(Host) Senator Patrick Leahy says Congress needs to help dairy farmers survive one of the most challenging periods they’ve faced in years.
They’re paid around $11 for every hundred pounds of milk they sell. But it costs them $19 to produce the same amount of milk.
Leahy says that’s not sustainable for long.
(Leahy) "The dairy farmers are facing, as so many other industries are, enormous stress. And that’s got to turn around. Because you can’t just start up and turn off a dairy farm. If you lose it, you lose it."
(Host) Leahy has organized a coalition of senators from around the country that asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to boost the federal floor price of milk.
Leahy says the coalition includes Senator Herb Kohl, a key member of the Senate Agriculture Department.
(Leahy) "It’s been helpful that we’ve been able to get Senator Kohl of Wisconsin. Because the Wisconsin interests, they’ve usually been reluctant to support the interests of Northeast dairy farmers. He realizes we’re all in this together."
(Host) Leahy says the USDA has authority to temporarily raise the price it pays for surplus milk. He says that would go a long way toward supporting dairy farmers during a time of crisis.