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USDA Seeks to Adopt Minor Classification Changes to Federal Orders On March 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a tentative final decision to adopt some non-controversial changes to the classifications provisions for all 10 Federal Milk Market Orders. Discussed at a short public hearing last October, the amendments will change the classification of milk used to produce evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk in consumer-type packages from Class III to Class IV. USDA proposes to adopt the changes on an emergency basis as requested by all hearing witnesses, pending a producer referendum.The next step is for USDA to conduct the producer referendum within 30 days in order to determine whether dairy producers approve the amended orders on an interim basis. Whenever USDA proposes to amend provisions of a federal order, dairy producers must approve the amendments by a two-thirds majority in each area, or else federal milk price regulation will be terminated in that marketing area. The most recent federal order referendum was regarding amendments to the Western Milk Marketing Order that failed to receive the required percentage of "yes" votes, leading USDA to announce the termination of the that federal order area, effective April 1. Since the Class III, IV decision is classified as a "tentative final" ruling, USDA will continue to accept public comments through May 3 as it formulates a final decision. For those interested in submitting further input, comments should be sent to the Hearing Clerk, USDA, STOP 9200 - Room 1083, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9200. (Additional information about the decision may be obtained from USDA's website by clicking here.) The October hearing also reviewed a proposal to classify end-of-month bulk milk inventories to the lowest-priced class of Class III or Class IV, but that proposal was not adopted in USDA's decision. (For more information on the hearing, click here to read the News Update story from October 2003.)
Posted March 8, 2004
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