The Producer Review Board (PRB) will be meeting Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at 10 a.m. at the Tulare County Ag Commissioner’s office, 4437 S Laspina Street, Tulare, CA. On the agenda are some updates on the Quota Administration Program, consideration of some hardship requests, and most significantly, a proposal from PRB Board Member Frank Konyn related to follow-up of the QIP 5-year Effectiveness Survey.
At the February 5, 2024, PRB meeting, there was extensive discussion about the relationship between the quota differential, currently $1.70 per cwt. of quota milk, and how much Class I revenue is generated in the California Federal Milk Marketing Order, which Frank Konyn calculated as less than $1.00 per cwt. This discussion led to a motion being made, supported, and passed by the PRB.
From the February 9, 2024, MPC Friday Report:
“After a lot of robust discussion, a motion was made to move in the direction of changing the quota differential to be tied to California Class I revenue and eliminate the difference in quota prices caused by the RQAs. This motion passed with 9 yes votes and 3 no votes. Encouragement was given to Frank and Will to work together to understand the different approaches for calculating California Class I revenue and report back to a future meeting of the PRB. This motion represents significant concessions by both sides of the producer divide on quota. Quota holders acknowledge that quota payments should be tied to Class I revenue and non-quota producers on the PRB accepted that Class I revenue should go to quota holders. This represents a very significant step in hopefully finding a resolution to this issue which has so divided the California producer community.” Read the entire PRB report from February 9 here.
The agenda for the May 1 meeting states that a specific proposal will be made by PRB Board Member Frank Konyn for the PRB to consider. As of Friday morning, April 26, the specifics of that proposal have not been distributed. But it is likely that Frank will propose that the PRB recommend to the Secretary that a producer referendum be held to change the quota differential in the QIP to $1.00 per cwt. and eliminate the different regional quota adjusters, which would have the effect of equalizing the quota differential at $1.00 per cwt. throughout California. This proposal would be consistent with the motion the PRB adopted at their February 5 meeting.
The coming May 1 PRB meeting will be the most significant PRB meeting since the PRB meetings in 2017 that created the Quota Implementation Plan in the first place, paving the way for California to come into the Federal Milk Marketing Order system.
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Director of Regulatory and Economic Affairs
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