Dairy Defined

The United States is negotiating bilateral trade agreements at a frenetic pace across the globe. Dairy’s key to success has been a proactive approach that gets the fundamentals of industry needs right, said Shawna Morris, an executive vice president with NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council, in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today. 

“On the whole, a lot of good stuff coming down the pipe,” said Morris, specifically citing agreem...

Low milk prices are a grim reality for dairy producers in the near term, with growing trade and federal action serving as remedies to get farmers through tough times, NMPF economists said in a Dairy Defined Podcast.

“There really is no quick fix to get back into balance,” said Will Loux, Senior Vice President for Global Economic Affairs and the head of the joint economics team for NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “I do think ...

New Dietary Guidelines for Americans are encouraging to dairy in ways that are consistent with the latest science and consumer needs for high-quality, affordable nutrition, NMPF Director of Regulatory Affairs Miquela Hanselman said in a Dairy Defined Podcast.

“We turned out pretty well in the guidelines,” Hanselman said in the podcast released today. “We hit the three servings. Dairy is a distinct group. Full-fat dairy is recommende...

History may not rhyme, but it echoes, and for all the challenges dairy has faced, a few key areas have continued to resurface throughout Chris Galen’s nearly three decades in dairy.

“A lot of what I had worked on at the start of my career, and also now in the last few years of my career at National Milk, has been on milk pricing, in particular federal milk marketing order reforms,” said Galen, NMPF’s longtime communications leader a...

Dairy’s future is bright, and it’s brightest when the industry is united toward common goals, the chairmen of the International Dairy Foods Association and the National Milk Producers Federation said.  

“$11 billion or so in projects are happening or about to happen that will significantly grow the industry capacity throughout the country,” said Daragh Maccabee, CEO of Idaho Milk Products and Chairman of the International Dairy Food...

Life as an influencer means entering free-wheeling debate with perspectives from all sides. But to advance better nutrition with ample servings of dairy, it’s necessary to do, says social media personality Lauren Twigge. 

Twigge, a registered dietician and nutritionist with a degree in animal science, offers “Nutrition at Its Roots,” an online and social media platform she uses to advance the message of dairy’s benefits and high-qua...

A massive tax and spending bill is now law – but with half a year left, Congress now can turn its attention to getting whole milk back in schools, NMPF’s Paul Bleiberg said in a Dairy Defined podcast. 

“One item I'll single out first that we're hopeful to get done really in the next couple months here is the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act,” Bleiberg, NMPF’s executive vice president for government relations, said in a podc...

The regulatory climate in Washington is shifting in unprecedented ways, requiring quick responses and an eye for opportunities, said NMPF regulation experts in a Dairy Defined podcast released today. 

The pace of evolution is “Intense, insane,” said Clay Detlefsen, NMPF’s Senior Vice President for Regulatory and Environmental Affairs. “It changes daily. It's full of unknowns, and it's moving forward at an absolutely crazy ...

The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act has a 60 percent chance of becoming law this year, with congressional momentum building along with consensus that whole milk in schools is the best option for schoolkids, Sen. Peter Welch, D-VT, said in a Dairy Defined podcast released today.

“This is one of those things where, if we get it on the floor, and get the cooperation of leadership, we get the votes,” he said. “This is one of those areas...

Dairy farmers have boosted biosecurity and researchers have learned much about the H5N1 bird flu virus in dairy cattle one year after its introduction, top NMPF experts said in a Dairy Defined podcast. Still, the hope is that the virus may leave the dairy herd completely, 

“We’re still learning things about the virus and how it's being transmitted from farm to farm, and we still need some answers on that, but hang in there, we’...

Jessica Shelly is the Director of Student Dining Services for Cincinnati Public Schools in Cincinnati, Ohio. She's responsible for overseeing the service of more than 60,000 meals a day in the lunchroom operations at 65 schools.

And in 2023, her school system tried something different: It offered its students lactose-free milk. The hugely successful pilot project has now been adopted district-wide, improving nutrition, boosting...

You don’t have to be part of the dairy sector to see how important whole milk is for children, best-selling author Nina Teicholz, Ph.D., said in the latest Dairy Defined Podcast.

That’s because nutrition science makes a compelling case for full-fat milk, underscoring the importance of getting whole milk back in schools, the goal of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, she said. 

Children who drink whole milk tend to be healthier, she...

With a Republican “trifecta” of House, Senate and White House control, 2025 will be an active year in Washington, NMPF Executive Vice President for Government Affairs Paul Bleiberg said in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today. 

“Everybody should just buckle up. It's going to be a busy 2025,” said Bleiberg, who leads NMPF’s lobbying efforts. 

The trifecta “means a certain ability to move your agenda through unilaterally or with...

After nearly four decades as an economist at NMPF, Dr. Peter Vitaliano is retiring at the end of the year. He predicts a bright future for the industry. 

 “The U.S. dairy industry produces a huge variety of great products, for which consumption is continuing to grow,” Vitaliano said in a Dairy Defined Podcast. “It has very progressive farms and farmers, and great leadership amongst our organizations, and great organizations. That ha...

FARM Environmental Stewardship Version 3 is out – and it's a step forward for dairy farmers both as stewards and as business managers, according to NMPF Chief Sustainability Officer Nicole Ayache, who oversaw development of the initiative through the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program, in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today. 

With new, updating modeling, under FARM ES Version 3, “farmers ca...

Dairy farmers are remaining resilient as they manage their way through H5N1 in dairy cattle and respond to natural disasters that have devastated farms, NMPF Chairman Randy Mooney said in remarks at the organization’s annual meeting.

“Farming is hard. I said that. We all know that. But when you get hit with weather events like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, the list goes on and on, unexpected costs, that makes it even hard...

With the dietary guidelines for American Scientific Advisory Committee reviewing the science for the upcoming 2025 guidelines, better nutrition for diverse American communities is getting a lot of attention. Dr. Priscilla Mpasi, a Philadelphia physician and board member of the National Medical Association, said dairy’s essential to support in the dietary recommendations the guidelines make, given its importance to nutrition in fami...

The federal government is seeking comments related to the next iteration of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans as it reviews the science behind healthy eating, with a plan expected next year. Dairy has always had a central role in proper nutrition, and newer science reinforces that. That doesn’t mean the process is easy, two experts said in a Dairy Defined podcast released today. 

“One of the biggest distinguishing factors in this...