USDEC Praises House Ag Committee for Advancing Key U.S. Dairy Priorities
CONTACTS:
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Luke Waring, USDEC |
ARLINGTON, VA – The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) thanked the House Committee on Agriculture for including three major dairy priorities in its updated Farm Bill legislative text released today.
The framework includes the Safeguarding American Food and Export Trade Yields (SAFETY) Act, a landmark bipartisan measure to protect American producers’ ability to use common names in international markets; continued funding for vital trade promotion programs; and support for the use of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) that contain dairy in U.S. international aid programs.
“We are grateful to Chairman Thompson and the House Agriculture Committee for advancing policies that strengthen the competitiveness of America’s dairy industry,” said Krysta Harden, USDEC President and CEO. “These provisions will help reinforce the dairy supply chain, support rural communities, and ensure the United States remains a reliable supplier of high-quality dairy products to markets around the world.”
Authored in the House by Reps. Dusty Johnson, R-SD, Jim Costa, D-CA, Michelle Fischbach, R-MN, and Jimmy Panetta, D-CA, and in the Senate by Sens. John Thune, R-SD, Tammy Baldwin, D-WI, Roger Marshall, R-KS, and Tina Smith, D-MN, the SAFETY Act would establish a permanent policy directive for USDA to work with the U.S. Trade Representative to include the protection of commonly used terms like “parmesan,” “feta” and “asiago” as a priority in international negotiations.
The language complements the string of victories that the U.S. Trade Representative has secured in proactively negotiating protections for generic terms in a series of Agreements on Reciprocal Trade, including a deal inked with Taiwan late yesterday.
The farm bill legislation would also reassign funding initially authorized through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year to effectively double export agricultural export promotion efforts. The funds would be consolidated into existing Farm Bill programs like the Market Access Program.
The bill also continues $200 million in annual funding for RUTF purchases thanks in key part to advocacy from USDEC and its members. RUTF is a nutrient-dense paste that incorporates milk powders used in international food aid packages to treat chronic malnutrition. USDEC also commends the bill’s initiative to transfer the Food for Peace program, under which RUTF is administered, to USDA.
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The U.S. Dairy Export Council is a non-profit, independent membership organization that represents the global trade interests of U.S. dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders. Its mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and assist the U.S. industry to increase its global dairy ingredient sales and exports of U.S. dairy products. USDEC accomplishes this through programs in market development that build global demand for U.S. dairy products, resolve market access barriers and advance industry trade policy goals. USDEC is supported by staff across the United States and overseas in Mexico, South America, Asia, Middle East and Europe. The U.S. Dairy Export Council prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, disability, national origin, race, color, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, political beliefs, marital status, military status, and arrest or conviction record. www.usdec.org.