Candidate Notes on 98-MGC1

98-MGC1 on Feb 24, 1998

• WHEREAS, the Federal Milk Marketing Order System was created in 1937 to provide economic incentives to dairy farmers in order to provide sufficient fresh fluid milk for all Americans; and
• WHEREAS, the Federal Milk Marketing Order System has served its original purpose and the creation of the Interstate Highway System and refrigeration trucks have allowed fresh fluid milk to be easily transported throughout the country; and
• WHEREAS, studies show that dairy producers in the Midwest have comparative advantages that allow them to produce products more economically than dairy producers in other regions, yet under current conditions, our family dairy farmers and our states’ dairy infrastructure are at risk; and
• WHEREAS, the dairy industries in our states provide a vital underpinning of our states’ economies; and

WHEREAS, the United States Department of Agriculture should foster dairy production that is market driven; and

WHEREAS, the 1996 Farm Bill charged the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to substantially reform and simplify the Federal Milk Marketing Order System; and

WHEREAS, regional pricing solutions, such as compacts, could impede efforts to promote a market-oriented system and erect barriers to the export of dairy products from our states; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the United States Department of Agriculture move forward to implement a new, streamlined system that more closely reflects the true national dairy market and that does not provide an unjustified pricing advantage or disadvantage to any region of the country.