Prices Crushing Dairy Farmers
Sen. Gillibrand Goes To Bat For Milk ProducersBy Sharon Turano, sturano@post-journal.com
Fact Box
"I just want to make sure farmers get a price that won't put them out of business."
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
D-N.Y.
Sinclairville dairy farmer Nate Wilson is getting the worst prices for milk he's received since he began farming in 1970 - and he is not alone.
"Quite a few farms are suffering," said Virginia Carlberg, community educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chautauqua County.
She said she knows of Chautauqua County farms that have been sold due to the low milk prices they are paid for their product, along with increases in the costs of running a farm, forcing them out of business.
The problem has gotten so bad, in fact, that on Tuesday, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, said she will introduce legislation to fix dairy pricing systems set by the federal government in order to help farmers she says are facing "crisis." The milk price set by the federal government has dropped more than $8 in the last year, with farmers getting about $12 per hundredweight of milk, down from $21.43 a year ago.
"The current system is clearly not working for dairy farmers in New York," Sen. Gillibrand said. "We continue to see cycles of boom and bust in the dairy market and the safety net in place to help dairy farmers hasn't changed in years, even though the price of milk continues to climb in the supermarket. Farmers are not even receiving enough income to cover the cost of staying in business.''
She said that has left them to either take on "massive debt" to cover costs or go out of business. Once out of business, she said, the land is lost to farming as developers purchase the land.
"It's imperative we act quickly before more farmers find themselves out of business.," she said, adding she will introduce legislation to double the amount of money farmers get from a milk income loss contract paid by the federal government when the milk price is low.
The MILC program is a safety net for farmers, and Sen Gillibrand said her legislation would index the MILC rate of $16.94 to inflation.
"We shouldn't rely on a safety net routinely, then it's not a safety net anymore," she said.
The MILC payments are based on feed prices and are not large, said Ms. Carlberg. The MILC equals about $12 per month locally, she said.
"They (the MILC payments) are not large enough to reverse the damage of low milk price cycles, but they are a great benefit to dairy farmers," she said.
"Everybody's basically got their head down and is trying to last," said Wilson.
He said his proceeds are about the same as he made in1970, but prices he pays to conduct farm business have tripled since then. He said there is the added problem of imports of low-cost milk protein concentrate that is used to boost the protein content in cheese being used instead of local product.
"It seems senseless to be importing something that is not as desirable to replace non-fat dry milk," he said.
Wilson said there is also "an enormous discrepancy" between wholesale and retail prices. For instance, he said, the wholesale cheese price is $1.20 per pound but retails for more than $5 per pound.
"Somebody's making an obscene amount of money," he said.
Area dairy farmer Eric Vanstrom said it is not the farmer who is benefitting from the proceeds.
"It's absolutely pathetic," he said, about the current price farmers are getting for milk.
He said he loses $50 per cow per month.
Sen. Gillibrand said her proposed legislation is a Band-Aid approach until the milk pricing system can be changed. Sen. Gillibrand said she also wants to hold Senate hearings on dairy pricing to find out why prices are so low and do not reflect the price of production so a new Farm Bill can be written in 2012 incorporating the information received from the farmers at the hearings. She said that would insure dairy products remain safe, while allowing farmers to stay in business.
"The cheapest price isn't always the best idea," she said, adding that leads to farmers being outsourced or consolidating and going out of business. "We don't ever want to get milk from China," said Sen. Gillibrand, adding people have just witnessed tainted baby food and toys from other countries, in addition to a reliance on expensive oil.
"A smart investment now can save an industry," she said. "I just want to make sure farmers get a price that won't put them out of business," she said.
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ru4real
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06-24-09 8:26 AM
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She forgot Billybob's bill to raise the wages and benefits for hired help on farms.This is what Billybob Parment should be doing, trying to help the farmers not destroy them out of business.
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