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Sometimes you wake up in the morning and think you don’t have much to do that day. By 8 or 9 am, you’re inundated with last-minute issues and tasks that need to be addressed immediately.
Thinking about what the New Year will bring us is the same — just for a few minutes.
Will it become a daily routine? No, the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Commission has several agendas to work on, some of which it’s already working on.
The first is handling costs at retail stores. Her two members of our staff have been dedicated to this task for over a year. It has been prioritized and we will hold a hearing on February 1st. The Board will hear testimony about research conducted by staff to determine what it costs retailers to store, display and sell regulated dairy products.
The staff used a statewide representative cross section consisting of major supermarket chains and convenience stores for the study. Staff auditors visited stores, measured refrigerated storage areas and display areas dedicated to regulated dairy products, and requested data on store salaries and checkout areas.
Since the last survey was conducted about 20 years ago, there is a desperate need for a store handling survey. His board member, Jim Van Blarcom, is responsible for driving the initiative to address concerns about the accuracy of the numbers currently in use.
If the Commission accepts recommendations by staff or others to testify at the hearing, or may develop its own cost structure based on the evidence presented at the hearing, those costs will be It replaces the current in-store processing costs of milk components. price.
Depending on the order issued by the Board of Directors, these changes may be made relatively quickly.
The second task is the cost replacement hearing, most likely in mid-March and mid-April. These hearings also include a detailed analysis of the costs associated with regulated dairy products, but in this case they are used to establish minimum wholesale prices. , usually from the staff of the Board of Directors and the Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Milk Merchants Association.
Cost exchange hearings are held annually.
As soon as a new legislative session begins, our lead and staff attorneys will begin the process of implementing regulatory changes. / Includes certain types of paperwork required of processors.
New technology and changes in accounting procedures have made this change necessary. Board staff worked closely with the leadership group of the Pennsylvania Milk Merchants Association to create the first forms of change.
Amendments to our regulations go through a regulatory review process that provides review and approval by the Office of the Attorney General, an independent Regulatory Review Board, and the House and Senate Agriculture Committees.
The most exciting thing we will be involved in is the discussion of changes to the overorder premium structure to address concerns that have been communicated over the years. I am pleased that Congress is involved in these discussions.
As my readers and others know, overordering premiums have been a source of contention among various groups within the dairy industry. I’m here.
We hope to see the planning and implementation of discussion groups, legislative hearings, and other means of developing ideas to address the issues identified by the industry over the coming months.
Last but not least, we plan to conduct a detailed empirical study of Pennsylvania’s minimum pricing structure for milk. I can’t say much at this point, as the details need to be discussed with the state procurement agencies and the respective researchers. We hope this survey will provide answers to the many questions that have been asked to us over the years about the advantages (or disadvantages) of our pricing system.
Above all, the Board and staff aim to better serve all aspects of the dairy industry through all of our activities.
PMMB is always available for questions and concerns. I can call 717-210-8244 or email chardBarge@pa.gov.
Carol Hardberger is secretary of the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Commission.
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