To Be or Not To Be rbST-Free

Michigan dairy farmers are being taxed with a big decision to make—produce milk without aid of the artificial bovine growth hormone rbST or pay the price. If they decide not to comply with the new regulation, they'll be penalized by way of "lower prices paid for their milk." Those that participate in going rbST-free will be offered a premium, but this premium as well as the actual monetary penalty (or pricing policy) for continued use of the growth hormone on their herds has yet to be decided. According to The Kalamazoo Gazette, this latest decision made by the Michigan Milk Producers Association, Dairy Farmers of America and Dean Foods (one of the nation's largest milk producers) is based on consumer and market demand. The request for hormone-free milk will meet the needs of major retailers such as Kroger, Safeway and Publix, to name a few. Michigan isn't the only state affected by the rbST-free trend. The state of Oregon produces all hormone-free milk. Other dairy farmers across the nation are voluntarily taking part too. Farmers from Washington, North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts have converted to rbST-free milk as well. The tipping point for the welcome rbST-free trend seems to stem from two initial milestones; Starbucks, "which asked all of its dairy suppliers to go rbST-free" in January of this year and California Dairies, which produces 8% of milk supplied in the U.S. Their goal is to ban rbST by end of August 2007. What's a Michigan dairy farmer to do? With just a few months to decide, in order to become eligible for the premium being offered to go rbST-free, all cows must be off the "production tool" by January 1, 2008 to sell their milk when the program is initiated on February 1st.

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