Impact of Dairy Cooperatives on Federal Order Milk Markets

Excerpts from the report: Federal milk orders--now more than 80 of them altogether--cover some 190,000 dairymen, regulate almost half of the milk sold annually by dairy farmers to plants and dealers in the United States, and affect markets containing nearly three-fourths of the urban population of our country. The need for these Federal orders grew out of the depression of the early 30' s when most major milk markets became completely disorganized. In this period of low prices, unrest, and strikes, the orderly flow of milk was disrupted. State attempts at milk control tended to break down because of the large amount of milk moving in interstate commerce. Dairy cooperatives have been largely responsible in initiating action for obtaining orders and seeing that they work effectively. To gain a better understanding of the role currently taken by farmer-owned dairy organizations operating in Federally regulated marketing areas, Farmer Cooperative Service (FCS) in 1961 obtained information from market administrators concerning all dairy cooperatives in the 80 Federal order markets existing at that time. This resulting report is part of a larger continuing study of pooling practices used by dairy cooperatives conducted by FCS in cooperation with the Agricultural Marketing Service and the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.