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Reaction Of
The Vermont Congressional
Delegation
To The Agreement On A National Dairy
Program
In The Farm Bill
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National Dairy Plan,
Modeled On N.E. Dairy
Compact,
Added To Farm Bill
WASHINGTON (April 26) – Senate and House negotiators Friday
reached final agreement on a farm bill that includes a new
national dairy program, modeled on the benefits of the
Northeast Dairy Compact. The program, backed by the Vermont
Congressional Delegation, will guarantee dairy farmers in
Vermont and across the nation benefits similar to those
available to Northeast farmers under the Compact, which
expired last September. In another key feature, farmers will
receive payments retroactive to Dec. 1 last year, when milk
prices to producers plunged.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, a senior member of the Senate
Agriculture Committee, led negotiations on the plan in the
House-Senate conference committee that has been working for
several months to iron out differences between different
versions of the farm bill passed by the Senate and the House.
The Senate bill included a version of a national dairy plan
and the House bill did not.
Sen. Patrick Leahy said: "This is a big win and a
hard-fought win for dairy farmers. It took just about every
waking moment we have had for months, but we got what Vermont
needed from this farm bill. We insisted on a central place at
the negotiating table for dairy farmers, and the result is a
nationwide plan that ensures compact-level benefits to Vermont
farmers and to farmers nationwide. We fought to make these
payments retroactive, and we won. Now dairy farmers in the
rest of the country will find out why the compact worked so
well and why we have valued it so much. We see this as a
bridge to the day that we can bring back the compact."
Sen. Jim Jeffords said: "This is truly a remarkable
achievement for not just our dairy farmers, but for all of us
who care so deeply about Vermont's rural landscape and
character. The dairy provision in this farm bill will provide
direct, counter-cyclical payments to producers when they need
it most, during times of depressed dairy prices. These
payments, targeted to help family farms, are retroactive to
December 1, 2001, and are an important step towards
maintaining the viability of our dairy industry. There were
many who helped us march down the field, but Senator Leahy
deserves the credit for moving the dairy proposal over the
goal line and scoring a winning touchdown for dairy farmers
across this nation."
Rep. Bernie Sanders said: "This victory is the product of
months of hard work on the part of the entire delegation that,
according to our coordinated strategy, began last October when
my amendment establishing a national dairy compact came within
less than two dozen votes of passing on the floor of the House
and continued with the bold and forceful leadership of
Senators Leahy and Jeffords in the Senate. Last September, no
one would have thought that the Northeast, Midwest and South
would have come together over dairy policy, but we have and
family farmers in Vermont and all over this country will
benefit substantially."
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