News

Move to pull dairy supply management from farm bill

Just as in the Senate, there is an attempt in the House to remove supply management for dairy from the farm bill. An amendment has been introduced by Republican Representative Bob Goodlatte of Virginia and Democrat David Scott of Georgia which would pull the market stabilization provision from the dairy program.

On Monday, California Dairies; Dairy Business Milk Marketing Cooperative; Dairy Policy Action Coalition; National All-Jersey; North East Dairy Producers Association; and the Wisconsin Dairy Business Association sent a letter to House Ag Committee Chair Frank Lucas and Ranking Member Collin Peterson expressing their continued opposition to the dairy provisions of the bill. Minnesota Milk Producers Association sent a separate letter in support of a safety net program without the market stabilization provision.

The organizations along with the International Dairy Foods Association contend any type of supply management would cause consumer price increases, discourage investment in the dairy industry and do long-term damage to the export market because the U.S. would become an unreliable supplier.

Supporters argue the voluntary plan provides a needed safety net for producers which can respond to overproduction if need be. National Milk Producers Federation president and CEO Jerry Kozak says: “The Goodlatte-Scott dairy amendment guts the dairy reforms that farmers have worked so hard in the past three years to create, this amendment undercuts these efforts in the worst possible way: by tearing a hole in the insurance safety net offered to farmers in the Farm Bill.”

Attempts to amend the Senate bill were not considered and the bill was passed with the dairy title intact.