The farm bill is back, and this cycle presents a meaningful opportunity. As the legislation advances to the Senate, dairy is gaining visibility as a priority within nutrition policy and incentive‑based programs that expand access to healthy dairy products. For IDFA, the bill is especially consequential as the primary legislative vehicle for advancing key industry priorities, including the Dairy Nutrition Incentives Program (DNIP), an expansion of the successful Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives (HFMI) pilot. Below, we sit down with Chelsie Keys, senior vice president, government relations for IDFA, to discuss what members should know and how dairy priorities are gaining traction on Capitol Hill.
Why should IDFA members care about the Farm Bill?
Chelsie Keys: The farm bill is a long-standing omnibus piece of legislation that contains basically anything farm, food, agriculture-related, any legislation that falls into those categories that's referred to the House Agriculture Committee or the Senate Agriculture Committee.
There are a few other things that fall outside of those authorities. But for the most part, the committees historically have moved legislation through this omnibus setting, which is a farm bill. And so dairy policy has always been a part of the farm bill discussion. And we're seeing dairy policy getting more active in the incentive space. You're seeing a lot more dairy priorities showing up. So it's historically been very important, but I'd say it's also evolving into sort of a more modern, policy vehicle to suit the dairy needs of today.
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