The Dairy Policy Action Coalition (DPAC) is a coalition of grassroots dairy producers actively participating, with a unified voice, on policies and issues affecting milk pricing.
How the coalition began
Unprecedented times call for unprecedented action. Dairy producers across the nation met throughout 2009 in small groups to affect change. These grassroots groups have also hosted very large meetings drawing hundreds of their peers. In November 2009, the first organizational meeting for initiating this coalition included two or three representatives from each of eight such grassroots groups, spanning two federal orders and marketing milk through a variety of different cooperatives and as independents in Pennsylvania and Ohio. They came together for a single purpose: To actively participate in dairy policy that affects milk pricing.
The target is milk pricing, and that means any policy or regulation that affects milk pricing—from price discovery, inventory reporting, federal order reform, marketplace transparency, and the support price system, to global trade, mechanisms for supply management, and risk management.
The 20 charter members who came together on November 19, 2009 to form DPAC are the coalition’s first board of directors. The board members, at this juncture, are largely from Pennsylvania, with one board member from Ohio. However, the DPAC board has formed an Adhoc Members action group that is working on efforts to expand participation in DPAC by producers from other states. DPAC is also fielding calls from producers in other states who are showing interest in participation. As producers from other regions become involved, the composition of the DPAC board of directors has the flexibility to reflect a more national focus.
