Bill > AB1038

This bill establishes the California Dairy Future Task Force, a group composed of dairy producers, processors, and cooperatives, to address significant challenges facing the state's dairy industry, such as rising feed and regulatory costs, and decreasing water availability, which have led to financial losses for producers and increased competition for processors. The task force's primary goal is to create a stable economic environment by evaluating and recommending changes to market-based pricing models, risk-sharing mechanisms between producers and processors, and the adequacy of current statutes and regulations to ensure the industry's long-term success and sustainability in a dynamic global market. The task force is also tasked with soliciting industry input and must present its recommendations to the Secretary of Food and Agriculture and the Legislature by July 1, 2014, with funding for its operations not exceeding $500,000 from the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, subject to legislative appropriation.