Dairy farmers being squeezed out of business, Ag Secretary Vilsack told

[Ed Barrow]

Dairy farmers are being squeezed out of business by other sectors of the food industry demanding a greater share of the consumer's dollar, farmers attending a federal hearing testified Friday.

The current system leaves dairy farmers with little or no profit, several said at a U.S. Department of Justice hearing on antitrust issues in the dairy industry. The hearing attracted hundreds of farmers from around the country to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and they delivered a unified message: The system that determines the price they receive for their milk is badly broken.

"What we are hearing is a consistent message, which has not always been the case. Dairy producers, large and small, are hurting," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said at the hearing.

In the past 10 years, the number of U.S. dairy farms has fallen from 111,000 to 65,000, Vilsack said. Some of that has come from farm consolidations, where farmers pool their resources and create bigger, more efficient operations. But much of the loss has come from farmers who have been forced out of business because they could no longer make a profit, especially in the past two years.

"I have a growing concern about rural America" and the nation's food supply, Vilsack said.


http://www.jsonline.com/business/97164229.html

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. If VilSuck is so concerned about rural America and family farmers

perhaps he should remove his nose from the corporate ass of MonSatan Inc.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

4. Well said!

Perfect --->>> MonSatan Inc

[truedelphi]

2. One hundred thousand dairy cows slaughtered last year at this time.

In just three northern Counties of calif.

Farmers usually get loans from the community banks, but the Geithner/Bernanke duo only gives money for the Banksters at the Big Banks. So anyone needing money to keep afloat for a while had better own a really groovy Black American express card ($ 250K limit+ ) or simply decide to give up.

By the way, a properly run dairy farm helps the earth promote the oxygen we that we need. Little in the way of pesticides is used, the cows graze on land that is not really good for farming, and huge trees make up for the emthane the cows produce.

When the dairy farm gets sold, it ends up being vineyards. Little metal trellises holding skimpy vines - nothing sustainable for any wildlife anywhere. No birds, coyote, fox, rabbits, squirrels, deer for miles of nothing but vineyard miles.

[safeinOhio]

3. There has always been a problem

within the dairy industry. The price of milk goes up and all the farmers put on more and more cows until the market crashes and price drops. If dairy farmers were to ever organize and take a practical look at the market, they could survive without all of the ups and downs that they cause. Then they could set the prices instead of the processors that always end up with the profits.

[TxRider]

5. Yup

Dairies have been run out of business for over 50 years..

Both my mom and dad's families used to run dairies, Borden and others put them out of business decades ago.