Which Milk To Buy To Support Dairy Farmers
New Hampshire residents can help local dairy farmers buy purchasing dairy products to use in recipes like milk, yogurt and cheese. Buy purchasing dairy products, you help feed your family with fresh, locally produced products while also helping to keep farmers in business.
which milk to buy to support dairy farmers
In general, 1 cup of milk, yogurt, 1 1/2 ounces of natural cheese or 2 ounces of processed cheese can be considered as 1 cup from the Dariy Group. When choosing dairy, fat-free and low-fat dairy are good options.
In her letter to Secretary Vilsack, Governor Mills requested a three month grace period for repayment of USDA loans and targeted federal financial relief for impacted farms as they transition to new opportunities. Governor Mills also reiterated her calls for the USDA to finalize its proposed Origin of Livestock rule, which would help maintain important markets for Maine organic dairy farmers, and to adequately enforce the rule. Organic dairy farmers in the Northeast have long been at a disadvantage because certifiers in other regions are not enforcing the rule as intended. Governor Mills also urged USDA to address the labor shortage in milk hauling and requested that the agency support both state and regional responses to the problem.
The Governor also noted in her letter that her Administration has requested Danone undertake the following actions: 1) make a substantial monetary donation to the Northeast Dairy Innovation Center to support farm transition, business planning, and investment; 2) make a substantial monetary donation to the company in Maine that plans to stand up in-state organic dairy processing; and 3) commit to paying our producers their premium payments in this final year contract and for their most recent contracts where premiums may not have not been paid.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter, and for your ongoing support and leadership in the agriculture sector. We greatly appreciate your proactive attention to the importance of this situation and are eager to continue working with you and your staff to identify ways to support our farmers during this challenging time.
Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMOs) establish certain provisions under which dairy processors purchase fresh milk from dairy farmers supplying a marketing area. In Federal order provisions, dairy processors are referred to as handlers and dairy farmers are known as producers. A marketing area is generally defined as a geographic area where handlers compete for packaged fluid milk sales, although other factors may be taken into account when determining the boundaries of a marketing area. Federal orders serve to maintain stable marketing relationships for all handlers and producers supplying marketing areas, thus facilitating the complex process of marketing fresh milk.
The Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act authorizes FMMOs and USDA amends and establishes them through a hearing process overseen by the Secretary of Agriculture. The hearing process enables the dairy industry to submit proposals and evidence to support the establishment of and amendments to Federal order provisions. This process allows the Federal order provisions to meet the changing needs of the dairy industry. The establishment and amendments to a Federal order become effective only after approval by producers via a referendum process.
While many dairy processors operating in Australia today are internationally owned, most drinking milk (with the exception of a few UHT imported brands) sold by these companies are sourcing milk from Australian farmers.
We encourage you to check the labels of all dairy products to ensure the one's you're buying are sourced from Australian milk. This can easily be determined by looking for the Australian Grown logo (see example below), which will also indicate the amount of Australian sourced ingredients in the product.
Another consideration for consumers is the amount of nutrition contained in just one 8-ounce cup of milk. For starters, that cup contains 8 grams of protein, which supplies energy and assists in tissue and muscle growth and repair. Other than dairy products, only meats, dried beans and soy contain this critical nutrient.
That cup of milk also has riboflavin and niacin, which aid in blood flow; and potassium, which lowers blood pressure. Vitamin A contributes to skin and eye health, while Vitamin B helps convert food into energy.
In 2009, Sanders successfully secured $350 million in emergency funding to support dairy farmers throughout the U.S. That legislation meant an average of $8,000 in emergency federal support for a Vermont dairy farmer with a 125-cow herd.
Organic dairy farmers are in crisis. Costs are way up for fuel, feed and fertilizer. And without matching increases in the pay price for milk, advocates, officials and farmers themselves are worried they might leave the industry altogether.
In the longer-term, some folks are lobbying for a federal organic dairy risk management program to be included in the 2023 Farm Bill. This would make up the difference between high feed costs and low milk pay price with payments from the program.
