California Ag Network

Tag: U.S. Dairy Export Council

  • U.S. Dairy Industry Urges USDA to Re-Issue Container Report & Provide Additional Export Relief

    The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) today sent a letter to the Biden administration recommending specific steps to provide relief and support to dairy farmers and exporters facing supply chain constraints.

    The letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called for interagency collaboration to enhance capacity at ports, incentivize carriers to load export cargo, and improve transparency throughout the supply chain. The lead recommendation called for USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) to restart its Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR).

    “Supply chain challenges have cost U.S. dairy exporters over $1.5 billion last year alone. We thank Secretaries Vilsack and Buttigieg for their advocacy for America’s agriculture exporters in the face of significant supply chain constraints. We are incredibly grateful for the administration’s ongoing efforts and creative solutions, particularly for the development of ‘pop-up’ sites for agricultural exporters to source empty containers,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “The additional recommendations submitted today would provide agricultural exporters much needed insight into container availability and provide avenues to incentivize carriers to load outbound shipments to key dairy markets around the world.”

    Shipping containers for U.S. dairy exports continue to be in short supply at coastal ports, and even more scarce at inland locations. These essential links in the global supply chain must be available to American dairy exporters throughout the country in order to ship their products to overseas buyers,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “We thank USDA and DOT for their strong focus on this issue. As congestion continues, so too must the spectrum of tools deployed to address these challenges. Today’s letter highlights the additional steps necessary to take to ensure American dairy farmers are not losing long-term international market share due to these persistent supply chain challenges.”

    The specified programmatic elements to provide supply chain relief include:

      • Restarting USDA AMS’ OSCAR, which would detail the availability of ocean shipping containers at locations throughout the United States.
      • Establishing inland pop-up terminal yards, similar to those in Oakland and Seattle, in Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Salt Lake City and Kansas City. This would enable greater access inland to containers and improve the ability to secure vessel accommodations with short earliest-return-date windows at those locations.
      • Developing the ‘fast lane’ concept to incentivize the flow of agriculture exports into and from ports. This would include trucking lanes at port terminals that are dedicated to the expeditious delivery of perishable agriculture goods to ports.
      • Incentivizing ocean carriers to load more export containers, instead of empty containers, through preferred or prioritized berthing access.
      • Including real-time tracking of containers as part of the Administration’s Freight Logistics Optimization Works initiative.
      • Piloting projects with carriers for ‘dual turns’ of containers, wherein containers delivering imports to an in-land location may be provided directly to an export-focused shipper, rather than being sent back empty to the port. This could be supported through the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation resources.

    The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce more than two-thirds of U.S. milk, making NMPF dairy’s voice on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.

    For more, visit www.nmpf.org.The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) is a non-profit, independent membership organization that represents the global trade interests of U.S. dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders. Its mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and assist the U.S. industry to increase its global dairy ingredient sales and exports of U.S. dairy products.

  • USDA Outlines New Program with Port of Oakland for Ag Exports

    Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a new program to help address the export side of the supply chain crisis. The initiative was addressed at a webinar of agriculture industry and policy leaders hosted by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC).

    The USDA program discussed during the webinar was launched in partnership with the Port of Oakland and will set up a new “pop-up” site at the port dedicated to easing the loading of empty containers with agricultural exports. The new site will also have a dedicated gate with the ability to pre-cool refrigerated shipping containers in order to reduce bottlenecks at the main entrance to the port. The new arrangement should be available beginning in March and will include support of $125 per container for movement logistics costs. See the USDA press release here.

    “Congestion in and around U.S. ports is one of a series of export supply chain challenges undercutting U.S. dairy exporters’ ability to reliably meet the needs of overseas customers for high-quality U.S. dairy products,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “By creating a process specific to handling U.S. agricultural exports, we expect USDA’s new partnership with the Port of Oakland will help alleviate some of those challenges. We look forward to working with USDA and our members on this new initiative while continuing to pursue additional legislative and administrative solutions to the dairy export supply chain crisis.”

    “The delays and disruptions in export shipping have cost the U.S. dairy industry well over $1.3 billion through just the first three quarters of 2021 – to say nothing of the rest of America’s agricultural sector. Solving this problem simply cannot wait any longer and today’s announcement of the close collaboration between our associations, the Port of Oakland and USDA is one key step in the right direction,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “Today’s webinar brought together leaders in Congress and the Administration whose efforts have been central to the multi-faceted work of addressing agricultural export supply chain challenges. We thank them for their continuing work and their participation today and look forward to pursuing additional steps to deliver relief for dairy exporters.”

    Agri-Pulse, which served as the media partner for the event, reported over 1,200 registrations for the webinar, one of the highest pre-registration figures in the publication’s webinar history.

    Speakers included USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack; John Porcari, the Biden Administration’s Supply Chain Ports Envoy; Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA); Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD); Mike Durkin, president and CEO of Leprino Foods; Andrew Hwang, manager of business development and international marketing for the Port of Oakland; and Jon Eisen, director of the Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference for the American Trucking Association, as well as moderators Krysta Harden of USDEC and Jaime Castaneda of NMPF and USDEC.

