Progressive Dairyman recently recapped a trip arranged by the Progressive Agriculture Organization during which 30 dairy farmers and 10 supports met with the agriculture aides of several members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in an effort to gain support for immediate emergency action to raise prices paid to all United States dairy farmers.
During the trip, the group strongly insisted that the U.S Congress or the U.S Secretary of Agriculture must take immediate steps to raise the support price on manufactured dairy products to a level of $1`8.00 per cwt or establish a floor price between $18.00 to $20.00 per cwt under all manufactured dairy products with the existing Class I differentials added to the manufactured price.
Additionally, for a long-term solution to the dairy farmers’ financial crisis, all members of the group are urging Congress to pass S-1645, “The Federal Milk Marketing Improvement Act of 2009.” The recent Bill was introduced by Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA), and it has the support of Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). It is hoped that the same Bill will be introduced in the House of Representatives in the near future.
Hal Drick, a dairy farmer from Allenwood, Pennsylvania, stated, “I am here today to make sure our elected officials in Washington get the message loud and clear that dairy farmers want action on this problem right now. Dairy farmers want their cost of production factored into the federal milk pricing formula. That’s only fair.”
Traveling with the dairy farmers were members of the Future Farmers of America (FFA), accompanied by their advisor Nathan Schanbacher, from Tunkhannock High School in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania. The presence of the young people sent a powerful message to the federal elected officials that America’s next generation of dairy farmers understands what is at stake when farmers do not receive a fair price for raw milk.
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Source: Progressive Dairyman
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