Idaho Dairy THE IDAHO DAIRY FOCUS IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY IDAHO DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION The Idaho Dairymen’s Association (IDA) was established to continue to focus develop and sustain an economically viable Idaho Dairy Industry that works together to achieve success in the domestic and global marketplace in December 2010 meeting the needs of the Idaho dairy farm families. View from the Board Room by Mike Roth IDA President In 2011, your UDI board of directors and management team will The financial stress continues and that is ultimately what is in be concentrating on issues that will help shape Idaho dairy farm- most producers’ minds. We as your Board understand that and ers’ future. In January or February we will be holding informa- even though we cannot directly affect producer prices we must tional meetings in Treasure Valley, Magic Valley and Eastern continue behind the scene to protect Idaho dairy farmers the Idaho with regards to National Milks’ “Foundation for the Future." best we can. Eventually profits will return and the industry will After the meetings, there will be a vote of the membership at a thrive again. Dairy is too important to Idaho and our rural com- special meeting of the members. It‘s important for you to partici- munities to be thrown under the bus like we have the last couple pate and have input. of years. In addition, competition for farm ground other than for growing hay and corn silage is raising our cost of production. The pay price in Idaho is the lowest in the nation, therefore, fac- This is not new news but from a dairymen's perspective, I think tors that impact our cost of production are critical to us. This is about it a lot because it directly affects our profitability. the driving factor behind our continual efforts to eliminate cur- rent ethanol subsidy programs and oppose the continuation or Finally I would strongly urge everyone to participate at the 2¢ development of additional programs both at the Federal and level supporting CWT's revised program of export assistance. State level. The herd removal program will no longer be a part of the CWT program and the 2¢ will only go to export assistance. Remember Your board will also be working on several issues with respect to we need to get product out of Idaho and out of the United States protecting our rights to dairy in an ever increasing world that for us to be successful. Thanks for your support and please let scrutinizes animal agriculture; Immigration, pathogen drift, and us know what you're thinking. protein & butterfat testing are some other topics we will be ad- dressing. Christmas Reflections “We know God’s love not by looking at the gifts on our table but looking at His gift in the stable. There, as the proof that he loves us, God has given all he has to give; His only Son.” - Andrew Kuyvenhoven “Times are hard, indeed---but they never surprise God. He promises to use our uncertain times to accomplish His bigger and better purposes all around our world . and deep within our lives.” - Charles R. Swindoll, We wish you a Merry Christmas may the Spirit of Christmas shine in your life in the coming New Year! Page 2 Potential Additional Income for Dairy Producers Page 6 2010 IDA Elections & Research Grants Page 2 IDWLT No Longer Involved in Water Mitigation Page 6 U of I Extension Corner Page 3 What Really Happened in 2009 Page 7 FC Stone Downs - O’Neill - It’s Always Darkest Page 4 CWT Contract Before Dawn Page 5 Idaho Dairy’s Renewable Energy Project offers Page 8 Washington DC Updates Sustainable Road Map for Dairy Industry Page 10 Immigration Reform Page 5 Christmas Lights in the Nighttime Sky Page 11 USDA Dairy Advisory Committee Update Page 2 Idaho Dairy Focus December 2010 Potential Additional Income for Dairy Producers. The Idaho Dairymen’s Association (IDA) negotiated a contract energy input and output. The data that is collected can deter- with Western Renewable Energy Analysts Inc. (WREA) which is mine practices that are “above and beyond” typical accepted a company specializing in clean energy and carbon accounting. practices. This practice combined with good management can be an “additionality” that can then be translated into a carbon “For the past several months the IDA Board, our staff and attor- credit. In addition to developing verifiable, tradable carbon cred- neys have been in the process of developing a contract that can its WREA can assist in the producer’s ability to conform to permit be utilized by all dairy producers with WREA that has the poten- regulations and optimize smart energy usage. tial for generating additional income for dairy producers. Multiple companies have shown interest in working with IDA in identifying This is not just for large producers, according