NFFC Criticizes Hearing On Dairy Pricing
Submitted by Editor on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 12:01pm.
Chris Torres
Staff Writer
The National Family Farm Coalition blasted the U.S. House Agriculture Committee Tuesday for “shutting out” small farmers from a hearing on the nation’s dairy troubles.
Paul Rozwadowski, the coalition’s dairy subcommittee chairperson, told reporters during an afternoon teleconference that even though the hearing brought out the troubles the dairy industry is having, it did little to address the problems small farmers and their families were having dealing with the crisis.
“Although they did a pretty good job of describing the conditions out there, they had basically no one out there talking about the effects on families,” Rozwadowski said.
The hearing included representatives from the National Milk Producers Federation, Western United Dairyman and Select Milk Producers, Inc., three organizations the coalition has criticized for not doing enough to address the current milk pricing system.
“They don’t seem to understand that dairy farmers are disappearing and our food security is at risk,” he said. “We need a whole new pricing system.”
The coalition has been calling for a complete overhaul of the dairy pricing system in response to the nearly 50-percent drop in dairy prices from a high of $20 per hundredweight last year.
Even though many analysts have blamed overproduction, dwindling exports and the economy for the drop in prices, the coalition has long suspected other factors such as milk protein imports and price manipulation on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for the drop in prices.
Little action has been taken on measures the coalition is currently supporting.
Earlier this year, Pennsylvania’s two Democratic Senators, Arlen Specter and Robert Casey, introduced a S.889, The Federal Milk Marketing Improvement Act of 2009, that bases the price of milk on a national cost production. The secretary of agriculture would be required to reassess milk prices quarterly each year.
The coalition has supported the bill, but according to members of the dairy subcommittee, it has languished in committees with only one other senator coming forth to sponsor it.
Hilde Steffey of Farm Aid said the organization sent a letter to Tom Vilsack in June, requesting he set an emergency floor price on milk of $18 per hundredweight, based on recommendations from the coalition and data from across the country.
Steffey said Farm Aid met in person with Vilsack, but that he offered no concrete response.
She added the organization has experienced a 500-percent rise in phone calls this year from distressed farmers calling into a “dairy hotline” set up to address dairy issues.
Chris Torres
Staff Writer
The National Family Farm Coalition blasted the U.S. House Agriculture Committee Tuesday for “shutting out” small farmers from a hearing on the nation’s dairy troubles.
Paul Rozwadowski, the coalition’s dairy subcommittee chairperson, told reporters during an afternoon teleconference that even though the hearing brought out the troubles the dairy industry is having, it did little to address the problems small farmers and their families were having dealing with the crisis.
“Although they did a pretty good job of describing the conditions out there, they had basically no one out there talking about the effects on families,” Rozwadowski said.
The hearing included representatives from the National Milk Producers Federation, Western United Dairyman and Select Milk Producers, Inc., three organizations the coalition has criticized for not doing enough to address the current milk pricing system.
“They don’t seem to understand that dairy farmers are disappearing and our food security is at risk,” he said. “We need a whole new pricing system.”
The coalition has been calling for a complete overhaul of the dairy pricing system in response to the nearly 50-percent drop in dairy prices from a high of $20 per hundredweight last year.
Even though many analysts have blamed overproduction, dwindling exports and the economy for the drop in prices, the coalition has long suspected other factors such as milk protein imports and price manipulation on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for the drop in prices.
Little action has been taken on measures the coalition is currently supporting.
Earlier this year, Pennsylvania’s two Democratic Senators, Arlen Specter and Robert Casey, introduced a S.889, The Federal Milk Marketing Improvement Act of 2009, that bases the price of milk on a national cost production. The secretary of agriculture would be required to reassess milk prices quarterly each year.
The coalition has supported the bill, but according to members of the dairy subcommittee, it has languished in committees with only one other senator coming forth to sponsor it.
Hilde Steffey of Farm Aid said the organization sent a letter to Tom Vilsack in June, requesting he set an emergency floor price on milk of $18 per hundredweight, based on recommendations from the coalition and data from across the country.
Steffey said Farm Aid met in person with Vilsack, but that he offered no concrete response.
She added the organization has experienced a 500-percent rise in phone calls this year from distressed farmers calling into a “dairy hotline” set up to address dairy issues.
