Friday, April 30, 2021 CapitalPress.com 7 Dairy Subscribe to our weekly dairy or livestock email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters National Milk seeking emergency pricing reform By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press The National Milk Producers Federation will request an emer- gency USDA hearing on changing the Class I fl uid milk price mover in federal marketing orders. The pandemic uncovered an unexpected fl aw in the mover, and National Milk’s board of directors voted Friday to request a hearing. The mover sets the Class I base price to which a location diff eren- tial is added. The calculation for the mover was changed in 2019 to provide better risk management for fl uid milk processors. But that change proved costly to dairy farmers in the pandemic’s wildly abnormal markets. The previous mover was cal- culated as the “higher of” the advance Class III and Class IV prices. It was changed to the aver- age of Class III and Class IV plus 74 cents per hundredweight, which refl ected the average diff er- ence of the Class III and Class IV prices and the higher of the two. The change was meant to be revenue-neutral, with equity among market participants a stated goal. It functioned as such until July 2020. Fueled by gov- ernment purchases for food boxes, cheese and Class III milk prices soared. The signifi cant gap between Class III and Class IV prices resulted in an average price lower than what the previous “higher of” calculation would have been. Thus the Class I mover was lower than what it would have been under the previous mover, and dairy farmers lost money on Class I milk. Revenue from that milk is shared in federal order pools. National Milk estimates dairy farmers lost more than $725 mil- lion compared with the previous mover. Its proposal would help recoup the lost revenue and ensure that neither farmers nor pro- cessors are disproportionately harmed by future signifi cant price disruptions. The proposal would modify the current Class I mover by adjusting the 74 cent amount added to the average of the Class III and Class IV price every two years based on conditions over the previous 24 months, with the current mover remaining the fl oor. “As the COVID-19 experi- ence has shown, market stresses can shift the mover in ways that affect dairy farmers much more than processors. This was not the intent of the Class I mover formula negotiated within the industry,” Randy Mooney, a dairy farmer and chairman of National Milk’s board of direc- tors, said in a press release. “Dairy farmers were pleased with the previous method of deter- mining Class I prices and had no need to change it, but we tried to accommodate the concerns of fl uid processors for better risk manage- ment,” he said. “Unfortunately, the severe imbalances we’ve seen in the past year plainly show that a modifi ed approach is necessary. We will urge USDA to adopt our plan to restore equity and create more orderly mar- keting conditions,” he said. National Milk’s request will be to limit the hearing specifi cally to proposed changes to the mover, after which USDA would have 30 days to issue an action plan that would determine whether USDA would act on an emergency basis. Fire damages Oregon creamery Idaho student team wins prestigious dairy competition By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN Capital Press By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press A student team from the University of Idaho took top honors at the 2021 North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge held April 14-16. The students are from the university’s College of Agri- cultural and Life Sciences Department of Animal, Vet- erinary and Food Sciences. The team won a fi rst- place platinum award in the competition. The competition pre- sented students with an applied dairy management challenge. Teams analyzed a commercial farm to develop a comprehensive program including recommendations for nutrition, reproduction, milking procedures, animal health, housing and fi nancial management. Each team of four stu- dents used its classroom education to consult with dairy operators to improve their businesses. Panels of dairy producers, veterinari- ans, farm-fi nance specialists and agribusiness profession- als judged the student teams’ eff orts. University of Idaho dairy science professor Amin Ahmadzadeh coached the winning team. “The strength of the University of Idaho From left, Nicole Poxleitner, Taylor Stephenson, Sadie Hurley and Taythen Larson of the University of Idaho won the annual Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge. team and their presentation was in recognizing some of the issues related to the host dairy farm, which were agreeable, in most part, with judges’ view,” he said. “They also identifi ed sev- eral great opportunities for the dairy, which could bring profi t to the dairy in a rea- sonable amount of time,” he said. The team was able to substantiate and back up its fi ndings with graphs, data and photos, he said. “The students’ enthusi- asm and positive attitude to be a part of this valuable educational experience was the icing on the cake,” he said. The team included pre-veterinary science major Taythen Larson of Albion, dairy science major Nicole Poxleitner of Cottonwood, animal science-produc- tion major Taylor Stephen- son of Kuna and animal science-production major Sadie Hurley of Filer. The team members won $200 scholarships and plaques. The team analyzed the Wall-Stone Holsteins dairy of De Soto, Wis. The free- stall dairy operation milks 870 cows with 22 full-time employees. Twenty-six universi- ties, including three teams from Canada, in fi ve sep- arate brackets participated in the 2021 virtual Dairy Challenge. Feeling like you paid too much in taxes this year? Contact your financial advisor today to learn about investing strategies that could benefit you. Luke Forristall edwardjones.com Financial Advisor Member SIPC 365 Warner Milne Rd Suite 204 Oregon City, OR 97045-4073 503-303-5057 S231770-1 McMINNVILLE, Ore. — Firefi ght- ers brought a three-alarm fi re under control April 20 at the Organic Valley Creamery in McMinnville. The structural damage is severe, offi cials say, but there were no injuries to employees or fi rst responders. The cause of the fi re is unknown. The fi re started around 2 p.m. in the creamery’s warehouse at 700 North Highway 99 West. Offi cials told the Capital Press the fi re was so big that units from Salem, Willam- ina, Lafayette, Carlton, Yamhill, Amity and Tualatin were called to help. At 2:30 p.m., the McMinnville Fire Department asked residents within a quar- ter-mile radius of the creamery to evacu- ate and take shelter as a precaution against refrigerant leaks. At 7:35 p.m., the depart- ment lifted the order. Firefi ghters were still working on the prop- erty April 21. Ann Hanifan, operations chief of the McMinnville Fire Department, told the Capital Press she had just returned from the site, where damage was “serious” and the fi re is contained but “still smoldering.” “(The site) is fairly damaged,” Hanifan said. “We were able to stop (the fi re) from taking out a portion of the building, but they’ll have to do some sort of major restruc- turing of the place.” Mark Pfeiff er, Organic Valley’s vice pres- ident of internal operations, said the scale of damage is “quite devastating.” Pfeiff er estimated Organic Valley has spent up to $23 million since 2016 renovat- ing the McMinnville plant. After survey- Courtesy of Amy Hanifan/McMinnville Fire Department Firefi ghters battle the fl ames Tuesday at the Organic Valley Creamery in Mc- Minnville, Ore. ing the damage, Pfeiff er said he believes the smaller 2,500-square-foot dryer facility sur- vived but the larger 25,000-square-foot main plant was a total loss. Pfeiff er said he doesn’t know yet whether the cooperative will rebuild the facility or move elsewhere. “Honestly, I can’t speculate on that yet,” he said. “I’m kind of reeling.” Pre-fi re, the facility handled about 500,000 pounds of milk daily from 42 area farms. Pfeiff er said in the short term, the coopera- tive is trying to divert milk to its “extensive network of co-manufacturing partners” so that farmers won’t have to dump milk. In the longer term, Pfeiff er said, the plan is not yet clear. In a statement April 20, Organic Valley said how the fi re started is still unknown. Celebrate your FFA graduate! Capital Press is giving you the opportunity to honor your FFA senior with an affordable ad that will run in the June 11th edition. These ads will be published in a special keepsake edition to celebrate our FFA seniors in the Northwest. 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