Seniors! CELEBRATING OUR
Pages 8 - 9 of the Second Section!
DAIRY ST R
Volume 23, No. 6
Dairy groups unveil Class III Plus proposal Plan would create pricing reform for FMMO
May 8, 2021
“All dairy, all the time”™
“I’m very optimistic for the future.” – Cliff Thompson
Puzzle pieces t together for Thompson expansion
By Jennifer coyne
krista.k@dairystar.com
Four Midwest dairy farmer organizations are proposing a change to the Federal Milk Marketing Order pricing formula. In a press conference April 27, the Dairy Business Association, Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, Minnesota Milk Producers Association and Nebraska State Dairy Association unveiled the Class III Plus – a reform proposal for FMMO, specically targeting uid milk pricing. “We’re tying the ultimate price of Class I to what the price of Class III is, with Class III becoming the primary mover of Class I,” said John Holevoet, director of government affairs at DBA. “Both class prices will still exist but in a linear relationship that is more predictable and stable.” The proposal would revise how Class I is calculated in the FMMO formula. In short, the Class I skim milk price would be calculated as the Class III skim milk price plus the Class I skim milk price adjuster. Using the average of the monthly differences between the higher of Class III and Class IV skim milk prices plus the Class III skim milk price during the prior 36 months of August through July will result in the adjuster. It is intended for the United States Department of Agriculture to publish a revised adjuster each September for the upcoming year. To facilitate a quick move toward revenue-neutrality after the pandemic, the Class I skim milk price adjuster will not be lower than $0.36 per hundredweight for 2021-25. The proposal would also replace advanced pricing with announced prices. This shift may reduce the likelihood of depooling and negative producer price differentials. “The pandemic brought to light what could happen with milk prices. It discovered areas that needed improvement,” said Wisconsin dairy farmer and DBA President Amy Penterman. “Hopefully this will level Turn to PRICING | Page 5
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Mitch (le�) and Cliff Thompson stand in the freestall barn at the farm they recently bought to expand their dairy, Thompson Family Dairy, near Lewiston, Minnesota. The Thompsons now milk 800 cows on two farm sites.
One farm family leaving Winona County meant opportunity for another By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
LEWISTON, Minn. – More pieces of the Thompson Family Farm puzzle have t in place. “I’m very optimistic for the future,” Cliff Thompson said. “It’s really awesome to see and know that Thompson Family Dairy is not dying. People say in dairying you’re either growing or dying. We’re growing. This piece of the puzzle fell in place.” The Thompsons – Cliff and his wife, Cindy, along with their son and daughter-in-law, Mitch and Hilary – bought a neighboring dairy farm April 8, expanding their dairy to milking 800 cows on two farm sites near Lewiston; however, the acquisition came at the loss of neighboring dairy farmers and friends, Parker and Katherine Byington, moving out of state. “They were the best neighbors you could ask for,” Mitch said. “It’s a double-edged sword because I really hate to see great neighbors leave, but it’s a good opportunity for us.” Likewise, the Byingtons enjoyed having the Thompsons as their neighbors before they moved West with over 200 of their cows to pursue buying a larger dairy farm closer to family. “We have enjoyed doing business with the Thompsons
from the moment we arrived to Lewiston,” said Parker Byington about his family who moved to the area from Washington in 2015. “They were extremely good to us not only in a business way but in a neighbor way. They took care of us.” Expansion has been on the Thompsons’ minds since Mitch started his dairy farming career on the family farm after graduating from high school in 2004. Their original dairy site sits in a valley without much room to add on to buildings or build new ones. “We’ve always talked about having more cows,” Mitch said. “But we had to gure out how do we get more and how can we feasibly afford to do it with needing to build a different facility somewhere else to house more cows and more land to do it.” So, when the Byingtons approached the Thompsons in December 2020 about buying their dairy, it made the pieces of the Thompsons’ dairy expansion puzzle fall into place. “At rst we asked if we could do it or should we do it,” Mitch said But it did not take long for the family to be on board. “It was almost like how do you not do it,” Cliff said. “You wouldn’t want to drive by the rest of your life and say we should have bought it.” Turn to THOMPSONS | Page 6