State Agriculture Officials Head to Washington D.C. Regarding Expired Farm Bill

Augusta, Maine - State agriculture officials will head later this week to Washington D.C. to work with Maine’s congressional delegation and other officials about the demise of the 2008 Farm Bill, which expired Sept. 30, and its disastrous impact on Maine’s dairy farmers.

The high cost of feed and fuel, coupled with the Midwest drought and a federal milk pricing system based on a speculative market system, have caused production costs to skyrocket for Maine dairy producers, according to Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (ACF) officials.

ACF officials on Monday informed state legislators who are members of the Joint Legislative Committee for Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry about the efforts being made at the federal level.

“We have discussed the very dire circumstances to our dairy industry, given the historic high prices of animal feed and fuel, and Maine’s continuing efforts to change the federal milk pricing system which has been devastating as a major driver of Maine’s rural economy,” said ACF Commissioner Walter Whitcomb.  “The current system is completely out of context with the production issues we now face.”

Maine has 306 dairy farms located throughout the state, ranging in size from 10 cows to 1,700 cows. Dairy farms manage 700,000 acres of farmland and woodland and support more than 5,000 jobs directly and indirectly. The dairy industry has an annual impact of $570 million on Maine’s economy.

Federal milk pricing, based on cheese and butter futures sold at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, is extremely complicated. Most Maine milk, however, is sold in liquid form with a higher value than cheese or butter. Maine milk prices should have a local, not federal, origin, according to agriculture officials.

The recently expired federal Farm Bill has provided a price protection program known as the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program. Despite the efforts of such federal legislators as U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, no action was taken on the Farm Bill before Congress left for its recess, putting in limbo a number of programs critical in Maine, including the MILC program and other programs important to seniors, child nutrition education and specialty crops, including potatoes and blueberries.

Maine officials will head to Washington D.C. with several federal milk pricing initiatives for the returning Congress, Commissioner Whitcomb said. State legislators have expressed support for the efforts on behalf of Maine producers and the dairy industry, he said.

“Maine has been involved in efforts to change the national scope of milk pricing for a number of years,” he said.  “We are hopeful that our efforts will be of benefit not only to Maine farmers, but also dairy farmers in our region.”