How does the GMP work?
First off, the program must be both national and mandatory. It would be mandatory in the sense that every dairy in the U.S. would have to participate in the program, although the decision about whether to grow or not would rest solely on the individual dairymen. There is nothing in the GMP that prevents growth by a producer. The GMP would allow for a pre-announced level of annual growth (something in the 1.5-3% range) and for producers that wanted to grow beyond that annual growth, a market access fee would have to be paid (Cornell modeling estimates the market access fee would range between $0.35 – $1.50 per cwt, depending on the market conditions). Its important to note that the market access fee would be applied to all your production, not just the amount that a dairyman produces beyond the allowable growth. The program would operate on a facility-by-facility basis and milk production would be measured on a quarterly basis. Each quarters production would be compared to that same qua
