WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2011 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks comments on a proposed rule amending the National Dairy Promotion and Research Order.
The proposed rule would modify the number of National Dairy Promotion and Research Board members in eight regions; merge Region 8 (Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee) and Region 10 (District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and Virginia); merge Region 12 (New York) and Region 13 (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont); and apportion Idaho as a separate region. The total number of domestic board members would remain the same at 36 and the total number of regions would be reduced from 13 to 12.
This modification was requested by the board. The Order provides that the board shall review the geographic distribution of milk production throughout the United States and, if warranted, shall recommend to the Secretary a reapportionment of the regions and/or modification of the number of members from the regions in order to better reflect the geographic distribution of milk production volume in the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will issue a final rule once comments have been received and considered.
The board was established under the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983, as amended, to develop and administer a coordinated program of promotion, research and nutrition education. The 38-member board is authorized to design programs to strengthen the dairy industry’s position in domestic and foreign markets. The program is financed by a mandatory 15-cent per hundredweight assessment on all milk marketed commercially and a 7.5-cent per hundredweight assessment on milk, or equivalent thereof, on dairy products imported into the United States.
The proposed rule was published in today’s Federal Register. Public comments must be submitted on or before September 14, 2011. Comments may be submitted at www.regulations.gov or mailed to Whitney A. Rick, Chief, Promotion and Research Branch, Dairy Programs, AMS, USDA, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Room 2958-S, Stop 0233, Washington, DC 20250-0233, USA. Comments should be identified with the docket number, DA-11-02, as well as the date and Federal Register page number of the proposed rule.
Copies of the proposed rule may be obtained from USDA, AMS, Dairy Programs, Room 2958-S, Washington, DC 20250-0233, USA from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. The proposed rule is also available on www.regulations.gov and USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) website at www.ams.usda.gov/dairy.
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