The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is reopening the comment period for the proposed revisions to the makeup of the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board. A proposed rule seeking comments on the proposed amendments was published in the Federal Register on September 21, 2021. The new deadline for interested parties to submit comments is July 25, 2022.
The proposal would modify the number of Dairy Board members in two of the board’s 12 geographic regions. If adopted, the proposal will increase Region 8 (Idaho) representation from two members to three members and will decrease Region 10 (Alabama, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia) representation from two members to one member. The total number of domestic Dairy Board members will remain the same at 36, and the number of regions will remain the same at 12.
The Dairy Promotion and Research Order requires the Dairy Board to review the geographic distribution of milk production volume throughout the United States at least every five years but no more than every three years and, if warranted, to recommend to the Secretary a reapportionment of the regions to better reflect the geographic distribution of milk production volume in the United States.
The Dairy Board was established under the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983, as amended, to develop and administer a coordinated program of promotion, research, and nutrition education. The 37-member Dairy Board (36 domestic members and one importer member) is authorized to design programs to strengthen the dairy industry’s position in domestic and foreign markets. The program is financed by a mandatory 15-cent per hundredweight assessment on all milk marketed commercially and a 7.5-cent per hundredweight assessment on milk, or equivalent thereof, on dairy products imported into the United States.
Written comments must be received on or before Sept. 21, 2022. Comments may be submitted through the Federal e-rulemaking portal at www.regulations.gov or emailed to Whitney.Rick@usda.gov. Comments should reference the document number AMS-DA-20-0060, the date of publication and the page number of the issue of the Federal Register. All comments submitted in response to this proposed rule will be included in the record and will be made available to the public.
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