Georgia Milk Producers Weekly Enews
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GA Milk will host a Georgia Dairy Zoom meeting on Tuesday at 4 p.m., and on Thursday with The Dairy Alliance at 4 p.m. If you would like to join in - please email Farrah Newberry at
gamilkproducers@gmail.com
. A summary of the zoom meetings are emailed to producers following each call.
Georgia Milk has updated their website for farmers to use as a resource:
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Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black Thanks Dairy Farmers - Kicks off New Great Georgia Give Campaign Today in Atlanta
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Georgia’s dairy farmers, along with Kroger Atlanta Division and Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), have come together to deliver milk from the farm to the frontlines. The new Great Georgia Give campaign will deliver 24,000 half-gallons of local Georgia milk to first responders and healthcare workers across the Atlanta metro area.
This four-week campaign kicked off on Friday, April 24 at Centennial Farms in Atlanta, Ga. Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black delivered the opening remarks and helped load half-gallons of local Georgia milk supplied by DFA and Kroger’s® Centennial Farms into a refrigerated truck. Donations on Friday will be made to six Wellstar Health System hospitals, the two Atlanta-based Ronald McDonald Houses and Northside Hospital’s five locations
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Georgia dairy farmers, DFA and Kroger kick off the Great Georgia Give campaign
From Dairy Foods
Georgia’s dairy farmers, along with Kroger Atlanta Division and Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), have come together to deliver milk from the farm to the front lines. The new Great Georgia Give campaign will deliver 24,000 half-gallons of local Georgia milk to first responders and health care workers across the Atlanta metro area, according to The Partnership, the Atlanta-based public relations agency that developed and manages the campaign. The four-week campaign will kicks off on April 24 at Centennial Farms in Atlanta.
Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black will deliver the opening remarks and help load half-gallons of local Georgia milk supplied by DFA and Kroger’s Centennial Farms into a refrigerated truck. Donations on April 24 will be made to six Wellstar Health System hospitals, the two Atlanta-based Ronald McDonald Houses and Northside Hospital’s five locations, The Partnership said.
“This incredible show of support to feed and nourish our first responders and families in need with local Georgia milk is the type of action our communities need right now,” said Black. “I am proud of our state’s dairy farmers for giving back and for the continued work they do to provide safe and wholesome milk and dairy foods to our families, even during this crisis.”
The Great Georgia Give is led by
Milk on My Mind
, a dairy awareness program initiated and funded by Georgia dairy farmers through the Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Commission for Milk and developed and managed by The Partnership. Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. committed to match the milk donations made by Great Georgia Give to increase the support in local communities. The milk donation of 24,000 half-gallons represents $60,000 contributed by Kroger Atlanta Division, Kansas City, Kan.-headquartered DFA and Kroger’s Centennial Farms, The Partnership said.
Read more here>>>
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House Passes $484 billion Bill “3.5” to Refill the PPP and EDL Loans, Hospitals and Testing
From Michael Best Strategies
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a
$484 billion coronavirus relief
bill
t
o replenish a tapped-out small business loan program, bolster funding for hospitals and expand coronavirus testing. The measure, which passed the Senate on Tuesday, will now head to President Donald Trump, who’s
indicated
that he will sign it into law.
The
$484 billion coronavirus relief bill
negotiated by congressional leaders and the administration would increase spending by about $483 billion according to the Congressional Budget Office, including:
- $321.3 billion in additional appropriations to support the Paycheck Protection Program, which the bill would modify to set some funds aside to support loans issued by smaller lenders.
- $60 billion for separate disaster loans to small businesses.
- $75 billion for hospitals.
- $25 billion for virus testing.
The measure omits additional funding sought by Democrats to support states and cities, and it wouldn’t change the eligibility rules for businesses to receive loans under the Paycheck Protection Program.
The legislation would be designated as an emergency requirement for budgetary purposes.
Though the measure is the fourth major package to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, congressional leaders and the administration have described it as an interim step as they negotiate the next package, generally referred to as “phase four.” A full report of the
$484 billion coronavirus relief bill
can be found be found
here
.
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What’s in USDA’s New Coronavirus Food Assistance Program?
From American Farm Bureau Federation
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Commodity prices across the board have been
significantly impacted
as a result of the economic consequences of social distancing and the closing of non-essential businesses, especially the full or partial shuttering of the retail, food service and restaurant sectors. For example, during March, Census Bureau
data
revealed that in-store clothing sales – impacting demand for cotton – had fallen by 50%. Additionally, grocery store sales were at a record $73 billion, while sales in food service and drinking establishments declined by 2
5% year-over-year to $50 billion.
