Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Public Forums on Quota Differential Change Wrap Up
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) held three public forums in the past 10 days to explain the upcoming...
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Quota News
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Jul 12
- 1 min
CDFA Announces Public Forums and Hearing Related to Proposed Changes to Quota Implementation Plan
As readers of this weekly report are well aware of, I have written extensively about the Quota Implementation Plan (QIP) since...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Jun 7
- 2 min
CDFA to Hold Producer Referendum on Quota
As I reported last month, the Producer Review Board (PRB) has been reviewing the Class I revenue generated into the California Federal...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- May 3
- 6 min
Producer Review Board Recommends Referendum to Change Quota Differential to $1.00 per cwt.
On May 1, 2024, the Producer Review Board (PRB) held a meeting in Tulare. There were 12 Board members and 2 voting alternate Board...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Feb 9
- 6 min
A Very Significant Producer Review Board Meeting This Week
Anyone following the California dairy producer community over the past number of years realizes that the issue of quota has been – and...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Nov 17, 2023
- 4 min
PRB Has Another Meeting; Votes to Recommend Referendum on QIP Termination Petition
At 11:15 a.m., Producer Review Board (PRB) chairman Art Van Beek called the November 17, 2023 meeting to order. The venue was the...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Nov 3, 2023
- 5 min
Producer Review Board Has Another Meeting (And Another One is Planned in Less Than Three Weeks)
Back in the day, serving on the Producer Review Board (PRB) was easy duty. One meeting a year to talk about the pooling budget, maybe a...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Oct 6, 2023
- 2 min
The Producer Review Board Recommends Adjustment to QIP Assessment
The Producer Review Board (PRB) has been wrestling with the challenge of finding the correct assessment rate to fund payments to ...
Milk Producers Council
- Sep 22, 2023
- 1 min
PRB Meeting on Assesment Oct 2; Petition for Referendum to Terminate QIP Meets Signature Threshold
The Producer Review Board will hold its next meeting on October 2, 2023, 10 a.m. There will be no in-person option for this meeting and...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Aug 4, 2023
- 3 min
The Producer Review Board Holds a Meeting
On Monday, July 31, the Producer Review Board (PRB) held an in-person meeting at the Stanislaus County Ag Commissioner’s complex.
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- May 26, 2023
- 4 min
The Producer Review Board had a Meeting
On May 25, ten members of the Producer Review Board (PRB) got together with California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) staff...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Oct 7, 2022
- 2 min
The Producer Review Board has a Meeting
On Monday, October 3, the Producer Review Board (PRB) met in Modesto and tackled a significant agenda. Normally approving the minutes...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Jun 10, 2022
- 2 min
Producer Review Board Update
The Producer Review Board (PRB) met this week for the first time since August of 2020. There were a number of business items that...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Jul 2, 2021
- 1 min
Referendum to Sunset Quota Program Fails
Late this afternoon, the California Department of Food Agriculture (CDFA) announced that the referendum proposing to sunset the Quota...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Apr 2, 2021
- 3 min
California's Quota Has Been 60-plus Years of Compromise
Courtesy of Hoard's Dairyman Published March 2021 Edition Special by Geoff Vanden Heuvel In the 1960s – at the urging of producers – a...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Mar 12, 2021
- 1 min
MPC Remains Committed to Providing Neutral, Timely Coverage on Quota Referendum
As can be imagined, when it is decision time on a controversial issue, passions can be intense. There is a mailing by one of the sides in...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Mar 6, 2021
- 3 min
Quota Referendum Ballots Mailed Out This Week
On March 4, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) mailed ballots to all eligible California dairy producers, giving...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Feb 27, 2021
- 4 min
Insight Into Upcoming Producer Referendum
There was some news this week on the upcoming referendum on the Quota Sunset Proposal. The United Dairy Families of California (UDFC)...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Jan 30, 2021
- 3 min
Quota Referendum Scheduled for March 4 - June 1, 2021
This week, California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Secretary Karen Ross ordered that a referendum be conducted on the...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Oct 3, 2020
- 2 min
Short, But Significant Quota Hearing Held this Week
The United Dairy Families of California’s (UDFC) petition for a referendum on their Quota Implementation Plan proposal was the subject of...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Sep 26, 2020
- 4 min
Significant Quota Hearing Next Wednesday and Thursday
A two-day virtual hearing will be held on Wednesday, September 30 and Thursday, October 1 to consider the petition by the United Dairy...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Aug 28, 2020
- 7 min
Producer Review Board Recommends a Hearing
