Dairy Farmers Advancing at the State Level

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 a whole succeed. Those leaders are making changes and investments in dairy, both at the state and federal level to help farms help set the industry up for success.”

Jones-Brimmer is in Washington this week with other state dairy organizations in NMPF’s annual State Dairy Association Summit. She was joined on the podcast Jim Boyle, owner-manager of his family's dairy in Casa Grande, AZ and the leader of the Western States Dairy Producers Association.

Transcript

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Alan Bjerga: Hello and welcome to the Dairy Defined Podcast. Dairy policy is set at several levels and a lot of it happens in state capitals, not here in Washington DC. Digging deeper into that level today are two dairy experts from different parts of the country. Jim Boyle is a fourth generation Arizonan and owner manager of his family's dairy and integrated crop farm in Casa Grande, Arizona, where he grows forage crops that feed the dairy's 3,500 milking cows and 2,500 heifers. He sits on the executive board of the United Dairymen of Arizona and leads the Western States Dairy Producers Association. Allyson Jones Brimmer is the executive director of the Northeast Dairy Producers Association, also known as NEDPA, which has served as the voice resource and network for New York's family dairy farms for more than three decades. Jones Brimmer has been an advocate for agriculture for more than a decade.

Welcome both of you to this podcast.

Allyson Jones-Brimmer: Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Jim Boyle: Yeah, thanks, Alan.

Alan Bjerga: We have on this podcast the Southwest and the Northeast. Geographically, it would be hard to get further apart than you, but I suspect that there are some differences and some overlaps in what your farmer policy concerns are most. Starting with you, Allyson, what are some of the top state-level policy issues your farmers are facing in New York? And then I want to hear Jim's perspective.

Allyson Jones-Brimmer: Our members' biggest concerns are around workforce and the environment, which I think might be pretty consistent around the country, and that also has both state and federal impacts to it. On the state front for labor, New York has a minimum wage that's higher than most states. Farms also have to pay overtime starting at 52 hours. So farm employers in New York State have more expenses on the labor front than some of our neighbors do. There's also several laws and regulations related to labor that add both expense and management requirements to the farms.

On the environmental front, NEDPA was founded on a commitment to environmental stewardship, so we continue to take a leadership role in that issue area and making sure that legislators and regulators understand the real world impacts of environmental regulations. We have a CAFO permit that goes beyond the federal requirements along with ever-evolving requirements around climate, emissions, wetlands, permits, and other things that farmers have to grapple with.

At the same time, there is a lot of positive going on in New York State, so I don't just want to focus on the challenges. New York has invested quite a bit in dairy processing. We've seen a huge growth in our processing capacity and a lot of expansion and modernization going on, which is creating a lot of optimism for the future. And with that, the state has also made investment in farms through an investment tax credit for farmers, overtime tax credit grant programs, and investment in research. So NEDPA's annual priorities really focus a lot on advocating for continuing or increasing those investments from the state.

Jim Boyle: Obviously the labor and environmental stuff is very much the forefront of what we do in Arizona as well, but we kind of had slightly different issues. In Arizona, we are kind of blessed with a hands-off government that so far has not been very intrusive into daily operations of dairy farms. Our biggest issue on the labor side is availability, trying to stop the state from being a little too aggressive at times on immigration enforcement beyond the federal level. It's a struggle we've always had in Arizona as a border state that the state at the times can get more involved than perhaps used to in other areas.

And our environmental issues are more about watching what our neighbors are doing and trying in Arizona not to follow them. When your neighbor's California, you get to see the other side of an overactive state government and the regulations that it can put on farmers. We've been blessed in Arizona not to have too much of that, but a lot of our work is to prevent that from happening. We've got the same issues. They're just slightly different perspectives on them and it all comes down to your local government and what they've determined is the topic and the approach that they're going to take on regulation. And all of it's a little different depending on where you're at.

Alan Bjerga: Given your involvement with Western States and Allyson, your involvement with NEDPA, these are regional alliances. These issues, there's state and there's nationwide, but there's also beyond state lines. And what are the values of those broader efforts and those broader coalitions?

Jim Boyle: Western States was formed before I was involved actually, probably about 25 years ago. And it was in a response to, at the time, the federal government's interest in air quality in the West. Different states had different requirements. The EPA was coming in with some kind of broad federal regulations that were going to be really hard for the drier desert Southwest to deal with. So the State Dairy Associations started to communicate and put together some air quality symposium that invited both federal and state regulators and the dairy and ag industry to sit in the same room together, look at the science and try to find a compromise that would work for everybody. Quite frankly, it took a while, but it was fairly successful in the end. Our days of fighting the PM10 battles in the West are, I won't say totally behind us, but they've certainly come to a point where I think everyone from the federal regulatory side to the state farmer side are fairly happy.

