Under current standards, changes to milk pricing occur only when a USDA hearing process is requested. Changes to that system proposed by the USDA would require dairy processors to complete an annual survey detailing their costs, which would subsequently affect how much farmers get paid for their milk. (Submitted photo)

CHENANGO COUNTY – Citing financial burdens of dairy producers created by a flawed milk marketing system, the Chenango County Farm Bureau is getting behind the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposed changes to the way dairy processors buy their milk from farmers.

The USDA’s proposal to amend the uniform pricing formulas across all 11 federal milk marketing orders (MMO) follows a 49-day national hearing held from August 2023 to January 2024, where the USDA heard testimony and received evidence on 21 proposals from the dairy industry.

“The USDA has put out a proposal that the Chenango County Farm Bureau supports,” said Chenango County Farm Bureau President Terry Ives. “We think that this would ultimately be a good thing for farmers to help with their costs.”

Under current MMO standards, changes to milk pricing occur only when a USDA hearing process is requested. Changes to that system proposed by the USDA would require dairy processors to complete an annual survey detailing their costs, which would subsequently affect how much farmers get paid for their milk.

“The biggest problem with the MMO now is that they don’t update it often enough,” said Mike Barnes, director of Agri-Mark, a northeast cooperative of family farms in New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont. “It’s not until someone asks for a hearing. What they’re trying to do is make the system more proactive than reactive.”