It's Official...

It's official, the Board of Directors has produced a bill, Dairy Industry Stabilization and Sustainability Act of 2011. 

The men have worked many, many hours on this and would love for you to read what they have come up with.  There is a trip to Washington DC in the works, and we will inform you of those details as they come to us.

To read the bill, please visit our website at http://www.nationaldairyproducers.org/ and click on the link on the home page.

Please leave your comments either here or on Facebook and let us know what you think.

Thanks!

CORRECTION on new state call schedule

Please not that the previous schedule has the wrong pin number for the CST.  Please use the new pin number.

Publisher's Perspective in Agribusiness Dairyman

Prescription for a cure

Last time I visited the oncologist, Vitamin C was not the cure for cancer

So why would producers settle for a prescription that is no better than vitamin C for a cancer treatment???

The experiences of the past eight months—even the last few years—since the wheels came off the producer sector of the dairy industry, have forever changed the perspective of anyone and everyone in the industry. The lessons, the images, the strife and stress of what has transpired pushes everyone connected to producers and their families.

The connections, the relationships, the coalitions that have been formed in an effort to find a way toward resolution have certainly changed the landscape and the level of communications between producers, vendors and various other memberships and affiliations.  There is even more dialog and understanding between producers and the tenuous partnerships.

Producers, co-ops, processors, retailers and consumers are the partners who somehow keep things moving and provide unparalleled opportunity and possibility for each member of the partnership.  Yet there is still so much mistrust, dissension and fractionalization that prevent the type of true partnership that should not have allowed the complete devastation of the producer sector we have seen in these past 30 months.

We have said it before and we will say it again: partners should not treat each other the way co-ops and processors have treated producers during this unbelievable period of time. One of two things is true about 2009 and 2010.  Either the existing management of the dairy industry saw what was happening, knew what was happening and did not know what to do about it; or they saw what was happening, knew what was happening and chose to do nothing. 

Those who purport to be representing producers and their interests are too smart, too connected, and too much money was (and is) at stake to assume otherwise. In either case, do producers of this country allow the same management team that saw what was happening, knew what was happening and didn’t know what to do or chose to do nothing, continue to set the agenda? Do you allow them to continue to implement more but different dairy policy in this country, sitting idly by hoping that some how, some way there will be change in your favor?

Never have frustration levels been higher. Never has there been a greater need for better leadership and the type of dairy policy that does more than ensure protection against disaster. What is needed is positive and progressive leadership from the producer sector that can and will provide an extended period of growth, and profitability in spite of the continuous upward pressures on the cost of producing milk for America.

In a recent conversation, individuals involved with the dairy industry in Canada, reported to California producer Loren Lopes the following observations.

In order to achieve a successful working relationship and better prosperity for producers, you need three things: a strong and united dairy community, meaning producers; good dairy policy; and a government mentality that is both dairy and business minded. While this is not the exact words used, I think you can catch the drift of their message.

So if they are right, what is it that is missing in America? Can everyone say all of the above? No cohesive producer base, as yet, has been able to speak with one voice and with one plan for the producers. Surely the past 40 years, the past 10 years and the last 30 months can clearly demonstrate that we do not have a working dairy policy that upholds and maintains the best interests of each of the partners in the industry. We have likened the current policy recommendations to a doctor prescribing vitamin C to a cancer patient. Not harmful at best, but woefully short of what is needed to ensure the successful treatment and ultimate cure for what actually has afflicted the patient. Lastly, our government sector is unfortunately preoccupied with issues and problems that are far higher on the attention scale than is the plight of some 53,000 dairy producers in this country—or so it would seem.

More voices screaming, more plans and more possible resolution are not what are needed.  Not now, not ever. The solutions are here. They can and must be initiated in the shortest possible period of time. The economic devastation of the producer sector of the dairy industry has been allowed to go on for far too long. Those who now propose change have come up with plans that in no way, with any level of assurance, will put the pay price of milk at a level that represents reality and profitability for the producers of this country.

