News

Dairy bill passage ‘delights’ industry leader

Missouri Dairy Association Executive Director Dave Drennan says he’s delighted by passage of Missouri’s Dairy Revitalization Act.

“Help can’t come soon enough for our dairy farmers,” Drennan told Brownfield Ag News following the bill’s passage.  “Our concern is the loss of dairy farms, the economic hit the state has suffered over a number of years, and so this is very encouraging to us to see the overwhelming bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate in the General Assembly.”

The bill creates a subsidy of up to 70-percent for the cost of federal margin insurance for dairy producers.  It also establishes scholarships that give students a taste of dairying.

“The scholarship program would provide 80 $5,000 scholarships for any youth that would declare a major in agriculture and work on a dairy farm for three months for every year of the scholarship, basically work the summer,” said Drennan.

The measure also provides for a method to determine how the Missouri’s dairy industry is doing.

“Our commercial ag program at the University of Missouri would also receive some support to conduct an annual study and track our progress here in the state and come up with ways to expand our industry,” he said.

The next step is to have the governor sign the bill, but the Dairy Revitalization Act won’t become’ effective until legislators appropriate money to fund it.

AUDIO: Dave Drennan (7 min. MP3)