USDA Issues Details of Dairy Aid Programs
Photo: USDA
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the details of additional dairy aid, including a second round of payments through the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program and a new Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program. The update to PMVAP and the new ODMAP will enable USDA to better support small- and medium-sized dairy operations who weathered the pandemic and now face other challenges.
“The Biden-Harris administration continues to fulfill its commitments to fill gaps in pandemic dairy aid for producers. USDA is announcing a second set of payments of nearly $100 million to close-out the $350 million commitment under PMVAP through partnerships with dairy handlers and cooperatives to deliver the payments.,” said USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. “USDA is also announcing new assistance targeted to small to medium size organic dairy farmers to help with anticipated marketing costs as they face a variety of challenges from weather to supply-chain challenges.”
Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program
PMVAP assists producers who received a lower value due to market abnormalities caused by the pandemic and ensuing federal policies. As a result of the production cap increase, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service will make PMVAP payments to eligible dairy farmers for fluid milk sales between 5 million and 9 million pounds from July through December 2020. This level of production was not eligible for payment under the first round of the PMVAP. Payment rates will be identical to the first round of payments, 80 percent of the revenue different per month, on fluid milk sales from 5 million to 9 million pounds from July through December 2020. USDA will again distribute monies through agreements with independent handlers and cooperatives, with reimbursement to handlers for allowed administrative costs. USDA will contact handlers with eligible producers to notify them of the opportunity to participate.
As part of the first round, PMVAP paid eligible dairy farmers on up to 5 million pounds of fluid milk sales from July through December 2020. The first round of payments distributed over $250 million in dairy aid to over 25,000 eligible farmers. These dairy farmers received the full allowable reimbursement on fluid milk sales up to 5 million pounds.
More information about the PMVAP production cap increase is available at www.ams.usda.gov/pmvap.
Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program
The new ODMAP, to be administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency, is intended to help smaller organic dairy farms that have faced a unique set of challenges and higher costs over the past several years that have been compounded by the ongoing pandemic and drought conditions across the country. Many small organic dairy operations are now struggling to stay in business and FSA plans to provide payments to cover a portion of their estimated marketing costs for 2023. Final spending will depend on enrollment and each producers projected production, but ODMAP has been allocated up to $100 million.
The assistance provided by ODMAP will be provided through unused Commodity Credit Corporation funds remaining from earlier pandemic assistance programs. The assistance will help eligible organic dairy producers with up to 75 percent of their future projected marketing costs in 2023, based on national estimates of marketing costs. This assistance will be provided through a streamlined application process based on a national per hundredweight payment. The payments will be capped at the first five million pounds of anticipated production, in alignment with preexisting dairy programs that target assistance to those smaller dairies that are most vulnerable to marketing challenges. This program is still in development.
Details about the Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program will be available and updated at www.farmers.gov as more details are released in a Notice of Funds Availability later this year.
Winter Fancy Food Day 2: Chefs and Cheese
By A.J. Flick
Senior Editor
The second day of the Specialty Food Association’s 2023 Winter Fancy Food Show was my day of meeting chefs and eating a lot of cheese.
The prsonal highlight was meeting Chef Stephanie Izard, who was the first woman named “Top Chef” (season 4) and one of my favorite Top Chef chefs. She also is from Arizona, as I am, so I was rooting for the “home chef.” Chef Izard has a new line of sauces, spices and add-ons developed out of her esteemed Chicago (and now LA) restaurant, This Little Goat. When I walked up to her booth, she was stirring a pan of halved Brussel sprouts, bathed in her Asian sauce. They looked good, but I’m not a Brussel sprouts fan. A friend of mine, Robert, loves them and so wants me to love them when he roasts them and slathers butter on them, but I just don’t like Brussel sprouts.
Until now. I have to break the news to Robert that I do love Brussel sprouts now, Chef Izard’s Brussel sprouts! She adds her new Everything Crunch puffed rice toppers on them for the contrast in textures that she’s famous for. I’ll have to make them for Robert now and show him how good Brussel sprouts can really taste!