Direct Payments to Producers
The Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, crafted using funding in the CARES Act, is made of two components: direct payments to farmers and ranchers totaling $16 billion, and $3 billion in food product purchases for distribution.
The direct payments will financially assist producers with additional adjustment and marketing costs resulting from lost demand due to COVID-19. The payments will be coupled to actual production and based on actual losses agricultural producers experienced in response to price declines and supply chain disruptions, i.e., sales of commodities impacted by COVID-19. To qualify for a payment, a commodity must have declined in price by at least 5% between January and April. As Figure 1 demonstrates, most agricultural products have quite easily qualified at this threshold.
Read more here>>>
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Reviewing Expected Benefits of Dairy Revenue Protection and Dairy Margin Coverage
From John Newton, Ph.D., AFBF and Marin Bozic, UMN
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Since the study was released in early April, Class III and IV milk prices have declined by 18% and 10%, respectively. As of April 23, DMC is expected to pay $570 million – up nearly $70 million from just two weeks prior. DMC benefits are expected to be the highest in Wisconsin at $135 million followed by Minnesota at $73 million. Farmers in states with larger dairy herds do not benefit as much from DMC due to the 5-million-pound threshold. For example, DMC payments in California are expected to reach $52 million, while Idaho payments will likely total less than $12 million. Figure 2 highlights expected DMC deficiency payments in 2020 as of April 22.
Read more here>>>
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Farmer to Farmer Support Program Available for SE dairy farmers
Farmers across the Southeast are experiencing uncertain times like never before. All aspects of agriculture have been hit by market losses due to COVID-19, but dairy has reached a level of uncertainty that many have never experienced.
As we navigate through these next few months, dairy producers across the Southeast have come together to introduce the "Farmer to Farmer Support Program." If you find that you need support or would like to talk to a fellow farmer or industry friend, they have several volunteers that are willing and able to help. Georgia Milk Producers has also put together a packet on the program that you can access by clicking
here
.
For more information on the program, please reach out to Farrah Newberry at gamilkproducers@gmail.com.
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Heightened sales of milk, toilet paper sales show ways COVID-19 changed how Americans buy
By Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall Street
Social distancing, shelter-in-place orders, and the shuttering of nonessential businesses across the country have changed day-to-day realities for millions of Americans. In the effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, few aspects of life in the United States remained untouched – and consumer behavior is no exception.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed media reports and press releases related to consumer spending to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic is changing what Americans are buying. To illustrate the significance of these changes, we attempted to calculate what they could mean at an individual level.
Our research encompasses varying levels of specificity – from particular companies to entire product categories and industries. While broad in scope, this list is by no means exhaustive.
Consumer spending comprises a staggering 70% of U.S. GDP, and not surprisingly, virus containment efforts have devastated many sectors of the economy. Companies in travel and food services have been hit especially hard, with several industries and well-known companies ranking on this list with double-digit year-over-year sales declines.
However, not all businesses have suffered in recent weeks. As many are effectively confined to their homes, products and services designed to pass the time have seen sales skyrocket.
Milk
• Change in sales: 47.5% increase
• Period: YoY, final week of March
• What it means: 3 more glasses of milk weekly per capita
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans consume 146 pounds of milk per capita annually, or about 275 cups of milk per year, or about five cups of milk per week. If sustained, the recent surge in demand for milk would mean Americans have increased their consumption of milk to about eight cups per week.
Read more here>>>
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Migrant farmworkers exempt from Trump’s immigration ban
By Sandra Sanchez, WKRG.com
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As the strong South Texas winds whipped dirt into the air on Wednesday, dozens of migrant field workers harvested onions in a vast field, gathering the crops into bundles and bags in the near-100-degree heat.
Most of these workers are in the United States on a temporary seasonal work visa, and despite President Donald Trump this week pledging that he would stop immigration for 60 days to help preserve jobs for American workers during this pandemic, White House officials say these migrant workers should still be allowed to continue harvesting crops.
In a tweet on Monday night, Trump announced he would issue an immigration ban on new immigrant visas. On Tuesday morning, he tweeted that he would sign the order Wednesday.
