In news relating to dairy farmers' bottom line in early August 2025:
- Bills related to milk introduced in House, Senate
- DFA acquires W&W Dairy
- Farmer sentiment weakens, but farmers say U.S. headed in right direction
- GDT index shifts higher again
- August FSA interest rates continue upward trend
- U.S. dairy organizations testify before USITC on global policies
Bills related to milk introduced in House, Senate
House Agriculture Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) and Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pennsylvania) reintroduced the bipartisan GIVE MILK Act (H.R. 4742). The bill would allow participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to select whole and reduced-fat milk in addition to the currently available low-fat and fat-free varieties. WIC plays an important role in ensuring that pregnant women, new mothers, infants and children can gain the nutrients needed for health and development, and this bill would bolster dairy’s role in the program.
This bill’s reintroduction comes as the Senate may pass the bipartisan Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act (S. 222) before leaving for its August recess.
In addition, Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Peter Welch (D-Vermont) reintroduced their bipartisan DAIRY PRIDE Act (S. 2507). The bill would ensure that plant-based products would be prohibited from using dairy terms such as milk, yogurt and cheese on product labels.
“We applaud Senators Baldwin, Risch, Collins and Welch for the introduction of this important act to uphold the integrity and trust of American dairy products,” said Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative President and dairy farmer Heidi Fischer. “Preventing the misuse of dairy product names protects and enhances the confidence consumers have in the authenticity of the nutritious dairy products they buy. We encourage timely action on this bill to prevent further misleading product names on our grocery store coolers and shelves.”
According to the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), this bill took incremental steps forward with a hearing in the House last year, and it is expected to be introduced in that chamber once again this fall.
DFA acquires W&W Dairy
Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), a farmer-owned global dairy cooperative owned by 9,500 family dairy farmers, announced the acquisition of W&W Dairy in Monroe, Wisconsin. This acquisition includes the W&W Dairy business, their licensed brands and the manufacturing facility in Monroe, which produces a variety of Hispanic cheese products including queso fresco, cotija, queso blanco, quesadilla, panela and para freir.
“The growth trajectory for the Hispanic cheese market is more than three times that of the cheese category,” said Ken Orf, president of the cheese, taste and flavors division for Dairy Farmers of America. “This strategic acquisition adds a second plant in our network focused solely on producing Hispanic cheese, moving DFA into a stronger position for growth with this important dairy category for both our owned brands and our customers’ brands.”
The addition of a second Hispanic cheese plant allows DFA to create operational synergies between the new Monroe facility and its existing Houston, Texas, plant, which is home to its farmer-owned La Vaquita brand.
Despite the change in ownership, there will be no disruption in operations at the Monroe facility. The existing plant management team will continue to manage all day-to-day operations and employment with DFA has been offered to all the plant’s approximately 97 employees.
Earlier this year, DFA purchased another cheese plant with the acquisition of Winona Foods’ Lineville facility in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which produces processed cheese products, cheese sauces, cheese spreads and nondairy sauces and condiments.
“DFA is dedicated to bringing value to our farmer-owners through strategic investments, and these acquisitions will help enhance DFA’s cheese capabilities in Hispanic and other consumer cheese offerings,” Orf said.
Both plants will become part of DFA’s cheese, taste and flavors division.
Farmer sentiment weakens, but farmers say U.S. headed in right direction
Farmer sentiment fell 11 points in the July index primarily due to weaker income prospects in 2025, according to the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.
“Although all three principal farmer sentiment indices were lower in July than a month earlier, producer sentiment remains much more positive than at this time last year, with nearly three-quarters of July’s survey respondents reporting that the U.S. is headed ‘in the right direction,” said James Mintert, the barometer’s principal investigator and director of Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture.
Despite a weaker crop income outlook, a majority of crop producers reported they expect rental rates to stay about the same. Farmers are also expecting a stronger farm income safety net, with nearly one-third (31%) of U.S. producers saying they expect the 2025 Farm Bill to provide a stronger safety net than the previous farm bill.
The Ag Economy Barometer provides a monthly snapshot of farmer sentiment regarding the state of the agricultural economy. The survey collects responses from 400 producers whose annual market value of production is equal to or exceeds $500,000. Minimum targets by enterprise are as follows: 53% corn/soybeans, 14% wheat, 3% cotton, 19% beef cattle, 5% dairy and 6% hogs. Latest survey results, released Aug. 5, reflect ag producer outlooks as of July 7-11.
