Coop candidate

Brian Smith: A lone voice for dairy farmers?

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA — Brian Smith is a brave man.

He is running for a vacant position on the board of the giant coop Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) that has come under heavy criticism from both dairy farmers and President Obama’s Department of Justice Antitrust Unit (DOJ). The DOJ brought an antitrust lawsuit against DFA on October 8.

If elected, Smith may be alone on the board in his efforts in criticizing some of the decisions of DFA—a voice crying in the wilderness.

“I want to give an accurate representation to the board of the plight of dairy farmers today and of the need for the board to support the inclusion of the cost of production in the milk pricing system,” Smith said.

Smith also disapproves of the DFA’s recent policy of importing milk protein products that are undermining the price that native farmers get for the milk they produce. “They have adopted some of these practices because they bring enormous profits to the coops, while dairy farmers are struggling to survive due to the poor price they get for their milk,” he said.

According to Smith, there is a serious disconnect between the top echelons of the board and the dairy farmers who are struggling to save their farms. Critics charge that top executives of the DFA get away with their actions because the pricing system in place is complex and non-transparent. “The pricing is so complicated that the realities of the system are hidden from most people’s understanding,” he said. “There is a document produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that explains how the pricing works, but it is 25 pages long and is written in convoluted language that only a specialist can understand.”

There is little unity among the various dairy farmers’ organizations because they have their own scenarios and particular agendas that isolate them from other organizations, he said. “What is needed is for all those organizations to get together nationally and protect dairy farmers,” Smith said.

There is some ray of hope since the Internet is a method that farmers across the country who are experiencing the same plight use to speak to one another and unite in some ways, he said.

“Some on the Internet are talking about a major march on Washington on December 2, but I don’t know if it will happen or not,” he said.

Despite his possible isolation on the board, he is hopeful that when he starts explaining the plight of dairy farmers and the unreasonable pricing system, others on the board will agree with him.

“There is a serious danger that the nation will no longer have enough dairy farms that are producing a supply of milk for the nation,” Smith said. “If that happens and we have to rely on foreign milk, and the nation will experience a national security crisis that won’t go away.”