USDA releases analysis on impact of California FMMO

1 2017 CHEESE MARKET NEWS This is Cheese Market News E-subscription and may not be forwarded to anyone other than the intended paid subscriber without the express permission of Cheese Market News (For more information, contact THEMONTHB rick and Muenster Photo courtesy of WMMBPhPhoto courtesyPrairie Farms to expand Fort Wayne, Ind., facilityCARLINVILLE, Ill. Prairie Farms this week announced that an $ million investment in its Fort Wayne, Indiana, facility is underway. The company, which specializes in fl uid and fl avored milk and other dairy products, says this expansion will allow it to add jobs, manufacture new specialty products and expand its distribution footprint in the United States and Central America. In December, Prairie Farms announced a merger agreement with Swiss Valley Farms that recently was approved by members of both cooperatives (see Prairie Farms, Swiss Valley approve merger in last week s issue of Cheese Market News).)

2 Prairie Farms says it plans to build a 22,500-square-foot extension onto its existing Fort Wayne manufacturing facility, with construction expected to begin in April and be complete within 18 months. The expansion will include a new processing Flavors, applications expand for Brick, Muenster varietiesEditor s note: Cheese of the Month is Cheese Market News ex-clusive profi le series exploring various cheese types. Each month, CMN highlights a different cheese in this feature, giving our readers a comprehensive look at production, marketing, sales and in-depth aspects of each profi led cheese type. Please read on to learn about this month s featured cheeses: Brick and Stephanie AweMADISON, Wis. Both originating from surface-ripened cheeses, Brick and Muenster offer a slightly salty, milky fl to the Wisconsin milk Marketing Board (WMMB), some historians believe Muenster originated in Alsace, France, while others say it originated in Jaeggi, coordinator cheese industry and applications group, Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research (CDR), says it has been stated that German immigrants brought Muenster to the United States.

3 Brick cheese, on the other hand, is original to Wisconsin, he vast majority of traditional Brick is made in Wisconsin today, adds Dean Sommer, cheese and food technologist, CDR. Non-traditional Bricks meet the general compositional requirements in the stan-dards of identity set by FDA, but their fl avors and textures are not quite the same as traditional Brick, he fi rst was made in Wisconsin by John Jossi around 1877 and Volume 37 February 17, 2017 Number 5 WASHINGTON USDA in Tuesday s Federal Register published a recommended de-cision proposing the issuance of a federal milk marketing order (FMMO) regulating the handling of milk in recommended decision is based on the evidentiary record compiled as part of a public hearing held in Clovis, California from September to November 2015.

4 (See Hear-ing begins on proposals to consider California FMMO in the Sept. 25, 2015, issue of Cheese Market News.)The proposed FMMO in-corporates the entire state of California and would adopt the same dairy product clas-sifi cation and pricing provi-USDA releases analysis on impact of California FMMO sions used throughout the current FMMO system. The proposed FMMO provides for the recognition of producer quota as administered by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). (See USDA will publish proposal to establish California FMMO in last week s issue.) Throughout the hearing and in post-hearing briefs, dairy farmers and their cooperative representatives stressed that while a California FMMO would provide them a more equitable price for their milk , entry into the FMMO system must not diminish or disturb, in any form, California quota values, USDA says in its recommended deci-sion.

5 This decision fi nds that the package of FMMO provi-sions recommended in the deci-sion would create more orderly marketing of milk in California , adhere to all the provisions of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 and allow the California quota pro-gram to operate independently of the FMMO. In doing so, the California quota program will not be diminished or disturbed in any form by California s entry into the FMMO system. The proposed rule also an-nounces the intent of USDA s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to request approval by the Offi ce of Management and Budget of new information collection requirements to implement the Dairy Institute of Cali-fornia, which represents the state s dairy product manufac-turers, expressed appreciation for USDA s work in developing the recommended decision.

6 Dairy Institute proposed a California FMMO during the hearing process and provided testimony and evidence to support it, notes Rachel Kal-dor, executive director of the last week, Dairy Institute fi led a petition to CDFA for a hearing to consider amendments to the Class 4a and 4b pricing formulas in the stabilization and market-ing plans for the Northern and Southern California milk marketing areas. (See Dairy Institute petitions for hearing on pricing formula in last week s issue.) However, CDFA denied the request this week, citing USDA s recommended decision to establish a Califor-nia FMMO. We are heartened that USDA s recommended deci-sion refl ects the FMMO we proposed, Kaldor says. If California dairy farmers ap-prove a FMMO based upon the recommended decision, the same basic milk pricing and revenue pooling structure in place in the other FMMOs would apply to California farm-ers and processors as well.

7 She notes that the contin-ued operation of the California quota system in the recom-mended decision will likely be of keen interest to California dairy farmers, as it rightly should be. We are hopeful that our farmers will pay close atten-tion to all the provisions of the recommended decision, its impact on each of them and the industry at large, Kaldor says. impact AnalysisAlong with issuing the recommended decision, USDA has released a Regulatory Economic impact analysis it conducted to determine the potential impact of a California FMMO on milk supply, product demand and prices, and milk allocation in California and throughout the United proposed California FMMO would adopt the uniform classifi cation provisions of the 10 existing FMMOs.

8 Under the Deutsch K se Haus Listeria discovery prompts recallsAINSIDETurn to FMMO, page 12 aTurn to EXPAND, page 12 aNASHVILLE Following the discovery of Listeria monocytogenes in a sample of Amish Classics Colby deli horn cheese by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA), Deutsch K se Haus and a number of other com-panies have issued recalls of their cheeses and deli items. Deutsch K se Haus, owned by the Michigan milk Producers Association, Turn to LISTERIA, page 10 aTurn to BRICK, page 6 aLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! USDA reports December licensed imports. For details, see page 3. Court denies restaurant industry appeal, upholds sodium warning label. For details, see page 7. Cornell awarded for food safety leadership.

9 For details, see page 8. Dairy groups urge action on Canadian milk pricing as Trump meets with Trudeau. For details, see page 10. 2017 CHEESE MARKET NEWS This is Cheese Market News E-subscription and may not be forwarded to anyone other than the intended paid subscriber without the express permission of Cheese Market News (For more information, contact INDICATORS2 CHEESE MARKET NEWS February 17, 2017 DISCLAIMER: Cheese Market News has made every effort to provide accurate current as well as historical market information. However, we do not guarantee the accuracy of these data and do not assume liability for errors or INFORMATIONC heese Market News , Publication #0598-030, (ISSN 0891-1509), is published weekly by Quarne Publishing LLC, Box 628254, Middleton, WI 53562; Phone 608/831-6002; FAX 608/288-9093.)

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