By Jenny Mills, NEAFA President
Approximately 130 people attended the NEAFA Annual Meeting, held February 6-7, 2024 at the Marriott in Albany, NY. Several futuristic topics were explored during the meeting, and attendees had opportunities to network over the two-day event. Tuesday afternoon featured a panel discussion as follow up to last year’s transportation summit and exploring algae as livestock feed.
Tonya Van Slyke, Executive Director of the Northeast Dairy Producers Association, moderated a panel to discuss transportation issues, progress and continued opportunities. Panelists included: Joe Painting, VT Rail Systems; Keith Kimball, La Casa de Leche Company and NEDPA Chair; Kendra Hems, NYS Trucking Association and Casey McCue, NYS Department of Ag and Markets. Key takeaways from the discussion included:
Working together across the agricultural industries, trucking industries, rail providers and regulatory bodies will be key to eliminating obstacles. Having a common message and working together on challenges will be key for success.
We no longer live in a “all or nothing environment.” Legislators need to hear from constituents, to help shape legislation and make the bridge connections across the supply chains.
Progress has been made on getting more CDL drivers, including a scholarship for a CDL program and this past year, a “Jails to Jobs” program has launched to help those looking for a second chance with obtaining their CDL.
The trucking industry supports electrification, where it makes sense. The technology needs more time to develop. The heavy batteries in trucks will reduce capacity for hauling product, potentially decreasing hauling efficiency.
The industry also supports the new fuel standard, including renewable diesel that will soon be available to Upstate NY.
There is huge support for the executive budget inclusion of more on farm storage of milk which will help alleviate the issues that weather related road closures have on moving perishable products.
Rail in Vermont has been impacted greatly by washouts – over 100 washouts have wiped out rail infrastructure.
The industry and state are working to help decrease wait times at milk plants by investing in more bays.
Exploring New Feed Opportunities: Algae as Livestock Feed: Coast to Cow to Consumer Update
Nichole Price and her collaborators at the Bigelow Institute, including Ellen Deerenfeld from the World Wildlife Fund hosted an interactive presentation to the audience in Albany as well as an additional 30 people online, focused on sharing what research has been completed on algae as livestock feed. Some of the algae strains have shown up to 80% effectiveness in reducing methane in cattle. The Bigelow Institute has evaluated dozens of seaweed strains and solicited feedback from the audience on opportunities to incorporate feed products into feed mills and bovine diets. There is more to come as additional research is underway, seeking to ensure that algae meets efficacy, safety, economic and regulatory standards.
Conference attendees had a chance to mingle at the reception Tuesday evening, interacting with guests from the LEAD NY program, Hinman Straub and speakers.
Wednesday morning kicked off with the NEAFA annual business meeting. See our update on new board members and thank you to retiring board members in this issue.
Trent Loos served as our emcee for the meeting on Wednesday. Trent has been an advocate for all aspects of agriculture for the past 24 years. His podcasts, including “Loos Tales,” showcase many ag issues. Trent kicked off our meeting with introduction of the NYS FFA officer team that formally opened the meeting – a must see ceremony! His commentary between speakers helped emphasize key messages and relevance to consumers.
Lindsey McMahon, Senior Policy Advisor for Food and Agriculture within the NYS Executive Chamber provided insights from the NY Governor’s office, highlighting the increased executive budget for agricultural programs.
Next on the program, Mike North from Ever.Ag provided a lively update on the dairy market and outlook.
Consumer spending power seems resilient despite rising costs – how long can this last?
Indexes such as the purchasing manager index signal a continued reduction in internal consumer activity.
There is less milk around the world, including US milk production which is down 0.3%
US cow numbers are down 39,000 head from December 2023 and the 2024 heifer inventory is low – total replacement heifers represent 43% of the milking herd and those that will calve in 2024 represent only 28% of the total milking herd.
Regional trends continue as key butter and powder producers contract while cheese producers expand.
