Dairy products

Responding To Schumer's Call, DOJ's Head Of Antitrust Investigations Will Come To New York To Explore Anticompetitive Practices In The Dairy Industry

November 16, 2009 -- Today U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that at his urging Christine A. Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division, will come to New York to meet with dairy farmers and consumers to explore potential anticompetitive behavior on the part of dairy processors.    » read more »

GE to Showcase Jenbacher Biogas Engines that are Helping U.S. Dairy Farmers Generate Renewable Electricity from Cow Manure Methane

SYRACUSE, N.Y.--Thursday, October 29, 2009--With the country working to develop cleaner, alternative energy sources, the U.S. dairy industry with sponsorship from GE Energy is convening the New York Dairy Power Summit in Syracuse, N.Y., this week.

The summit brings together experts in dairy production, engineering, environmental science, financing, legislation and policy, and green energy business to accelerate opportunities for U.S. dairy farmers to use cow manure methane biogas to generate reliable, cost-effective renewable electricity.    » read more »

17 other members of Congress sign onto the Massa letter

10/14/09 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - Last night Rep. Eric Massa, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, sent a letter which he wrote to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urging immediate MILC assistance for dairy farmers. The letter, which was signed by a bipartisan group of 17 other members of Congress, called for a November 15th release of $290 million in dairy farmer assistance payments recently approved in the FY 2010 Agriculture Appropriations bill.

America has never seen such a crisis in the dairy industry and without the immediate delivery of these critical funds, many dairy farmers will see their livelihood lost.    » read more »

Bill Will Extend County of Origin Labeling to Dairy Products

October 14, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C.–U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), chair of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Food, Nutrition, and Family Farms, joined U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to introduce the Dairy Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Act, which would extend mandatory country of origin labeling to dairy products.

“Ohioans and all Americans have a right to know where their food was produced,” Brown said. “This bill supports both families and farmers by requiring country of origin labeling on all dairy products. With increasing dairy imports, country of origin labeling provides critical information as households decide how to feed their families.”    » read more »

October 9, 2009 -- (Washington, D.C.) - U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen applauded the passage of the FY2010 Agriculture Appropriations bill, which included over $350 million in aid for dairy farmers who are struggling from historically low prices. Shaheen helped fight for an amendment in August to provide this funding for direct assistance to dairy farmers and to raise the amount they are paid for their milk.

"We must preserve the nation's small and mid-sized dairy farms, and to do that we must provide them with assistance and increase the price of milk paid to farmers," said Shaheen. "I'm glad Congress acted to offer these farmers relief, and we will continue to look for long-term ways to reduce volatility in the market so that our dairy farms can survive."    » read more »

Kohl and Obey worked to include measure in bill that funds USDA

10/8/09 -- WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate today voted to send the FY2010 Agriculture Appropriations Bill, which contains $350 million in additional assistance for dairy farmers championed by Senator Herb Kohl and Wisconsin Congressman Dave Obey, to the President for his signature.

Kohl is the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations panel, with the responsibility of winning Congressional support for the annual funding measure. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives yesterday.    » read more »

Senator Feinstein Leads Bipartisan Coalition of 7 Senators and 16 Representatives in Urging Agriculture Secretary Vilsack to Fairly Distribute Federal Dairy Relief

October 8, 2009 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today led a bipartisan coalition of seven other Senators and 16 Representatives from states with the largest dairies in urging Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to fairly distribute $350 million in federal dairy relief and avoid regional bias. As a result of low dairy prices, Western dairy farmers are losing up to $100,000 in revenues per month.    » read more »

October 9, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), chairman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Food, Nutrition, and Family Farms, announced that Agriculture Appropriations Act of 2010 includes $350 million in emergency support for our nation’s dairy industry.

“The dairy sector plays a key role in the economic vitality and success of Ohio’s small towns and rural communities,” Brown said. “It’s imperative Ohio dairy farmers have the support they need to withstand this time of high production costs and plummeting farm-level prices.”    » read more »

October 7, 2009 -- (WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) is working to help North Dakota dairy farmers cope with the nationwide fall in dairy prices.

Last week, Senator Dorgan was a part of a conference of House and Senate negotiators that finalized the FY 2010 Agriculture Appropriations bill, and helped secure $350 million in emergency aid to help dairy farmers across the nation. The assistance includes $290 million to help dairy farmers directly, and $60 million to buy cheese products to donate to food banks.

In addition, Senator Dorgan is supporting legislation that would close a loophole that allows foreign dairy exporters to circumvent trade rules and flood the market with excess dairy products.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, September 30 – Senate and House negotiators have agreed to provide $350 million for hard-pressed dairy farmers, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced today. The funding was first included in a Sanders amendment to the Department of Agriculture appropriations bill.    » read more »

9/30/09 -- WASHINGTON, DC – After weeks of negotiations, U.S. Senator Herb Kohl and Congressman Dave Obey successfully retained $350 million in additional assistance for dairy farmers as part of the House-Senate compromise version of the FY2010 Agriculture Appropriations Bill.

Kohl, who is chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations panel, was the lead Senate negotiator and pushed to preserve the funds which originated in the Senate bill. Obey, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, was instrumental in securing the consent of House conferees.    » read more »

$290 Million Will Be In Direct Payment To Farmers

September 30, 2009 -- Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $350 million to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help New York farmers struggling during the dairy crisis in the final Agriculture Appropriations Bill.

Senators Schumer and Gillibrand aggressively lobbied their colleagues in the House of Representatives and Senate to include the provision in the final legislation. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont authored the measure that was included in only the Senate version of the legislation. Senators Schumer and Gillibrand said that the $290 million in direct payments is a big win for New York's dairy farmers.    » read more »

Dairy is Critical Industry for NM; State Ranks 7th in Dairy Production

September 15, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) today joined a half-dozen of his Senate colleagues at a press conference on Capitol Hill to express his support of the nation's struggling dairy farmers. Click here for photos of the event.

Dairy farmers in New Mexico and across the country are experiencing a financial crisis due to massive drops in the prices of dairy products. Over the last year, dairy prices have dropped as much as 40 percent from record highs – and 17 percent to 19 percent below the 10-year average. By contrast, feed prices over that same period decreased by only 8 percent.    » read more »

September 15, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, September 15 - The National Farmers Union and U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Robert Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.); Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) today backed legislation to support dairy farmers.

The Senate in August passed Sanders' amendment to the agriculture appropriations bill to provide an extra $350 million for milk price supports and to increase government purchases of surplus dairy products.    » read more »

Says Minnesota's dairy farmers face dire conditions

September 15, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. – Speaking at an event outside the U.S. Capitol, Senator Amy Klobuchar highlighted the plight of dairy farmers in Minnesota and around the nation, saying that more must be done to alleviate the crisis. Klobuchar spoke about a farm she visited in Foley, Minnesota over the weekend, recounting a story about how tough the market has made it for the young farmer to make ends meet.    » read more »