Co-op can vote for every member via bloc voting By Bruce Shultz - For the Sidney Daily News Can you imagine being a member of a group in which your vote counts, but you can’t cast your own ballot? Sadly, this very situation exists today within America’s dairy industry. Specifically, I’m referring to bloc voting, which USDA allows to dairy co-ops. The way USDA rules are written when it comes to voting on referendums for Federal Milk Marketing Orders — which USDA administers — a co-op has the right to vote for every member of their co-op. There are only three instances a dairy producer can vote themselves: 1) They are independent of any co-op; 2) Their co-op, such as National Farmers Organization, allows each member to cast their own ballot; or 3) the producer petitions their co-op— and is allowed by that co-ops’ leaders— to vote on their own. Dr. Corey Freije, Agricultural Economist, Federal Order 30, Minneapolis, Minnesota Federal Milk Marketing Administration office, says if the co-op does not release a producer to vote themselves, they cannot vote on the referendum at all. Only their co-op vote counts. And that situation does not sit right with many dairy farmers I talk with around the country as Vice President of National Farmers Organization.