Federal Milk Marketing Making Progress

National Milk Producers Federation, Senior Vice President of Member Services and Governance, Chris Galen provides an update on the federal milk marketing order hearing that is currently being discussed but is on a break.

“This is a hearing the USDA convened to look at various proposals, including those coming from National Milk to improve the milk marketing system that we have from coast to coast. And they've taken testimony from a dozen probably over 100 Witnesses now 10,000 pages of witness testimony, and they're not done yet. So they took a break here, basically, for most of November, they'll reconvene here last week of November, and then go from maybe two weeks. And hopefully not longer than that, because if they still need to hear more than we're talking about something that'll probably get pushed into 2024.”

While there's no definite deadline, the USA has already taken action on the initial request allowing sufficient time to hear proposals.

“What's going to be the price of classified price for milk and classes 123 And four, some of the things that affect farmers prices. USDA is then after all the testimonies given, then going to have to digest all of this and come up with a recommended decision, which is basically just a recommended, here's next steps and how we want things to change. The industry can comment on that and then they'll come out with a final version.”

A revised system will be presented for a vote by farmers and their Co-Ops with the expectation of implementing changes approximately 12 months from now.