Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Dairy Farmers to Seek Emergency USDA Hearing on Class I Mover Reform

The National Milk Producers Federation’s Board of Directors voted last week to request an emergency USDA hearing on a Federal Milk Marketing Order proposal. The proposal, NMPF says, would 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. 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. But the new Class I mover contributed to disorderly marketing conditions last year during the height of the pandemic and cost dairy farmers over $725 million in lost income. NMPF’s proposal would help recoup the lost revenue and ensure that neither farmers nor processors are disproportionately harmed by future significant price disruptions.




Friday Closing Dairy Market Update - 2024 Milk Production Lower, But Herd Size Growing

MILK: Class III milk futures lost over 80 cents on the March contract this week, while Class IV lost over $1.40 from this time last week. We...