Legislation Calls for Federal Milk Marketing Order Class I Pricing Hearings

New legislation introduced last week in the Senate calls for Federal Milk Marketing Order hearings addressing Class I milk pricing. Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and Republican Susan Collins of Maine introduced the bipartisan Dairy Pricing Opportunity Act. The bill requires the Department of Agriculture to initiate the process of holding Federal Milk Marketing Order hearings within six months, allowing producers and industry to consider and review proposals that could change Class I skim milk pricing.

National Milk Producers Federation President Jim Mulhern says the bill “adds bipartisan momentum to a range of critical milk pricing discussions that dairy farmers are having.”

Before the 2018 Farm Bill, Class I milk was calculated using the “higher of” Class III or Class IV price plus the applicable Class I differential. The calculation was changed in the most recent Farm Bill to an averaging method of Class III and Class IV plus $0.74.

Click Here to read the entire Dairy Pricing Opportunity Act.

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