Dairy Defined

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, aka EPCRA, was created in 1986 to help communities plan for chemical emergencies. It requires industry to report on the storage, use, and release of hazardous substances to federal, state, and local governments. It’s a good law, says NMPF Chief Counsel Clay Detlefsen, but unintended consequences have snared dairy farmers into a decades-long fight against over-regulation. And for those decades, Detlefsen’s been part of every twist a...

Even as regulatory and legislative challenges persist at all levels of state government, pro-dairy advocacy is making progress nationwide, two leaders in state dairy policies said in the latest Dairy Defined podcast. “Some farms are struggling. I don't want to diminish what those farms are going through,” Allyson Jones-Brimmer, executive director of the Northeast Dairy Producers Association, said. “But overall, we have elected officials at every level that want to see dairy and agriculture as...

What, exactly, is an ultra-processed food? Proposals about, and FDA may be weighing in. But figuring out what a definition should and shouldn’t cover is a difficult task, said Chad Galer, vice president of product innovation and food safety for Dairy Management, Inc. “I think it's a risk that it might be a bit oversimplified,” said Galer, who worked for 16 years at Kraft Foods before joining DMI. “It should be more of a matrixed approach where you are balancing the nutrition and the processin...

The greater the variety of milk in schools, including whole, lower-fat and flavored varieties, the greater the benefits to students, dairy farmers are telling lawmakers as they meet them on Capitol Hill. “I think it's awesome that students and kids have a choice. Giving them more choices just gets more milk out there for them, and the benefits that it has, and the flavor that it has that kids enjoy,” said Lauren Schwartzbeck, a schoolteacher and dairy farmer who farms near Union Bridge, MD, a...

Stewardship is a deeply engrained value among dairy farmers that’s also good for economic success, NMPF’s Nicole Ayache says in the latest Dairy Defined Podcast. Ayache, who leads the National Dairy FARM (Farmers Assuring Responsible Management) Programs’ Environmental Stewardship initiative, notes how sound management of resources and a focus on efficiency has boosted dairy productivity and bottom lines, even as it reflects the dedication of the farmers themselves to serving consumers. ...