U.S. Dairy Board Nominations Sought

WASHINGTON - Apr 27/05 - SNS -- The USDA is seeking nominations for the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board.

They must be submitted by May 31, after which the USDA will appoint 12 individuals from those nominated to serve 3-year terms beginning Nov. 1, 2005, and ending Oct. 31, 2008.

The National Dairy Promotion and Research Board was established under the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 to develop and administer a coordinated program of promotion, research, and nutrition education. The 36-member board is authorized to design programs to strengthen the dairy industry's position in domestic and foreign markets.

Appointments will be made from nominations for the following: Region 2 (California); Region 3 (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming); Region 4 (Arkansas, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas); Region 5 (Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota); Region 6 (Wisconsin); Region 7 (Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska); Region 8 (Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee); Region 9 (Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia); Region 11 (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania); Region 12 (New York) and Region 13 (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont).

The national program is financed by a mandatory 15-cent per hundredweight assessment on all milk marketed commercially by dairy producers in the contiguous 48 states.