The House Ways and Means Committee focused on expanding trade at Tuesday’s hearing. Former agricultural trade ambassador Gregg Doud, who is now the president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, spoke about the importance of trade enforcement. Doud said 44% of U.S. dairy exports are shipped to our neighbors in Canada and Mexico. “Mexico has largely been a positive trading partner, Canada has not,” Doud said. “Unfortunately, Canada has a long history of attempting to undermine previously agreed-to market access, a trend that has continued under Unites States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Through manipulative tariff rate quota policies and a systemic circumvention of USMCA’s dairy protein export disciplines, Canada has cheated U.S. exporters out of market access benefits promised to them under the agreements and has tried to dispose of growing volumes of artificially low-priced dairy protein into global markets.” Doud testified the 2026 USMCA review represents a critical opportunity for Canada to reform these practices.
Trade gap is “pathetic”
Speaking at the U. S./ Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Outlook Forum, Doud emphasized the need for a more aggressive U.S. trade policy, particularly in closing the agricultural trade gap with the European Union. “We import $3 billion in dairy from the European Union and we export $167 million to the European Union; that’s pathetic,” said Doud. “We export 15 times more cheese to Guatemala than we do the European Union. We export more cheese to New Zealand and they’re a major (dairy) exporter with 5 million people.” Doud, who is the former chief agricultural trade negotiator, said the U.S. agricultural trade deficit with the EU today is $23.6 billion. He pointed to the $8 billion investment in U.S. dairy processing as evidence of the industry’s potential for growth.
Senate Dems challenge mass layoffs at USDA
Ranking member Amy Klobuchar and every Democratic member of the Senate Agriculture Committee are asking Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for more information on the termination of numerous USDA employees. They want a breakdown by state, agency, job position and veteran status. The letter said these layoffs jeopardize the USDA response to avian flu and their ability to process farm loans, disaster relief and farm assistance.
Economic relief on the way
Speaking at the Ag Outlook Forum, Rollins said USDA plans to release the farm assistance payments by the congressional deadline of March 21. At the end of 2024, Congress passed $10 billion in ad hoc assistance within the overall disaster aid package.
Greer confirmed
The Trump administration’s new point person on trade was confirmed by the U.S. Senate with a 56-43 vote. Jamieson Greer is an attorney who specializes in international trade. He previously served as chief of staff to former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
Time to look under the hood of government
With the national debt at more than $36 trillion, Minnesota Representative Brad Finstad says it’s more important than ever to get a balanced budget. The budget resolution passed this past week is a 40-page document that provides financial targets for each committee. Finstad said the committees will now work on this process over the next few months. That includes conversations with their constituents. “What programs are working?” Finstad said. “What programs aren’t? Where can we tighten our belt? Where can we become more efficient? Where can we look under the hood of government and not only look at the engine but figure out if the fuel injectors work, is the exhaust hooked up, did we check the oil, is the dipstick showing oil in the engine? That’s really what the committee process will be about.”
Elanco and Medgene partnering on H5N1 vaccine for dairy cattle
A new avian influenza vaccine for dairy cattle is moving one step closer to commercialization. Elanco Animal Health has an agreement with Medgene, based in Brookings, South Dakota, to bring this vaccine to market. The USDA has already approved Medgene’s vaccine technology platform in cattle, allowing the accelerated development of the H5N1 vaccine. Medgene has existing vaccine supplies to deploy for this purpose. The product is in the final stages of review for conditional license approval.
Minnesota legislature working on ag emergency funding
The Minnesota House Agriculture Committee laid over an emergency funding bill for inclusion in the committee’s budget bill. This bill calls for a $1.5 million appropriation from the general fund for an agricultural emergency account to address avian flu and other animal health diseases.
A proposed increase in funding for farm business management
Representative Nathan Nelson is sponsoring legislation that would boost funding for the Minnesota Agricultural Education Leadership Council from $4.5 million to $6 million in the 2026-2027 biennium. Funding would be prioritized for faculty with expertise in farm transition planning, rural mental health and growing specialty crops in urban areas. Northern Agricultural Center of Excellence Executive Director Keith Olander gave a presentation on the farm business management program. The House Agriculture Committee laid the bill over for consideration in its budget bill.
Milk production edges higher
Milk production in the 24 major dairy states totaled just over 18 billion pounds in January. That’s up 0.2% from one year ago. South Dakota milk production rose 6.5% with a 7,000-head increase in cow numbers. In Minnesota, January milk output is down a fraction of 1%. Cow numbers are down 9,000 head over the past year.
No cows needed
Lab-grown meat has made headlines in recent years, but the world’s first lab-grown cow’s milk may soon be coming to market. A Boston company is producing what is called UnReal Milk. Rather than coming from a cow, this product is made from cell cultures. It reportedly replicates the taste, texture and nutrition of dairy milk and is billed as a lower-carbon, cruelty-free alternative.
Trivia challenge
National FFA Week began in 1948. That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s trivia, what is the home state for Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins? We’ll have the answer in our next edition of the Dairy Star.
Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick has been recognized as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year and served as president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two sons, Tony and Sam, and five grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.
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