The California Milk Producers Council (MPC) formally endorsed Rep. Collin Peterson’s (Dem., Minn.) draft legislation that mirrors the National Milk Producer Federation dairy reform package, Foundation for the Future (FFTF).

 

“With this vote, the MPC Board sent a strong message that it’s time for dairy farmers from coast to coast to rally behind a common plan,” says MPC President Sybrand Vander Dussen, a Corona, Calif. dairy producer. MPC represents dairy producers across California.

 

MPC recognizes that the draft legislation would only offer catastrophic margin insurance on 75% of a producer’s milk base and that 50% of any over-base penalties would go to the U.S. Treasury. Both are aberrations from the original FFTF plan. “While we’d probably all prefer to operate in a world where Congressional budget constraints don’t exist, the fact is that they do, and these changes are a part of that reality,” says Rob Vandenheuval, MPC’s general manager.

 

MPC’s full endorsement can be read here.