As a cooperative, Land O’Lakes has been involved in the creation of a potential California Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) since the very beginning as a means of helping the state’s dairy farmers receive more equitable, market-based milk prices. Together with our cooperative partners California Dairies, Inc., Dairy Farmers of America, along with many of you, we have helped develop, review and offer comment every step of the way.

Last week, in coordination with our cooperative partners, we announced that, on behalf of our member-owners, we have voted in support of the California Federal Milk Marketing Order (CA-FMMO) as proposed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

After USDA’s release of the final decision on March 30, Land O’Lakes held educational sessions for our member-owners to provide an overview of the final decision, address specific questions and discuss their voting preferences.

“After discussing with our members in California, we believe the proposal will better address disparities between farm gate prices in California and the rest of the nation,” said Autumn Price, vice president of Land O’Lakes Government Relations. “We would like to thank USDA, Secretary Sonny Perdue and former Secretary Tom Vilsack, as well as the bipartisan support of California leaders in Congress for their efforts to help move this important issue forward.”

USDA will officially announce the results of the referendum in the coming weeks. If the results support approval of the CA-FMMO proposal, the new system is expected to be in place by November 1, 2018.