[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 4, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 320-321]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-157]



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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
7 CFR Part 1032

[DA-95-04]


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

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Suspension of rule.

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SUMMARY: This document suspends 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 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.

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 1, 1994, through January 31, 1995.

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: Prior document in this proceeding: Notice of 
Proposed Suspension: Issued November 21, 1994; published November 25, 
1994 (59 FR 60573).
    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 rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
This rule lessens the regulatory impact of the order on certain milk 
handlers and tends to ensure that dairy farmers will continue to have 
their milk priced under the order and thereby receive the benefits that 
accrue from such pricing.
    The Department is issuing this final rule in conformance with 
Executive Order 12866.
    This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, 
Civil Justice Reform. This rule is not intended to have a retroactive 
effect. This rule will not preempt any state or local laws, 
regulations, or policies, unless they present an irreconcilable 
conflict with this 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, [[Page 321]] provided a bill in 
equity is filed not later than 20 days after the date of the entry of 
the ruling.
    This order of suspension is issued pursuant to the provisions of 
the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act and the order regulating the 
handling of milk in the Southern Illinois-Eastern Missouri marketing 
area.
    Notice of proposed rulemaking was published in the Federal Register 
on November 25, 1994 (59 FR 60573), concerning the proposed suspension 
of a portion of the supply plant shipping requirement for Order 32. The 
public was afforded the opportunity to comment on the notice by 
submitting written data, views, and arguments by December 2, 1994. Two 
comment letters supporting the proposed suspension were received.
    After consideration of all relevant material, including the 
proposal in the notice, the comment received, and other available 
information, it is hereby found and determined that for the period of 
December 1, 1994, through January 31, 1995, the following provision of 
the order does not tend to effectuate the declared policy of the Act:
    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''.

Statement of Consideration

    This document will suspend a portion of the supply plant shipping 
requirement for a cooperative association that operates a supply plant 
under Order 32. It will 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 removes a requirement that the cooperative 
must have shipped 75 percent of its milk to pool distributing plants 
during the September through August period.
    The suspension was requested by Prairie Farms, a dairy farmer 
cooperative based in Carlinville, Illinois, which owns and operates 
four fluid milk processing plants and a cultured product/supply plant 
regulated under the Southern Illinois-Eastern Missouri Federal milk 
order. These plants are supplied by Prairie Farm's own member dairy 
farmers and balanced by four cooperative associations, two of which 
operate supply plants.
    Prairie Farms indicates that for recent months its producer milk 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.
    Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., and Wisconsin Dairies, a cooperative 
which operates an Order 32 supply plant located in Waukon, Iowa, filed 
letters supporting the proposed suspension.
    Wisconsin Dairies indicates that it has been supplying milk to 
Prairie Farms from the Waukon plant for 27 years. The cooperative 
states that shipments to Prairie Farms in October 1994 were less than 
55 percent of plant receipts, compared to 66 percent during October of 
1993. It states that it will be impossible for it to ship the required 
40 percent in December and 50 percent in January without costly 
backhauls that would be difficult to justify.
    The suspension request should be granted. It will continue to 
require 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 simply to meet the supply plant shipping requirement.
    It is hereby found and determined that thirty days' notice of the 
effective date hereof is impractical, unnecessary, and contrary to the 
public interest in that:
    (a) The suspension is necessary to reflect current marketing 
conditions and to assure orderly marketing conditions in the marketing 
area;
    (b) This suspension does not require of persons affected 
substantial or extensive preparation prior to the effective date; and
    (c) Notice of proposed rulemaking was given to interested parties, 
and they were afforded opportunity to file written data, views, or 
arguments concerning this suspension.
    Therefore, good cause exists for making this order effective less 
than 30 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1032

    Milk marketing orders.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, Title 7, Part 1032, is 
amended as follows:

PART 1032--MILK IN THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS-EASTERN MISSOURI MARKETING 
AREA

    1. 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.


Sec. 1032.7  [Suspended in part]

    2. 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'' are suspended for the period of December 1, 1994, through 
January 31, 1995.

    Dated: December 23, 1994
Patricia Jensen,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Marketing and Regulatory Programs.
[FR Doc. 95-157 Filed 1-3-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P