The responsibly for making the needed changes within the industry must become the primary concern and priority of every producer in this country. No one, and I repeat, NO one is going to do it for you and maybe that is the way it should be. It is your future. It is your farm. It is your family. It is your milk. It is worth working together for. It is worth making needed concessions and swallowing your pride so as to allow you to trust each other.  It’s worth working together, sitting at one table as long as needed, to find resolution and then going forward to implement the plans you have collectively resolved to move along.

At no time have the stakes been higher. At no time has the need been greater. At no time have the conditions become more conducive for the producers to suck it up, come to the table, listen more than talk, cooperate more than pontificate. Using common sense and the four powers you have (your milk, your numbers, your collective spending power and your supportive vendor base), you can change forever the landscape and conditional factors that affect the price you are paid for the milk you produce now and in the future. Do it now. Get together. Do it for the benefit of all of your families and the millions of jobs and families connected to those jobs across this country. These people are totally reliant upon you doing what has become your responsibility by virtue of need and benefit.

As a cancer patient, would you really accept the doctor’s recommendation to increase your consumption of vitamin C as the only solution to getting well? If it was your wife, your child, would you really? Or would you immediately break your preoccupation with what you thought was most important for what you know is more important and become devoted to the process of finding a better way? I am convinced you would.

Be assured that there are answers. There is a way to make needed changes, but you are the missing link. The united effort of every producer is the missing link. Trust, but verify.  But start with trust. That is the answer. Call to find out more. You will be amazed at what can be accomplished. The status quo is not the answer. Vitamin C for cancer is not harmful, it might even have some positive affects, but is not the real solution to the problem, it is not a cure for cancer. Would you bet your life on it?

Letter from Bill Rowell

Bill Rowell, chairman of the board of directors, wrote this letter, and I encourage all of you to read it.  There is some great information in it.

A Unified National Response as Dairy Producers

       Bill Rowell, March 27, 2011     

     The National Dairy Producers Organization Inc. is a 501 c3 not for profit corporation formed in compliance with Delaware state law, the organization came to exist legally on November 19, 2010.

We established a Board of Directors from the organizing committee and then elected corporate officers.

Our attorney is Mr. Fred Fielding who served as General Counsel for three U.S. Presidents, and whose offices are located on Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C.

     Membership consists of voting members and associate members, voting members must either be a current or retired dairy farmer;  associate members are typically those whose livelihood depends on the milk check such as vendors, which account for much of our rural infrastructure across the nation. Anyone can join the organization as an associate member however, they are not entitled to a vote.

     Our Executive Director is a publisher who recognizes his agri business publications depend on   advertising dollars which grow scarce during an economic downturn in the dairy sector.

This gentleman organized a communication network and held national conference calls daily before an expanding audience to raise awareness, answer questions, and increase support for our effort; that continued for well over four months and included the board of directors as well.

     We had a presence at the World Dairy Expo in Madison Wisconsin last October, and more recently the National Dairy Producers Organization Inc. held its first annual meeting at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California during February, all board members were present. We have a diverse Board from across the nation and each director is a dairy producer. The Board had previously developed a “contract with producers” which was then signed by each director while in California, if you are not familiar with it, use this link  www.nationaldairyproducers.org

     We face many challenges: 1) Regional differences have traditionally kept us divided, since every producer is protective of his region the cost of production by region is divisive, the amount of milk produced by region is an issue, and market availability in a region is another issue producers consider as they wait out the cycle as unwitting participants in “survival of the fittest “. Overwhelmingly, government involvement in dairy is perceived to impede progress yet dairy producers expect the government to provide them a level playing field either through programs, subsidies, or policy. 2) Like most countries we balance our domestic market by using export markets for the commercial disappearance of an oversupply of milk, as markets recede the continued over supply undermines pricing while blame is assigned perhaps to other regions, fickle export markets, or deceptive import practices but there is no acknowledgement of responsibility by producers themselves. The government is expected to ease the financial burden but the resulting expense is realized through a loss of more producers; since 1970, 648,000 dairy farms have dwindled to 53,125 across the nation. During the present cycle we have culled animals more aggressively only to recognize that a healthier national herd produces more milk per cow thereby increasing our annual production with less animals.  3) We are misled by deceptive import practices which allow products such as milk protein concentrates, casein, caseinates, powders, mixes, and ingredients not identified as a milk product, and therefore not scrutinized for import tariff purposes, to enter the country diluting our market which contributes to a drop in the milk price. This seemingly suspicious practice raises the question of whether or not it is a deliberate attempt by processors to dilute the market to ensure an oversupply of milk at depressed prices. 4) Dynamics of the political realm have to be recognized; The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), and official Washington, Congress of the United States.  NMPF is an intermediary between the dairy co operatives, which are owned by producer members, and IDFA, an association of processors who gain control during times of oversupply, (raising the price of milk by one dollar per hundredweight for a year increases the expense to processors by $ 1.8 billion.) official Washington strives to ensure a cheap food policy in the U.S.

