Despite the progress made on the highly sought-after re-make of the Federal Milk Marketing Order, some dairy producers are still not happy.
According to Chris Galen, NMPF VP of Member Services, “I would say for the most part, the things that farm organizations wanted, dairy farm organizations wanted were reflected in that proposal. So, one of the things though that I know dairy farmers are concerned with is the Class 1 pricing and how they’re treated in that. So, that was one of the things that we asked USDA to take a closer look at and to adjust. The folks from the Department of Agriculture are aware that there are some unhappy campers there.”
However, with tackling a national program as large as this one, pushback is always bound to happen.
“When they’re trying to do a national program like Class 1 pricing, it’s just more federal orders overall. It’s hard to squeeze the balloon evenly, so that there’s no one who’s kind of feeling the squeeze in a disproportionate way, even if it’s just one county or a few counties in one part of the country,” Galen adds. “USDA is going to try to make everyone happy. Hopefully, they will address at least the most serious concerns.”
The Federal Milk Marketing Order rule-making process is a twelve-step journey. After years of debate, dairy farmers will soon have the opportunity to vote on the proposed changes, marking the end of this multi-year effort.
