It also applies to out-of-state milk and those violators could be fined $10,000.
There have been three previous attempts to interfere with free-market milk pricing in the state, some of them including a better deal for dairy farmers, some not.
This bill promises “to clarify the discretionary authority of the Milk Commission to set an equitable minimum price that milk handlers must pay to milk producers for milk processed and manufactured within the state.”
The minimum price must “provide for a reasonable economic return to dairy producers”.
There are no provisions in the bill to restrain production – as there is with Canada’s dairy quotas – and there is no approach to determine a “reasonable cost of production” as in Canada.
