Celebrate America’s love for dairy during Dairy Month

Dairy’s foes have tried to challenge it, but June remains Dairy Month because U.S. dairy farmers keep on keeping on and because consumers know the value and wholesomeness of real cow’s milk and dairy products made from it. The U.S. dairy industry has also done much to insure that Americans keep getting a safe, healthy, and yes a sustainable food and beverage supply to enjoy.

By Lee Mielke

Plant-based competitors are striving to cut in on fluid milk consumption and they have been mildly successful; but their effort to entice America’s love for real cheese and butter in particular has not succeeded. Plant-based manufactured products are hard pressed to match the inherent nutritional package cow’s milk and real dairy products offer. A casual read of the ingredients on the box of any of these plant-based imposters is all the evidence one really needs.

Opinion

Calendar of Events

Visit www.TheLandOnline.com to view our complete calendar and enter your own events, or send an e-mail with your event’s details to editor@thelandonline.com.

June 14 — Hickory Hill Farm Tour — Hospers, Iowa — This family-friendly event will include opportunities to see where cows are milked, where they are housed and fed plus learn about the dietary role of milk and dairy products. For more information, visit wiadairy.com or “Western Iowa Dairy Alliance” on Facebook.

June 21 — Practical Farmers of Iowa Field Day — Spencer, Iowa — The topic will be Creating On-Farm Habitat to Foster Wildlife Diversity and will be hosted by Bev & Dwight Rutter. For more information, please visit practicalfarmers.org/field-days.

June 22 — June Field Day — Kanawha, Iowa — The day will include comments from individuals with ISU Extension and Outreach, an update on the capital campaign and field tours. Contact Angie Rieck-Hinz at amrieck@iastate.edu or (515) 2312830.

June 22 — Organic Dairy & Swine Day — Morris, Minn. — Topics will include substituting hybrid rye in a traditional corn-soy swine diet, organic hybrid rye production, feeding and grazing organic dairy cows, and pasture walks. Contact West Central Research and Outreach Center at (320) 589-1711.

June 23 — West Central Dairy Days Cattle Show — Willmar, Minn. — Ages 5-21 (as of January 1st) can exhibit. There are classes for all eight dairy breeds, Junior and Grand Champion Overall, plus Junior, Intermediate and Senior Showmanship. Contact Mary Swart at rmswart@tds.net or (320) 220-0904 or Lane Johnson at (320) 815-1276.

June 28 — Beef Pasture Walk — Elk River, Minn. — Learn and converse about establishing and restoring pastures, managing grazing, identifying plants, cattle health, body condition scoring, and responding to forage emergencies and drought. For more information, please visit z.umn. edu/2023beefpasturewalk.

The myth that plant-based “milk” is healthier than cow’s milk is just not true. Kathleen Merrigan, professor of sustainable food systems at Arizona State University and a deputy secretary of agriculture under President Barack Obama, has stated the case in a recent press release from the National Milk Producers Federation.

“Plant-based beverages have much-lower protein, numerous additives of dubious value, and a lack of uniform quality that should give anyone pause,” according to Merrigan, “but it’s also not shocking the misinformation continues. Money talks, and the plant-based sector is well funded with plenty of media allies and a ready-made base of support in a vegan community that insists a diet that’s impossibly difficult to follow and prone to malnourishment should be adopted by everyone.”

“It also comes down to the names of the products themselves. If whatever substance of the moment is put in front of the word “milk,” then a false impression of nutritional equivalence, if not superiority, is easy to create. If that weren’t the intention, the plant-based beverage peddlers wouldn’t be doing it.”

“The good news,” says Merrigan, “is nutrition experts are seeing through it, hence endorsement of integrity in dairy labeling from the American Academy of Pediatrics and others. And consumers are seeing through it, which is why we’re seeing data like this, in which after years of gains, the plant-based tide is starting to recede.”

It’s unfortunate for farmers and for consumers that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not taken a more definitive stand on the labeling of artificial plant based products, and backed up the FDA’s own standards of identity so the dairy industry must do a better job of educating the public.

Yes, fluid milk consumption has declined. Many beverages are competing for shelf space in today’s grocery stores and consumer lifestyles and preferences have changed. However, contrary to what the plant-based manufactures would have you believe, U.S. milk consumption continues to increase albeit in other forms — primarily cheese.

Professional cooks and high end restaurants know there is no compromise and no substitute for real dairy cheese and real dairy butter. They not only taste better, they are better for you, for your family, and yes for the very earth we walk on.

Cow’s milk and beef on the hoof are indeed the original and best plant-based choice you can make, made and grown on the farm, not a test tube. As I have said before, let the cows eat the grass. Give yourself the dairy best and celebrate June Dairy Month once again.

Lee Mielke is a syndicated columnist who resides in Everson, Wash. His weekly column is featured in newspapers across the country and he may be reached at lkmielke@juno.com. v