(Dairy) Cliff Jumping

Greetings from my office in Wyoming County!

It's cold out and because I'm somewhat unmotivated to go the gym as initially planned, and because I finally got on a productive roll this afternoon- it's 6:30pm and I'm still at my desk. Gosh, my life is exciting.

One of the more interesting e-mails that managed to come through my inbox, despite the spotty internet and phone service we suffered through all day, was discussing the effects and a little unofficial ruminating on the the Farm Bill which (finally) passed Congress today. 

My opinions on the ridiculousness of the whole situation aside, we have a Farm Bill in place for 2013, which is to say, Congress  passed an extension of the 2008 Bill that was already in place, with a few exceptions.

Most notably impacting dairy farmers is that the Milk Income Loss Contract aka: MILC, has been renewed (yes, the one that I was ranting about in a recent post). If milk prices and feed costs remain where they are, dairy farmers can expect payments for several months in 2013, which will mean a little relief for many small to mid-size herds. For the big guys, it doesn't amount to more than a drop in the bucket, despite any proportionally-similar profitability strain.

Additionally, all the talk on milk prices in the store reaching $8 per gallon has been squelched as extending the bill means we will not revert to 1940's milk pricing. While the threat of a $40 price paid to farmers per hundred pounds of milk was appealing, in reality, it would have been extremely harmful to dairy product demand, as many who already struggle to put food on the table would have been forced out of consuming dairy products. And that my friends, is not something we would likely recover from, while the dramatic price increase would regulate as demand fell off.  Good or bad, our industry has been saved from careening off the dairy cliff.

For my dairy industry friends, it was noted that Congress acknowledged the dairy industry's self-made, hotly debated but likely effective- price support program, however, lack of support leaves it on the back burner until the 2013 Farm Bill is back up for debate later this year.

For farmers of the crop variety, business will continue as usual, with price support programs remaining unchanged.

As for the bulk of the Farm Bill spending- SNAP and Food Stamps- these programs also escaped change for the next 12 months; while some Conservation, Trade, Rural Development and disaster assistance programs were not re-upped with the bulk of the Bill.

So there we have it... 12 more months of the status-quo for dairy farmers... which, in my opinion, is not a good thing. What we really need is comprehensive change to the way milk is priced in order to support new product development, keep good dairy farmers in business, and ensure adequate dairy food supply for consumers at reasonable prices.

Maybe next year.

In other news... I was able to spend some time at home over the holidays and catch up with friends and family. I'm (super) excited to report the heifer that had her first calf looks MUCH better and I'm actually pretty darn happy with her. Her calf is still gorgeous, has a stellar appetite, seemingly grows before your eyes, but is most unfortunately, still a bull.

Cheers to all and wishes for 2013 to be your best yet! I'm sure as heck hoping for a little less upheaval in my life and hopefully some progress with the new job, plenty of time with friends and family, and some success in the show ring!