The three largest milk marketing cooperatives in California have voted in support of the California Federal Milk Marketing Order as proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
California Dairies, Inc., Dairy Farmers of America and Land O’Lakes, Inc., announced their shared support of the proposal this week. In a joint statement, the three cooperatives said they “believe the proposal will better address disparities between farm gate prices in California and the rest of the nation.”
After USDA’s release of the final decision on March 30th, the three cooperatives held educational sessions for their member-owners to provide an overview of the final decision and discuss their voting preferences. Each of the cooperatives then participated in bloc voting, meaning a single affirmative vote from each cooperative represents the voting cooperative’s total membership in the state.
USDA will officially announce the results of the referendum in the coming weeks. If the results support approval of the proposal, the new system is expected to be in place by November 1, 2018.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.