to Bob Naerebout avenues in which they could work with producers, WREA offered Executive Director of Idaho Dairymen’s Association, “The pro- a program that was flexible enough and allowed performance gram is designed in such a way that we can cluster smaller pro- incentives within the contract that encouraged us to go forward ducers who have similar management practices.” According to with WREA,” stated Mike Roth President of IDA. Mr. Naerebout the success of the program ultimately for both large and small producers will be WREA’s ability to sell the car- The process begins with an evaluation of the dairy operation and bon credits. its current practices that qualify for carbon credits. WREA pro- vides all services necessary to determine the carbon credits or Scott Foster, President of WREA stated “Energy and green- carbon credit offsets for the dairy farms from 2002 through 2010, house gas management in the dairyfarm sector are being ad- to verify the carbon credits or carbon offsets, to register the Dairy dressed comprehensively by the effective leadership shown by Owner’s Project with the Voluntary Carbon Standard VCS Asso- the IDA board.” ciation (“VCS”) and to sell the credits as VCUs. Contact us at [email protected] for additionsl information or Scott WREA looks at the entire carbon footprint of an operation to de- Foster at [email protected]. termine a true carbon accounting that involves all aspects of #### IDWLT No Longer Involved in Water Mitigation For the past four years the Idaho Dairy Water and Land Trust made possible through IDWLT purchasing water for recharge (IDWLT) has participating in late season recharge to mitigate for and donations of water by Clear Springs and the Surface Water water usage by dairy livestock in the Eastern Snake Plain Aqui- Coalition and the North Side Canal Company conveying the wa- fer. The IDWLT was formed by the Idaho Dairymen’s Association ter for IDWLT. This genuine effort by these companies to work over concerns generated from Water Calls from fish hatcheries with dairy producers is greatly appreciated. and others. The mitigation agreement for the impacted dairy producers was with Clear Springs Foods, the Surface Water When IDA entered into the stipulation with the Department of Coalition, and Thousand Springs Water Users Association and Water Resources, the Surface Water Coalition, and Clear approved by the Director Idaho Department of Water Recourses. Springs in 2007, it agreed to conduct a dairy water use study to better define actual depletions to the ESPA on a gallons per cow This decision comes as a result of numerous factors, not the basis. IDA has fully funded that research; the USDA-ARS is in- least of which is the continuing economic situation facing partici- tending to produce the results this winter. pating dairymen in the IDWLT. Participating dairymen located within the impacted ground water districts have opted to also pay assessments to the ground water districts for mitigation. These dairymen then have been paying for mitigation on two fronts but are no longer in a position to do so. The Mitigation Agreement has accomplished what all involved intended and that was to avoid what potentially would be conten- tious and costly disputes amongst water users. Under the Mitiga- tion Agreement, IDWLT has spent in excess of $250,000 to re- charge over 13,000 acre-feet of water into the ESPA. That was Idaho Dairy Focus, December 2010 Page 3 What Really Happened in 2009 And How CWT Export Assistance Can Help Prevent it in the Future By Jim Tillison, NMPF It is commonly believed that the disastrous dairy farm income Basically, a drop in world dairy product prices resulted in a major situation in 2009 was caused by a “collapse in demand,” espe- loss of international market share for U.S. dairy product exports. cially in the export markets for U.S. dairy products. In 2007 and 2008 strong demand growth outpaced available This is not correct. Total dairy product consumption, both do- supplies which increased prices dramatically. When this resulted mestic and international, actually grew strongly in 2009. in buyer resistance, the U.S.’s competitors aggressively cut prices to maintain export sales and to avoid building inventories. What collapsed was the U.S. dairy industry’s share of the world market, which shrunk because of a reduced ability to compete in These competitors actually increased both their export volumes the global market in 2009. The resulting collapse in U.S. milk and their shares of the world market in 2009, while the U. S. suf- prices was deeper and lasted longer for U.S. dairy farmers than fered major losses in both. For example, New Zealand increased if the CWT Export Assistance program had been available. its export volume 38%, and its share of the world market 30%.