I also was looking forward to meeting Chef Michael Tashman, who was a fabulous line of flavored butters. I was especially impressed with the Truffle Butter flavor, such a balance of truffle and high-quality butter. Chef Tashman is new to the CPG world, but he has plan to present more “chef forward” products to the specialty food market. He called it “chef to table.” (He didn’t coin the term, but likes calling it that.)
As for cheese, I stopped by a wine and cheese party thrown by the nice folks at Beehive Cheese. I tasted some of their cheeses last summer in Portland at the American Cheese Society Conference. Here, they presented a whole table of artisanal cheese at a Las Vegas wine bar, Garagiste. Beehive Cheese is a family business, not only the family who started it, but each Beehive team member I talked to spoke about how great it is to work there and how they are all treated life family. You’ll be hearing much more about Beehive in Gourmet News!
My second stop of the night was at the top of the Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort, in the Foundation Room, UK in Las Vegas, held to celebrate cheese from the United Kingdom. Yes, there was everything from Stilton to a truffle cheddar (which was gone by the time I got there!). So I ended up having Utah cheese for appetizers and British cheese for the main course. I’m not complaining!
Earlier in the day, I stopped by to visit our friends at The French Farm. They’re excited to introduce an award-winning line of artisanal from Francis Miot from the southwest of France. Not only that, but The French Farm has added to its own Epicurian line of products, jars of tasty spring and summer veggies such as Zucchini & Ramp Spread, and some aiolis. Yum!
I also spent some quality time learning more at Le Gruyere, the fine cheese from Switzerland. And you’ll learn more, too, in our upcoming Spring Cheese Guide.
I had more time yesterday to do some wandering, I sampled chicken jerky from Brave Good Kind; Simply Animals, a better-for-you lightly frosted animal crackers; lemon and ginger Snaps from Stauffer’s, Pink Sauce from Dave’s Gourmet (you’ll be hearing more about that) and delicious dumplings from Chef Kim’s.
I had fun decorating (and eating) a little gingerbread man at the Signature Brands booth. I got a tour of the new Jelly Belly products – at long last, the Butter Beer jelly beans have landed! And, there’s another Harry Potter product on the horizon that fans will love (but I can’t say what it is yet!) Jelly Belly is expanding its reach into the greeting card market with a tasty new Easter greeting card, too. You’ll read more about it in the March issue of Gourmet News in our Winter Fancy Food Show roundup.
One more day to go – can we make it? Yes, we will!
Pine River Offers Anniversary Cheese Spread at Winter Fancy Food
Pine River Cheese Spread will debut a limited edition anniversary cheese spread, 60-Month Cheddar, at the Winter Fancy Food Show held Jan. 15-17 in Las Vegas. The cheese spread was created in honor of the company’s 60th anniversary, which it celebrates in 2023.
“The 5-year-old Wisconsin Cheddar gives this spread an extra creamy texture that has a rich cheddar flavor with a slightly tangy bite,” said Phil Lindemann, Pine River CEO. “The art of cheese spread making comes in the aging and blending process. We know which ages of cheese to combine to get the best flavor and we’ve been following the same recipe since my father started the company 60 years ago. ”
The highly decorated cheese spread company will be exhibiting in the Wisconsin Cheese Booth, #817. In addition to the 60-Month Cheddar, Pine River will be sampling many of its 21 Cold Pack flavors, as well as offerings from its Clean Label and Shelf-Stable cheese spread lines.
Founded on more than five generations of experience in the dairy industry, Pine River Cheese Spread produces three styles of award-winning Wisconsin Cheese Spread—Cold Pack Cheese Spread, Clean Label Cold Pack Cheese Spread, and Shelf-Stable Gourmet Snack Spread. We also offer Private Label, Food Service, and Fundraising services. The cheese spreads are crafted one batch at a time in a state-of-the-art facility in Newton, Wis.
Coming soon: Our Spring Cheese Guide! Subscribe to Gourmet News so you don’t miss it.