Dairy Industry Groups Participate in House Subcommittee Hearings
August 5, 2009
Dairy Industry Groups Participate in House Subcommittee Hearings
The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Dairy hosted three hearings last month to examine the dire economic state of the dairy industry. Subcommittee Chairman David Scott (D-GA) had met with NMPF in June and expressed his desire to better understand the current dairy crisis.
As a result, twenty people representing myriad views testified before Congress within three weeks. The industry groups included NMPF, the International Dairy Foods Association, Select Milk Producers, Inc., Western United Dairyman, the National Farmers Union, the National Family Farm Coalition, Associated Milk Producers Inc., Braum's Ice Cream & Dairy Stores, the U.S. Dairy Export Council, and Holstein Association USA.
NMPF was represented at the initial hearing on July 14, 2009, by Board member Tom Wakefield of Bedford, PA.Wakefield outlined NMPF's perspective on the causes of the crisis, and renewed the Federation's request that Congress work with USDA to maximize the use of the Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP) and boost price support levels, which USDA subsequently did.
Wakefield also discussed the creation of the NMPF Strategic Planning Task Force, which, similar to the congressional hearings, is intended to build consensus across the dairy producer community with respect to the underlying factors affecting producer prices, and to examine ways in which the producer community can realistically work to address those factors.
For copies of each testimony submitted during the hearing process, please visit the House Agriculture Committee website at http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/statements.html.
