Dairy Farmers of America, the nation’s largest dairy co-op, has ended its membership in the International Dairy Foods Association, demonstrating a split between dairy processors and milk producers over proposals to update the Federal Milk Marketing Orders.
DFA has been a member of both the National Milk Producers Federation, which directly represents farmers and their co-operatives, and IDFA, which started out representing dairy processors but in recent years has said it wants to represent the entire dairy industry.
Both NMPF and IDFA are in agreement that the FMMOs should be updated, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, former CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, urged the two groups to get together on a consensus proposal. But the two organizations failed to reach agreement and submitted separate proposals to USDA.
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