Wisconsin Dairy Farmers and the dairy industry need our support now more than ever. With low commodity prices for years, followed by an industry-disrupting pandemic that increased milk volatility, farming and agriculture is a struggling industry.
Visit a local dairy farm to educate yourself on what is involved in working on a dairy farm and where your food comes from. Take a farm tour or read stories from Wisconsin dairy farmers showcasing the pride they take in the work they do.
Remember, dairy products are a great source of calcium, protein, Vitamin D and Potassium. We can make a difference one gallon of milk at a time. Make dairy a part of your day, everyday! #SUPPORTDAIRYFARMERS
Last year, Bel Brands and DFA partnered to support the adoption of energy-efficient and cost-effective on-farm milk cooling methods. This included new natural well water and forced air barn cooling systems installed on a DFA-member dairy farm in Iowa that supplies milk to Bel Brands.
Over the 12 months, the use of these cooling methods resulted in a 6% reduction in electricity used on the dairy, while milk production increased 4%. Moreover, the addition of new sand bedding on the dairy also enabled farmers to spend less time on their tractors. This led to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), as CO2e were reduced by 58 tons during this time. These findings are important to informing future best standards for dairy farming, especially during seasonal spikes in energy use.
The first year of the program showed that the use of energy efficient methods, like natural well water systems and barn cooling methods, are important for reducing GHG on dairy farms while also increasing milk production.
To build on the success of this program, Bel and DFA are pleased to extend their partnership to a new program intent on supporting the next generation of U.S. dairy farmers. Under the new pilot, Bel will supply a small DFA-member dairy farm in South Dakota with equipment normally thought only to be useful on a larger dairy. The purpose being to test the viability of the equipment on smaller dairy farms to promote cost-effective and sustainable practices that can be replicated on other U.S. dairy farms in the future.
Senators Collins and King are longstanding advocates for dairy farmers and have consistently worked to reform the FMMO system, which is one of the most complicated economic systems in the country and, in its current form, forces farmers to contend with potentially volatile milk prices and the risk of inadequate pay. These challenges, in addition to rising costs and intensifying competition, have forced many small dairy farmers to leave the industry. The U.S. has lost nearly 60% of its licensed dairy operations since 2003.
The letter is a follow-up to a bill Senator Collins introduced and Senator King co-sponsored, the Dairy Pricing Opportunity Act, which would pave the way for reforming and modernizing federal milk pricing. The bill would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to initiate the process of holding FMMO hearings within six months, allowing producers and industry to consider and review proposals that could change Class I skim milk pricing and other topics deemed necessary for reform by the dairy industry. This would ensure that producers who understand these dynamics firsthand will have a voice in formulating any potential changes in calculating the price of Class I milk and additional policy proposals.
Is it local? Supermarkets and other large retailers are notorious for treating their farmers poorly by squeezing farm gate milk prices down. Lower prices result in the animals and environment also losing out. Look for a local milk producer where possible, but be sure to ask whether their milk is organic or pasture fed.
While dairy milk is a staple for many UK households and pasture-fed dairy has shaped many of our rural landscapes, cultures and identities, the romanticised image of cows grazing in lush green fields has become less of a reality.
A 2014 study found that only 31% of dairy farmers in the UK still practised the traditional system of summer grazing and winter housing, with the remaining farmers moving cows indoors for more of the year, and 16% keeping some or all their cows inside for all of the year.
Consumer demand for cheap milk has resulted in a need for economies of scale in the dairy industry that has driven the ethics of dairy production down. The governments' relentless push for the dairy sector to enter the global market propels farmers into competition, with animals reared to lower standards in order to keep prices down.
As dairy milk has both a bigger carbon footprint and land use requirement than its plant milk equivalents (see more on the climate impacts of plant and dairy), shifting to plant based milks seems like a good option for reducing our carbon footprints. 041b061a72