BY Press Release | May 7, 2021
NMPFâs Board of Directors voted April 23 to request an emergency USDA hearing on a Federal Milk Marketing Order proposal to restore fairness for farmers in the Class I fluid milk price mover. The endorsement of the board, which represents dairy farmers and cooperatives nationwide, followed approval April 16 from the organizationâs Executive Committee.
The NMPF plan would ensure that farmers recover lost revenue and establish more equitable distribution of risk among dairy farmers and processors. The current mover, adopted in the 2018 farm bill, was intended to be revenue neutral while facilitating increased price risk management by fluid milk bottlers. But the new Class I mover contributed to disorderly marketing conditions last year during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and cost dairy farmers over $725 million in lost income.
Fair pricing must meet the needs of all
As we have seen before, the intricacies of the Federal Milk Marketing Order system mean that any changes to the orders will result in multifaceted consequences. Being able to balance how all stakeholders in the dairy supply chain farmers, processors, and consumers are impacted by those consequences will determine how effective any changes are.
Hoard’s Dairyman DairyLivestream, Alan Zolin emphasized that how federal order changes “improve” the system or not depends on your perspective. In addition to working for Kraft’s dairy procurement division, Zolin was employed at the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service in the federal order system for a number of years. Trained in accounting, he noted that in the early years of his career, he found federal milk marketing orders more complex than our nation’s tax code.
NMPF
The National Milk Producers Federation’s Board of Directors voted this week to request an emergency USDA hearing on a Federal Milk Marketing Order proposal to restore fairness for farmers in the Class I fluid milk price mover.
The endorsement of the board, which represents dairy farmers and cooperatives nationwide, follows approval from the organization’s Executive Committee last week.
The NMPF plan would ensure that farmers recover lost revenue and establish more equitable distribution of risk among dairy farmers and processors. The current mover was adopted in the 2018 farm bill and intended to be revenue neutral while facilitating increased price risk management by fluid milk bottlers.
Midwest dairy groups are calling out a national proposal for updating the federal milk pricing system after the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on farmers’ milk prices in 2020.
Last week, the National Milk Producers Federation called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to hold an emergency hearing to adopt their plan for changing the pricing formula for beverage milk.
The national cooperative group said the current formula contributed to disorderly marketing conditions last year during the height of the pandemic and cost dairy farmers over $725 million in lost income.
But the Dairy Business Association and Edge Dairy Farmers Cooperative, both based in Green Bay, teamed up with Minnesota Milk Producers Association and the Nebraska State Dairy Association this week to release their own proposal for pricing under Federal Milk Marketing Orders, or FMMOs.
Midwest dairy groups announce FMMO proposal to improve milk pricing
Dairy Business Association, Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, Minnesota Milk and Nebraska State Dairy Association have banded together to propose their new milk pricing plan, Class III Plus, which ties Class I milk prices to Class III prices.
The groups said during a press conference Apr. 27 that this proposal would create a more equitable market across the board for the nation s dairy farmers. The plan comes after negative producer price differentials, or PPDs, reached record lows during the economic crisis of the pandemic and affected many dairy farmers bottom lines. Class III Plus aims to fix those holes in the system for more crisis preparedness.