GA Milk Weekly Enews | April 17, 2020

2020 | April 17 GMP E Newsletter

Georgia Milk Producers Weekly Enews

Visit our Website

GA Milk and The Dairy Alliance will host a two Georgia Dairy Zoom meetings next week at 4 p.m., on Tuesday and Thursday. 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 each day and cover producer and promotional efforts

during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Georgia Milk has updated their website for farmers to use as a resource:

USDA to buy $2B in Ag goods as part of coronavirus aid: The Agriculture Department is planning to spend nearly $2 billion to purchase agricultural commodities to help get surpluses to food banks, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said today.The number represents one of the first details USDA has offered on how it will dole out some of the $23 billion that Congress authorized USDA to spend< https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/09/farmers-vie-for-rescue-funds-176257> to help farmers and other producers. USDA is expected to announce its plans for a first installment of around $16 billion in aid as soon as this week.

USDA interactive map finds free meals during school closures - Not sure where to find a feeding site in your area? The USDA has created an interactive map making it simple to find one closest to you.

Click here: https://www.fns.usda.gov/meals4kids

Georgia Milk Producers Introduces Farmer to Farmer Support Program

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.

Joe West named interim dean of UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

By Sam Fahmy for CAES News

Joe West, who most recently served as assistant dean of the University of Georgia Tifton Campus, has been named interim dean and director of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, effective July 1.

West is a professor in the UGA Department of Animal and Dairy Science, and his career with CAES has spanned nearly 35 years. In his 12 years as assistant dean, he oversaw enhancements to the learning environment for students, as well as growth in research activity and Extension programming on the Tifton Campus. From 2002 to 2004, he served as interim head of the Department of Animal and Dairy Science.

As previously announced, Samuel Pardue, who has led the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences since 2016, intends to step down on June 30. A national search is currently underway for the next dean and director of the college.

“I am grateful to Dr. West for taking on this important role,” said S. Jack Hu, UGA’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “His demonstrated record of leadership will serve the college and the university well during this transition period.”

As harvest arrives, Georgia farmers feel pain of coronavirus shutdown

By Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder

Restaurant dining rooms across the state are closed, school cafeterias are empty, and those once hurried after-work trips to the grocery store – and the impulse purchases made along the way – now feel like an extravagance from bygone days.

And the sidelining of the food service industry brought on by COVID-19 has caused ripple effects that are already painfully felt down in southwest Georgia, where dairy farmers have poured their milk down the drain and produce growers are uncertain they’ll have buyers for their crops once they harvest them.

By the time the outbreak hit Georgia, Kent Hamilton’s spring crops were already in the works.

More than one-third of the Colquitt County farmer’s produce usually winds up in those now-idled restaurants, schools and other food service industry mainstays. Now, he’s left anxious about his ability to sell the cucumbers, eggplant, peppers and sweet corn that will soon be ready in his fields. Read more here>>>

Perdue Says USDA Will Not Reopen the Dairy Margin Coverage Program

By ANNA-LISA LACA , MilkBusiness.com

While milk markets have been in a tailspin, a lot of dairy producers and industry groups have called on USDA to reopen the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program. Secretary Sonny Perdue, on Thursday, told AgDay TV host Clinton Griffiths he would not reopen the program.

“We get a lot of requests about reopening the dairy margin coverage program,” Perdue said. “It is essentially an insurance program and the principle of insurance is you have to have it before you need it.”

Sign-up for 2020 was down 19% from 2019. Enrollment in 2019 was made by 23,255 dairy operations, or about 82% of those eligible. They covered about 180 billion pounds of milk. For 2020, the DMC enrollment was just 63% of those operations enrolled last year, and they covered just 114 billion pounds of milk.

“I think we really distorted the whole concept of crop insurance and dairy margin coverage if we allow people to take advantage after the fact,” he said. “We don't want to incentivize people to wait and not take out insurance again and then call upon Congress and their members in order to have an ad hoc disaster program. Our safety net for dairy farmers is based on a good crop insurance program, which farmers participate in but if we train them that they don't have to participate as an insurance program, then we've defeated that purpose.” Read more here>>>

Antitrust concerns cloud DFA's purchase of Dean Foods' assets

By Lillianna Byington , Food Dive

On April 3, a bankruptcy court said it would approve the sale of most of Dean Foods' assets to Dairy Farmers of America, but the fight to close the deal isn't over yet.

Antitrust concerns have plagued the bankrupt milk giant and its top bidder for months, and DFA and Dean still need the U.S. Department of Justice to sign off for the sale to go through. Some farmers, stakeholders and shareholders told Food Dive that they are hoping that roadblock will stop the deal, claiming the sale would negatively impact prices and competition.

"If it continues on the path it is on, it's a death knell for the independent family farm in the United States," dairy farmer Jonathan Haar told Food Dive. Read more here>>>

Trump administration aims to buy milk, meat to help farmers hit by coronavirus: Perdue

From Reuters

The Trump administration plans to buy milk and meat from U.S. farmers as part of an initial $15.5 billion effort to help them weather the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Wednesday.

