Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:04:00 GMT
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, essentially closed the door on Senate Ag Committee consideration this year of sweeping dairy policy reforms. In remarks to farm broadcasters, Stabenow said a continuing lack of unity within the dairy industry on NMPF’s Foundation for the Future proposal is the reason. For an audio clip click here.
Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:06:00 GMT
On June 15, the Federal Register contained the preliminary rules for implementing the Mandatory Reporting Act of 2010. To obtain the preliminary rules click here.
Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:31:00 GMT
The members of CWT voted last week to renew the program for two years – starting in January 2012, and running through 2013 – once a 70% milk level participation level is reached. Current membership pledges equal 68% of the milk supply. Once the 70% threshold is reached, the 2¢/cwt. membership dues assessment will be collected starting in January 2012.
Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:26:00 GMT
The USDA published a proposed rule for mandatory dairy product price reporting in Friday’s Federal Register. This rule will transfer the dairy product prices program from the National Agricultural Statistics Service to the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), as NMPF had originally proposed; require plants to report prices electronically; move up the plant reporting deadline by one day, to Tuesday at noon, for products sold the week before ending with Saturday; and specify the deadline for publication by AMS at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Comments on this proposed rule are due August 9.
Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:24:00 GMT
NMPF will be hosting a series of summer meetings to educate dairy producers about the Foundation for the Future program. A list of the dates and locations can be found here. A link to register for one or more of the meetings can be accessed by clicking here.
Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:17:00 GMT
House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., wants to reform federal dairy policy ahead of the 2012 Farm Bill debate.
“If we have another downturn in prices we don’t have a safety net that works in dairy,” Peterson said. “If we get another deal like we did in ‘09 we’re going to lose half our dairy farmers, and we’re never going to get them back. So I don’t think it is an option to wait.”
Peterson backs the National Milk Producers Federation’s dairy market stabilization program, dubbed Foundation for the Future, and says a just-completed Congressional Budget Office scoring shows the proposal would cost taxpayers less than existing dairy policy and therefore would not add to the budget deficit, thus satisfying a key demand of House Republican leaders.
For more detail click here.
Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:06:00 GMT
Rabobank has released its March dairy outlook report. The view this report click here.
Below is a summary of this report:
· International dairy commodity prices rose sharply through most of Q1 2011, before a sudden contraction wiped off around half the gains in mid-March.
· Pricing appears to have been initially squeezed up by improving demand, a poor Southern Hemisphere summer and a series of supply shocks in importing regions, before the devastating events in Japan rocked market sentiment, slashed grains futures, and sent dairy prices downwards.
· Assuming the Japanese nuclear crisis is brought under control, we expect that the net impact of the earthquake and tsunami will prove relatively limited for dairy.
· Much will depend on this, with other factors pointing to continued market tightness through Q2 2011, backed by improving consumption, ongoing shortages in key import regions and our expectations of a rebound in grain costs.
· Thus while sentiment may play a dominant role in setting market direction in coming weeks, Rabobank expects market fundamentals will reassert themselves and continue to sustain international prices at close to the levels evident in mid-March as we progress through Q2.
Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:57:00 GMT
The Dairy Industry Advisory Committee voted today to approve a final report to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that offers recommendations concerning dairy farm profitability and milk prices.
The vote, which was held during a public meeting via conference call, supports a report that offers 23 public policy recommendations.
The Dairy Industry Advisory Committee was chartered to review farm milk price volatility and dairy farmer profitability. The committee was asked to make recommendations to the Secretary on how USDA can best address these issues to meet the dairy industry’s needs, both short and long-term. The committee also was asked to provide feedback on how actions taken by USDA in 2009 have affected the dairy industry.
For a copy of the full report click here.
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:11:00 GMT
Saputo Inc., the Montreal-based cheese manufacturer with several Wisconsin plants, will acquire DCI Cheese Company Inc. of Richfield for $270.5 million. Saputo said Thursday it agreed to buy DCI’s parent company, Fairmount Cheese Holdings Inc., in a debt-free transaction to be paid in cash or drawing from available lines of credit. The transaction, subject to regulatory approval and other conditions, is expected to close in March. For the full story click here.
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:06:00 GMT
The Last DIAC meeting will be held on March 3, 2011. It will be held via conference call. Available conference call-in lines for the public are limited to the first 100 registered public attendees. All persons wishing to listen to the meeting via conference call must register through DIAC@wdc.usda.gov by March 2, 2011. An e-mail confirmation will be sent to each registered public listener providing call-in instructions for the meeting. Due to logistical constraints, registration will close at 11:59 p.m. EST on March 2, 2011.
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