Dems expect to preserve milk program
Toolbox
By Devlin Barrett Associated Press - Published: December 6, 2006
WASHINGTON — A price support program for dairy farmers faces a brighter future in the new Senate, Sen. Charles Schumer said Tuesday, arguing that Democrats assuming key positions are longtime boosters of dairy interests.
The Milk Income Loss Contract, or MILC program, briefly expired in 2005 when legislators could not strike a deal. It was finally renewed at the end of last year for two years at an estimated cost of $1 billion.
Fights over milk supports have typically broken down along geographic, not political lines, but Schumer said the Democrats' 51-seat majority in the Senate beginning in January will boost MILC's fortunes.
Schumer, D-N.Y., pointed to Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont. Harkin is slated to head the Agriculture Committee and Leahy is expected to lead the agriculture spending subcommittee — both key positions from which to defend MILC as the Senate debates a massive new farm bill next year.
"And my being in Democratic leadership, I am going to make this a very high priority," said Schumer, recently elevated to the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate as a reward for orchestrating his party's Election Day victories.
The last time MILC expired, the price was relatively high and it did not have an immediate impact because the price support system only kicks in when it drops below a specific dollar amount.
Since then, the price has dropped significantly, from almost $18 per hundredweight to $15.68.
The current program provides payments to eligible farmers when the price of Class I milk falls below $16.94 per hundredweight.
At the current price, those payments are helping upstate dairy farmers survive, Schumer said.
"I worry about the market. I don't know where it's going but you want to have that protection because farmers around New York State are not optimistic that it's going to go back up, and (MILC) expires in August," Schumer said.
Rep. Collin Peterson, the Minnesota Democrat who is set to become chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said last month that the contract faces an uncertain future in his house because it expires a month before the larger national farm bill.
A one-month extension is possible, he said, but industry opposition to the contract "is a big problem."
"Well, dairy's usually kind of the last thing that's done in the farm bill. It's the most regionally divisive, most difficult issue to untangle," Peterson said. "We've been talking to different regions of the country to see if there's a way to bring the industry together."
42