Dairy farmers come together in effort to raise milk prices

In order to kick off a national effort to raise prices and prevent another four-year downturn, the Northeast dairy cooperative Agri-Mark invited stakeholders from across the country to a summit at the Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza to explore systemic solutions.“It is a travesty that farmers who work so hard to produce such a crucial food product cannot support their families and farms on the production of that food,” Wellington said.The event drew about 350 farmers, personnel from cooperatives, or organizations dedicated to marketing farmers’ milk; economists and lawmakers from throughout the Northeast to as far as California. Economists and dairy group leaders shared proposals to curtail the oversupply and prevent farmers from creating another bloated market.Wellington, also senior vice president of economics, communications and legislative affairs for Agri-Mark, shared his direct base plan, which he said would issue financial penalties against farmers who produce more than their historic base when the milk price falls below $20 per hundredweight.The historic base would use the highest monthly production average over a three-year period, Wellington said, which would incorporate calculations that would use daily production. Future monthly bases would be calculated by multiplying the daily base by the number of days in a month.A dairy farmer commission would be created to oversee the program and would also implement temporary base reductions whenever the price falls below $20 per hundredweight, Wellington said. The decrease in price would dictate the reduction percentage.