State legislatures coming to aid of dairy farmers

But it’s only a short-term solution

By TOM KANE

WAYMART, PA - State legislatures in our area are beginning to get it.

Two of them have passed legislation allocating millions of dollars in a short-term solution to the plight of disappearing dairy farms.

The New York Legislature this week agreed to invest $30 million to help dairy farmers, and Vermont has allocated $3.2 million.

But what about Pennsylvania?

On April 5, the Pennsylvania State Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Affairs held a public hearing at the Ladore Conference Center in Waymart. The hearing is among eight that the committee is holding across the state to pursue issues related to agriculture and how the state can help dairy farmers stay in business.

The state has lost between 30 and 40 percent of its dairy farms in the past five years. The problem is not confined to Pennsylvania: New York lost nearly 500 farms during 2006, according to the New York Farm Bureau.

Are more to come?

“Something has to be done immediately or there will be dire consequences for our state,” said Pennsylvania Senator Mike Brubaker, chairman of the committee. “We will ask our colleagues in the Senate and the governor for millions immediately to help dairy farmers. But this is only a short-term solution.”

But isn’t Pennsylvania short of money?

“Economists at the state will say we don’t have the money, but the plain truth is that we do,” Brubaker said.

Brubaker said that there is strong evidence that consumers are willing to pay a few cents more for their milk products in order to save farms. “They won’t mind a slight increase in the price of milk if they know that it’s going to the farmers,” he said.

The committee met. “We need an environment in which the market will pay milk producers for their milk,” he said.

“A surcharge on milk matching our fuel costs would benefit milk farmers,” said dairy farmer Bill Bryant of Cherry Ridge. “People are willing to pay surcharges for a lot of things. Why not to help dairy farmers?”

But what about Walmart? The mammoth store of stores sets their price for milk and will not budge, many farmers say.

“Walmart’s mantra is low price, low price,” Brubaker said. “The mechanism is missing to get Walmart to change. Consumers want more than just low prices. They want their dollars to contribute to a healthy community.”

Brubaker’s committee is going to ask the legislature to act this week to do a short-term funding of dairy farms. “Then, we need to start working on a long-term solution,” he said.

“The long-term solution has to be market-driven. Consumers show a willingness to help dairy farmers. Why not enlist them to do so? We have to find the real solution there.”