Aid for struggling dairy farms is slow to arrive

BRATTLEBORO -- As Vermont dairy farmers continue to struggle through one of the worst pricing slumps in modern history, Washington is slowly moving ahead with its efforts to address the crisis.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week announced that it had scheduled a public workshop to look at competition and market transparency in the dairy industry.

And the Agriculture Department this week also said aid that was promised to the nation’s dairy farmers last month will hopefully be in their hands before Christmas.

USDA announced the workshops to look at competition and regulatory issues in the dairy industry as part of a series of hearings on the agriculture industry held in conjunction with the Justice Department.

The dairy hearing, which is scheduled for June 7, 2010, in Madison, Wis., was first announced by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Eric Holder, and will be the first joint hearing by the two departments to look at competition among the nation’s largest dairy processors.

Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., says Dean Foods controls about 70 percent of the fluid milk buying market in New England, and Sanders asked the Justice Department to investigate whether the dairy giant was illegally controlling milk prices by dominating the market.

"These workshops will give farmers across the country the opportunity to tell the federal government the disastrous impact agricultural consolidation has had on their industries and their livelihoods," Sanders said after the workshop schedule was announced.

Sanders, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., all worked to get Congress to pass an emergency assistance bill, which President Barack Obama signed in October.

USDA has promised to provide $290 million in direct support but the agency has not yet announced how it would be dividing up the money.

Smaller states like Vermont have been lobbying for a formula that would cap the aid to larger dairy producing states in the West.

Welch on Thursday sent a letter to Vilsack, urging him to act on the dairy support payment.

"We understand that the USDA is determining the best method for a direct payment of the $290 million, and we appreciate all the work that has been done for dairy farmers," Welch wrote in the letter, which was signed by eight other Representatives. "We respectfully request that the USDA find an efficient and effective method to get dairy producers these funds before the end of 2009. Many dairy producers are struggling to stay open everyday, and we are concerned that with only a little more than a month left in 2009, time is running out for dairy producers to benefit from these funds this year."

Vermont Agency of Agriculture spokeswoman Kelly Loftus said she was on a conference call with USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan this week, and while Merrigan could not say how the department would be distributing the money, she did say that agriculture officials were aware of the need to rush the money on to the farmers as quickly as possible.

"They are in the middle of the rule making process and they have this on the fast track." Loftus said. "We have so many small farms here in Vermont and it is important for us that they take that into account when they are determining how the money will be distributed."

Howard Weiss-Tisman can be reached at hwtisman@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 279.