Long Awaited FMMO Hearing to Start This Week

On August 23 in Carmel, Indiana, near Indianapolis, USDA will begin a hearing to consider 21 industry proposals for adjustments/modifications to the 11 Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMOs) in the United States. USDA has grouped the proposals into five topic areas. The first topic is Milk Composition, the second topic is Surveyed Commodity Products, the third topic is Class III and Class IV formula factors, the fourth topic is the Base Class I skim milk price, and the final topic is Class I and Class II differentials.

I have written a brief summary of the proposals and their potential impact on milk prices, which is posted on the Milk Producers Council website here.
 
USDA has published a schedule of when written testimony from the proponents of each proposal must be submitted to the hearing officer. That schedule indicates that this hearing is likely to last at least 6 weeks. Audio and video of the hearing will be provided on the internet. Dairy farmers will be allowed to testify virtually. The instructions for how to participate can be found here.
 
USDA has established a web page with lots of hearing information. You can access that here.
 
There is another USDA website that has all of the original hearing petitions and USDA’s responses to those petitions. You can access that website here.
 
The Milk Producers Council Board of Directors has reviewed the hearing proposals and is supportive of the package of proposals submitted by the National Milk Producers Federation. That package seeks to modernize outdated factors in the various milk pricing formulas. Some of those changes increase milk prices and some of them decrease milk prices. MPC recognizes that there has not been a change in the FMMO formulas for more than 15 years. The integrity of the FMMO system, which provides the foundation for stability in the dairy industry, is undermined if formulas become too outdated.
 
You can read a summary of the NMPF proposals here.
 
As the hearing progresses we may hear arguments and evidence of other proposals that MPC will want to consider. Fasten your seatbelts. We are in for a bit of a ride.