February’s Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) uniform prices and producer price differentials (PPDs) weren’t markedly different from a month earlier, based on market administrator reports released the week of March 8.

In this column, Progressive Dairy summarizes issues in the news and attempts to describe how they might affect dairy farmers. Look for more extensive background and details at Progressive Dairy.

Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMOs) were created in the mid-1930s to bring order to milk marketed in the U.S. At the time, milk was primarily consumed in fluid form, which is classified in FMMOs as Class I for pricing purposes. As recently as 1960, 65.4% of all milk priced through FMMOs was classified as Class I milk.

Dairy producers who invested in risk management through the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program in 2021 are going to see some hefty returns right out of the gate.

With producer milk checks inequitably influenced by current milk marketing and pricing practices, a grassroots dairy farmer effort is growing louder in its call to seek and implement reforms to the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) system.