Read more here>>>
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March Milk Production Up 2.2 Percent
By
Jim Dickrell, MilkBusiness.com
March milk production was up 2.2 percent in the United States, though the bigger surprise were cow numbers, reports the United States Department of Agriculture in its March Milk Production report released today. Cow numbers were up 47,000 head in March over last year, and up 5,000 from February.
Since the beginning of the year, cow numbers have grown 19,000 head. All of that could change, of course, with the COVID-19 outbreak. Disrupted supply chains have forced producers to dump millions of pounds of milk—leaving them scrambling for ways to reduce production. The quickest way will be to cull cows.
Read more here>>>
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Georgia Ag Commissioner Extends Farm Recovery Program Application Deadline
(EXTENDED DEADLINE DUE TO COVID)
Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary W. Black announced today that the Georgia Farm Recovery Block Grant application deadline is extended to April 30, 2020.
“We recognize that normal business operations across the state have been disrupted or altered over the past few weeks,” said Commissioner Black. “We want every eligible producer to have an opportunity to complete their application with full confidence, while continuing the critical work of providing food and fiber during these unsettling
times.”
Georgia farmers and forest landowners in 95 eligible counties who suffered losses to beef, dairy, fruit and vegetable, pecan, poultry, timber, and uninsured infrastructure are eligible to apply for the recovery program at
farmrecovery.com
.
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‘Agriculture is going full throttle; yet emissions remain the same’ – US scientist
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U.S. President Donald Trump laid out guidelines on Thursday f
Agriculture is going “full throttle” across the globe, yet the sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remain at pre-Covid-19 levels, it has been stated.
This is the view of Dr. Frank Mitloehner, a professor and air-quality specialist based at the Department of Animal Science in UC Davis, in the US.
His perspective – shared during a recent
FarmLand
interview (full video below) – comes against a backdrop of widespread discussion on how shutting down of the world’s largest industrial economies, to stem the spread of the highly-infectious coronavirus, is impacting on overall GHG emissions.
Speaking from his stateside home, Dr. Mitloehner – whose work has informed national and international carbon policy in Australia, South Africa, Paraquay, South America and China and beyond – outlined what is currently happening with the planet’s emissions; whilst also highlighting where agriculture’s carbon footprint now fits.
Read more here>>>
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ICYMI: GA Milk Review April Edition
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This month's edition features:
- Deadline Extended for State Block Grant Applications
- What’s in the CARES Act for Food and AG
- GDYF Golf Tournament in May 8th in Bishop
- Farmer to Farmer Support Program
- SE Federal Order Blend Prices
- Dixie Dairy Report
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Other Stories to Check Out This Week >>>
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59th Annual Convention & Beef Expo Rescheduled for May
From GA Cattlemen's Association
The 59th Annual Georgia Cattlemen's Association Convention & Trade Show and the 22nd Annual Georgia Beef Expo
has been rescheduled for May 28-30, 2020
at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry, GA. All current registrations have been transferred for the new dates.
Click here to learn more>>>
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TO ADVERTISE: EMAIL AD AND CONTACT INFORMATION TO FARRAH NEWBERRY at gamilkproducers@gmail.com
UPDATED 4/24/20
WANTED:
Peter's Cattle Co. will buy any dairy, beef, and cross, bottle or weaned, bulls, heifers or free martins. Pick up weekly 7 days a week. Chris- 470-255-8515
For Sale: DAIRY HERD FOR SALE IN WAYNESBORO:
AI sired and bred, 50% in first lactation, milking 75+ lbs 2x, 3.9 BF, SSC 150,000, free stall. For more information contact Kent Hege - (706) 871-3821.
For Sale:
Corn Silage - For more information contact Carlin Giesbrecht at 478-494-4007
FOR Sale:
Stretch-O-Matic Bale Wrapper and Mover. For more information contact Carlin Giesbrecht at 478-494-4007
Bull Calves WANTED:
Competitive pricing with 6 day a week pickup. Brandon Mason Cattle Company 912-632-4490
For Sale:
Custom manure application and Dryhill manure equipment sales. Contact Edwin @ 478-299-0717 with Agboys Custom Services LLC - New 8"x52' lagoon pump with outriggers $24,000 (Pictured right)
FOR HIRE
: Custom Silage Harvesting. Late model JD chopper. Will travel. Let me put your quality forage up! Nic Haynes, Muddy H Farms, 678-617-3379.
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