ALBANY — A partisan tangle in Washington over a federal farm bill could force the revival of a 1940s-era federal milk pricing system that could nearly double the price of milk overnight, the state Farm Bureau warned Monday.
That is the nightmare scenario if Congress does not pass a new farm bill by the end of the year. But whether it actually happens seems remote, said Andrew Novakovic, a milk pricing expert and professor of agricultural economics at Cornell University.
The crux is dairy price supports — known as the Milk Income Loss Contract — that were part of the federal farm bill that expired Sunday. The Senate passed a new farm bill in June, but the House of Representatives has not voted on the measure. Lawmakers are not in session and aren't expected to return until after the November elections.
Unless a new farm bill with dairy support provisions is passed by Jan. 1, the program will revert to a 1940s system that was scrapped in the early 1980s because large government subsidies encouraged massive overproduction and a glut of milk and cheese, Novakovic said.
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