The branded integration strategy is not new. Recall that Agrimark owned Hood in a joint venture with Agway for many years. It did not work for many reasons, including the fact that Agrimark was prohibited by the U.S. Justice Department from direct representation on the Hood board of directors....

Since November of 2002, the Food Marketing Policy Center has periodically conducted price surveys of milk in New York and Southern New England (Cotterill, et. al. 2002; Rabinowitz, et. al. 2003;Cotterill 2003). Results of these surveys, when coupled with data on the underlying cost of the raw milk, have...

Last November, the Food Marketing Policy Center conducted a survey of retail milk prices in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and parts of southeast New York (Cotterill, et al., 2002). That look at the price distribution over space aided in answering several questions regarding milk...

At the outset we would like to thank the Committee on the Environment for the opportunities to submit this written testimony and to address the Committee on an important issue today. Milk pricing in New England and Massachusetts has been contentious for several years because of two interrelated...

The proposed Connecticut milk pricing law for milk establishes two price collars. The general concept is as follows. Wholesale fluid milk prices will be limited to no more than 140% of the raw fluid price, and retail prices will be limited to no more than 140% of the wholesale price. These 140%...

This paper explains how one can implement two alternative policies that provide a partial redress to noncompetitive milk pricing that is currently hurting consumers and farmers. First, we explain the 40-40 Consumer Approach. Then, we present the Farmer and Consumer Fair Share Approach. The first...

In July 2009, Connecticut Public Act 09-229 established an agricultural sustainability account to provide financial assistance to Connecticut milk producers during times when the federal milk pay price falls below a minimum sustainable monthly cost of production. This legislation mandates that...

Thank you for inviting me to speak to your conference. Given that the standard definition of an expert is someone who is more than a hundred miles from home I qualify as an expert on the western Canadian dairy industry. The conference organizing committee gave me as a working title, “Who...

This briefing paper presents some facts that pertain to the overall performance of the milk-marketing channel in New England. It updates information provided in earlier papers that focused upon dairy pricing during and immediately prior to the Compact era. (Cotterill, 2001a, b, Cotterill and...

Price gouging is commonly perceived to be a consumer issue, however it also is a farmer issue. Currently, retail fluid milk prices in New England are as much as a dollar per gallon above supply costs (Cotterill et al. 2002; Mohl 2002). Yes, consumers are paying too much; but farmers are also...