The briefs are in, and now it’s up to USDA to consider the arguments and craft a proposed modernization for Federal Milk Marketing Orders, which govern milk pricing. NMPF economists Peter Vitaliano and Stephen Cain said they’re confident in the strength of NMPF’s proposals in a Dairy Defined Podcast released today. 

“If you were to read through our brief, I think you'd be struck by the fact that it is an integrated, well-reasoned, constructive proposal for doing some long overdue maintenance on the federal order program to position it for many more years of effective operation,” said Vitaliano, vice president for economic policy and market research at NMPF. “We're very confident that when we see what USDA comes up with in a recommended decision in early July, we're very confident that we've made a good enough case, that a lot of it will be adopted.”