    The USDA announcement came just days after Secretary Vilsack hosted a virtual roundtable with leading agricultural industry CEOs on Jan. 27 in which NMPF and USDEC members, among others, raised their concerns tied to exports.

    USDEC and NMPF, in collaboration with other agriculture interests across the U.S., have leveraged a multi-prong approach with Congress and the administration since early 2021 to address the supply chain disruptions plaguing the dairy industry, including unprecedented fees, container availability, and lack of transparency.

    For example, in addition to last week’s meeting at USDA, NMPF and USDEC supported a bipartisan letter led by U.S. Reps. Jim Costa (D-CA) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and signed by 71 members of Congress to the White House urging the administration to use its emergency powers to immediately address problems caused by the crisis and mitigate risks to U.S. agricultural exporters. The letter made three specific requests:

    • Utilize available emergency authorities to incentivize carriers to load full outbound containers instead of empties.
    • Utilize emergency actions that allow gross vehicle weight limits to exceed 80,000 lbs., even if only on a temporary basis.
    • Utilize existing tools and authorities to provide immediate access to critical shipping and logistics equipment.

    The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce more than two-thirds of U.S. milk, making NMPF dairy’s voice on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

  • Dairy Associations Urge Additional White House Action on Ports Crisis

    The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) joined several other organizations urging the Biden administration to take additional steps to alleviate the ongoing ports crisis in a letter sent today to the White House from a coalition of 77 agriculture and food associations.

    Since early 2021, dairy and other agriculture exporters have been facing unprecedented challenges in securing shipping container space on ocean vessels while contending with an accumulation of exorbitant detention and demurrage fees. Foreign owned and operated ocean carriers have been driving this crisis by providing unpredictable and unreasonable timelines for exporters to load agricultural goods and by exacerbating pressure on supply chains by opting to return empty containers rather than allowing time for them to be loaded with Asian-bound goods for the vessel’s return journey. As a result, over 70% of containers are leaving West Coast ports empty, an all-time record.

    Delays and an intentional lack of transparency and flexibility from ocean carriers have cost American dairy exporters over $300 million dollars through just the first half of the year, or 12% of total export value. In addition to this added cost, continued delays put at risk critical trading relationships with Asian importers as the U.S. increasingly risks becoming viewed as an unreliable supplier.

    “We thank the Biden administration for the initial actions taken to address the extraordinary challenges dairy exporters are facing when exporting their products,” said Krysta Harden, USDEC president and CEO. “Unfortunately, the shipping crisis only continues to grow as container availability becomes scarcer with the ocean carriers’ increasing refusal to export American-made products. To further its goals of supporting the workers and companies producing Made-In-America products, we are urging the White House to take a more active role in ensuring that foreign carriers are not permitted to dictate U.S. export flows and put our established trading relationships in jeopardy. Right now, imports seem to be enjoying the equivalent of an eight-lane highway while our exports have been relegated to narrow country roads; that’s not right and we know that Congress and the Administration can take steps to create fairer trading practices.”

    “Without question, ocean carriers are abusing a unique situation created by the pandemic and the lack of sufficient regulatory action to enforce reasonable shipping practices,” said Jim Mulhern, NMPF president and CEO. “We recognize that increased import demand has driven higher rates for shipping, but it does not warrant the cancellations, refusal to load U.S. dairy and agriculture products, and unreasonable detention and demurrage practices that ocean carriers have turned into an additional revenue stream. It is imperative that the Administration takes immediate steps to work with Congress and the FMC to limit these unfair practices and ensure our exporters can reach their customers around the world.”

    The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce more than two-thirds of U.S. milk, making NMPF dairy’s voice on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

    The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) is a non-profit, independent membership organization that represents the global trade interests of U.S. dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders. Its mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and assist the U.S. industry to increase its global dairy ingredient sales and exports of U.S. dairy products.

  • Tom Vilsack to Return as Secretary of Agriculture

    President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Tom Vilsack to serve as Secretary of Agriculture. Former U.S. Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack currently serves as president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. He took the position in February 2017 after serving eight years as the nation’s 30th Secretary of Agriculture.

    According to the U.S. Dairy Export Council, “Vilsack worked hard to strengthen the American agricultural economy, build vibrant rural communities and create new markets for the tremendous innovation of rural America. In eight years at the Department, Vilsack fought to put Americans back to work and create an economy built to last. Under his leadership, USDA supported America’s farmers, ranchers and growers who are driving the rural economy forward, provided food assistance to millions of Americans, carried out record conservation efforts, made record investments in our rural communities and helped provide a safe, sufficient and nutritious food supply for the American people.”

    “Vilsack was the longest-serving member of President Obama’s original Cabinet. Prior to his appointment, he served two terms as the Governor of Iowa, in the Iowa State Senate and as the mayor of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Vilsack received his bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and his law degree from Albany Law School in New York.”

