COMPACT COMMISSION RELEASES $3,408,199.15 FOR FEBRUARY 2001; FEDERAL PRICE SPIKE RESULTS IN ZERO POOL PAYMENT FOR JANUARY, 2001; COMMISSION RELEASES $3,465,368.40 FOR DECEMBER 2000

 

POOL PAYMENTS FOR 2000 TOTAL $60,351,995.58; TOTAL PAYMENTS TO DATE (JULY ’97 – FEBRUARY 2001) EQUAL $140,280,635.69

For Immediate Release:  March 28, 2001                           Contact:  Daniel Smith, Executive Director

 

 

MONTPELIER, VT --  The Northeast Dairy Compact Commission has released $3,408,199.15 to the approximately 4000 dairy farmers in the New England milkshed for February, 2001 milk shipments.   Farmers received $0.68 per hundred pounds of milk shipped into the New England market for this payment.

 

A spike in the federally regulated price resulted in a zero pool payment for January, 2001; for December, 2000, the Commission released a total pool payment of  $3,465,351.40, with producers receiving $0.65 per hundred pounds of milk shipped into the marketplace.

 

Tracking operation of the federal Milk Market Order Program, the Compact Commission regulates the price paid by milk processors for all fluid or beverage milk marketed in the six-state New England marketplace.  The charged amount to processors under the Compact price regulation is calculated as the difference between $16.94 per hundred pounds and the monthly price established for Class I or fluid milk under the federal program.  For February, 2001, this formula resulted in a Compact price regulation “over-order” charge of $1.75 per hundred pounds.

 

The over-order charge for December, 2000 was a comparable $1.56 per hundredweight.  In between, for January, 2001, the federally established Class I price rose above $16.94, resulting in a zero over-order charge for January sales, and consequently a zero pool payment to farmers.

 

The Commission paid out $60,351,995.58 in total pool payments during 2000.  On average, farmers received $0.91 per hundredweight of production for the year.  This compared with a total pool payment of $33,648,738.45 for 1999 and $13,258,602.14 for 1998.  In total, since inception of the compact price regulation in July, 1997, the Commission has paid out $140,280,635.69.

 

Consistent with other provisions of the price regulation, through February 2001, the Supply Management Assessment Refund Program has received funding representing seven monthly installment payments from the pool.  This brings the total held in this reserve to about $3.200,000.00.  (The zero pool payment for January, 2001 also resulted in zero funding for the program for this month.)  The Program fund will continue to build through June, 2001.  The Commission will then begin the procedure for disbursing these funds to eligible producers, or those who can document that they did not increase production by more than one percent for the program period.

 

As occurs each month, amounts were also placed in reserve in December, 2000 and February, 2001 for reimbursement to the Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Programs and the School Food Programs.