Farm Bureau and Farmers Union Collaborate on FMMO Modernization
Daniel Munch
Economist
Chad Smith
Associate News Service Editor, NAFB
photo credit: Alabama Farmers Federation, Used with Permission
The American Farm Bureau Federation and National Farmers Union are working together in the FMMO modernization effort. Chad Smith has more on the joint letter urging USDA to avoid making changes to make allowances until a mandatory cost and yield survey is complete.
Smith: April 1 was the post-hearing deadline for interested parties to submit briefs to the USDA on Federal Milk Marketing Order modernization. Danny Munch, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, gives an update on where the modernization process currently stands.
Munch: There are still a few other steps in the process. USDA now has 90 days to review all of the post-hearing briefs that were submitted on April 1, and they will publish a proposed recommended decision to the Federal Register. Once that occurs, they comment on the recommended rule. USDA will use those comments to make a final recommended rule, and then a referendum for farmers will be organized to vote on whether to accept or reject those changes.
Smith: Munch says AFBF recently joined the National Farmers Union in sending a letter to USDA urging the department to push pause on updating make allowances.
Munch: Make allowances represent the cost and a credit to processors to convert raw milk into further-processed dairy products like cheese and butter. They are part of the milk pricing formula, and any increase to the make allowances lowers dairy farmers’ checks. Currently, there are some stakeholders in the hearing process that are pushing for make allowances to be increased based on voluntary surveys, so they don't represent all processors out in the industry, and our letter is saying the USDA should not increase make allowances until we have a mandatory survey that includes all processors.
Smith: Munch says it’s significant that Farm Bureau and Farmers Union worked together on this issue.
Munch: At the end of this process, dairy farmers are the ones who ultimately vote on whether or not to accept or reject those changes. They're the only one of those stakeholders that vote on changes to federal orders, so combined, AFBF and NFU represent a consensus of those dairy farmers and the interests that USDA should be most considering as they craft any of their proposed decisions.
Smith: Chad Smith, Washington.