    “Vilsack has been honored for his public service and work to advance American agriculture by the Congressional Hunger Center, Global Child Nutrition Foundation, U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, National Corn Growers Association, American Farm Bureau, and National Farmers Union. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Vilsack was born into an orphanage and adopted in 1951. After graduating from law school, Vilsack moved to Mt. Pleasant Iowa, his wife Christie’s hometown, where he practiced law. The Vilsacks have two adult sons and two daughters-in-law-Doug, married to Janet; and Jess, married to Kate. They also have four grandchildren.”

    Regarding Vilsack’s nomination, American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall shared, “The American Farm Bureau Federation welcomes the news that Tom Vilsack will be nominated to be Secretary of Agriculture. His leadership as the 30th Secretary of Agriculture and as Governor of a state reliant on agriculture is evidence of his qualification to serve in this role. Tom Vilsack understands that the agriculture sector is far more complex than most people understand. He believes in a ‘big tent’ philosophy that supports all types of production and understands the importance of respecting farmers and ranchers as partners worthy of support in the race to achieve sustainability goals.”

    “Tom and I built a good relationship during his first term as Ag Secretary and we’ve built on that relationship in his current role with the U.S. Dairy Export Council. I look forward to sitting down with him again to continue our conversation on how to address the opportunities and challenges facing agriculture and rural communities. The pandemic revealed both the strengths and weaknesses of our food system, which Tom has had a front row seat to witness.”

    “Together, we must prepare to tackle a new farm bill and build on efforts to create a fair marketplace for U.S. agriculture to compete globally. It is essential we ensure climate policies respect farmers and remain market-based and voluntary. And, we must end the digital divide that puts rural America at a disadvantage.”

    “Tom Vilsack earned a reputation for rising above partisanship to serve farmers and ranchers and I’m confident he’ll continue to do so. The American Farm Bureau stands ready to support Tom and work closely with him knowing his success as Ag Secretary correlates directly with America’s farmers and ranchers, as well as our rural communities, having the support they need to flourish.”

    National Milk Producers Federation President and CEO Jim Mulhern added, “Tom Vilsack has dedicated his life to service. While we will miss him as a colleague and friend, all of us in the dairy community who have had the opportunity to work with him over the past four years know his deep passion and commitment to rural America and his understanding of its interdependence with our urban and suburban communities. The challenges that lie ahead are many – from a battered farm economy to climate change, the environment and sustainability, to nutrition and the importance of addressing the nation’s growing food insecurity, as well as the need for better trade policy and expanded markets abroad, and much more. No one is better suited to tackle these challenges than Tom Vilsack. We applaud President-elect Biden’s decision, and we look forward to Secretary Vilsack’s next chapter of leadership in American agriculture.”

    Michael Dykes, president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association shared, “The International Dairy Foods Association is pleased to see news of Mr. Vilsack’s expected nomination to lead USDA by President-Elect Biden. As Mr. Vilsack knows well, one-fifth of the nation’s economy is linked, either directly or indirectly, to the food and agriculture sectors, supporting more than 45 million jobs and trillions in wages. An experienced mayor, governor and two-term Agriculture Secretary in a previous administration, Mr. Vilsack has the knowledge and understanding to hit the ground running and make immediate progress on pressing issues facing food, agriculture and the rural economy. He has seen first-hand the pandemic’s impact on health and jobs, and we’re hopeful that with his guidance, we can continue to protect our essential workforce so they can feed our nation. To that point, the nation’s food security will be his top priority upon taking office, and IDFA offers our partnership in finding creative ways to reduce hunger and improve access to nutritious foods including dairy. On behalf of the men and women working across the dairy industry—from farms to processing facilities to retail and distribution hubs—IDFA looks forward to working with Mr. Vilsack and his team to make dairy central to solutions. Together, we can enhance economic progress for food producing communities and strengthen export opportunities, unleash innovation to safeguard our food and advance nutrition solutions, and create a more sustainable footprint for our food and agriculture sector.”

    John Piotti, President and CEO of the American Farmland Trust shared, “American Farmland Trust congratulates Tom Vilsack on being nominated as Secretary of Agriculture by President-elect Joe Biden. At a time when farmers are struggling in the face of a global pandemic, his experience will help USDA tackle these challenges on day one of the new administration. We especially look forward to working with him to advance farmland protection, provide farmers the tools to address climate change, create a more inclusive agricultural system, and widen the doors of participation to a new, diverse generation of producers.”

    Julie Anna Potts, president and CEO of the North American Meat Institute also sustained the nomination, and said, “Secretary Vilsack brings experience and leadership to the Department of Agriculture at a critical time when the meat and poultry industry works to put food on American’s tables and to keep the farm economy working in a pandemic. We look forward to working closely with Secretary Vilsack in his new role to ensure our industry remains a valuable partner to livestock producers, an efficient supplier to consumers and competitive in the international marketplace.”