Lawmakers wanted executives with AgriMark and the St. Albans Cooperative to explain why they charge farmers for hauling their milk, take assessments out of their checks for corporate financial downturns and don't demand premium prices from retailers and processors for milk produced in Vermont.

At nearly every volley, the co-ops said they had little control and — like their farmer-owners — are at the whim of federal dairy policy set in Washington. It did little to satisfy senators, who are going along for the second time in a year with an emergency cash assistance program for dairy farmers because of the crisis facing agriculture.

Senate Majority Leader John Campbell, D-Windsor, challenged the co-ops to charge a premium on supermarkets and other retailers, the proceeds of which could be funneled back to farmers. "I'm more than happy to pay another 50 cents if it goes to the farmers," he said.

But the complex laws of supply and demand, combined with the even more Byzantine system of the federal milk market system, would doom such an effort to eventual disaster, said Robert Wellington, an economist for AgriMark.

"You can't just go to the customer and dictate the terms," he said.

Milk destined for cheese and other such value-added products has to compete. A cheesemaker is not going to pay a premium just because the milk came from Vermont, Wellington said. The co-ops could probably demand a premium from supermarkets for fluid milk for a while, he said, but eventually they would find suppliers who would sell milk for less.

Source: Times Argus