Highlighting the Importance of the Dairy Industry

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, yesterday morning, I had the opportunity to attend part of Fulton Bank's 39th annual Agriculture Seminar, which is a day-long informational event that draws individuals from all over the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The event is free and featured numerous speakers, including agriculture economist Andrew Frankenfield and other industry experts.

Mr. Speaker, as the House Committee on Agriculture prepares the next farm bill, there has been universal agreement that the dairy industry's Margin Protection Program needs to be reformed in advance. To address this, we were able to make much-needed changes in last week's bipartisan budget deal.

The final agreement took a number of actions that will revamp the program to better serve participating dairy farmers. To help the program to be more accurate and responsive during difficult months, monthly margined calculations have been changed to bimonthly. To help the program better reflect the growth in dairy herd sizes, the new law expands the first tier from 4 million to 5 million pounds. The new law raises the catastrophic coverage level from $4 per hundred weight to $5 per hundred weight for the first tier of covered production.

It also reduces premiums for the first 5 million pounds of production, making higher levels of coverage more affordable to provide more protection against low margins. Finally, the new law allows for the development of insurance policies for livestock producers, including for dairy farmers. This change encourages further adequate risk management tools are available the next time they are faced with disaster.

Mr. Speaker, the state of the dairy industry is much different today than it was when the last farm bill was written. Today we see low milk prices that have impacted the dairy industry across the country. The House Committee on Agriculture is not only aware of the challenges facing the industry, but we are working to help bring relief.

Another factor negatively impacting the dairy industry is declining milk consumption. This not only negatively affects dairy farms and farm families across the country but also students and their overall nutrition. Despite the fact that public school enrollment was growing, schools served 213 million fewer half-pints of milk between 2014 and 2016. Children over 4 years old are not meeting the recommended daily servings of dairy in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

We know that milk is a nutritional powerhouse. Given the nutritional value of milk and because students need to be nourished to be at their best, this is a cause for concern. Steadily decreasing participation in the School Lunch Program, coupled with the fact that flavored milk, the most popular variety in schools, must be fat free under the current law, has led to an alarming decline in overall milk consumption.

We have lost an entire generation of milk drinkers, and they have lost out, that generation, on the nourishment and nutrition that comes from milk. Providing students the option to consume milk with flavor has the potential to positively affect milk consumption trends among children and adults, while supporting the local dairy farmers.

This is why I introduced H.R. 4101, the School Milk Nutrition Act. This bill provides the schools the option of offering low-fat, 1 percent, flavored milk instead of only fat free.

On November 29, 2017, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a new USDA rule that expands options for milk in school lunches.

Similar to my legislation, this rule gives schools the option to serve low-fat, 1 percent, flavored milk. Thankfully, this rule will be in effect for fiscal year 2018 and fiscal year 2019.

I look forward to continuing to craft a farm bill that puts forth the very best policy for our farmers, our families, and all Americans. I know Secretary Perdue supports the legislation, H.R. 4101, moving ahead to codify what he has been able to do with what flexibility he has and to get that done for our kids and for the dairy industry.

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