The decision comes amid rising pressure from the U.S. farm lobby for government purchases as growers and ranchers struggle to get their goods to market because of disruptions caused by the pandemic, forcing some of them to throw out their supplies.

“We want to purchase as much of this milk, or other protein products, hams and pork products, and move them into where they can be utilized in our food banks, or possibly even into international humanitarian aid,” Perdue said in an interview on Fox Business Network. Read more here>>>

Shuttered schools, plunging milk demand led to race among dairy farmers to tap small-business rescue program before funding ran out

From Joy Wiltermuth , Marketwatch

Got too much milk?

Dairy farmers, faced with shuttered schools and dwindling demand for milk amid the pandemic, applied in droves for the Trump administration’s $350 billion small-businesses aid program, until Thursday when money for the program ran out.

“The COVID-19 situation has significantly disrupted the supply side of the dairy economy,” said Paul Kohls, chief lending operations officer at Compeer Financial, one of the nation’s 72 Farm Credit lenders.

“It’s very challenging,” Kohls told MarketWatch on Thursday. “Either dairy farmers are dumping milk or the processors are dumping milk, because the demand isn’t there.”

Compeer lends to rural farm and agriculture producers across Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin, but spent much of April helping existing clients tap the Small Business Administration’s new Payroll Protection Program, which Kohls hopes will soon get more funding from Congress. Read more here>>>

Five Things Every Paycheck Protection Program Borrower Should Do After Receiving A Loan

By Jason B. Freeman , Forbes

The Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) is the crown jewel of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”). The CARES Act allocates $349 billion to the PPP loan initiative in an effort to stabilize small businesses during the COVID-19 outbreak and to allow them to retain their workforces while weathering the Coronavirus storm. But while $349 billion is a staggering number, it is unlikely to be enough to satisfy the demand for capital. The appropriated funds will go fast, and it is a first-come, first-served program. Indeed, reports are already indicating that Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is seeking an additional $250 billion for the PPP loan program.

Applications for PPP loans were available for submission on April 3rd. Processing began in earnest for small businesses and sole proprietorships this week. The U.S. Small Business Administration (the “SBA”) is opening up applications for independent contractors and self-employed individuals starting April 10th. The PPP gold rush is on and there is plenty of confusion and chaos to go with it. With many PPP borrowers having received their loan proceeds, or receiving them soon, what should borrowers be doing after receiving their loan? Here are five things that need to be on that list.

Read more here>>>

Small Business rescue loan program hits $349 billion limit and is now out of money

CNBC

The Small Business Administration’s rescue loan program hit its $349 billion limit on Thursday and is now out of money as the nation’s top Republicans and Democrats struggle to agree on how to restore its funds.

The SBA website reads that it is “unable to accept new applications for the Paycheck Protection Program based on available appropriations funding. Similarly, we are unable to enroll new PPP lenders at this time.”

The announcement from the SBA on Thursday comes as scores of small American business owners work to deal with the fallout of the coronavirus and the move by some states to shutter the vast majority of commerce. Read more here>>>

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 .

TRUMP ANNOUNCES PLANS TO OPEN U.S. ECONOMY

From GA Agribusiness Council

U.S. President Donald Trump laid out guidelines on Thursday for reopening the coronavirus-ravaged U.S. economy, saying states should take a phased approach to let Americans return to work as conditions allow.

Trump told a White House news conference that governors will be empowered to tailor the approach to their own states and that if they need to remain closed, they should do so. “We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time,” Trump said. To see details of the President's plan, click here

USDA'S RISK MANAGEMENT AGENCY ANNOUNCES FLEXIBILITY TO HELP DAIRY PRODUCERS

From GA Farm Bureau Legislative Report

USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) has announced new provisions to address milk dumping and provide other flexibilities to help producers amid the coronavirus pandemic. RMA is ensuring that milk producers are not inappropriately penalized if their milk must be dumped because of recent market disruptions caused by the pandemic. In addition, RMA is extending inspection deadlines, waiving inspection requirements and authorizing more crop insurance transactions over the phone and electronically to help producers during the crisis.

Details on all of these changes can be found in the Manager’s Bulletins on the RMA website by clicking here .

Florida Dairy Update newsletter, Spring 2020

Attached is the Spring 2020 issue of Dairy Update, the dairy newsletter of the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Florida. In this issue:

Eric Williams Appointed Research Coordinator at UF/IFAS Dairy Unit
Does Preventative Mastitis Treatment Impact the Developing Oocyte or Embryo?
UF/IFAS Dairy Unit and the Corona Virus Situation
COVID-19 Impact on Dairy Markets - April 16th, 2020

This issue and past issues can be found at https://animal.ifas.ufl.edu/dairy/dairy-update/

Join us on May 8th as a sponsor or player at the 2020 GDYF Golf Tournament!! All proceeds support our 4-H and FFA dairy programs! For more information click here>>>

Survey: Cooking more at home could become the new normal post-pandemic

By Mary Ellen Shoup, Food Navigator

As Americans adjust to home confinement, their confidence in the kitchen has soared with many saying they will carry on with their cooking habits even after the world returns to a new normal, according to a new study by food and beverage communications firm HUNTER.