Fair price for milk

By Arden Tewksbury

OtherWords

Despite treating her cows humanely, strictly adhering to milk production regulations, and carefully stewarding her land, a Pennsylvania dairy farmer I know is $70,000 in debt. She has no idea how she’ll repay her creditors or how much longer they will allow her to buy feed and supplies before demanding payment. Without a fair price for her milk, she can’t accrue enough funds to pay off her debt. Most likely, she will have to sell her dairy cows and the family farm — the home and livelihood for her, her husband, and their children.

Since November 2008, I have received daily crisis calls from dairy farmers. One, whose feed costs increased by $500 between November and December, also received $500 less for her milk during this period, equaling a $1,000 loss when her cows were actually producing more milk. Another reported his feed costs had risen by almost $8,000 in one month. Still another declared that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Services Agency loan was approved at the county level, but was denied by a higher authority.

The continued spike in grain prices, coupled with increased electricity, oil, and other fuel costs, is threatening the survival of many independent dairy and livestock farmers. They were suffering before prices escalated, due to an antiquated system allowing milk prices to be manipulated by Chicago Mercantile Exchange traders and investor-biased milk cooperatives. These dairy farmers have no control over the price they’re paid for their milk. When they aren’t paid enough to cover their production costs, they operate at a loss.

American consumers love their milk, cheese, and ice cream.

Pricing formula

I urge all consumers to support us in our efforts to adopt a pricing formula that provides our dairy farmers a fighting chance to stay in business, while assuring the public continued access to fresh, affordable, wholesome, locally produced milk.

President Barack Obama mentioned job creation and innovation in his latest State of the Union address. I suggest he revisit the idea of supporting well-paying jobs in rural communities and fair compensation for our farmers.

Tewksbury is the manager of the Progressive Agriculture Organization, a member of the National Family Farm Coalition. Distributed by OtherWords, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies.