National Milk Producers Federation comments on Federal Milk Marketing Order modernization

The National Milk Producers Federation submitted its final formal legal brief on behalf of the Federal Milk Marketing Order modernization to USDA. The brief, submitted on March 29 and hand-delivered to USDA, emphasized that those farmers are the reason the system exists, and by law, their priorities are pre-eminent in USDA’s consideration of a final plan. “We’ve spent almost three years assembling a broad consensus among dairy farmers that modernization needs to succeed,” says Gregg Doud, President and CEO of NMPF. “Our approach is careful and comprehensive, and it benefits farmers of all regions and types of operations.” Among the proposals, NMPF favors returning to the “higher of” Class 1 mover. They also want to discontinue the use of barrel cheese in the protein component price formula. NMPF also wants to extend the current 30-day reporting limit to 45 days on forward-priced sales of nonfat dry milk and dry whey.