Nick Langworthy
Congressman Nick Langworthy is applauding a decision by the USDA that he says will help dairy farmers.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released its final decision on the Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMO). Among the key improvements is the return to the previous “higher of” Class I mover formula.
Langworthy was able to successfully get language of the Dairy Pricing Opportunity Act of 2023 included in the base text of last year’s Farm Bill, which successfully advanced out of the House Agriculture Committee.
This reform was also brought up by stakeholders during a Farm Bill Listening Session held in the town of Portland in September 2023. The event brought together farmers, producers, agribusiness owners, and other industry leaders to provide feedback for the Farm Bill re-authorization process.
New York ranks among the top five dairy-producing states in the country. The FMMO system establishes minimum milk prices and ensures orderly marketing of fluid milk. Prior to the 2018 Farm Bill, Class I milk prices were determined using the higher value between Class III and Class IV milk. However, the 2018 Farm Bill replaced this approach with an averaging formula that added $0.74 to the average of Class III and Class IV prices.
This change, compounded by disruptions from COVID-19, has cost dairy farmers across the country over $1 billion in Class I skim milk revenue. Langworthy said returning to the “higher of” formula will help restore stability and fairer pricing, reversing the under performance of the current “average-of” formula since its inclusion in the 2018 Farm Bill.
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