Agriculture Secretary Vilsack offers way to resolve dairy issue threatening Farm Bill

"Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack suggested Monday one option for helping resolve the dairy conflict in the Farm Bill would be to allow USDA to buy some excess milk to stabilize prices for producers," Chris Clayton reports for DTN The Progressive Farmer. "The Farm Bill has been held up because of problems over a dairy-supply management provision that Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, opposes. In talking about dairy issues, Vilsack said in a press conference after his speech to the American Farm Bureau Federation that dairy producers need a system that helps producers realize when they are producing too much milk for the market." (Clayton photo)

"Maybe we need to look for ways to get the processors out of that mix and figure out some other way to send that signal," Vilsack said, noting that USDA's Commodity Credit Corp. can buy other commodities' surpluses to stabilize markets. "He added that the conflict over dairy provisions shouldn't overshadow all the other good aspects of the Farm Bill," Clayton reports.

Despite Boehner's intransigence, Vilsack said at the press conference: "I am more optimistic we are going to have a Farm Bill now. We are strongly encouraging the members of the conference committee and specifically the leadership to find the will and the way to get it done." (Read more)