Now that the election is over, what is Wisconsin agriculture watching next in Washington D.C.? How about an update on the Federal Milk Marketing Order reform?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expected to release its final, updated FMMO proposal by Nov. 13. American Farm Bureau Federation Economist Danny Munch is not optimistic about the timing for the rest of the process as government wraps up an election, moves into the holidays, and has the inauguration.
“It’s tough for me to see that even if they get a final rule out earlier than November 13, will they be able to hold their referendum before January 1? With all the holiday season happening, will the USDA, the government, be able to get something done? Not so sure,” he says. “But they could hold a referendum in early January and have results before the inauguration of a new president.”
Munch explains that AFBF is concerned about the make allowance increases that USDA included in its last FMMO recommended decision. Make allowances come out of a dairy farmer’s milk check. Munch says the increase would be problematic for Wisconsin dairy farmers who primarily produce Class III milk, which goes to make cheese.
“They would decrease Class III prices by close to 90 cents a hundredweight, and that would particularly impact… the Upper Midwest,” he explains. “We are very concerned about the disparity that might more detrimentally impact farmers up here versus in the Southeast, Appalachia, where there are more benefits.”
AFBF only supports increasing make allowances if there is mandatory and audited data. That is currently included in the Farm Bill draft.
But even if USDA doesn’t make the requested change, Munch says that AFBF and other farm and dairy advocacy groups have been in lock-step in their messaging that an updated FMMO that doesn’t check every box would be better than no order at all.
“We are supportive of federal milk marketing orders,” he says. “There are other protections in the orders that a lot of folks often forget about.”
One of these is timely payments — farmers are paid at least twice a month. That could be absolved if an order gets removed, Munch explains. Also, farmers are payed based on the components of milk that they provide to their buyer. USDA verifies those components. Without an order, producers could lose out on that verification.