Additional Support Needed for Dairy Farmers, Trade with Japan Opens Opportunities

As appeared in the July 23, 2020 edition of the Elizabethtown Advocate & Ephrata Review.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and how it was an important step to provide additional support for our struggling dairy farmers, who are a critical part of our agricultural community in Lancaster County. While the USMCA is a win for our farmers and manufacturers in our community, there is more we can do to support dairy farmers through changes to our nation's trade policy.

Earlier this month, I led a bipartisan letter with 49 of my colleagues in the House to United States Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer and United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue urging their offices to work swiftly on a comprehensive Phase Two trade agreement with Japan, which is one of the top destinations for milk exports from the United States.

This second agreement is important, because while the recent Phase One agreement with Japan made progress on several prominent issues, our farmers and processors still remain at a disadvantage to our competitors due to the preferential access granted by trade agreements that Japan has with the European Union and nations participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Additionally, a 2019 study by the U.S. Dairy Export Council found that the United States could double its share of the Japanese dairy market over the next 10 years if we have the same market access as our global competitors.

Much like with the USMCA for the dairy industry, a new trade deal with Japan is about providing a level playing field to allow American dairy farmers to compete with other dairy farmers across the globe. When the fight is fair, our dairy farmers succeed.

For our congressional district, trade policy is really about how we're supporting hard-working families, our friends and neighbors. Our district is the number one for agricultural production in Pennsylvania, producing nearly $1.7 billion worth of goods each year. Dairy farms account for about 25 percent of that, over $400 million in sales each year. Lancaster County, according to the most recent United States Department of Agriculture Census, ranks 10th in the nation for the production of milk from cows. And 99 percent of our farms in Lancaster County are family-owned and operated.

We know that dairy farmers had been struggling with depressed milk prices earlier this year during the pandemic. Recent headlines of families selling their herds and milk being dumped because there is nowhere to sell it further underscores the urgency for action. National data has shown that nearly 6,000 dairy farms have gone out of business over the last two years. I am hopeful that progress on trade deals will create additional opportunities to help our communities' dairy farmers continue to be family-owned and operated for years to come.