510 S. 31st Street • P.O. Box 8736 • Camp
Hill, PA 17001-8736 • (717) 761-2740 • www.pfb.com
CONTACT: Mark O’Neill, Media Relations Director, (717) 761-2740 or e-mail
For Immediate Release: October 22, 2009
(Harrisburg) – Pennsylvania Farm Bureau (PFB) commended the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board (PMMB) for its decision to increase the Class I over-order premium price for milk by 50 cents per hundredweight to $2.65 per hundredweight for November and December 2009.
“Farmers have been struggling with lower than expected prices for the milk they produce. By increasing the premium, the PMMB recognized that quick action needed to be taken to account for the extended period of low milk prices,” said PFB President Carl T. Shaffer.
Testifying before an emergency hearing of the PMMB earlier this month, Farm Bureau made a case for the increased premium. “The dairy industry continues to be in dire straits, with the majority of farms in Pennsylvania experiencing a dramatic drop in prices received for our milk. The gross value of my milk check decreased by 37% from August 2008 to August 2009,” said PFB Vice President Richard Ebert, who is a Westmoreland County dairy farmer and chairman of PFB’s Dairy Committee.
PFB said the PMMB decisions to raise the over-order premium and to keep in place a fuel adjuster premium will be helpful as dairy farmers continue to struggle with low milk prices and historically high production costs.
“The milk price increase will not bring about an end to the dairy crisis in Pennsylvania, but the additional revenue could help farmers pay some bills and stay afloat in the hope that milk prices will recover in 2010,” added Shaffer.
Dairy farmers whose milk is produced, processed and sold in Pennsylvania for Class I (fluid milk) use directly benefit from the increased over-order premium and an additional premium based on the cost of fuel.
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is the state’s largest farm organization with a volunteer membership of
nearly 47,000 farm and rural families, representing farms of every size and commodity across Pennsylvania.
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Editor’s note: Farmers sell milk by the hundredweight or 100 pounds of milk, which is the equivalent of 11.6 gallons of milk. |
