Specter Urges Vilsack to Release
Payments to Dairy Farmers
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) called on the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to release the $290 million in direct payments to dairy farmers by the year’s end. The funding to increase government purchases of surplus dairy products was approved by Congress on October 8th, but the Department of Agriculture has yet to move on distributing the much-needed aid.
Senator Specter cosponsored the amendment providing financial relief for dairy producers, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), which was adopted as part of the Fiscal Year 2010 Department of Agriculture Appropriations Act.
“The approximately 7,600 dairy farms in my state of Pennsylvania support over 55,000 non-farm jobs in the hauling, distribution and processing industries,” Senator Specter wrote. “The loss of a dairy farm has repercussions far beyond the individual farm and impacts entire communities. With an unemployment rate of 8.8%, my state cannot accept the loss of more dairy farms. I know that you need not be reminded of the urgency of this situation, but I must nevertheless ask that you ensure the distribution of these direct milk payments to dairy farmers prior to December 25, 2009.”
The price farmers receive for their milk has bottomed out over the last year, at times plummeting 41 percent to $11.30 per hundredweight. It costs farmers approximately $18 per hundredweight to produce milk.
Senator Specter has been working with his colleagues to address the challenges facing the dairy industry. Momentum for the milk payments grew, in part, during a roundtable that Senator Specter hosted in Washington, D.C. in July with stakeholders from Pennsylvania and USDA Undersecretary Jim Miller.
Senator Specter cosponsored the amendment providing financial relief for dairy producers, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), which was adopted as part of the Fiscal Year 2010 Department of Agriculture Appropriations Act.
“The approximately 7,600 dairy farms in my state of Pennsylvania support over 55,000 non-farm jobs in the hauling, distribution and processing industries,” Senator Specter wrote. “The loss of a dairy farm has repercussions far beyond the individual farm and impacts entire communities. With an unemployment rate of 8.8%, my state cannot accept the loss of more dairy farms. I know that you need not be reminded of the urgency of this situation, but I must nevertheless ask that you ensure the distribution of these direct milk payments to dairy farmers prior to December 25, 2009.”
The price farmers receive for their milk has bottomed out over the last year, at times plummeting 41 percent to $11.30 per hundredweight. It costs farmers approximately $18 per hundredweight to produce milk.
Senator Specter has been working with his colleagues to address the challenges facing the dairy industry. Momentum for the milk payments grew, in part, during a roundtable that Senator Specter hosted in Washington, D.C. in July with stakeholders from Pennsylvania and USDA Undersecretary Jim Miller.
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