Congressional leaders have long been frustrated with the lack of dairy industry consensus on how to head off milk price calamities. One small but significant hurtle seems to have been cleared via recent hearings.
Dairy industry leaders across the country seem of one mind on daily electronic reporting of product sale prices and volume. They favor it, and groups like the Northeast's Dairy Policy Action Coalition have spent much time in recent weeks talking about it to U.S. Department of Agriculture officials plus key members of Congress and congressional ag staffers.
Daily electronic reporting plus quarterly audits of about 100 dairy production plants are already authorized under the 2007 Farm Bill. Up to this point, USDA has not put it in place. Now comes the hard part, coming up with the projected $600,000 in startup costs, plus another $1 to $2 million annually to fund it.
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