New farm bill draws heavy backing from national farm organizations

Farmers’ cost of production is included

By TOM KANE

WASHINGTON, DC - In their version of the new proposed farm bill, the two senators from Pennsylvania clearly urge the need for a cost of production clause for dairy farmers.

Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey drafted their versions S. 1722-and last week sent it to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. A new farm bill is expected to be passed by November.

The proposed bill has the backing of 26 national agriculture organizations from as far away as California and Wisconsin, according to Casey’s staff.

Casey is attempting to work with Democrats and Republicans on the agriculture committee to get the cost of production clause included in what is passed on to the full Senate, according to Kendra Barkoff, Casey’s press secretary. Dairy farmers have been struggling with the rising costs of feed, fertilizer and energy while the price they get for their milk has stayed level.

“We are hoping now that the recess is over, the committee will take the matter up on October 15,” she said. Barkoff would not comment on when the bill will reach the full Senate.

“If passed, it will be the first time in decades that dairy farmers could possibly receive a fair price for their milk,” said Arden Tewksbury of the Progressive Agriculture Organization, a Pennsylvania-based dairy group. “It would stop the calamitous closing of dairy farms that is happening all around the country,” he said. “Under this bill, the small dairy farmer could stay in business.”

Up to now, the price that dairy farmers get for their milk is determined by a complex formula that most farmers don’t fully understand and that is reputed to favor the big milk-processing companies and large food companies.

Dairy groups from California, the Midwest and the Northeast champion a united agenda that includes a cost of production formula for dairy farmers who have seen fuel and feed costs spiraling, the prohibition of practices that pay farmers below what is allowed by a federal agreement called Federal Milk Market Order (FMMO), a discontinuance in the current pricing for nonfat dry milk, which has been called an anti-trust abuse, and the prohibition of milk substitutes, such as milk protein concentrates, from inclusion in the pricing formula.

Representatives of some of the 26 organizations traveled to Washington, DC to lobby the members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Tewksbury said.