Most dairy farmers know that the United States Dairy Export Council (USDEC) has played an important role in expanding trade from nearly negligible levels at its creation in 1995 to 2021’s 17%-plus of milk production level. This incredible work has been done in cooperation with a number of other organizations from importing/exporting customers, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), and businesses across the country.
During the January 19 Hoard’s Dairyman DairyLivestream, panelists explored the scope of the work of USDEC and its partners that have brought trade to this point.
“USDEC does more than promote U.S. products oversees like the trade mission we went on,” explained Texas dairy farmer Larry Hancock. “They also do a lot of work with market access and regulatory affairs, which is part of their business. They put together great assets to help members be able to understand what a country needs to import or what we need to export into a country. They help with licensing, labeling, and certifications.”
Perhaps the greatest example of trade work happens in U.S. Consulates around the world that help facilitate trading opportunities to specific countries and areas.
“I want to make a quick shoutout to USDA. The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is the employer of the agricultural attachés that sit in these U.S. Consulates,” said Cornell University’s Andy Novakovic. “FAS is not a distribution agency. They don’t make sales, but they are a conduit and a facilitator that help organize meetings. They sit in the U.S. Consulates in partnership with the state department. I think that’s a wonderful part of USDA that a lot of people are kind of oblivious to.”
During a recent trade mission, the DairyLivestream panelists had the opportunity to meet with two of these FAS staff, Valerie Brown and Lucas Blaustein. They serve as agricultural counselor and agricultural attaché, respectively, in the United Arab Emirates.
“They gave a really good talk about agriculture exports into the area,” Hancock shared. “I thought that was really important that they knew we cared to take the time and effort to travel all the way over there and show them that we really cared about exporting into the area.”
To watch the recording of the January 19 DairyLivestream, go to the link above. The program recording is now also available as an audio-only podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and downloadable from the Hoard’s Dairyman website.
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