Media Release from Congressman Arcuri - 24th District

Office of U.S. Rep. Michael A. Arcuri

Representing New York’s 24^th Congressional District

 

 

MEDIA RELEASE

 

Thursday, May 14, 2009

 

CONTACT: Jay Biba (Arcuri)

jay.biba@mail.house.gov            

202-225-3665 office                                      

202-329-6831 cell         

 

Stephanie Valle (McHugh)

stephanie.valle@mail.house.gov           

202-225-4611 office

202-834-0472 cell         

 

                                                                       

                                                                                                      

ARCURI, MCHUGH LEAD BI-PARTISAN EFFORT TO FIGHT FOR UPSTATE NEW YORK DAIRY FARMERS

Northeast Democratic and Republican Congressmen Join Forces for Dairy Industry

 

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Reps. Michael A. Arcuri (NY-24) and John M. McHugh (NY-23) led a bipartisan group of 23 members of Congress today in calling on U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to address rising production costs facing small dairy farms across Upstate New York.

 

“Our dairy farmers need help, and it is imperative to our Upstate economy that they stay in business,” Arcuri said. “The thousands of small business dairy farms and their employees cannot wait for the crisis in the dairy industry to fix itself.  We are demanding swift and effective action from the federal government  to allow dairy farmers to remain competitive and continue to feed families across Upstate New York and the entire Northeast region”

 

“As a lifelong resident of Northern New York, I know how critical our dairy farms and families are to our economy and the fabric of our local communities.  It is imperative that the federal government act quickly to deal with what has become an untenable situation that has the potential to force our dairy farmers out of business.   I will continue to work with my Congressional colleagues to urge Secretary Vilsack to address the rising cost in production and readjust the federal milk order pricing system,” said McHugh.

 

The global dairy industry has experienced a freefall in the price of milk because of the worldwide economic recession and fewer dairy exports overseas.  At the beginning of 2009, milk prices fell drastically due to an oversupply of milk on the market.  The amount of excess milk has since been reduced, but prices have yet to rebound.

 

Last year, Arcuri and McHugh successfully fought to include better dairy price supports in the 2008 Farm Bill by adding a feed cost adjuster to the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program. This provision ties MILC support to what struggling dairy farmers pay for their feed, so that MILC payments increase as the cost of feed rises.