Dairy Farmers Say Safety Net on Milk Prices Is Not Helping

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Dairy Farmers Say Safety Net on Milk Prices Is Not Helping

By LISA RATHKE, ASSOCIATED PRESS MONTPELIER, Vt. — Jun 19, 2016, 1:37 PM ET

Northeast dairy farmers who have been strapped for months by low milk prices say a voluntary insurance program that was supposed to be a safety net isn't helping.

The margin protection program provides financial assistance to enrolled farmers when the gap between the price of milk and national average feed costs falls below the coverage levels picked by individual farmers.

"It's a complete failure," said Les Pike, of Keewaydin Farm in Stowe, Vermont, which has been losing money for months. "If it doesn't pay in a year like this, it's completely useless."

Farmers say the margin protection program is not based on Northeast farmers' feed costs but on the national average feed cost, which is less. The chairman of the National Milk Producers Federation testified in Washington last month that the program needs improvements. Randy Mooney, who is also a Missouri dairy farmer, said the formula for calculating feed costs was changed and no longer reflects the true cost of feeding a herd while the insurance premiums for farmers were not reduced.

"For many farmers, the (program) is simply not enough to protect them in this economic environment," he told the House Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/dairy-farmers-safety-net-milk-prices-helping-39972631

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Interesting.

Milk consumption has been on a steady decline for years. Dairy Herds have been increasing in size and scale due to easy money. When you have a company like White Wave(former Dean Foods)as the largest processor and manufacturer of finished Dairy Products,do you think the what was called the Family Farmer has a chance,not going to happen. If you know anything about how Retail Groceries works,you will know were I'am coming from. The now three bigees are Kroger,Wal-Mart and Albertsons,and they set the retail pricing.

[safeinOhio]

2. Been going on for 30 years

When ever the price of a hundred weight of milk goes up, dairy farmers add more cows to scoop up more profit. Milk floods the market until the government steps in and buys up cows for burger and then it starts all over again.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. What is interesting is,

more and more Dairy's are being operated by folks from Germany and Holland. This past year,there has been a huge consolidation of Cheese processors with the new owners coming from Eourpe. It is now cheaper to manufacture Cheese in the US and ship it back to Eourpe were land values have become unsustainable to expand Dairying.

[safeinOhio]

4. CFOs are the trend

the family farmer milkiing 40 head has been forced out. Input vs output is all that is cared about. 1500 to 3000 cows is now the norm and taking a big toll on the environment. Ask anyone that lives near one. I stopped drinking milk a few years ago, but now I can buy a half gallon of skim for less that a dollar, I've started again.

[Wellstone ruled]

5. Still have Rellie in the Dairy Business.

So damn money intensive at this juncture. Understand they run about 3k head plus replacements,just keeping employees is his full time job will his kids run the operation.

[Wisc Progressive]

6. Like George Carlin said, "Fuck the Farmers!" From his book, "Brain Droppings"

Can someone please tell me why farmers are always whining and looking for a handout? If it isn’t a drought or a flood, it’s their bad loans. I was always told farmers were strong, independent people who were too proud to accept help. But sure enough as soon as something goes wrong, they’re looking for the government to bail them out. And they’re the first ones to complain about city people who live on welfare.

Fuck the farmers.

They’re worrying about losing their land? It wasn’t their land to begin with, they stole it from the Indians. Let ‘em find out what it feels like to have your land taken away by some square-headed cocksucker who just came over on a boat. They wiped out the bears, the wolves, and the mountain lions; they spoiled the land, poisoned the water table, and they produce tasteless food. Why is it in this capitalist society all businesses are expected to succeed or fail on their own except farming? Why is that?

And I live in America's Dairy Land -- a lot of big Scott Walker fans own those dairy farms. Who first decided they would pull on that part of a cow's anatomy and drink whatever came out anyhow?