The Associated Press | By EMILY GERSEMA | April 9, 2003
Mounds of milk that filled warehouses and manmade storage caves are headed for feed troughs in drought-stricken areas.
The government soon will ship 218 million pounds of nonfat dry milk to parched Western states to feed cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats, says Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.
The milk is expected to go to 24,000 farmers. Those who receive the powder - enough to fill 4.5 billion 8-ounce glasses - will add it to grain for their animals.
"One of our most pressing concerns right now is the ability of pasture and grazing lands to support livestock herds," Veneman said Tuesday. "These herds are crucial to the livelihoods of many rural families, and they are the backbone of the economy in many rural communities."
Veneman said the dry milk handouts will go to producers living in nine states, from Arizona to Montana, where drought has scorched pastures in some parts for more than two years.
The dry weather is forecast to continue, but the milk should provide some relief for farmers who have lost pastureland. It also is an opportunity for the government to clear out a fifth of the 1.1 billion pounds of powdered milk that have stacked up in storage around the country. The milk was bought over the past three years to prop up prices paid to dairy farmers. It cost about $1 billion to buy it, and the government spends $23 million a year to store it.
Even after the dry milk is shipped to farmers out West, 882 million pounds will remain.
Department officials had said in November they wanted to cut the stockpiles in half by the end of this year. Until now, they had cleared about 250 million pounds by selling some to food plants to make casein, a fine milk protein powder used in manufacturing products from chocolate to cosmetics. The rest was donated as food aid to hungry countries.
Keith Collins, the department's chief economist, said if the drought continues and intensifies in some areas, the agency probably will give producers in the hardest hit areas as much as 250 million pounds more of milk.
"This new feed program could continue," Collins said. "We're doing this in 30-day windows. In mid-May, we'll decide whether we're doing it for another 30 days."
The government also could ship about 150 million pounds to poor countries, he said, depending on the need. Selling it in the United States is an option, but pouring the milk back onto the market would depress prices and force the government to buy it back.
"There's no quick solution to the problem, and there's no one answer," Collins said.
Farmers welcome this latest effort to sweep out the stockpiles, said Karen Batra, spokeswoman for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
"The drought is not over," she said. "It's continuing to be a problem, especially in Colorado and Wyoming, where it's really, really dry, and they don't see an end in sight."
The dry milk will be sent in the next few weeks to producers in 100 parched counties in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.
In addition, Veneman announced that a new drought council comprising Agriculture Department officials will monitor weather conditions and find ways to help families and communities in drought-stricken regionsThe Associated Press:
