Digest highlights

Natzke dave
Dave Natzke
Editor / Progressive Dairy

Congress headed home

With members of both the House and Senate headed home to work in their districts and states, numerous bills have been introduced as they seek to share talking points with their constituents. Based on tentative schedules:

  • In the Senate, no floor sessions are scheduled between June 24-July 9 and then again between July 29-Sept. 5.
  • In the House, no floor sessions are scheduled between June 24-July 10 and again between July 29-Sept. 11.

In addition to other bills summarized in past “Weekly Digest” columns, following are some of the most recent dairy-related bills you might hear about.

House proposal adjusts DMC production history

House members from several major dairy states introduced the Dairy Farm Resiliency Act, a bill that would make several changes to the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program.

The bill would update a dairy operation’s DMC production history every five years and base participation on the producer’s highest production year over the previous three years. If included in the 2023 Farm Bill, this provision would update the production history to that of the highest production year of 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Advertisement

Introduced by U.S. Reps. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisconsin), Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan), Abigail Spanberger (D-Virginia) and Marc Molinaro (R-New York), the bill also increases the Tier I threshold from 5 million pounds to 6 million pounds.

Senate bill would allow whole milk in schools

A bill allowing school lunch programs to serve whole milk has also been introduced in the Senate. Introduced by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), S.1957 has been referred to the Senate Ag Committee.

A similar bill in the House, the “Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act” (H.R.1147), was recently approved by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Bill allows CAFO food safety investigations

A bill allowing the FDA to investigate large livestock feedlots and confinement operations implicated in foodborne illness outbreaks has been reintroduced in Congress.

The Expanded Food Safety Investigation Act was reintroduced by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut), who said consolidation in agriculture has decimated family farms and resulted in large, corporate-owned operations whose lax safety practices and desire for profit has negatively impacted the safety of our nation’s food. 

Similar bills (S.2958 in the Senate and H.R.5415 in the House) were previously introduced in 2019.

EATS Act seeks to block Proposition 12

With a letter of support from Republican governors in 11 states, lawmakers have reintroduced the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, a proposal designed to block enforcement of the California’s Proposition 12.

The legislation prohibits state and local governments from interfering with agricultural production nationwide, while preserving a state’s ability to regulate farming within their jurisdictions. 

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld California’s Proposition 12, a 2018 ballot initiative establishing production confinement standards for pork, veal, eggs and poultry sold in the state, regardless of where it is produced.

Senate bill addresses feed additives

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions approved the Innovative Feed Enhancement and Economic Development (FEED) Act of 2023 (S. 1842). The language would modernize the FDA process for regulating some feed ingredients, which act on animals’ gut microbiomes to bring about production, food safety and environmental benefits.

Without congressional approval, the FDA contends it does not have the authority to regulate these products as food ingredients. Proponents say the Innovative FEED Act would change this by creating a category for zootechnical animal food substances, regulating these products as food ingredients, not animal drugs.

USDA to strengthen substantiation of animal-raising marketing claims

The USDA is seeking to strengthen substantiation of animal-raising marketing claims.

Those claims, such as “grass-fed” and “free-range,” are voluntary marketing claims that must be approved by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) before they can be included on the labels of meat and poultry products sold to consumers.

FSIS has received several petitions, comments and letters asking the agency to reevaluate its oversight. In addition, the accuracy of “negative” antibiotics claims (e.g., “raised without antibiotics” or “no antibiotics ever”) has come into question.

FSIS, in partnership with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), will conduct a sampling project to assess antibiotic residues in cattle destined for the raised without antibiotics market. Project results will help inform whether FSIS should require that laboratory testing results be submitted for the raised without antibiotics claim or start a new verification sampling program.

In addition to stronger documentation requirements, FSIS plans to encourage use of third-party certification to verify these claims.

FSIS most recently updated its guideline on these claims in 2019.

ICYMI (In case you missed it)

  • Equipment repair: The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with CLAAS of America, providing farmers the right to repair their own farm equipment. The MOU follows similar agreements AFBF entered into with John Deere, CNH Industrial Brands (which includes Case IH and New Holland), AGCO and Kubota. The agreement creates a framework for farmers and independent repair facilities to access technical manuals, tools and product guides to self-diagnose and self-repair machines.
  • Interest rates. Meeting on June 13-14, the Federal Reserve Board held interest rates on federal funds at 5.25%, ending a streak of 10 consecutive sessions in which the rate was raised. The next meeting is scheduled for July 25-26.
  • Milk dumping: Updating last week’s article related to milk dumping and disposal (Production, processing capacity leading to milk dumping), the Texas Legislature approved House Bill 692, relating to disposal of dairy waste. It would allow for the safe disposal of milk and milk byproducts by land applications and proper disposal in retention facilities as long as those applications protect water quality. The bill was signed by the governor and becomes effective Sept. 1. According to the Texas Association of Dairymen, the focus now shifts to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for rulemaking. 
  • Benefits of dairy: Dairy plays a vital part in the diets of millions of Americans. However, despite its undeniable impact on society, dairy is often misunderstood by a significant percentage of the population. With that in mind, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) Dairy Leadership Group put together an informational flyer detailing the top benefits of modern dairy farming. Check out the list here.

Coming up

Check the Progressive Dairy website for these and other updates:

  • FMMO hearing: With a pre-hearing informational session held on June 16, the schedule for potential modernization of the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) system moves forward. Following the pre-hearing session, organizations submitting proposals had until June 20 to modify their proposals. After review, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service will then evaluate the modified proposals to determine whether each will be accepted in a formal hearing – if it is held. If the USDA moves forward with a formal hearing process, it will be published in the Federal Register by late July, with a tentative hearing date set for Aug. 23.
  • USDA reports: Several USDA reports are due as June Dairy Month comes to a close. The USDA releases its May Milk Production report on June 21. The July FMMO Class I base price is announced on July 22, as is the May cull cow slaughter report. A Cold Storage report updates dairy product inventories on July 23, and the May DMC margin and indemnity payments are announced on June 28.
  • FSA nominations: The USDA is accepting nominations for Farm Service Agency (FSA) county committee members for elections. All nomination forms for the November 2023 election must be postmarked or received in the local FSA office by Aug. 1.