Result of cheese expansion – can US manufacturers win a larger share of the export pie? Mexican demand is a bright spot with a strong currency and growing economy.
Farm margins will continue to be mediocre, however, increased soybean meal and corn stocks and lower international demand has resulted in lower feed costs
Watch factors for 2024 Class III milk expectations include exports, consumer demand and new cheese capacity.
After a break, we had updates from Dr Kristan Reed and Dr Joe McFadden on their respective research programs at Cornell. Both Kristan and Joe are Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance Sesquicentennial fellows. Dr. Reed updated the audience on the Ruminant Farm Systems (RuFaS) model, which has the following missions:
To build an integrated, whole-farm model that simulates milk, meat, and crop production, greenhouse gas emissions, water quality impacts, soil health, and other sustainability outcomes of ruminant farms.
We strive to achieve the highest standards for prediction accuracy, code structure and clarity, documentation, and accessibility.
Through continuous learning and improvement of our methods and algorithms, we are creating an open and inclusive platform for scientific collaboration.
The team is working to launch version 1 of the model in the upcoming calendar year. Immediate goals for the model include evaluation and sensitivity analyses across all modules and as a whole model; Pilot testing functional requirements for version 1; make improvements in data synthesis and summaries and energy estimations.
Dr. Joe McFadden made updates around his research program in sustainability. Overall goals for his program are to reduce global enteric and manure GHG emissions from ruminant production to mitigate climate change, and support farmer opportunities, human health and nutrition, and animal well-being.
In his talk, Dr. McFadden reviewed progress and his roadmap for his program, including:
How can we leverage fatty acids?
Deep dive on seaweed, bromoform, and other halogens
Fatty acid by bromoform interactions
Methane mitigation during different energy balance and planes of nutrition
Novel compound discovery
Methane cost/benefit of disease and disease prevention
Next, navigating the new frontier means advocating with our state governments. We had updates from our efforts in Vermont and New York. Frist, Kevin Kouri, NEAFA board member and liaison to Vermont Dairy Producers Alliance (VDPA) shared updates from Vermont. This past year, NEAFA joined forces with VDPA, who partners with Shouldice and Associates to multiply the agricultural voice in Montpelier. Current topics in Vermont include continued discussion from 2023 around pesticides, rodenticides, PFAS, and the use of treated seeds. In 2023, VDPA worked hard on Right to Repair, Agritourism, and regulations on agriculture which have carried over to this year.
Jim Carr from Hinman Straub provided an update on lobbying efforts in New York. He reviewed several topics from 2023, including the neonics ban, agrivoltaics in farming, privacy information, agriculture technology challenge, FreshConnect Program, “Human Grade” Pet Food, Wage Payment Protections and Wetlands Management. Jim also touched on key budget asks for inclusion in the 2024 NYS budget, including: $250,000 increase for Pro-Dairy Core Program, $100,000 increase for FarmNet, and $500,000 for the Dairy Entrepreneurship and Innovation Hub. Lastly, Jim reviewed some important topics for the 2024 session, including climate change and environment, chemicals of concern (e.g., neonics, PFAS, ingredients, labeling), economy and agribusiness, labor standards, privacy and transportation.
The final presentation of the morning was an update from American Feed Industry Association. A familiar friend of NEAFA, Louise Calderwood, Director of Regulatory Affairs presented some of the trends we are experiencing on the federal level. Focus on the industry resiliency in securing and diversifying the US vitamin supply chain, discussing the regulatory reform and updates from CVM on the Innovative Feed Enhancement and Economic Development (Innovative FEED) Act as well as reinforcing food safety were topics that Louise discussed.
If you were not able to attend Navigating the New Frontier in person, we hope that you can join us next year! Our meeting this year helped NEAFA members understand the upcoming frontier in the transportation, feed technologies, dairy markets, and advocacy efforts. Check out more details on the sponsors of the Annual Meeting, speakers highlighted and photos from the event at 2024 NEAFA Annual Meeting — NEAFA— Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance (northeastalliance.com)