Dairy Farmers Call For Price Stability From Ag Secretary
US - Congressman Dennis Cardoza told US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that dairy issues would take top billing during the latest stop in the secretary's nationwide rural tour reports Steve Adler, California Farm Bureau Federation.
3 September 2009
2 minute read
"Mr. Secretary, you will hear today from our dairy producers, many of whom dressed in red to symbolise the red ink that their farms are bleeding," Mr Cardoza said. "You will hear that they are not able to sustain their farms with prices far below the cost of production. Sadly, many of them have gone out of business or are on the precipice of going out of business. These are third- and fourth-generation farmers and dairymen. And they are more than just farmers, they are the fabric of our communities."
Mr Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa, listened intently as one dairy farmer after another appealed for assistance from the federal government to help them survive an economic downturn resulting in an estimated loss of millions of dollars a day by the nation's dairy producers. Their message was strong and clear: Help is needed immediately if dairy producers are to survive.
Mr Vilsack responded by saying that the dairy situation is high on the list of priorities at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Ray Souza, president of Western United Dairymen, urged the secretary to take action before it is too late. He pointed out that California's 1,800 dairy farmers have already lost somewhere between $2.5 billion and $3 billion in equity, which makes it very difficult to refinance the herds.
"One of the ideas that has gained a lot of support is the idea of a USDA cheese purchase. We estimate that 100 million pounds of cheese needs to be moved to consumers immediately and one of the ways of doing that is moving it through the food banks," he said. This would provide immediate relief to dairy producers not only here, but across the country."
Mr Vilsack hinted that a commodity purchase might take place when the next fiscal year begins on 1 October and new funds become available for such purchases.
Turlock dairy producer Linda Lopes, who serves as president of California Dairy Women, told Mr Vilsack that while the dairy producers appreciate efforts that have been made to date by USDA, it hasn't been enough.
"We haven't seen anything on our milk check yet. We need the support price to be higher and need it to be extended longer and we need to have it floored," she urged.
" We are going to try to work through the process and in the meantime we are going to take a look at every other tool that could become available to us." responded Mr Vilsack.
TheCattleSite News Desk
