Farm Bureau Calls for Mandatory Reporting of 'Make Allowances' in Milk Pricing

Dairy pricing reform was recently presented to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack by the American Farm Bureau Federation.

In a letter to Vilsack, AFBF said requests to increase “make allowances” — which are used, in part, to calculate how much a processor pays for milk — fall short of fairly supporting dairy farmers.

To fully address farmers’ needs, AFBF said USDA should consider a wider range of improvements to milk markets, including adjustments to the Class I and II skim milk price formulas, updates to the Class I and II differentials, and a return of the Class I base price formula to the “higher of” the Class III or IV formula.

“Dairy farmers continue to face market challenges as part of the high-cost, high-risk age we live in,” Duvall added.

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