When I think of the food that goes into the diet of a healthy child, it’s hard to imagine anyone having to splurge to buy dairy. But that’s just what lawmakers are proposing with a provision in the Senate Farm Bill that, literally, has the stated goal of raising the price of milk.
Cleverly guised as the Dairy Market Stabilization Program, this provision included in the Senate version of the Farm Bill, is designed to increase the cost of milk by periodically imposing limits on the amount of milk dairy farmers can sell — and worse, penalizing them if they produce more than the allotted amount.
By no mistake, this would increase the price of milk, which would affect us all, but disproportionally wallop families and lower-income consumers like the elderly who spend a higher percentage of their incomes on food than the average consumer. I think we can all agree that the last thing this country needs is higher prices on staple food items, especially the kind that keep bones strong for young and old bodies alike.
Of course we want farmers to succeed, and we want to help them at every turn, but we can support farmers without hurting consumers. A more reasonable and bipartisan solution is the House-passed version of the Farm Bill which would offer dairy farmers an effective net without forcing higher prices on consumers. As a family-friendly dairy policy, it was supported by a majority of Michigan’s congressional delegation including U.S. Represenatives John Dingell, John Conyers, Fred Upton and Mike Rogers.
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