Milk in the Southern Illinois-Eastern Missouri Marketing Area; Proposed Suspension of Certain Provisions of the Order

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

7 CFR Part 1032

[DA-95-04]

Milk in the Southern Illinois-Eastern Missouri Marketing Area;

Proposed Suspension of Certain Provisions of the Order

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Proposed suspension of rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This document invites written comments on a proposal to

suspend a portion of the supply plant shipping requirement of the

Southern Illinois-Eastern Missouri Federal milk marketing order (Order

32) for the months of December 1994 and January 1995. The proposal was

submitted by Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc., which contends the suspension

is necessary to ensure that producers historically associated with

Order 32 will continue to have their milk pooled under the order

without having to move milk uneconomically.

DATES: Comments are due no later than December 2, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Comments (two copies) should be filed with the USDA/AMS/

Dairy Division, Order Formulation Branch, Room 2971, South Building,

P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-6456.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nicholas Memoli, Marketing Specialist,

USDA/AMS/Dairy Division, Order Formulation Branch, Room 2971, South

Building, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-6456, (202) 690-1932.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.

601-612) requires the Agency to examine the impact of a proposed rule

on small entities. Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), the Administrator of

the Agricultural Marketing Service has certified that this proposed

rule would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities. This rule would lessen the regulatory impact

of the order on certain milk handlers and would tend to ensure that

dairy farmers would continue to have their milk priced under the order

and thereby receive the benefits that accrue from such pricing.

The Department is issuing this proposed rule in conformance with

Executive Order 12866.

This proposed rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778,

Civil Justice Reform. This rule is not intended to have a retroactive

effect. If adopted, this proposed rule will not preempt any state or

local laws, regulations, or policies, unless they present an

irreconcilable conflict with the rule.

The Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as amended (7

U.S.C. 601-674), provides that administrative proceedings must be

exhausted before parties may file suit in court. Under section

608c(15)(A) of the Act, any handler subject to an order may file with

the Secretary a petition stating that the order, any provisions of the

order, or any obligation imposed in connection with the order is not in

accordance with law and request a modification of an order or to be

exempted from the order. A handler is afforded the opportunity for a

hearing on the petition. After a hearing, the Secretary would rule on

the petition. The Act provides that the district court of the United

States in any district in which the handler is an inhabitant, or has

its principal place of business, has jurisdiction in equity to review

the Secretary's ruling on the petition, provided a bill in equity is

filed not later than 20 days after the date of the entry of the ruling.

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the provisions of the

Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act, the suspension of the following

provision of the order regulating the handling of milk in the Southern

Illinois-Eastern Missouri marketing area is being considered for the

period of December 1, 1994, through January 31, 1995:

In Sec. 1032.7(b), the words ``and at least 75 percent of the total

producer milk marketed in that 12-month period by such cooperative

association was delivered'' and the words ``and physically received

at''.

All persons who want to submit written data, views or arguments

about the proposed suspension should send two copies of their views to

the USDA/AMS/Dairy Division, Order Formulation Branch, Room 2971, South

Building, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-6456, by the 7th day

after publication of this notice in the Federal Register. The period

for filing comments is limited to 7 days because a longer period would

not provide the time needed to complete the required procedures before

the requested suspension is to be effective.

All written submissions made pursuant to this notice will be made

available for public inspection in the Dairy Division during regular

business hours (7 CFR 1.27(b)).

Statement of Consideration

The proposed action would suspend a portion of the supply plant

shipping requirement for a cooperative association that operates a

supply plant under Order 32. It would permit a supply plant operated by

a cooperative association to qualify as a pool plant if the cooperative

shipped 25 percent of the plant's total producer receipts to pool

distributing plants during the month and milk from the plant was

delivered to a pool distributing plant during each of the immediately

preceding months of September through August. It would remove a

requirement that the cooperative must have shipped 75 percent of its

milk to pool distributing plants during the September through August

period.

According to Prairie Farms, a dairy farmer cooperative based in

Carlinville, Illinois, it owns and operates six fluid milk processing

plants and five manufacturing plants. Prairie Farms states that four of

the six fluid milk processing plants, as well as a cultured product/

supply plant, are regulated under the Southern Illinois-Eastern

Missouri Federal milk order. It states that these plants are supplied

by its own member dairy farmers and balanced by four cooperative

associations, two of which operate supply plants.

Prairie Farms indicates that its producer milk for recent months at

its plants is about 12 to 14 percent higher than the same period in

1993 from approximately the same number of producers. It states that

the increased production from its members--primarily due to improved

growing conditions that resulted in an abundant supply of high quality

feed--has caused it to reduce purchases from other cooperative

associations. As a result, it states that two pool supply plants

operated by the cooperative associations barely met the shipping

requirements for the month of October. Prairie Farms anticipates that a

similar situation will occur in November and expects the problem to

worsen in the months of December 1994 and January 1995.

Prairie Farms states that the proposed suspension would allow Order

32 supply plants to serve the market, but at a level that should reduce

or eliminate the need to make expensive and inefficient movements of

milk to meet the supply plant shipping requirement. Accordingly, it may

be appropriate to suspend the aforesaid provisions from December 1,

1994, through January 31, 1995.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1032

Milk marketing orders.

The authority citation for 7 CFR Part 1032 continues to read as

follows:

Authority: Secs. 1-19, 48 Stat 31, as amended; 7 U.S.C. 601-674.

Dated: November 21, 1994.

Lon Hatamiya,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 94-29089 Filed 11-23-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-02-P