Florida Reps. Cammack, Lawson Lead Letter To USDA Sec. Vilsack Regarding Florida Dairy Inequities During COVID Pandemic

GAINESVILLE, FL – Today, Rep. Kat Cammack (FL-03) and Rep. Al Lawson (FL-05) led a letter with fellow Florida congressional delegation members to Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack regarding inequities facing Florida dairies under the current Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) as they recover from market disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The letter, which explains that Florida's dairies cannot truly recover from the unprecedented losses sustained over the last year and a half, highlights the failures of the Class I mover, which ultimately resulted in Florida's dairy farmers dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of fluid milk. Florida dairy producers incurred losses upwards of $35 billion from January 2020 through February 2021. The Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program (PMVAP) intended to compensate producers for lost products, however, has not equitably assisted Florida producers who primarily produce perishable fluid products with short shelf lives.

"The pandemic shuttered businesses, schools, and supply chains that relied heavily on Florida dairies, forcing milk producers to waste valuable gallons," said Rep. Cammack. "Our state predominantly is home to Class I producers—those producing milk, instead of cheese, yogurt, butter, or powder—and should not be limited to reimbursement under PMVAP based on size or volume. As members of the House Agriculture Committee, Congressman Lawson and I will not stop in leading the effort to ensure Florida's dairy farmers recover from these losses."

"The dairy industry has been vital to our local economies, and it is of the utmost importance that we support our hardworking farmers. Unfortunately, the existing rules and regulations under PMVAP does not go far enough to ensure Florida dairy farmers recover from their unprecedented losses due to COVID-19," said Congressman Al Lawson. "We must address these inequities during this critical time of economic recovery, and I am committed to fighting for the hardworking farmers existing legislation has left behind."

Reps. Cammack and Lawson will continue to address the ongoing issues with the Class I mover formula to ensure equity for Florida producers moving forward.

Signers of the letter include Florida Reps. Cammack, Lawson, Bilirakis, Crist, Demings, Deutch, Diaz-Balart, Donalds, Dunn, Franklin, Gimenez, Murphy, Posey, Rutherford, Salazar, Soto, Steube, Waltz, Wasserman Schultz, and Wilson.

The full text of the letter may be found below.

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Dear Secretary Vilsack:

We write to you to call attention to the inequities facing Florida dairies under the current Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) as they recover from market disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dairies in our state of Florida suffered from particularly high losses due to the failure of the Class I mover to work as originally intended. Despite the department’s announcement of the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program (PMVAP) to come to the relief of our nation’s dairies, the program as it stands will unfortunately not go far enough to ensure Florida’s dairy farmers can truly recover from these unprecedented losses.

Florida is uniquely situated as an almost exclusively Class I fluid market, producing a perishable product with a limited shelf life. As you know, the 2018 Farm Bill changed the Class I mover calculation for fluid milk to one based on an average of the Class III (cheese) and IV (butter and powder) price. This change, which went into effect in 2019, was intended to be revenue-neutral for dairy farmers.

Despite the best efforts to ensure a new formula that works for our nation’s fluid milk producers, the events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately undermined the formula’s revenue neutrality. With the pandemic hampering our supply chains and forcing schools and businesses to temporarily close, Florida’s dairy farmers were forced to dump hundreds of thousands of gallons of fluid milk. While The Farmers to Families Food Box Program attempted to provide relief to dairy farmers among other producers, the program heavily favored purchasing of cheese (Class III). This in turn helped create an even greater imbalance in dairy sales and a significantly lower Class I mover price. The failure of the Class I mover to work successfully for Florida dairies led our state’s farmers to incur losses at upwards of $35 billion from January 2020 through February 2021.

We are encouraged by USDA’s recent work to implement the PMVAP to compensate producers, however we are disappointed to see that the program does not go far enough to provide relief for our dairies in Florida who, thanks to the Class I mover change, were particularly hard hit. The program limits reimbursements to five million pounds—or just over 200 cows—per producers. Consequently, many of our state’s dairies will only be able to recoup a small portion of their overall losses from what was an unprecedented year.

Our nation’s dairy farmers deserve parity regardless of their size, geographic location, or what they produce. While we look forward to addressing the larger issues with the Class I mover formula, to ensure equity for our dairy producers in Florida in the short term, we plan to work to secure additional funding for the PMVAP to fully reimburse all dairy farmers for this loss and in a manner that does not impose limitations based on size or volume. In that context, we ask that USDA work with us to support this effort. As Members of Congress, we stand ready and willing to work with your department to ensure that the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program is funded in a manner that meets the needs of all of our dairy farmers.