dairy

Pizza Hut says it will add 25 percent more cheese to its personal pizzas as part of a deal with the administrators of the dairy checkoff. The deal comes as dairy farmers are facing national overproduction of milk and falling prices.

The recently-passed federal budget contains a major revamp of the Dairy Margin Protection Program, a controversial insurance program for dairy farmers. But Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is still pushing, through new legislation, for farmers to get the money back that they previously invested in the DMPP.

As milk prices continue to stay low, many dairy farmers are facing dire financial straits. Amidst growing concern about farmers’ mental health, Agri-Mark, one of the biggest dairy cooperatives in the country, delivered information about suicide hotlines along with its milk checks last week.

Cotton and dairy producers complained about inadequate USDA support viturally since the 2014 farm bill took effect. Congress answered those complaints in the budget package passed at the end of last week, making an additional $1.2 billion available for the commodities in coming years. But the package also is likely to result in cuts of nearly the same amount, says the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

The budget agreement written by Senate leaders includes more than $1 billion for dairy supports as well as larger subsidies for cotton growers. Besides providing immediate assistance to producers, the provisions would mean that farm-state lawmakers can spend more money on cotton and dairy in the 2018 farm bill than is available now.

Lactalis, the biggest dairy company in France, has recalled over 7,000 tons of baby formula and powdered milk products across 80 countries, reports the New York Times. The recalls, which were implemented over the course of several weeks, amounted to one of the biggest such recalls in history. At least 38 children were sickened by salmonella found in the recalled products.

Dairy farmers in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County have fallen on hard times. Facing low prices, overproduction, and falling demand, many dairy farms in the region may close in the coming months.

For years, the dairy industry has faced a long-term decline in per capita milk consumption. Organic milk was the exception in recent years, but it is now losing its place in the dairy section to plant-based milks, says Food Dive.

The House passed an $81-billion disaster relief bill that includes $3.8 billion for farmers and ranchers, with Florida expected to get a large share of that money, said The Hill newspaper.

Some in Wisconsin’s business community are calling for a change to the state slogan, “America’s Dairyland.” But when a news channel caught Kurt Bauer, head of the advocacy group Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, arguing for a more “contemporary” phrase at a statewide meeting for business leaders, the public outcry was quick and loud. So much so that Bauer refused to be interviewed for a story on NPR.

In a first for the dairy industry, the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s has signed an agreement to eventually buy all of its milk from Vermont dairies that uphold rigorous standards for treatment and pay of employees. The standards, known as Milk with Dignity, were devised by the workers themselves and based on the Fair Food Program established by tomato workers in Florida under the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW).

Climate change’s impact on animal agriculture in the northeastern United States is expected to be mild overall — and in some cases new weather patterns might even help producers, says a study by Penn State, published in the journal Climatic Change.

The insurance-like dairy subsidy created in the 2014 farm law has been roundly criticized as a failure by farmers and dairy-state lawmakers. The USDA signaled its agreement, telling producers they can opt out of the Margin Protection Program for 2018, rather than remaining locked into it while Congress writes a new farm bill.

Pierre Omidyar says he wants to build a dairy along the coast of Kauai to reduce Hawaii’s reliance on imported milk, but locals worry that runoff from such an operation, as well as the flies and odors it would bring, would hurt the island’s crucial tourism business, reports The New York Times.

On the rise for the third month in a row, the Food Price Index is now the highest since January 2015, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The latest increase in the index is due to higher prices for cereal grains, sugar and dairy. In early 2015, prices were declining from the peak in 2011, when drought affected global food supplies. 

While the risk to the general population from the H5N1 avian flu virus remains low, an assessment rated its future pandemic potential as moderate, the same as previous assessments, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The results of this IRAT [Influenza Risk Assessment Tool] validate the pro-active, coordinated U.S. government response," said the CDC in a weekly report on bird flu.