California dairy farmers and cheese makers have agreed to a short-term compromise over the price of milk bound for the cheese plants. The deal calls for an increase in the minimum amount that processors must pay for milk that’s made into cheese, and a separate increase reflecting the value of whey.
The increases would be added to the monthly minimums that long have been set by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
«We are extremely pleased with the hard work that all have put in to help our family dairies,» said Gary Conover, government relations director for Western United Dairymen in Modesto, in a news release. «Although we have already lost hundreds of dairy farms in California, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for those that are still fighting to stay in business.»
Assemblyman Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, has introduced a measure, Assembly Bill 1038, that would carry out the change. He failed to win passage of an earlier bill that would have increased the cheese portion.
The new bill calls on an industry task force to come up with reforms that could stabilize dairy finances over the long term.
The compromise calls for cheese makers to pay an extra 46 cents per 100 pounds of milk, which is about 12 gallons. The minimum set by the CDFA was $15.91 as of June.
Under current policy, the value of whey fluctuates between 25 cents and 75 cents per 100 pounds of milk. The compromise would raise the upper end to $1.
The combined increases are less than what Western United Dairymen and its allies had sought in a CDFA hearing — a surcharge of $1.20 per 100 pounds of milk bound for cheese making.
Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross instead approved a six-month surcharge adding 12.5 cents per 100 pounds on average for all classes of milk. It started July 1 and applies to milk bound for the fluid market and to plants making cheese, butter, ice cream, yogurt and dozens of other products.
Source:Â The Modesto Bee (CA)
