Sent: Thu, Sep 15, 2022 3:47 pm
Subject: QIP

Craig,

Is this accurate?

The Department administers a dairy milk program known as the “Quota Implementation Plan” (“QIP”).  QIP was originally intended to help maintain satisfactory marketing conditions and a reasonable amount of stability and prosperity in the production of milk by redistributing money from dairy milk sales among California dairy milk producers. 

Let me know.

Thank you, Tom

Tom,  To answer your question.

No, it is not.  The original quota came together  as a bribe to get the Class 1 shippers to join the pooling plan; that was the device they came up with in 1969 to stop the stealing of  milk accounts, which only lead to lower prices for the dairymen.  Bring all the  proceeds of all classes of milk  into a big pool and come up with a blend price for all.  One price paid to everyone.  That is what brought stability  and imagined prosperity  to the California market, there was no need to steal a class 1 account since it was going into the pool anyways. It stopped the stealing of accounts but it really began a slow process  of destruction to the dairy industry.  Those that received the certificates have withdrawn over 7 billion dollars since 1969 and put that money into their own p0ckets.  Since the higher priced milk goes in one day and out the next, the rest of the industry does not get any benefit of the higher dollar milk in the blend price.  Plus they got and additional 10% free quota certificates  as an added incentive to join the pool.  So the blend price just kept getting lower and lower.  As class 1 sales went down, the quota certificates did not , and so  they have been taking millions of dollars that were not put into the pool to blend.  If you read Chapter 3 it explains how the plan was to get rid of quota by equalization and that was supposed to have happened back in 1975. That statement is not accurate at all.

The QIP on the other hand was formed to tax the dairy industry to pay these quota certificates that are still in existence.  The Federal Order does not allow two different prices to be paid  a blended price and a quota price, and so it was created to save the quota holders a place to get there money.  The feds didn’t want anything to do with quota, and the QIP was created as a Quota Program, yet  in the courtrooms it is a pooling plan because they know it its illegal to take  money from us without a benefit, so they disguise it as a pooling plan that helps the industry.  Most importantly the QIP was created to get the quota holders to vote for the Federal order because they knew the Federal order would replace the old California order. and the non quota holders were told to vote for the QIP otherwise we wouldn’t get the Federal order which was to get us more then enough money to pay for the quota.  Well the quota boys did not vote for the QIP and we did and then when we started to try to get rid of the quota or QIP after the Federal order came in – they have stopped us up to today.  The toll has been over a third of our industry  have left or gone broke.   1496 dairies  down to 937 dairies left.  The rich keep getting rich off of the rest of the dairies sweat and blood.  A travesty at  best.

You can thank you Governor  Newsom, Secretary Ross, Nials McCarthy, and Deputy Attorney General Goldman.

Craig