Alan Bjerga: PM referring to particulate matter, essentially government regulation of dust.

Jim Boyle: And what started as a conversation about air quality soon turned to, "Hey, we're all sitting in the same room together. We're all state dairy associations. What else is going on? What exactly is Washington state doing about surface water issues? What's the state of New Mexico doing about other types of animal wellbeing legislation that's coming through their state legislature?" And we realized that sharing information between the different states, even though we're pretty different, I mean, there's almost nowhere more different than California and Texas, which are both Western States members. But having that conversation about what works, what doesn't work, what's happening on the ground level, what activist groups got on their radar in Oregon that might pop up in Utah, we've found that was just hugely valuable. So what started as an air quality kind of group ended up becoming all topics on the regulatory and legislative side across the West.

It's really become a good working group that represents a large portion of the Western dairy industry.

Alan Bjerga: Allyson, one thing we know about upstate New York is it is not a desert. So tell us the NEDPA story.

Allyson Jones-Brimmer: Yeah, the NEDPA story is pretty similar, but the topic was water quality versus air emissions, air quality. So the organization founded on that commitment to environmental stewardship participation in the CAFO permit and wanting to help farmers put best management practices into place related to water quality. Today we are primarily New York state-based. Our membership comes primarily from New York and our local work occurs at the New York state level, but we do have great partnerships across state lines. Vermont and New York tend to feed off each other in terms of what goes on at the state capitals. So it's really important to work together and understand how each other are getting our goals accomplished. Bottom line is we're stronger together. So anywhere we can work collaboratively, work in coalitions. We do a lot of work today with the fruit and vegetable growers in the state and region as well around both environmental efforts and especially labor efforts.

So I think just being stronger together, figuring out where allies and interests are just makes a better outcome for everyone.

Alan Bjerga: So I'd be remiss not to note that this week NMPF is having state associations in Washington. And Allyson, you are on your way. Tell us a little bit about what you are hoping to get from this experience in the next week. And Jim, tell us a little bit about some of the experiences that you've been having working with Capitol Hill and at different levels of government in working for Arizona and regional dairy farms.

Allyson Jones-Brimmer: I'm just really looking forward to it. I attended last year for my first event and this year I'm bringing four farmers along with me. So excited for them to have that opportunity to network with other state associations and learn from each other because I think that was really important for my first experience was just seeing what is and what isn't being tackled in other states as well. And then I'm excited about the opportunity to do visits on Capitol Hill. Our big message will be around labor and workforce and advocating for changes to the H-2A program to make a more accessible program for the dairy industry and really communicate our importance to the rural communities that our farms are in as well as the food security for our communities and our neighbors and even around the world. So really looking forward to the trip.

Jim Boyle: Always really enjoyed these state association meetings that National Milk has gotten, that's put together to get all these different state and regional groups in the same room. It's just a great opportunity to do what we do at Western States every other week on our biweekly calls, but to do it with the entire country. You get to find out what exactly is concerning all the different regions, the different states, and surface new concerns, new approaches that can help you that we can learn from from different states. So it's a great networking opportunity. Business in Capitol Hill are always interesting. Obviously the big thing at the moment is GT Thompson's Ag Labor Bill. We're big supporters of that. We think it's a workable approach to changes to the H-2A program that are desperately needed in the dairy industry.

We will continue to advocate with our congressional delegation. I'd like to get a couple of our congressmen to co-sponsor it. We're still working on them. We've had a little bit of interest from some of them. There's always some politics involved in DC in terms of-

Alan Bjerga: Shocked. We're shocked.

Jim Boyle: Yeah, yeah. Crazy.

Alan Bjerga: There's politics in Washington DC.

Jim Boyle: And then it's face time in your congressional office. I mean, Arizona has a delegation that is urban. There is only one congressional district in Arizona that I would say is primarily rural and agricultural. The others are all basically Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, urban groups, urban districts that you have to remind the congressman that dairy and ag exists in the state and put your face out there and explain your issues. It can sometimes feel a bit repetitive because staffers change over and there's a need to reintroduce yourself every year or so. So that's always a great opportunity. And we always reach out and invite our congressmen, go visit a dairy farm. I always find that to be a hugely valuable outreach when they take you up on it and actually come out, which we've had. I've had numerous congressmen out at my farm and it gives them a whole new perspective. So that's always an important part of visiting the Hill is giving that personal invite to the delegation.

Alan Bjerga: Looking at your overall policy landscape, and I know this will be a gross oversimplification, but I think it's important. In the overall policy environment, are dairy farmers winning right now? Is this a good environment for dairy? Is this a challenging environment for dairy? Do you feel like we're in a moment where dairy farmers can make real progress? And if so, where?

