Joyce Brings Somerset County Farmer To Washington Testify On Dairy Issues

Congressman John Joyce (PA-13) today brought Somerset County farmer Glenn Stoltzfus before the House Small Business Subcommittee on Rural Development, Agriculture, Trade, and Entrepreneurship to testify about the issues facing the dairy industry. Joyce is the ranking member on the subcommittee and Stoltzfus is the first constituent witness the 13^th District lawmaker has invited to Washington.

During the hearing, Joyce discussed some of the initiatives he is pursuing to assist dairy farmers in the 13^th District and asked for Stoltzfus' input on additional measures that can be taken to revive the struggling industry. Stoltzfus told Joyce that he supported his initiatives to get whole milk back in public schools and to crack down on plant-based dairy imitators.

A videoand transcript of the exchange between Joyce and Stoltzfus can be found below.

TRANSCIRPT

CONGRESSMAN JOYCE: You had mentioned in your testimony some of the issues that plague the dairy farmers. And many other dairy farmers who I have been in contact with in Somerset and through the entirety of Pennsylvania-13 have talked to me about how the dairy industry has been affected by the decreased use of diary products. So some of the initiatives that I have been involved in is, first of all, to make recommendations that whole milk is returned to public schools. My concern, and what I hear from the dairy farmers, is that we have lost a generation of milk drinkers by allowing skim milk to be substituted. As a physician, as a parent, I understand that the nutritional values of milk can be carried in the small amount of fat that is in milk, that the vitamins A, E, D and K are in that very small amount of fat that is in whole milk. That is needed for brain development, it's needed for muscle development, it is needed in the children in the public schools. Can you address how initiatives like returning whole milk into our public schools can potentially increase dairy use, and actually dairy prices?

MR. STOLTZFUS: I've often said, as you stated, we've lost a generation of people who used to drink milk andndash; whole milk. Fluid milk is the class one milk that we receive the highest premium for. And in the northeast part of this country we tend to sell a lot of our milk in that class one that goes for fluid milk, and as that consumption drops we continue to lose that premium that is there for that class one milk. It is unfortunate what has happened in the schools and cafeterias where we have tried to push this skim and one percent milk. And to be honest with you, it's not good. It doesn't taste good and when you take away that flavor andndash; You create habits when you are very young and as you age you tend not to change those habits so in that way, yes, we've lost a generation of folks that used to drink fluid milk. I think it's nature's most perfect beverage. I definitely agree with you, getting whole milk back into schools would be a tremendous advantage to us as dairy farmers.

CONGRESSMAN JOYCE: I'm going to follow up on that, Mr. Stoltzfus, with an additional question. The dairy industry has been hard hit with imitators in the dairy counter. So recently with another member I crossed the aisle and we wrote a letter to Gottlieb, the FDA secretary, addressing that in the dairy case that dairy products should be present, that imitators of dairy products that are sold under the label of being milk or dairy shouldn't be allowed. Do you think this has had impact on your industry as well?

MR. STOLTZFUS: Absolutely. Years ago you used to go to the beverage case in supermarkets and a very large percentage of it was milk or milk products. And now we are in competition with all kinds of juices and other things, including the nut juice or whatever you want to call it that is being called milk that does not come from a lactating animal. I believe that there is actually a law or a rule that in order to be labeled as milk that it has to come from a lactating animal and it just is one that has not been enforced and we certainly would appreciate that being enforced. And I think it would distinguish a difference between milk, which comes from a lactating animal and those products or those drinks that do not.

CONGRESSMAN JOYCE: Thank you for that clarification and thank you for reminding us what we were all taught in sixth grade science class.

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Mr. Stoltzfus and his three brothers, Donald, Dwight and Dwayne, operate a 700 cow dairy farm in Berlin, Pennsylvania. The family also farms around 1,700 acres, growing corn, soy beans, alfalfa and grass hay. Mr. Stoltzfus serves on the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau's Board of Directors and chairs the Bureau's Dairy Committee.

After the hearing, Congressman Joyce thanked Mr. Stoltzfus for his participation stating: andldquo;Too often Washington tries to force its own solutions on the American people without considering the expertise of those who are on the front lines of our problems. One of the reasons I ran for Congress was to give the people of the 13th District a voice in their federal government, and having someone as knowledgeable as Somerset County farmer Glenn Stoltzfus personally testify in front of our committee with suggestions on how we can help dairy farmers was incredibly important. Mr. Stoltzfus should be commended for sacrificing his valuable time to educate us on the issues and I look forward to continuing to work with him to revive the dairy industry.andrdquo;

Nearly 20 percent of Pennsylvania's dairy farms and over a quarter of the state's total milk cows reside in the counties that make up the 13th District. Pennsylvania is the 6th leading state in the country for dairy production.

Joyce has been a leader on three major initiatives to aid the 13^th District's dairy industry since taking office.

• In January Joyce and Anthony (D-NY) Brindisi led a bipartisan letter to U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner (FDA) Scott Gottlieb encouraging the agency to crack down on plant-based imitators that are harming the dairy industry by falsely labeling their products as milk.

• Joyce has also acted to incentivize children to drink more milk by cosponsoring H.R. 832, the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2019. The measure allows for whole milk (both unflavored and flavored) to be offered in public schools.

• Joyce and Brindisi teamed up again in March to introduce the Dairy and Sheep Handndash;2A Visa Enhancement Act, which will bolster the diary workforce by allowing the H-2A visa program to be expanded to migrant laborers who are working in the industry.

Additional pictures of the hearing are attached.

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