Dairy Farmers Seek $2 Billion from Farm Bill

March 14, 2002

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) is asking House and Senate leaders working on the 2002 farm bill to include $2 billion in direct dairy farmer payments in the final version of the measure. House and Senate agriculture committee conferees began their deliberations Wednesday, seeking to reconcile difference between the respective House and Senate versions.

In a letter sent Tuesday to House and Senate conferees, NMPF asked the officials to include in the final conference report the $2 billion in direct dairy payments in the Senate's version of the 2002 bill. The House version does not feature any dairy payments.

The NMPF letter does not specifically support the payment formula included in the Senate bill. That formula divides the $2 billion among 12 northeastern states, where producers would split $500 million of the money, while dairy producers in the rest of the country would be eligible to receive the remaining $1.5 billion.

In the letter to the conferees, NMPF endorses the inclusion of a dairy payment program that "equitably allocates the funds, and does not disrupt the orderly marketing of milk throughout the country."

To help the conferees better define the term "equitable," NMPF's letter suggests that the Farm Bill negotiators consider several criteria for a dairy payment program: it should be national in scope; it should not discriminate among states and regions; it should not discriminate among farmers by limiting payments based on herd size; it should not cause competitive disadvantages or advantages among dairy farmers, and it should not increase production to the point where overproduction eventually erodes the farm gate prices.