For Immediate Release
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SENATE SENDS AGRICULTURE BILL CONTAINING $350 MILLION FOR DAIRY FARMERS TO THE PRESIDENT

10/8/09

 

Kohl and Obey worked to include measure in bill that funds USDA

 

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate today voted to send the FY2010 Agriculture Appropriations Bill, which contains $350 million in additional assistance for dairy farmers championed by Senator Herb Kohl and Wisconsin Congressman Dave Obey, to the President for his signature.  Kohl is the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations panel, with the responsibility of winning Congressional support for the annual funding measure.  The bill was passed by the House of Representatives yesterday.

 

“I trust that the Secretary of Agriculture will work to get this funding out quickly and into the right hands.  We are all acutely aware of the hardships affecting dairy farming, which seems to have been hit from all directions this year.  I hope this funding will bring a measure of relief to those who are struggling,” Kohl said.

 

Farmers are grappling with milk prices that have fallen to historic lows while the costs of production – including feed, fertilizer, and fuel – have grown.  The Agriculture Appropriations Bill includes $60 million in cheese and dairy product purchases for food banks and other nutrition and feeding programs, and $290 million in direct support to dairy farmers using guidelines to be determined by the Secretary of Agriculture under an expedited process.

 

Kohl and Obey have worked together for more than 10 years to ensure a better milk price safety net through direct payments when prices are low, and both supported provisions in the 2008 farm bill to strengthen the MILC program through inclusion of a ‘feed cost adjuster’ designed to enhance MILC payments when farmers need them most.

 

From January through April of 2009, the U.S. all-milk price has averaged $4.80 per hundredweight below the U.S. average cash cost of production.  During fiscal year 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency has made more than $143 million in MILC payments to Wisconsin farmers.  USDA has also taken steps to bolster dairy markets through the Dairy Export Incentives Program and temporary adjustments to the Dairy Product Price Support Program.  In March, USDA transferred approximately 200 million pounds of nonfat dry milk to USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service in an effort to bolster markets and provide hunger relief.