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| Midwest dairy producers are suffering while others profit |
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In a culture in which no one flinches at paying two bucks for a bottle of water, it is not fair that dairy farmers are struggling in Ohio.
The dairy industry is in critical condition because prices paid to farmers have fallen well below the costs to feed and keep dairy cows. While dairy farmers provide the essential ingredients for milk, cheese and ice cream, others in the supply-and-marketing chain are using cheap prices for milk as their own cash cow.
This situation is hurting rural Ohio. It is not good for grocery shoppers, either.
When you buy a gallon of milk for $2.99 at your local grocery store, the farmer’s share of that retail dollar is 91 cents. That’s right. More than two thirds of the cost of that gallon goes to the “middlemen.” Milk is neither like gas nor bottled water.
The production of gas and bottled water is big business measured in millions of gallons and billions in sales. Milk production comes from farms, one cow at a time.
And dairy producers, unlike Shell or Evian, cannot raise prices to increase profits. Dairy farmers have to accept what the middlemen are willing to pay. These days, those middlemen are paying so little that dairy farmers are going broke.
I’m Roger Cross-grove, and my family milked cows for nearly four decades. We’ve leased our herd to another farmer, and even he is struggling to keep the barn doors from closing.
We, dairy producers, have had our ups and downs, but I’ve never seen an economic dairy crisis like this in all my years farming. From the smallest to the largest milk producers, we are facing unprecedented economic disaster. Simply put, the cost of producing milk is more than the cost we receive when we sell it.
Remember, we are Ohio’s dairy farmers rather than a huge company whose only responsibility is to make money for Wall Street.
Market prices remain near 1970 levels for milk producers, and many dairy farmers are finding creditors reducing or even eliminating their operating funds. How would you feel if your boss told you, “I will cut your paycheck to what it was in 1970 - learn to live with it”?
Why should you care? If too many dairy producers go out, the supply of milk and dairy products - like cheese, ice cream and butter - will eventually flip and lead to high demand. With considerably fewer U.S. milk producers, this will likely generate more imports from countries with considerably lower health standards resulting in lower quality and reduced food safety requirements.
Personally, I want my grandchildren’s ice cream cone and macaroni-and-cheese to come from the cows I see grazing on family farms during my drive home from work; not from some foreign country. We already have had food safety issues that stem from importing food from nations whose sanitary standards are poor compared to the United States.
We all saw what happens when the United States becomes dependent on foreign oil. Do we really want to be dependent on foreign milk products too? Just imagine what would happen if we had to rely on a “food cartel” that decided how much (or how little) food should be produced and exported to the United States.
I encourage Congress to pass a dairy stimulus package as an immediate financial lifeline for dairy producers all across our nation. Action is needed soon. Many dairy farmers are losing $100-$200 per dairy cow per month.
Dairy farmers may not be as visible as General Motors or Chrysler, yet as Congress is paying attention to the car companies, dairy farmers are being forced out of business through no fault of their own. To their credit, Ohio’s dairy farmers are among the best in the nation.
General farm organizations like Farmers Union wrote USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack last month regarding challenges faced by dairy farmers in Ohio and calling for listening sessions where farmers could tell their stories directly to legislators and the USDA.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and Congressman Steve LaTourette also wrote Vilsack letters encouraging fast action and listening sessions.
There are 3,500 dairy producers in Ohio. Our state’s overall economy would flourish if we could grow that number; otherwise, the loss of dairy farmers will cost all of us more than we can afford.
Ask your representative to write the USDA to help keep the milk we drink produced by Ohio dairy farmers. Call your U.S. senators, members of Congress, department of agriculture or governor today. Help keep our flow of milk coming from the United States.
Roger Crossgrove
Executive Director
Ohio Farmers Union |
| 7/15/2009 |
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