NMPF: ‘Anti-competitive practices’ in New Zealand The report was prepared by the U.S. Dairy Export Council. An accompanying letter notes that “New Zealand’s largest company has been provided special privileges by the government that enables it to maintain a roughly 90 percent market share of the milk produced in New Zealand. This advantageous position has given this single dairy company direct control of more than one-third of world dairy trade without even accounting for the
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Transitioning to organic farming can present financial uncertainty for farmers, but a special program is available in Minnesota to help them accomplish their goals. The “Tools for Transition” program, led by the University of Minnesota, Minnesota Department of Agriculture and other partners, provides scholarships covering up to 90 percent of farm business management tuition to qualifying farmers. Now in its second year, Tools for Transition is aimed at helping farmers better understand the cost and process of transitioning to organic. Minnesota field crop or dairy farmers who have any acres in transition or who have been certified fewer than three years are eligible to apply, and the program’s leaders are eager to enroll more farmers this year. Participating farmers are giving Tools for Transition the thumbs up. One of the 32 farmers enrolled in the program said farm business management education has helped him understand costs, production possibilities and marginal returns that can make or break a farmer in today’s markets. Farmers in Tools for Transition work directly with a farm business management instructor on a personally designed program to help them understand and better manage their own cost of production, profitability and other financial measures. UMN agricultural economists analyze the data to look for patterns and trends, while carefully protecting the privacy of all participants’ financial information. Program participants get the chance to participate in special workshops and to receive a discount to attend the annual Minnesota Organic Conference. To learn more about the scholarships, call administrator Meg Moynihan at (651) 201-6616. ❖
Lee Mielke is a syndicated columnist who resides in Everson, Wash. His weekly column is featured in newspapers across the country and he may be reached at lkmielke@juno.com. ❖
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Scholarships for organic transition
additional sales controlled through its many production and distributor relationships around the world,” USDEC said. Details are posted at www.nmpf.org.
THE LAND, MARCH 2, 2012
MIELKE, from pg. 31A have to buy from any specific dairy. ... That fundamental reality still impacts our dairy farms just as it did 100 years ago and puts our dairy farmers at an immediate disadvantage when coming to the negotiating table.” “In response to this fundamental imbalance, our industry has enlisted the government, whether that’s the federal government (federal orders) or a state government (such as California) to act as a “referee” in establishing at least a minimum price that those buyers of milk (including IDFA’s members) must pay for the milk they purchase,” he wrote, “And it’s that government function that IDFA is trying to eliminate.” ■ Finally, the National Milk Producers Federation is expressing concern over a new report on the “anti-competitive practices pervasive in the New Zealand dairy industry.” The report “highlights why the U.S. dairy farmer sector is so concerned with including U.S.-New Zealand dairy trade in a potential Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement,” a federation press release explained, and the issue is one NMPF has communicated to the Obama administration.
33 A