What your board of directors is doing on supply management

By Jamie Bledsoe, WUD President

June 4, 2010 - - One of the most complex and contentious issues facing the dairy industry is that of supply management. I wanted to let you know some of what your trade association has done and is doing on this issue.
WUD formed an industry task force in 2009 to analyze and review the many proposals being brought forward to possibly address the industry’s economic crisis. Many versions of supply management have been put on the table. Our volunteer task force members have devoted considerable time and energy to studying these proposals. Noted economists have weighed in with their extensive analyses.
Supply management is not a simple issue. Its complexity can be viewed in terms of pushing on one side of balloon and having the other side pop out. The goal is to not have the balloon pop.
Your board of directors takes seriously its responsibility to the families who make up our membership. That is why WUD has committed additional financial resources to partially fund, along with other national dairy groups, a further analysis of supply management proposals. The study is being undertaken by two agricultural economists: Dr. Chuck Nicholson of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, and Dr. Mark Stephenson of University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Your board of directors will review and analyze that study’s findings as soon as it becomes available, as well as other relevant data, as they take on the challenge of reviewing supply management proposals. The board meets each month and you can be assured supply management will be fully discussed.
As always, please feel free to contact me or WUD chief executive officer Michael Marsh with your questions and concerns on this vital matter. Our goal is to look at solutions that work in the best interests of California’s dairy families.