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Stephenson questions relevance of milk pricing system

A dairy policy specialist says radical changes are needed to solve milk pricing issues.

Mark Stephenson, Director of Policy & Markets, University of Wisconsin-Madison, tells Brownfield the Federal Milk Marking Order System was created for the fluid milk market.

“Many of those issues don’t exist today and we’re still trying to use the mechanism of that fluid milk market to fix effectively what are manufacturing problems,” he says.

Stephenson says proposed updates likely won’t keep up long-term with how the dairy industry is evolving.

“It’s not going to be easy, it’s probably going to be drawn out, but it will probably be a year and a half before we see any of these changes actually implemented,” he says.

But, he says surveying and auditing plants to get an understanding of the cost of processing would go a long way in updating product price formulas.

Brownfield’s Larry Lee interviewed Stephenson during the recent CheeseCon 2023 in Madison, Wisconsin.