GDT index shifts higher again
The price index of dairy product prices sold on the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) platform is up slightly (0.7%) in the auction held Aug. 5.
Compared to the previous auction, prices for individual product categories were mixed. Whole milk powder and anydrous milkfat traded higher at 2.1% and 1.2%, respectively. Skim milk powder was also up slightly at 0.4%. Butter and buttermilk powder were down by 3.8% and 2%, respectively. Cheddar cheese and mozzarella were down by less than 1%. Lactose was not offered at this trading event.
The GDT platform offers dairy products from several global companies: Fonterra (New Zealand), Darigold, Valley Milk and Dairy America (U.S.), Inalpi (Italy), Arla (Denmark), Arla Foods Ingredients (Denmark), BMI (Germany), Kerry Dairy (Ireland) and Solarec (Belgium).
The next GDT auction is Aug. 19.
August FSA interest rates continue upward trend
The announced interest rates on loans through the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) are slightly higher for a third consecutive month. As we begin August 2025, interest rates for operating and ownership loans (compared to July) are as follows:
- Farm operating loans (direct): 5%, unchanged
- Farm ownership loans (direct): 6%, up from 5.875%
- Farm ownership loans (direct, joint financing): 4%, up from 3.875%
- Farm ownership loans (down payment): 2%, up from 1.875%
- Emergency loan (amount of actual loss): 3.75%, unchanged
The FSA also offers guaranteed loans through commercial lenders at rates set by those lenders. For more information, producers can contact their local USDA Service Center.
U.S. dairy organizations testify before USITC on global policies
NMPF and U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) Executive Vice President for Policy Development and Strategy Jaime Castaneda, and Senior Vice President for Global Economic Affairs Will Loux testified before the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) on the need for the U.S. government to hold trading partners accountable for policies that disrupt global markets for nonfat milk solids products and harm U.S. dairy producers and exporters. Chief among those concerns were Canadian dairy policies.
Throughout the hearing, Castaneda and Loux highlighted how trade distorting policies and subsidies from Canada, India, Turkey, the European Union and others have driven artificially low-priced exports from those competitors onto global markets, undercutting U.S producers. The remarks complemented a set of in-depth comments filed on July 16.
The hearing was part of an ongoing USITC investigation into the global nonfat milk solids market and export competitiveness. As requested by the U.S. trade representative (USTR), the inquiry and subsequent report will analyze government policies and programs that Canada and other major suppliers maintain that affect the production and exports of nonfat milk solids products from major dairy-producing countries. NMPF and USDEC have been urging the U.S. government to take steps to address Canada’s continued attempts to circumvent its trade commitments that were intended to limit the offloading of artificially low-priced dairy proteins onto the global market. USTR’s initiation of this investigation was a key step in that direction.
“Canada’s exports of protein concentrates and isolates have more than doubled since the implementation of USMCA,” said Loux in his remarks. “India’s subsidized SMP exports were as high as 45,000 metric tons in 2021 and were sold at a 10 percent discount compared to the global average. Turkey’s whey exports – which have quadrupled in the last two years by selling at roughly half the global average – are increasingly moving beyond the Middle East and into critical export markets for U.S. manufacturers, including Southeast Asia and China. It is essential that the United States push back against dishonest trade practices and ensure that U.S. dairy producers can compete on a level playing field around the world.”
Becky Rasdall Vargas, senior vice president for trade and workforce policy at International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), also delivered testimony at the USITC hearing, emphasizing how Canada’s supply management system creates a persistent surplus of nonfat milk solids by tying farm-level milk production quotas to domestic butterfat demand. Canada establishes a below-market price for Canadian NFS products to clear the surplus, effectively displacing U.S. exports both in Canada and in third-country markets.
Rasdall Vargas also underscored significant shortcomings in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), particularly Canada’s manipulation of pricing formulas, ineffective tariff-rate quota (TRQ) administration, evasion of export thresholds and lack of transparency.
USITC is scheduled to submit its report to USTR by March 23, 2026.
