Vermont’s Congressional delegation has introduced a plan to help dairy prices. Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders say their Dairy Market Stabilization bill would keep supply more in line with demand. The legislation parallels a bill introduced in the House by Representative Peter Welch.
They want a supply management system with USDA working with a dairy producer board to set a rate for how much farmers could increase production over the same quarter the previous year. The rate would be based on the milk-to-feed ration. There would be an assessment on farmers that exceed the growth rate while farmers that maintained stable production would qualify for USDA payments. The program would sunset after three years unless farmers vote to continue it.
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