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Peterson: dairy support program may need overhaul

The House Agriculture Committee will look at some major reforms of the U.S. dairy program in the next farm bill.

That’s what House Ag Committee chair Collin Peterson told Reuters after a meeting of the Congressional Dairy Farmers Caucus in Washington on Thursday.  Peterson says the current program was “inadequate” in dealing with this year’s collapse in dairy prices. One proposal, Peterson said, is to limit the scope of support prices and give producers the opportunity to buy price protection — similar to insurance — from USDA. Another approach would encourage cooperatives or other groups of farmers to use the futures market to guarantee a milk price.