Ron Kind: “I rise tonight to share my strong support for S. 2773--the Dairy Marketing Enhancement Act of 2000. To our nation's…”

“I rise tonight to share my strong support for S. 2773--the Dairy Marketing Enhancement Act of 2000. To our nation's dairy farmers this legislation is commonly referred to as the mandatory price reporting bill. This legislation was passed by the Senate earlier today. Identical legislation, H.R. 5495, was introduced by myself, Congressman Simpson and others. This legislation is urgently needed to restore producer confidence in the dairy market following recent cheese and butter price/inventory reporting fiascoes that sent markets plunging. As my colleagues who represent dairy farmers know, recent reporting errors in cheese and butter stocks have highlighted the need to make reporting of storable dairy products mandatory, verifiable and enforceable. A Chicago Mercantile Exchange warehouse reporting error resulted in a sizable inventory adjustment and caused a 10 cent drop in the double a butter price. This latest inventory reporting error came less than a year after a similar error with the U.S. Department of Agriculture cheese inventory. Following that reporting error cheese prices dropped within a week to their lowest levels in almost a decade. These events have caused a great deal of concern among our nation's dairy producers.”