NMPF Chief Economist Peter Vitaliano says current coronavirus-created gloom over dairy prices as expressed in futures markets may turn out be overstated in the end, but that the pain felt by producers over the next few months will be real, as lower prices make their way into milk checks paid to farmers for their milk.

Chris Galen, senior vice president for membership services and strategic initiatives at the National Milk Producers Federation, says dairy farmers need effective policy advocacy in Washington as the economic effects of coronavirus are dealt with for months, in both anticipated and unanticipated ways.

NMPF Chief Economist Peter Vitaliano discusses the challenges dairy farmers will face as supply chains adjust to coronavirus-related disruptions in an interview for a television news package on dairy that RFD-TV is producing to air next week. RFD provided NMPF with the full interview, in which Vitaliano explains how sold-out dairy cases and lower milk prices can exist at the same time and how various federal assistance proposals could work economically. 

A massive coronavirus aid package poised to pass Congress that includes crucial assistance to dairy producers is a critical, but likely not the last, step in assisting sectors hard-hit by economic disruptions, said Paul Bleiberg, NMPF’s vice president for government relations, in an NMPF podcast.

Emily Yeiser Stepp, a National Milk Producers Federation vice president and head of the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program, is seeing rapid evolution in the initiative as the dairy industry continues to ensure quality animal care, a commitment to sustainability and best practices in the workplace even as coronavirus disrupts supply chains .

Clay Detlefsen, senior vice president of regulatory and environmental affairs for the National Milk Producers Federation, says that based on information he’s received while serving in another role -- as the private-sector chair of the Food and Agricultural Sector Coordinating Council – shortages of consumer staples in grocery stores strained by responses to coronavirus-related restrictions should begin easing, as soon as within a week.

NMPF’s Vice President for Sustainability and Scientific Affairs, Dr. Jamie Jonker, discusses why U.S. milk supplies are safe and details the precautions dairy farmers are taking to protect their workers and facilities in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lynn Boadwine, an owner of Boadwine Farms near Baltic, South Dakota, was part of a group of dairy farmers from 26 states who visited Capitol Hill last week as part of an NMPF fly-in calling for agricultural labor reform. NMPF has long advocated for farm-labor legislation in Washington, and even though last year the House of Representatives advanced its first package since 1986, much work remains to be done in the Senate. Boadwine says it’s a heavy lift – but possible.

Tangible gains from the USMCA trade agreement, as well as progress in “Phase One” trade deals with China and Japan, underscore dairy’s persistent efforts to open new opportunities in foreign markets, Jamie, Castaneda, NMPF’s senior vice president for policy strategy and international trade, says in this week’s Dairy Defined Podcast.

Dairy farming continues to advance in sustainability and animal welfare as technology and scientific understanding evolves, ensuring better care for the planet and for animals, said Jamie Jonker, NMPF vice president for sustainability and scientific affairs.