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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Dairy producers approved USDA’s proposed amendments to all 11 Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMOs). The referendum is complete: most changes took effect June 1, 2025, and revised skim milk composition factors followed on December 1, 2025.
Who was eligible to vote on the USDA milk marketing order update?
Eligibility was based on milk pooled under an FMMO during January 2024, the representative month for the referendum. USDA’s final-decision FAQ also says voters had to remain active dairy producers. The final rule describes eligible producers as those engaged in producing milk for sale in the marketing area of the relevant order during that period. USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) mailed ballots to eligible independent producers and qualified cooperative associations. (USDA AMS referendum FAQ; Federal Register final rule)
For the ballot announced in November 2024, ballots had to be postmarked by December 31, 2024, and received by January 15, 2025, to count. AMS held a separate referendum for each order. An order needed approval from at least two-thirds of producers voting or from producers representing at least two-thirds of the milk volume represented in the vote. USDA’s FAQ said an order that failed to meet the threshold would proceed to termination. (USDA AMS final-decision announcement; USDA AMS referendum FAQ)
Did dairy farmers approve the Federal Milk Marketing Order changes?
Yes. USDA reported that all 11 orders met the approval threshold. In the final rule, AMS stated, “The referendum period ending December 31, 2024, confirmed support for the proposed amendments in all 11 FMMOs.” (Federal Register final rule)
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This was a vote on amendments to the pricing formulas in the existing orders, not a referendum on whether the FMMO system should exist. The proceeding began after dairy-industry stakeholders requested a review of uniform pricing formulas. AMS held a national hearing in Carmel, Indiana, from August 23, 2023, through January 30, 2024. USDA considered evidence on 21 proposals, issued a recommended decision on July 1, 2024, and opened a 60-day comment period when that decision was published in the Federal Register on July 15. USDA said it reviewed 128 comments before issuing its final decision on November 12, 2024. (USDA AMS final-decision announcement; USDA AMS referendum FAQ)
What is a Federal Milk Marketing Order?
A Federal Milk Marketing Order is a federal system that sets milk-pricing provisions for a defined marketing area. The amendments at issue changed common pricing formulas and related provisions across the 11 orders. They do not, by themselves, determine what any particular farm receives: an individual farm’s financial result depends on its milk, marketing arrangements, location, and other factors not established by the referendum result.
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What changed in the milk pricing formulas?
The final rule changed several formula inputs and pricing provisions. The table summarizes the principal before-and-after changes; the new values are those announced by USDA in 2025. (USDA AMS final-rule announcement)
| Element | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Skim milk composition factors | Prior factors; specific prior values are not stated in the USDA announcement cited here. | 3.3% true protein, 6.0% other solids, and 9.3% nonfat solids. |
| Cheese survey inputs | Included 500-pound barrel cheddar cheese prices in the Dairy Product Mandatory Reporting Program survey. | 500-pound barrel cheddar cheese prices removed from the survey. |
| Manufacturing allowances | Prior allowance values; specific prior values are not stated in the USDA announcement cited here. | $0.2519 per pound for cheese, $0.2272 for butter, $0.2393 for nonfat dry milk, and $0.2668 for dry whey. |
| Butterfat recovery factor | Prior factor; specific prior value is not stated in the USDA announcement cited here. | 91%. |
| Class I skim milk formula | Did not use the higher of the advanced Class III or Class IV skim milk prices as its base formula. | Returns to the higher of the advanced Class III or Class IV skim milk prices for the month; adds an adjustment for extended shelf-life Class I products. |
| Class I differentials | Prior location differentials. | Values updated to reflect increased costs of servicing the Class I market, including limited county-specific changes. |
The final decision differed from USDA’s recommended decision in several respects: it shortened the delay before composition factors took effect from 12 months to six months, added a $0.0015 marketing-cost factor to all make allowances, modified the nonfat dry milk make-allowance methodology, and made limited county-specific Class I differential changes. (USDA AMS final-decision announcement; USDA AMS final-rule announcement)
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When did the new FMMO pricing rules take effect?
The final rule’s general effective date was June 1, 2025. The skim milk composition-factor amendments had a later implementation date of December 1, 2025. (USDA AMS final-rule announcement; Federal Register final rule)
AMS’s hearing page lists a “Final Rule – correcting amendment” dated September 18, 2026. The listing alone does not describe the correction’s substance. For a present-day question about exact regulatory wording or technical effects, consult the correction and the current materials on the AMS hearing page; the listing does not establish a change to the referendum outcome or the implementation dates above.
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