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USDA Reopens Comment Period for Dairy Product Mandatory Reporting Program The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced last Friday that it will reopen the comment period for the new mandatory price reporting and auditing requirements that were issued as an interim final rule in June. While comments on any aspect of the rule are welcome, AMS specifically wants to hear whether kosher dairy products and products produced with milk from cows not treated with rbST should be included in the Dairy Product Prices report.AMS also is soliciting comments to determine whether there are increased production costs associated with manufacturing these products and if a minimum transaction volume for reported transactions should be established. All comments must be submitted to USDA on or before December 3, 2007. The interim rule was published on July 3 and became effective August 2. The original comment period ended September 4. The Dairy Product Mandatory Reporting Program proposed in the interim final rule is designed to provide more timely, accurate and reliable pricing data in formulas that mandate the minimum prices processors must pay for farm milk. IDFA submitted its comments to USDA in September to voice support for the program and to recommend additional steps to streamline the collection process and enhance the reliability of the data. To read the previous News Update story, "IDFA Supports Mandatory Price Reporting Guidelines in Comments to USDA," click here. The interim rule applies only to manufacturing plants or storage facilities of 40-pound block and 500-pound barrel cheddar cheese, dry whey, nonfat dry milk and butter. Of the 1,100 dairy manufacturing companies in the United States, there are 98 manufacturing plants and 110 cold storage facilities currently required to report under the mandatory requirements, according to USDA. New comments may be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov. For more information, contact Bob Yonkers, IDFA chief economist, at byonkers@idfa.org or 202-220-3511.
Posted November 5, 2007
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