HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Milk Board (PMB) has issued no over-order premium order for July through December 2026 at the very brief special sunshine meeting held on Friday morning, June 12 after the June 3 over-order premium hearing. Barring any further action by the PMB before July 1, it appears there will be no over-order premium included in the announced state minimum retail and resale milk prices in July, or the months thereafter.

According to Board chief counsel Doug Eberly, the meeting was short.

“The Board did not issue an order. Issuing an order requires two members to agree on the terms. There were no terms that two members agreed on. This means, as of now, there is no over-order premium in July,” he reported in an email response to Farmshine’s inquiry, pointing out that this also means there is no diesel fuel add-on to the over-order premium.

“The Board is continuing to deliberate, and the matter remains pending,” Eberly stated. “Chairman Rob Barley announced all of this at the meeting, and there’s nothing scheduled at this point between now and the July 1 regular sunshine meeting.”

The current over-order premium (OOP) of 50 cents includes a 66-cent fuel adjuster for a total of $1.16 per cwt. Both expire June 30th in the absence of a PMB order.

In December, the PMB set the OOP at $1.00 per cwt for January through March and 50 cents for April through June; however, the add-on fuel adjuster was calculated at 24 to 28 cents per cwt for January through April and rose to 50 cents in May and 66 cents in June.

Unaffected by the absence of an OOP order is the 24 cents per cwt “co-op procurement” allocation. This feature was added in 2021 and will continue to be included in the calculations for the announced monthly state minimum resale and retail milk prices in Pennsylvania.

Also unaffected by the absence of an OOP order are the cost recovery adjustments for processors and retailers determined by cost-recovery hearings.

PMB will continue to announce monthly minimum retail and resale prices for milk sold in Pennsylvania, but without further action before the July 1 regular sunshine meeting, the July minimum prices will not include the producer over-order premium nor the add-on fuel adjuster.

The June 3 hearing was the first time in recent memory that testimony was received pointing out the consumer viewpoint of paying among the highest prices for retail milk while Pennsylvania dairy farmers have been receiving lower mailbox milk prices than neighboring states.

Many types of loopholes allow the OOP that is included in the retail price to escape the pass-through directly to farmers. It is paid by consumers on all milk purchases no matter where the milk comes from, but only returns to farmers when it can be shown that the milk was produced, processed and sold within the state, without any detours or swaps.

Consumers also pay the premium on milk sourced out-of-state, but since it is not collected at retail, there is no way to get it to Pennsylvania dairy farmers as intended, while the supply chain recoups it. This presents a situation that can also disadvantage Pennsylvania-sourced milk in certain situations.

There is a State Senate bill (689) to authorize the PMB to collect the OOP at retail and equitably distribute it among all Pennsylvania dairy producers; however, this bill as written does not change the fact that the cooperatives (marketing 76% of Pennsylvania-produced milk) are included in the definition of “producer” in the State Milk Marketing Law for the purpose of receiving this premium.

DFA had testified their support for Senate Bill 689, seeking equitable distribution even as the dealers testified that more of the federal dollars associated with Class I sales are being pooled for equitable distribution on Federal Milk Marketing Orders.

DFA’s witness also testified that the co-op combines the state OOP with other marketplace premiums, and then the co-op leadership decides how to distribute back to North- east Area members from Maine to Ohio.