Dairy Premium Milk Fund New Hampshire(and maybe New England)

I mentioned this 2-3 weeks ago on a thread about viability of dairy farming. This is before the NH state legislature and is expected to pass.

Dairy premium fund.

Establishes a program in which milk processors may affix a NH (or New England milk label) to dairy products. Money collected for use of the label would go into the Dairy Premium Fund and be used for promoting the program and for making payments to eligible NH dairy farmers. Stipulates 86% of funds generated would have to go back to dairy farmers with 14% of funds generated available for marketing and promotion of the program. To be eligible to receive dairy premium fund payments, dairy farmers would have to direct .10 cents of their milk promotion deduction to Granite State Dairy Promotion. Payments would be distributed based on production. The dairy premium program and fund would be administered by the Commissioner of Agriculture with advice from a Dairy Premium Fund Board consisting of 9 people and made up of dairy farmers (4), a milk processor, a milk retailer, and a member of the general public. The Board would be chaired by the Commissioner with the Executive Director of Granite State Dairy Promotion serving as the Vice-Chair. The bill also authorizes the Commissioner to utilize up to $200,000 from the Agricultural Product and Scale Testing Fund for initial promotion of the Dairy Premium Program. Because of the way milk is procured, the Commissioner will be introducing an amendment at the hearing enabling the development of a New England milk label in addition to a New Hampshire milk label Farm Bureau supports.

Sorry, I can't tell you what the rate of deduction currently is for milk promotion, but the way milk consumption per capita in the US has been dropping, they obviously need to try something new.

I agree, dairy farmers deserve a better profit!

Marketing of dairy products has always been Bas-Akwards. Soda, Beer, and Water distributors set the wholesale price and retailers adjust to make a profit. Wholesale Dairy prices seam to be set by what "middlemen/processors" are willing to pay.
Farmers need to unite and take control, but they are so independent that they will never unite, and define a common marketing strategy to set a price where they can control their profits.
Loren

Sounds like another "Big Brother" program which will only require more money going to the overseers and little going to the farmers. Are they going to put a "lock box" on the money to keep it from going to some other pet project?

Question: are you a dairy farmer? Maybe some dairy farmers can comment. Milk consumption has been
dropping the entire time milk advertising was in progress. Paying sports stars like Cal Ripkin to advertise
was probably not a good result to expense decision. Let?s face it, when I am playing sports, which I do, I
want water or a sports drink, not milk. And, I drink lots of milk.

It happened north of your border Loren. Milk consumption has been on a downward trend across all the western world, ever since the end of WW 2. Much of the drop in milk consumption has come from increased competition from alternative beverages like soda pop. And the erosion of the nuclear family, a mom and dad sitting down for an evening meal with children. Seems natural to me, happened every night at our house while I was growing up, and every night while my kids were growing up. But this wasn?t the case in most households today

I'm sure it'll work out real well most gov't programs do like the Wars on drugs and poverty for instances they've been smashing successes.Right?
The problem is too much product for the demand there is for it,can't see how this gov't program will solve that basic problem.

We had milk cows and never drank milk at supper always Ice Tea.People North of the Mason-Dixon Line have some strange ways(LOL)

Bruce, I saw an article the other day about the Canadian Maple Producer Board also. They were trying to control how much syrup a producer could make and control how, and where, it was sold. The article also said that the producers board was skimming 18% of the price for it's own benefit.
There was a Russian immigrant family in Ontario that was interviewed and the older lady was defiant about the MPB telling her where and how she could market their products. It was a very fiery interview and I had to agree 100% with that woman. They worked hard to establish their business from nothing and then some self appointed hypocrites were telling her what she could and could not do. Her family was producing and selling maple products directly to the retail public, rather than thru the MPB.
Loren

I should also add that there are still a few local dairies in our area that process their own milk and sell both retail and wholesale to mom and pop stores and retail door to door. There used to be lots of them, but about 3 left now in the area.
We have however seen an upswing in goat milk and cheese production in small scale family farm operations. They seam to be doing well selling direct at farmers markets funded by municipalities.
Loren

I?ll play devils advocate here,if they address the over production to only meet the demand and then the price goes up isn?t that then a price fixing cartel? Or should they limit production to match consumption,then when the price goes up just buy another countries over production because it?s cheaper? Just asking because your comments on how the US system isn?t working contradicts your views of the Canadian system. Just friendly debating,nothing personal intended.

Hey Bruce from Canada. Could you give me a brief overview on how the dairy industry works in Canada?



To me if producers out pace demand something has got to give.

Dave

So is this a "Made in New Hampshire" thing to allow consumers to choose a more expensive local product over a cheaper one imported from NY?

Might work in NH.

Canadian system is a forced Gov't system which I am against plus its Un American(LOL) and probably would get thrown out in Federal Courts if an individual wanted to get some cows here and start a dairy and sell milk on the open market they could do it.Gov't in the USA has helped create the ag surplus if producers were totally on their own with no Gov't money as a back stop they'd have to be conservative in their production in order not to get busted in a price drop and those that weren't would be broke and out the business.Take hamburgers for instance the gov't doesn't have to subsidize Wendy's or McDonalds and they do fine because they don't make a lot of extra hamburgers every day to sell at give-a-way prices every night.Competition in the free
markets stablizes prices.The price and production in a true free market system will be on its own.And people or companies that are dumb enough to produce a product and sell it at or under production cost that is their problem.As a judge in my county famously told a fellow one day when passing judgement on a lawsuit the Law can only go so far in protecting a person from their own stupidity.

"Share a cow" or "Share a goat" is very popular in my area where the owner of the farm sells shares in the cow or goat and then the shareholders Pay the farm owner to milk the animal for them.
Its a way around the anti raw milk laws works good.

That is what happens when you don't live in a country with a strong Constitution that guarantees individual freedoms.

(quoted from post at 16:10:01 03/25/19) Sounds like another "Big Brother" program which will only require more money going to the overseers and little going to the farmers. Are they going to put a "lock box" on the money to keep it from going to some other pet project?

Click to expand...

Glen, try reading it again.

The whole ag production problem is buying retail and selling wholesale. All parts equipment and supplies are bought on the retail market and all products are sold to the wholesale market.
As for a government body controlling any part of a product, like promoting advertising, or production will be the same tantamount to catastrophe in the handling of the money.