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Time running out to comment on Federal Milk Marketing Order proposal

A Wisconsin Farm Bureau official says dairy farmers need to submit comments about USDA’s proposed changes to the Federal Milk Marketing Orders now.

Tyler Wenzlaff says, “This is the one opportunity for making comments at USDA to make those changes and hope for a better outcome when we see the final order in December.”

Wenzlaff tells Brownfield USDA’s proposal returns the Class I mover from the “average of” to the “higher of” Class III and IV, like it was before the 2018 Farm Bill and protects some contracting rules, but USDA significantly raised processor make allowances without requiring mandatory cost of production surveys, which he says will make a big dent in the farmer’s milk checks. “Federal Order #30 is really the one in the upper Midwest where it takes it on the chin for this order, and it’s unfortunate that the area that needs it the most where dairy farmers are struggling the most, the USDA has chosen to favor other parts of the country.”

Federal Order #30 covers nearly all of Minnesota and Wisconsin, plus some border counties in Illinois, upper Michigan, northern Iowa, and eastern North and South Dakota.

Wenzlaff says farmers need to remember this is not a negotiation, but a one-shot opportunity to take the recommended changes or have no federal order in their area.  With that in mind, Wenzlaff says Wisconsin Farm Bureau hopes their members vote to keep the federal order. “We’ve seen other states go away from an order and we believe that under the current conditions, keeping a federal order would be the best opportunity for Wisconsin farmers to keep going.”

The comment period for the USDA’s proposed Federal Milk Marketing Order amendments ends on September 13th. Comments can be submitted electronically through the Federal Register or on regulations.gov.

Audio: Tyler Wenzlaff discusses the Federal Milk Marketing Orders and the comment deadline with Brownfield’s Larry Lee