[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 9]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR1030.7]

[Page 101-104]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
  CHAPTER X--AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing Agreements and 
                 Orders; Milk) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 1030_MILK IN THE UPPER MIDWEST MARKETING AREA--Table of Contents
 
                    Subpart_Order Regulating Handling
 
Sec.  1030.7  Pool plant.

    Pool plant means a plant, unit of plants, or system of plants as 
specified in paragraphs (a) through (f) of this section, but excluding a 
plant specified in paragraph (h) of this section. The pooling standards 
described in paragraphs (c) and (f) of this section are subject to 
modification pursuant to paragraph (g) of this section:
    (a) A distributing plant, other than a plant qualified as a pool 
plant pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section or (Sec.  --------.7b) 
of any other Federal milk order, from which during the month 15 percent 
or more of the total quantity of fluid milk products physically received 
at the plant (excluding concentrated milk received from another plant by 
agreement for other than Class I use) are disposed of as route 
disposition or are transferred in the form of packaged fluid milk 
products to other distributing plants. At least 25 percent of such route 
disposition and transfers must be to outlets in the marketing area.
    (b) Any distributing plant located in the marketing area which 
during the month processed at least 15 percent of the total quantity of 
fluid milk products physically received at the plant (excluding 
concentrated milk received from another plant by agreement for other 
than Class I use) into ultra-pasteurized or aseptically-processed fluid 
milk products.
    (c) A supply plant from which the quantity of bulk fluid milk 
products shipped to (and physically unloaded into) plants described in 
paragraph (c)(1) of this section is not less than 10 percent of the 
Grade A milk received from dairy farmers (except dairy farmers described 
in Sec.  1030.12(b)) and handlers described in Sec.  1000.9(c), 
including milk diverted pursuant to Sec.  1030.13, subject to the 
following conditions:
    (1) Qualifying shipments may be made to plants described in 
paragraphs (c)(1)(i) through (iv) of this section, except that whenever 
shipping requirements are increased pursuant to paragraph (g) of this 
section, only shipments to pool plants described in paragraphs (a), (b), 
and (e) of this section shall count as qualifying shipments for the 
purpose of meeting the increased shipments:
    (i) Pool plants described in Sec.  1030.7(a), (b), (d), and (e);
    (ii) Plants of producer-handlers;
    (iii) Partially regulated distributing plants, except that credit 
for such shipments shall be limited to the amount of such milk 
classified as Class I at the transferee plant; and
    (iv) Distributing plants fully regulated under other Federal orders, 
except that credit for shipments to such plants shall be limited to the 
quantity shipped to pool distributing plants during the month and 
credits for shipments to other order plants shall not include any such 
shipments made on the basis of agreed-upon Class II, Class III, or Class 
IV utilization.
    (2) The operator of a supply plant located within the States of 
Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and the 
Upper Peninsula of Michigan may include as qualifying shipments under 
this paragraph milk delivered directly from producers' farms pursuant to 
Sec.  Sec.  1000.9(c) or 1030.13(c) to plants described in paragraphs 
(a), (b), (d) and (e) of this section. Handlers may not use shipments 
pursuant to Sec.  1000.9(c) or Sec.  1030.13(c) to qualify plants 
located outside the area described above.
    (3) Concentrated milk transferred from the supply plant to a 
distributing plant for an agreed-upon use other than Class I shall be 
excluded from the supply plant's shipments in computing the supply 
plant's shipping percentage.
    (d) Any distributing plant, located within the marketing area as 
described on May 1, 2006, in Sec.  1030.2;
    (1) From which there is route disposition and/or transfers of 
packaged fluid milk products in any non-federally regulated marketing 
area(s) located within one or more States that require handlers to pay 
minimum prices for raw milk provided that 25 percent or more

[[Page 102]]