In a virtual meeting held Thursday August 27, all 15 members of the Producer Review Board (PRB) gathered online to go through an agenda...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Aug 15, 2020
- 2 min
This Week's Quota News
California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) attorney Michelle Dias rejected STOP QIP’s Motion to Reconsider. The motion asked...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Aug 8, 2020
- 1 min
A Final Ruling in the Quota Lawsuit
Judge James P. Arguelles issued a final ruling on August 3, 2020 on the STOP QIP lawsuit against the California Department of Food and...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Aug 1, 2020
- 3 min
Quota News This Week
This past Tuesday Judge Timothy Aspinwall, the judge from the Office of Administrative Hearings who conducted the hearing on the STOP QIP...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Jun 13, 2020
- 5 min
CDFA Holds Quota Hearing
In a truly unprecedented fashion, a “virtual” hearing took place this week to consider the petition by Stop QIP to suspend Chapter 3.5 of...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- May 30, 2020
- 3 min
Virtual Public Hearing on Quota Scheduled for June 9-10
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has reset the date and time and format for a public hearing to consider a...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- May 9, 2020
- 1 min
QIP Assessment to Increase
At a Zoom meeting this week, the Producer Review Board wrestled with the reality that the current 32.5-cent per cwt. assessment on all...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Feb 29, 2020
- 2 min
Public Hearing on Quota Scheduled for April 7 & 8
A Notice of a Public Hearing to Consider a Petition to Suspend Chapter 3.5 of the Food and Agriculture Code was posted this week by the...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Feb 15, 2020
- 4 min
Quota Sunset Proposal Submitted to California Department of Food and Agriculture
The United Dairy Families of California (UDFC), a group of California producers that formed to create a process for California dairy...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Feb 8, 2020
- 1 min
Registration Now Open for February 11 Quota Meeting at Farm Show in Tulare
As we reported last week, Dr. Marin Bozic and Mr. Matt Gould recommended a path forward for the industry to address the quota issue....
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Jan 11, 2020
- 4 min
Phase 3 Quota Meetings: Narrowing the Options
At meetings this past week in Chino, Tulare, Turlock and Petaluma, Dr. Marin Bozic and Matt Gould – the two economists (the TEAM) hired...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Nov 2, 2019
- 5 min
Phase 2 Quota Meetings Stimulate Serious Contemplation
This past week, three Phase 2 Quota meetings were held in Chino, Tulare and Turlock respectively. At those meetings there was some...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Oct 26, 2019
- 2 min
Next Round of Quota Meetings Coming Up: Here is your Reading List
Next week, the next round of Quota meetings take place, which you can register for here. The meeting dates and locations will be: •...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Sep 7, 2019
- 1 min
The Quota Process Continues: Phase 2 Producer Feedback Meetings Scheduled for Later this Month
Just over a month ago, more than 370 dairy farmers and allied industry professionals participated in a series of meetings to discuss the...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Aug 3, 2019
- 3 min
The Quota Process: A Constructive Beginning
Four public meetings were held this week, kicking off what organizers described as the “Think Tank” phase to review the California quota...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Jul 20, 2019
- 4 min
And So It Begins: A Process For Addressing Quota Emerges
A press release came out this week announcing an organized effort by California producer interests to tackle the quota issue. The effort...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Jun 29, 2019
- 2 min
Quota Assessment Going Down for Now
As I reported last week, the Producer Review Board took action to reduce the Quota Implementation Plan (QIP) assessment on Grade A milk...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Jun 22, 2019
- 1 min
QIP Assessment to be Reduced by 5 ½ cents per cwt.
The Producer Review Board met on Thursday June 20, 2019 in Sacramento and reviewed the first seven months of operation of the Quota...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- May 25, 2019
- 2 min
“STOP QIP” Petition Falls Short of Required Signatures
Earlier this week, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) released a notice it had performed a review of the signatures...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Apr 27, 2019
- 6 min
How We Got the Fixed Differential
A few weeks ago, I wrote an article for the MPC Friday Report that told a bit of the history of how the California quota system came into...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Apr 6, 2019
- 1 min
CDFA Finalizes Quota Implementation Plan Petition Procedures
This week California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross released the official "Department Procedures for Handling...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Mar 16, 2019
- 2 min
What’s Going on With Quota?
There is a lot of discussion going on right now among California producers about quota. It is an issue where producers have different...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
- Mar 9, 2019
- 3 min
The Producer Review Board Holds a Meeting
This past Wednesday, the Producer Review Board (PRB) held its first meeting of the year. The first order of business was to elect a new...
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