Credit: USDA

November 13, 2024 - U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Chair of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Local Food Systems, and Food Safety and Security, hass released the following statement on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service’s final decision to restore the “higher of” Class I pricing formula through the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) system to fairly compensate dairy farmers and prevent additional losses of Class I skim milk revenue: 

“The ‘higher of’ Class I mover was in place for nearly two decades prior to it being modified in the last Farm Bill, and despite the best of intentions, the current formula has not performed as intended and has cost dairy farmers over a billion dollars nationwide,” said Senator Gillibrand. “I have been fighting since 2021 to restore the previous ‘higher of’ Class I mover after our dairy farmers’ severe economic losses due to the 2018 Farm Bill pricing change. I am proud that my work on the Senate Agriculture Committee will finally rectify this mistake, keeping more money in the pockets of New York’s dairy farmers. I applaud the USDA for its thorough FMMO system hearing process and for recognizing that returning to the ‘higher of’ formula is the right decision for the dairy industry.”

Gillibrand has long been a champion for fair dairy pricing. In June 2024, Gillibrand led a bipartisan group of 13 senators in calling on the USDA to make today’s change. In early 2023, Gillibrand reintroduced her bipartisan Dairy Pricing Opportunity Act, which would empower dairy farmers to be key players in reviewing proposals that could change Class I milk pricing by requiring the USDA to hold national hearings to review Federal Milk Marketing Orders. In September 2022, she called on the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to evaluate the workability of the federal milk pricing system. In September 2021, she chaired a hearing of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Local Food Systems, and Food Safety and Security to address volatile milk pricing and explore the need for FMMO reforms.
Source: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand