Gannett News Service | November 15, 2001 | BY ERIN KELLY; Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON -- A program to guarantee dairy farmers across the nation a minimum price for their milk was approved Thursday in the Senate Agriculture Committee as part of a sweeping new farm bill.
"This action breathes new life into the fight to save our dairy farms," said Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt.
The plan, billed as a "national dairy compact" and pushed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., now must be approved by the full Senate. Some conservative lawmakers -- including Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho -- have vowed to try to defeat it because they see it as counter to a free market. Big dairy processors that buy the farmers' milk and don't like the idea of paying higher prices for it strongly oppose the proposal. The proposal establishes a new national minimum price per hundredweight of beverage milk -- protecting farmers from a dramatic dip in milk prices.
Under the plan, processors would have to pay farmers at least $ 14.25 per hundredweight.
A spokeswoman for the International Dairy Foods Association said the plan would cost consumers 26 cents more a gallon -- a figure supporters of the national dairy program dismiss as bogus.
"We call this a milk tax -- it will decrease the demand for dairy products," said Kathleen Nelson of the association.
Supporters of the plan say similar false claims were made against the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact, after which Leahy's proposal is modeled. The compact, which expired Oct. 1, required dairy processors to pay New England farmers an average of about 6 cents more for a gallon of milk.
"We knew that with big dairy processors lobbying against it and President Bush opposing it, we would never get the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact past a presidential veto -- even if we did get it through Congress," Leahy said. "But we're getting support for the national plan from senators and House members who opposed the Northeast compact. I think that's a strong sign."
The Northeast compact was created four years ago to try to bolster struggling family farms and keep them from going out of business and selling their land to developers. But it faced heavy opposition from Upper Midwest lawmakers who charged that it helped New England at their farmers' expense.
Leahy's provision eliminates much of the opposition from Wisconsin and Minnesota because it would benefit all dairy farmers, not just those in the Northeast.
New England farmers would do better than ever. In Vermont alone, the average annual net income for a 350-cow farm would rise between $ 24,100 and $ 30,500, Leahy said. That's because the average price per hundredweight of raw milk for Vermont farmers would rise 35 cents to 78 cents higher under the national plan, the senator said.
"The biggest hurdle was getting this idea through the agriculture committee," Leahy said. "Now that we've done that, I think we have a very good chance of getting it approved as part of a final farm bill -- assuming the farm bill is passed this year."
Another Vermonter -- Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who lost a close vote to add it to the House farm bill -- first pushed the national dairy plan. If the full Senate approves the proposal, it still must survive negotiations between House and Senate leaders to work out differences between the two bills.
"While very strong opposition remains, this is a very significant step forward in making certain that family dairy farmers in Vermont receive a fair and stable price for their milk," Sanders said. "It is also a major advance in ending the regional rivalries that have existed for years and will enable dairy farmers all across the country to work together in fighting for the survival of family-based agriculture."
Leahy's plan differs from Sanders' in one major way -- it is mandatory and requires participation from all states with dairy farmers. Sanders' plan was voluntary, allowing states to opt out.
The change was necessary to win votes in the Senate committee, Leahy said. But it's possible the plan could be made voluntary again in the final farm bill, the senator said.
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