. Sales outlets include food stores, convenience stores, warehouse stores and/or wholesale clubs, nonfood stores, schools, the food service industry and home delivery.

Global Dairy Trade index lower again

The index of Global Dairy Trade (GDT) dairy product prices posted a third straight decline, down 3.8% during the June 18 auction. Prices for all major product categories were lower:

  • Skim milk powder was down 3.5% to $2,358 per metric ton (MT).
  • Cheddar cheese was down 4.3% to $3,781 per MT.
  • Butter was down 5.7% at $4,553 per MT.
  • Whole milk powder was down 4.3% to $3,006 per MT.

The next GDT auction is July 2, 2019.

Minnesota announces further DMC premium rebate details

Editor's note: This article has been corrected to note eligible dairy farmers will receive rebate payments based on their 2018 milk marketings.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is rolling out its new Dairy Assistance, Investment and Relief Initiative (DAIRI) program to provide financial assistance for dairy producers who enroll for five years of coverage in the USDA Farm Service Agency’s Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program.

Applications to the program are being accepted now through Oct. 1, 2019. In order to qualify, farmers must have produced less than 16 million pounds of milk in 2018 and have signed up for five years of coverage through the DMC program during its current enrollment period (June 17 – Sept. 20, 2019).

Qualified producers enrolling in DMC in 2019 will initially receive 10 cents per hundredweight (cwt) on their actual 2018 milk marketings, according to Lucas Sjostrom, executive director of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association. A second premium rebate payment will be issued if money remains in the $8 million state fund after Oct. 1, 2019.

The MDA will issue payments on a rolling basis. Producers can expect to receive their first payments roughly two to four weeks after successfully applying. They will be paid based on production levels, up to 50,000 cwt of milk (5 million pounds) produced in 2018.

An application form, a W9, a copy of their DMC enrollment form and a statement from their processor(s) detailing the amount of milk produced in 2018 are required to complete an application.  end mark  

Dave Natzke