USDA called on to end connections to net zero program P2DNZ

“The left cannot keep pushing costly climate mandates that raise the cost of producing food and then act like they’re not the ones to blame when grocery bills go up,” Nuzzo said. “Net zero has done nothing but make life less affordable for everyday Americans.

“President Trump and USDA should send a message to these climate activists by cutting off any association once and for all,” Nuzzo said.

Senior state government relations manager Samantha Fillmore of the other group in question, Heartland Impact, told The Center Square that Pathways to Dairy Net Zero (P2DNZ) “is the latest manifestation of globalists’ attempts to bankrupt small- and mid-sized American businesses and farmers, all in the name of ESG and net zero.

P2DNZ describes itself online as dedicated to “reducing dairy’s greenhouse gas…emissions over the next 30 years.”

Fillmore told The Center Square that “P2DNZ is presented as a voluntary, science-based initiative” but is in reality “the same ESG playbook we've seen used to squeeze entire industries into net-zero compliance without a single ballot cast.”

“And for what?” Fillmore said. “Even if every U.S. dairy farm eliminated its emissions entirely, the effect on global climate would be undetectable.

“Meanwhile, the compliance costs are very real, and they don't get absorbed by the big brands at the top,” Fillmore said. “They fall on the American family farms at the bottom. Further, P2DNZ threatens the American food supply chain, which makes our consumers and farmers vulnerable to foreign actors stepping in to fill the gaps.” 

P2DNZ has not yet responded to The Center Square’s request for comment. 

When reached, a USDA spokesman said: “President Trump will not stand idly by while large, consolidated milk processors and the protectionist anti-competition bodies like the EU attempt to force our hard-working producers to hand over sensitive personal farm data as a condition for selling their milk.

“Proponents of these burdens should be on notice: your ESG standards will no longer be applied to American farmers,” the spokesman said.

In their letter to the USDA, Heartland Impact and Consumers Defense recognized the “important steps” the Trump administration has taken to “remove political agendas from American agriculture.” 

The letter brings attention to the USDA’s connections to P2DNZ and requests a withdrawal from it after detailing the negative effect such a relationship has on American farmers and families.

The report “The War on Dairy: Foreign Influence Subverting America’s Dairy Sector” released by Heartland Impact and Consumers Defense outlines the harm they say climate policy causes as well as the USDA’s relationship with P2DNZ.

Government relations director of think tank Heartland Institute Cameron Sholty told The Center Square: “As we see in this report, [ESG] continues to rear its head in nearly every facet - or at least key facets - of American life.”

“From energy to finance to the very food we produce and eat, environmental activism is continually emboldened by foreign interests that seek to undermine American exceptionalism and sovereignty,” Sholty said.