of the total quantity of fluid milk products physically received at such 
plant (excluding concentrated milk received from another plant by 
agreement for other than Class I use) is disposed of as route 
disposition and/or is transferred in the form of packaged fluid milk 
products to other plants. At least 25 percent of such route disposition 
and/or transfers, in aggregate, are in any non-federally regulated 
marketing area(s) located within one or more States that require 
handlers to pay minimum prices for raw milk. Subject to the following 
exclusions:
    (i) The plant is described in Sec.  1030.7(a), (b), or (e);
    (ii) The plant is subject to the pricing provisions of a State-
operated milk pricing plan which provides for the payment of minimum 
class prices for raw milk;
    (iii) The plant is described in Sec.  1000.8(a) or (e); or
    (iv) A producer-handler described in Sec.  1030.10 with less than 
three million pounds during the month of route disposition and/or 
transfers of packaged fluid milk products to other plants.
    (2) [Reserved]
    (e) Two or more plants operated by the same handler and located in 
the marketing area may qualify for pool status as a unit by meeting the 
total and in-area route disposition requirements of a pool distributing 
plant specified in paragraph (a) of this section and subject to the 
following additional requirements:
    (1) At least one of the plants in the unit must qualify as a pool 
plant pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section;
    (2) Other plants in the unit must process Class I or Class II 
products, using 50 percent or more of the total Grade A fluid milk 
products received in bulk form at such plant or diverted therefrom by 
the plant operator in Class I or Class II products; and
    (3) The operator of the unit has filed a written request with the 
market administrator prior to the first day of the month for which such 
status is desired to be effective. The unit shall continue from month-
to-month thereafter without further notification. The handler shall 
notify the market administrator in writing prior to the first day of any 
month for which termination or any change of the unit is desired.
    (f) A system of 2 or more supply plants operated by one or more 
handlers may qualify for pooling by meeting the shipping requirements of 
paragraph (c) of this section in the same manner as a single plant 
subject to the following additional requirements:
    (1) Each plant in the system is located within the marketing area or 
was a pool supply plant pursuant to Sec.  1030.7(c) for each of the 3 
months immediately preceding the applicability date of this paragraph so 
long as it continues to maintain pool status. Cooperative associations 
may not use shipments pursuant to Sec.  1000.9(c) to qualify plants 
located outside the marketing area;
    (2) The handler(s) establishing the system submits a written request 
to the market administrator on or before July 15 requesting that such 
plants qualify as a system for the period of August through July of the 
following year. Such request will contain a list of the plants 
participating in the system in the order, beginning with the last plant, 
in which the plants will be dropped from the system if the system fails 
to qualify. Each plant that qualifies as a pool plant within a system 
shall continue each month as a plant in the system through the following 
July unless the handler(s) establishing the system submits a written 
request to the market administrator that the plant be deleted from the 
system or that the system be discontinued. Any plant that has been so 
deleted from a system, or that has failed to qualify in any month, will 
not be part of any system for the remaining months through July. The 
handler(s) that established a system may add a plant operated by such 
handler(s) to a system if such plant has been a pool plant each of the 6 
prior months and would otherwise be eligible to be in a system, upon 
written request to the market administrator no later than the 15th day 
of the prior month. In the event of an ownership change or the business 
failure of a handler that is a participant in a system, the system may 
be reorganized to reflect such changes if a written request to file a 
new marketing agreement is

[[Page 103]]

submitted to the market administrator; and
    (3) If a system fails to qualify under the requirements of this 
paragraph, the handler responsible for qualifying the system shall 
notify the market administrator which plant or plants will be deleted 
from the system so that the remaining plants may be pooled as a system. 
If the handler fails to do so, the market administrator shall exclude 
one or more plants, beginning at the bottom of the list of plants in the 
system and continuing up the list as necessary until the deliveries are 
sufficient to qualify the remaining plants in the system.
    (g) The applicable shipping percentages of paragraphs (c) and (f) of 
this section and Sec.  1030.13(d)(2), and (d)(3) may be increased or 
decreased, for all or part of the marketing area, by the market 
administrator if the market administrator finds that such adjustment is 
necessary to encourage needed shipments or to prevent uneconomic 
shipments. Before making such a finding, the market administrator shall 
investigate the need for adjustment either on the market administrator's 
own initiative or at the request of interested parties if the request is 
made in writing at least 15 days prior to the month for which the 
requested revision is desired effective. If the investigation shows that 
an adjustment of the shipping percentages might be appropriate, the 
market administrator shall issue a notice stating that an adjustment is 
being considered and invite data, views and arguments. Any decision to 
revise an applicable shipping or diversion percentage must be issued in 
writing at least one day before the effective date.
    (h) The term pool plant shall not apply to the following plants:
    (1) A producer-handler as defined under any Federal order;
    (2) An exempt plant as defined in Sec.  1000.8(e);
    (3) A plant located within the marketing area and qualified pursuant 
to paragraph (a) of this section which meets the pooling requirements of 
another Federal order, and from which more than 50 percent of its route 
disposition has been in the other Federal order marketing area for 3 
consecutive months;
    (4) A plant located outside any Federal order marketing area and 
qualified pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section that meets the 
pooling requirements of another Federal order and has had greater route 
disposition in such other Federal order's marketing area for 3 
consecutive months;
    (5) A plant located in another Federal order marketing area and 
qualified pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section that meets the 
pooling requirements of such other Federal order and does not have a 
majority of its route distribution in this marketing area for 3 
consecutive months or if the plant is required to be regulated under 
such other Federal order without regard to its route disposition in any 
other Federal order marketing area;
    (6) A plant qualified pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section 
which also meets the pooling requirements of another Federal order and 
from which greater qualifying shipments are made to plants regulated 
under the other Federal order than are made to plants regulated under 
the order in this part, or the plant has automatic pooling status under 
the other Federal order; and
    (7) That portion of a regulated plant designated as a nonpool plant 
that is physically separate and operated separately from the pool 
portion of such plant. The designation of a portion of a regulated plant 
as a nonpool plant must be requested in advance and in writing by the 
handler and must be approved by the market administrator.
    (i) Any plant that qualifies as a pool plant in each of the 
immediately preceding 3 months pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section 
or the shipping percentages in paragraph (c) of this section that is 
unable to meet such performance standards for the current month because 
of unavoidable circumstances determined by the market administrator to 
be beyond the control of the handler operating the plant, such as a 
natural disaster (ice storm, wind storm, flood), fire, breakdown of 
equipment, or work stoppage, shall be considered to have met the minimum 
performance standards during the period of such unavoidable 
circumstances, but such relief shall not be

[[Page 104]]

granted for more than 2 consecutive months.

[64 FR 47978, Sept. 1, 1999, as amended at 67 FR 19508, Apr. 22, 2002; 
70 FR 31322, June 1, 2005; 71 FR 25499, May 1, 2006; 71 FR 28249, May 
16, 2006]