     The need for producers to speak with a unified national voice is overwhelming, we are caught in a repetitive cycle of crisis after crisis without adequate tools to make our way forward, and producers have converted a life time of equity to working capital in order to continue. The United States needs to ensure an adequate food supply, but we first must adopt a responsible national dairy policy rather than continue a failed experiment which is evidenced by years of history.  We believe that achieving a balance between supply and demand would serve to reduce price volatility and stabilize the producer sector, several management tools have been developed, and the result of modeling by dairy economists is largely favorable though not entirely.

     While we are making progress developing tools more suited to our needs we have not found the imagined champion or the magic bullet. We are beginning to notice a change in attitude as producers recognize a responsibility of themselves to provide leadership; animosity, fear, and distrust are still with us but complacency, assigning blame to the other guy, or lamenting after the fact is viewed as missing the point. Dairy in this country is a $130 billion industry and control is fiercely protected by those who profit, production management is a threat to depressed milk pricing and therefore vehemently opposed by IDFA, our concern is the lack of transparency in the dairy industry leads one to expect dirty politics to play a role. The government will be expected to intervene as referee.

     My interpretation of the role to be played by National Dairy Producers Organization Inc. is that of advocate to provide a unified national voice on behalf of the producer sector. I believe there are many capable individuals of high integrity in the dairy industry who have been unable to speak up for two reasons: 1) The industry's current business model has traditionally discouraged it through insinuated forms of retribution, and 2) The dairy farmer has remained relatively complacent all these years, entrusting his or her future to leadership which operates under a business model that has taken advantage of economic policy proving detrimental to the producer sector. While this observation may sound ludicrous it appears to have worked through divisive measures to prevent the producer sector from achieving national consensus thereby preventing a legitimate response. If in fact this observation does seem ludicrous, the response is simple, “follow the money”, consider the history, and explain the lack of transparency.    

     If we neglect the opportunity to work with existing organizations due to fear, distrust, or animosity, we will not have recognized or engaged the tools available to improve the U.S. Dairy industry and therefore will remain confined to our plight. In light of the current status of the producer sector, it is imperative U.S. Dairy producers engage the process and begin speaking with a unified national voice.

NEW National AND State Call Numbers

So the National Dairy Producers Organization has made some changes to the daily national phone call and the weekly state calls.  Here are a few reasons why the board of directors decided to make the changes:

• The new national number allows for fast forwarding, rewinding and pausing on the playbacks!
• All of the call in numbers are the same, just the pin numbers are different
• Individual state calls are no longer going to happen, just by time zone

The old state call numbers can still be used for state meetings and other calls related the NDPO.  Below is the new information with the times and new phone numbers.  The schedule can also be seen at http://www.nationaldairyproducers.org/ 

Click on the schedule to few it full size.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call our office at 800-364-4894 or leave a comment here or on Facebook.

Meetings in the Midwest

Tom Van Nortwick will be speaking at Meetings in Wisconsin and Minnesota next week.  Click on the image below to see his schedule in full size. 

If you live in Wisconsin, Minnesota or any of the surrounding areas, it is so important that you attend one of these meetings to learn how you can become more involved in helping to save the dairy industry.  If you don't do if for yourself, then do it for your family, for your children and your grandchildren that will be a part of the dairy industry when they are your age.

Featured in Progressive Dairyman

Progressive Dairyman has featured NDPO in their March issue.

Click on the picture below to be taken to the article.