Dairyline
By Lee Mielke

Dairy farmers can take a proactive approach to the growing consumer concerns regarding animal care and food production in this country.

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) developed what it calls a national FARM program, with FARM standing for Farms Assuring Responsible Management.

NMPF’s Chris Galen said dairy farmers can now enroll independently or through their cooperative. The Federation spent the last year-and-a-half educating the dairy industry on the need for a national, independently verifiable animal care program, he said, adding that cooperatives of all sizes have been positive about the program “because they understand its importance.”

While some might view this as “Big Brother” watching over one’s shoulder, Galen countered that we already have a lot of that going on right now, and cited another recent undercover video of an Ohio veal operation. There have been many others in the past from dairy operations, he said, so there’s scrutiny about animal production in the dairy industry and other livestock sectors.

“The best defense that we can have for that,” Galen said, “is to play some offense by having a program that highlights the best animal care, environmental facility, nutrition and transportation practices that farms should have.”

Big companies such as Walmart, Costco and McDonald’s are raising these issues with suppliers, Galen said, and “by having a program like this in place, it hopefully satisfies a variety of these retailers, as opposed to each of those companies having their own individual programs that farmers would have to comply with.”

Boost for school breakfasts
And, speaking of big companies – General Mills Foodservice has committed $100,000 to help schools build their breakfast programs through the National Dairy Council’s Child Nutrition and Fitness Initiative Breakfast Grant program.

Dairy Management, Inc.’s Joe Bavido reported Sept. 6 that schools participating in the Fuel Up to Play 60 program that are looking to expand their breakfast programs can apply to receive up to $3,000 in funding.

“America’s dairy producers are excited about the commitment from General Mills to address a very important issue such as school breakfast,” Bavido said. “These efforts help create lifelong dairy consumers and healthier future generations.”

About 10 million children eat breakfast on any given day in U.S. schools, according to Bavido, nearly a third of the 30 million students who eat school lunch regularly.

School foodservice administrators understand that a breakfast program provides significant benefits regarding healthy diets and increased learning capabilities, he said.

A review of data from the Bogalusa Heart Study suggests that kids who skip breakfast rarely make up for missed nutrients later in the day, Bavido reported. Furthermore, a study in Philadelphia and Baltimore public schools found that children who regularly participated in breakfast programs scored higher on math tests, were less likely to be tardy or absent and had fewer reported discipline problems, when compared with children who skipped breakfast.

Updated information
Last week’s column apparently caused some confusion regarding changing Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program payment “start” months. NMPF’s Roger Cryan helped set the record straight.

Of most immediate concern, if a farmer’s current start date on file at the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is October 2009, they had until Sept. 14 to change it for fiscal year 2011. Months with no payment rate don’t count against the cap, but if October is your start month, payments will begin with the first month for which there is a payment rate.

Producers can change their start date as often as they’d like, as long as they do so by the 14th of a month that is before both the start month on file and the start month they want to change to.

For example, current projections suggest the highest payments will be next summer.

A farmer can go to the FSA office by Oct. 14, and choose May 2011 as their start month for FY 2011.

Then, if the markets shift, and it looks like they can get larger payments by starting with March 2011, they can change to March, as long as they do so by Feb. 14 – the month before his or her new start month. If they want to change to July, they must do so by April 14 – the month before their old start month.

The best advice? Visit your USDA FSA office.

Farm tours for kids
Farm tours are all but a thing of the past with biocontamination and animal rightist concerns closing the gate, but Genesee, Pa., dairy producer Tricia Adams still believes farm tours are important.

Speaking in last Wednesday’s “Beef Checkoff Update,” Adams said, “It’s important because farmers need to stick up for what they do and to let their actions speak for themselves because, unfortunately, there are a lot of misconceptions out there on how farmers care for their animals and produce their food, and the general public is so far removed from the farming industry that it’s important for us to share our story.”

Tours on Adams’ farm are primarily for children from local schools, but she wants them to see how a modern farm operates and to “see that farmers have an important role to play in that our livelihoods depend on our animals, and how we care for them and how we produce the food.”

She tells the “beef story,” though hers is a dairy operation, and she talks a lot about dairy products. “We produce beef too, as we are raising our bull calves for beef,” she said, “so it all ties together; whether we’re producing milk or whether we’re producing beef, we need to take care of our animals the same way.”

(Please refer to the newspaper for the remaining portion.)