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Between milk pricing and marketing and maintaining a secure safety net, the dairy industry always has its fair share of challenges. As those challenges evolve, so must strong policy to keep dairy farmers in Ohio and across the country viable. To help keep up with industry trends and stay ahead of the needs of milk producers, Ohio Farm Bureau created the Ohio Dairy Action Group, consisting of over 50 dairy farmers of all sizes, types and geographical locations.

“The need for a group like this was led by the very complicated system that dairy farmers deal with,” said Brandon Kern, senior director of state and national policy with Ohio Farm Bureau. “The first phase of creating this group was an educational piece because we wanted to make sure that dairy producers in Ohio were kept up to date with all of the issues that impact their industry.”

Group members have heard from economists and other dairy industry experts to analyze current market conditions, explain the milk price formula and get into the details of how dairy products get priced in the marketplace.

The second aspect of the group is taking the marketing insights and using Farm Bureau policy to advocate for the needs of dairy farmers to representatives in Congress.

Since its creation in 2019, the Ohio Dairy Action Group has made tremendous progress in getting organized and prepared to discuss the needs of milk producers, particularly as talks begin to ramp up inside the beltway and plans for writing the next farm bill begin, according to Kern.

“There was a lot of volatility in the dairy sector during the pandemic,” Kern said. “We have spent a great deal of time doing policy development and finding recommendations for improving the pricing mechanism around dairy, so part of this working group’s goal is to share those ideas with lawmakers to find a workable solution for Ohio dairy farmers moving forward.”