IDFA Responds to Massachusetts Compact Withdrawal Move

July 25, 2000

The International Dairy Foods Association said "politics triumphed over common sense" when the state legislature was forced to allow the state to remain part of the Northeast Dairy Compact. Gov. Paul Cellucci (R) promised to veto a bill that would have allowed the withdrawal, forcing budget conferees to drop the provision.

Constance Tipton, International Dairy Foods Association senior group vice president, said IDFA was disappointed with the outcome of the fight over compact membership but "encouraged by the leadership" in the legislature to pull Massachusetts out of the compact. The battle revealed the compact's "hidden regressive milk tax to millions of consumers in the commonwealth," Tipton said.

The Massachusetts Senate passed legislation in May that would have pulled the state out of the compact and instead helped dairy farmers by implementing a $3 million dairy farm trust fund that could have included more economic aid to state farmers than the compact provides. Another $1 million was earmarked for an "agriculture preservation restriction program."

IDFA says if the dairy provision did not fall victim to partisan politics, Bay State milk drinkers would be paying less for milk and Massachusetts dairy farmers would be guaranteed a brighter future under the proposed legislation.

The association says that through artificially set higher milk prices, the compact has cost Massachusetts consumers $50 million since its inception in 1997. And 85% of those funds have benefitted farmers in Vermont, not Massachusetts, since Massachusetts has a higher population and smaller number of dairy farms, according to IDFA.