Milk Producers Council in D.C.

I returned home yesterday after a whirlwind trip to our nation’s capital, where I met with elected representatives, their staff, and federal agency officials to discuss key dairy issues and build important relationships. While my Capitol Hill meetings took place on Tuesday, most of the behind-the-scenes work and heavy lifting started last summer at the onset of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) crisis. Since last summer, MPC members have provided me firsthand accounts of issues they have encountered related to HPAI, and we have been coordinating with Congressional offices and federal agencies to clear roadblocks our producers have encountered.

The most recent issue our producers faced related to HPAI was the freeze on approval of ELAP applications and payments for milk losses due to HPAI. The order for the cessation of payments apparently came from the national office in D.C., so I began coordinating with Congressional representatives, particularly Congressman Jim Costa and David Valadao, to see if we could get action to restore these much needed payments to our producers. I want to thank Congressman Costa and Valadao, and especially their staff, for all the work they did to help restore payments, which included Congressman Costa coordinating with USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins. Congressman Costa also addressed this issue in his opening remarks this week at the U.S. House Agriculture Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Subcommittee Hearing, which I attended in person. You can watch the hearing here. Mr. Costa also entered into the record a letter MPC submitted regarding the impact HPAI has had on California producers and the need for swift action to restore ELAP payments. You can read that letter here.

Interestingly, I spoke to one of our MPC members yesterday who said he received his ELAP payment for his dairy in Texas and received notice on Tuesday that his ELAP payment will be made for his California dairy. It appears that the Office of Management and Budget has released funds to restore ELAP payments. This dairyman told me, “I’m calling my bank to get them off my back!” Again, thank you to our Congressional leaders for making this issue a priority for our dairy producers. For our producers, I would be interested if you heard any news this week regarding your ELAP application – either that it was approved, denied, or delayed. Please drop me a note at Kevin@MilkProducers.org.

In addition to addressing the ELAP situation, I had the chance to brief several California representatives and their staff on issues such as the need to update the H-2A visa program, capturing more water for farms, communities, and businesses, and the need to preserve the voluntary, incentives-based approach
for regulating dairy methane emissions.

Thank you to these House Representatives and their staff for affording me the time to discuss dairy farming issues: Doug La Malfa, John Garamendi, Josh Harder, Adam Gray, Jimmy Panetta, Vince Fong, Norma Torres, and Ken Calvert. A special thanks goes out to Congressman Gray for allowing me use of his office for another meeting with staff from Senator Alex Padilla’s office. And thank you to staff from Senator Adam Schiff’s office for meeting with me as well. It was a pleasure to discuss the importance of dairy farming and agriculture to California’s economy with representatives of our state’s U.S. senators.

Thank you also NRCS California State Conservationist Carlos Suarez and NRCS West Regional Conservationist Astor Boozer for arranging a meeting with NRCS Acting Chief Louis Aspey and Acting Associate Chief James Tillman, Sr. at NRCS headquarters. NRCS oversees important programs for our dairy farmers, such as EQIP and the Conservation Stewardship Program, so it was great to discuss how these programs can continue to serve dairy farmers efficiently and effectively.

This trip marked the 21^st year I have visited Washington, D.C. to represent California dairy families in some form or fashion. To our MPC members, thank you for giving your staff the tools and support to be your voice and advocate.