"I am cautiously optimistic about the Secretary's proposal. It seems to have met the directive of the 1996 farm bill to consolidate existing milk marketing orders. And it could take the pricing system into the 21st Century by removing Eau Claire, Wisconsin, as the determining factor for milk pricing. Finally, it appears that most of Iowa was placed in the Central Milk Marketing Order, which should benefit most of our dairy producers. I plan to carefully study the 1,100 page rule and discuss the proposal with Iowa producers before I provide a formal comment to USDA."