My good friend Dave has done extensive work for Walmart legal on dairy issues like pricing, dairy compacts, and those monstrous marketing orders. That qualifies him to be my milk nerd. I asked him for his thoughts on the recent nose-dive in milk prices. Here’s his interesting thoughts:
Representative Collin Peterson (D-MN) has circulated a proposal to revamp the U.S. Government’s dairy program. The recent boom in agricultural prices has not benefitted dairy farmers, and with increased prices for feed has hit them while they are down. The dairy industry has been suffering continued consolidation even as media reports show that the rise in commodity prices has begun to make other farmers very rich. Peterson’s changes follow the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) approach and in fact the NMPF has posted the draft text on its website. Expect a tough fight in an era of assumed farmer wealth and budget austerity in Washington.
