WASHINGTON — As if the “fiscal cliff” and the long-suffering farm bill weren’t enough, Iowans may soon face a new dilemma — a “dairy cliff.”
If Congress fails to act in the handful of weeks it has left in its lame-duck session before adjourning for Christmas recess, the nation’s dairy programs for farmers will expire Jan. 1.
The effects won’t be limited to the dairy industry — retail prices for all sorts of dairy-related products could soar. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has predicted the price of milk could rise to $6 a gallon, just as almost all Americans’ income taxes are scheduled to increase.
Iowa farmers have been largely shielded from the effects of the farm bill’s expiration on Oct. 1, since the bill was written to apply to crop years, not calendar years, giving Congress until roughly next spring to renew the bill. But dairy programs have long been an exception in the farm bill and expire months earlier.
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