Milk payment systems in the United States

Abstract

Payment for milk in the United States is primarily controlled by the federal government. Federal Milk Marketing Orders have been in place for a century, and continue to dominate the payment for milk in the United States. The last major revision of the process was implemented in January 2000, and this system still controls payment in 60% of the milk in the United States. Milk is so essential to health that it was controlled to ensure an adequate supply of fresh milk. Essential to ensuring an adequate supply of fresh milk, producer milk pricing processes were developed to help producers survive financially. The paper describes the history and current role of milk marketing orders in the US.