Jim Boyle: I'd say, yeah, I think dairy farmers are winning at the moment. We've made some good gains on the whole milk in schools front. That's excited a bunch of people, both from our delegation that was almost entirely for it, to our local checkoff organizations that have been promoting whole milk in schools and the health halo that comes with whole milk now, which did not exist 15 years ago. So we've got some real wins there from a regulatory side. A lot of the issues have died down, at least in the Southwest. We've got some PM 2.5 issues that are starting to pop up. And certainly there's some state-by-state issues on water quality that will continue I think to be difficult. It's not every state, but there's certainly some that really struggle with a legislative environment that is somewhat anti-dairy.

But just to have this conversation about dairy in the H-2A program, the changes that have already been made in terms of seasonal ability to obtain H-2A workers for dairy, that's a big change. Kind of feels like it's going in the right direction. Fingers crossed, we can get GT Thompson's bill into the house and voted on. And that's I think real progress that we're seeing. So I'm fairly optimistic.

Alan Bjerga: And we'll be coming back to the GT bill and how you can support it in just a couple minutes. Allyson.

Allyson Jones-Brimmer: I would have to agree with Jim. I'd say overall, yes. I know some farms are struggling. I don't want to diminish what those farms are going through. Some farms are having to jump through a lot of hoops from a regulatory perspective to accomplish what they want to accomplish. But overall, we have elected officials at every level that want to see dairy and agriculture as a whole succeed. So those leaders are making changes and investments in dairy, both at the state and federal level to help farms help set the industry up for success. So I think, yeah, overall, we're definitely in a good place right now.

Alan Bjerga: So if you are a dairy farmer or a dairy fan listening to this, what would be some great first steps you could take to get involved?

Allyson Jones-Brimmer: I think the first step is really realizing and understanding how important your voice is. So as a dairy farmer, you're the best one to tell your story and help elected officials realize the impact of the work that they do. So I just really would encourage people to seek out resources, help look for trainings, look for opportunities to get involved with organizations. So that you can be a voice that's really sharing what is going on in your community, the impact that your farm is having on your community and how dairy foods help food security in your community or your state. So really just start showing up, understand the importance of your voice, and then opportunities will come to you. You'll get invited to lobby days or to do media interviews or to host farm tours or networking opportunities. Those opportunities will start presenting yourself once you realize how important it is to speak up and show up.

Jim Boyle: I'm a dairy farmer. I know that most dairy farmers do not want to spend a lot of time off the farm hobnobbing with politicians and legislators and political appointees. But you'll find that it's pretty valuable and that politicians will listen to staff and lobbyists, but they really like to listen to the person with the boots on the ground and that's the farmer. And it's really important to form some personal relationships with your elected representatives on every level. We find our county supervisors are a huge, huge allies to us if we just spend a little time showing them what to do. And it's what we do and the issues that face us.

So you work up from your county supervisors, your state legislators, to your congressmen and your senators. And it ends up being valuable, but you got to make that first reach out to your state dairy association, to your co-op if they've got a political side and volunteer to come out or host a county supervisor or state legislator. And yeah, tell them your story. That's often all it takes. You will find that staff and even the Congresspeople will reach out to you once they've established what you do and understand that you're telling the straight story and representing dairy farmers.

Alan Bjerga: We've been speaking with Allyson Jones-Brimmer, executive director of NEDPA, and Jim Boyle, a dairy farmer and executive board member of United Dairymen of Arizona, among other things. Allyson, Jim, anything else you'd like to add before we let you go?

Allyson Jones-Brimmer: I'll just close with thank you to NMPF for the opportunity to collaborate with other state and regional associations. Really looking forward to the conversations this week at the state leaders meeting.

Jim Boyle: Yeah, thanks Alan and the rest of the NMPF staff that's put this State Dairy Association meeting together. If you're a dairy farmer and want to know what went on this week, you should reach out to your State Dairy Association leaders and ask them how it went. Volunteer to come out to the next one. We've been pretty good at doing this annually. Let's keep the momentum going.

Alan Bjerga: The more farmers and the more state associations, the better. Allyson, Jim, thank you for joining us.

Allyson Jones-Brimmer: Thank you.

Jim Boyle: Thanks, Alan.

Alan Bjerga: If you've heard this podcast and want to get involved in dairy advocacy right away, we've got something for you. Go to our homepage at nmpf.org. Click on Take Action and help us in our call to action for the Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act that GT Thompson legislation we're supporting that would go a long way toward alleviating some of the labor needs you've heard about today. For more of the Dairy Defined Podcast, all you have to do is go to our website or go to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. Search under the podcast name Dairy Defined. We'll talk again soon.