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The US National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) has announced that its president and CEO, Jim Mulhern, is to retire from his position. At the end of this year, Mulhern will conclude a decade of service leading the organisation and a 45-year career in US agricultural and dairy policy. He was asked to lead the organisation in 2013 and guided NMPF through two completed farm bills, the Covid-19 crisis and a quickening change of pace in the industry – which NMPF described as “unrecognisable” from the industry that Mulhern entered in 1979. After arriving in Washington to work on Capitol Hill in 1982, Mulhern began his first stint with NMPF in 1985, directing its government affairs activities and shaping NMPF strategy in the face of earlier farm crises. Mulhern commented: “Directing the policy efforts of the nation’s dairy farmers and their cooperatives has been the highlight of my professional career”. He added: “My hope, all those years ago when I first came to Washington, was to make a difference and remember where I came from. Being part of the agricultural policy community here in Washington and working with and on behalf of many great people in the dairy community across the country has enabled me to achieve both goals.” The topic of naming a new top executive at NMPF will be discussed at the organisation’s board meeting this week in Arlington, Virginia.