IDFA's Connie Tipton Testifies Before House on Farm Bill

IDFA Senior Group Vice President Connie Tipton spoke before the House Agriculture subcommittee on Livestock and Horticulture last month to highlight the issues facing the dairy industry for Congress to consider in preparation for a revision of the current farm bill. The Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee indicated his intent to have a new farm bill drafted by this fall.

Tipton testified that current dairy policy is distorting dairy markets, creating a fractured dairy industry, and inhibiting the industry's ability to adjust to changing economic conditions and new market opportunities, and she therefore urged changes to current dairy policy. Tipton articulated four main criteria for Congress to consider when developing new dairy policy:

• New dairy policy should eliminate industry divisiveness, be national in scope and minimize artificial enhancements of milk and dairy product prices, especially those that benefit a few regions at the expense of others.

• New dairy policy should provide a safety net for dairy producers that, whenever possible, does not artificially interfere with market prices. Tipton testified that the current Dairy Price Support Program should be replaced with a new, equitable safety net that would not benefit one region at the expense of another.

• New dairy policy should promote the development and use of risk management tools by all segments of the dairy industry.

• New dairy policy should be consistent with U.S. obligations, commitments and objectives with respect to international trade agreements.

Tipton also testified that permanent authority for forward contracting among all dairy buyers and sellers should be provided.

Tipton closed by telling the subcommittee, "We have a dairy industry that is changing to meet market demands and stay on the table in America's households. At the same time, we have a dairy industry that must work to tap new customers in other parts of the world as we realize that 96% of the world's consumers live outside our geographic borders. Meeting these challenges will take a better partnership between producers and processors and will require policies that unshackle the industry so that it can grow and compete."