Vote to be held on Millet Marketing Order
Colorado’s millet producers will decide if funds for marketing and research will be raised through a check-off program. Producers will cast ballots in August.
Following a public hearing in Akron on June 22, Commissioner of Agriculture Don Brown announced there will be a referendum of Colorado millet producers to determine whether there should be a Millet Marketing Order. Referendum ballots will be mailed Aug. 9 and the referendum voting period will be through August 31. More information is available at https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/agmarkets/millet-referendum.
Referendum ballots will be mailed Aug. 9 and the referendum voting period will be through Aug. 31.
A market order allows producers of a specific commodity such as millet to work together to solve marketing problems and conduct research. Market orders provide the structure and resources for programs that farmers could not do alone. Market orders are established under the authority of the Colorado Marketing Act of 1939 (CRS 35-28-101).
The proposed market order would establish a board of control comprised of six producer members and one handler member. The proposed assessment (check-off) is five cents per hundredweight, which will be collected by first-handlers. The assessment would be fully refundable to producers who submit an application to the board of control within 30 days of sale to a handler.
The Colorado Department of Agriculture provides budgetary and operations oversight to each of Colorado’s eight marketing orders. These orders include milk, wheat, corn, potatoes (2), sweet corn, dry beans and sunflowers.
Millet producers who did not receive an earlier mailing notifying them of the hearing should contact Glenda Mostek at 303-869-9173 or [email protected] to ensure their name is on the mailing list to receive a ballot.
