(Host) The Vermont Milk Commission is recommending that dairy farmers in the Northeast get paid premiums for their milk.
The commission is scheduled to meet today at the Statehouse to present its final report.
Diane Bothfeld of the Agriculture Agency says the commission believes a premium system for dairy farmers will only work if Vermont works with other states.
(Bothfeld) “It’s all looking at our region as well as just our state. And Vermont being so small it’s hard to enact a premium just within the borders of Vermont. So that was one of the recommendations of the milk commission, to only consider enacting a premium within the borders of Vermont if the state of New York does something similar. So it’s a protection issue for Vermont and it’s dairy industry.”
(Host) The goal would be to get farmers in the three states more money than they would otherwise get under the federal pricing system.
The commission also wants to explore setting up a special fund that could be used to help stabilize prices for farmers when there are downturns in the market.