Back on February 10, we posted Walz to USDA: Help America's dairy farmers, which linked the potential economic calamity confronting milk producers as prices they receive plummet (so far, we haven't noticed any lower prices being past along at the grocery store).
Walz's move, asking USDA Secretary to use his agency's "so-called Section 32 funds—funds that are available at the discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture to purchase surplus commodities--" to spur demand for dairy products, has been widely covered in the district press.
KEYC-TV picked up on the story right away in Walz Urges Swift Action For Dairy Industry, as did the Twin Cities-based Minnesota Independent in Paul Schmelzer's Capitol Catchall: Walz urges action on milk crisis. . .
The Owatonna People's Press reported yesterday that Walz works to remedy effects of milk surplus:
The effects have not yet played out in the general public. The startling, rapid drop in milk prices has not lowered retail prices in grocery stores, but U.S. Congressman Tim Walz said on Friday that people should not assume all is well.
“When people see high prices, they assume it’s all fine in farm country,” Walz, who represents the First Congressional District in Minnesota, said. “Dairy producers are usually pretty recession-proof, but they can’t continue to produce and lose money on each gallon.”
Walz takes the position that Minnesota cannot afford to lose the dairy industry. According to a release prepared by Walz’s staff, Minnesota dairy producers directly contribute more than $1.2 billion to the state’s economy and generate more than 27,000 jobs.
Walz said that the dairy producers will need help from the government to maintain a vital industry that constitutes a large contribution to Minnesota’s economy during what one local dairy farmer called “the biggest downcycle since the Great Depression.”
To wit, Walz wrote to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack with two proposals, “two quick ways to prevent a total meltdown.” . . .
Read the rest at the OPP, along with the companion Q&A: Rep. Tim Walz on the steep decline of raw milk prices.
The Winona Daily News looks at the story from the perspective of local dairy farmers in A future uncertain: Dairy farmers fight dropping milk prices:
Maple Acres Dairy, where they work, will be paid $10.40 per hundred pounds when the milk is bought by Plainview Milk Products Cooperative, said their uncle Mark Speltz. That’s about 50 percent less than the price of milk last summer and, by Speltz’s estimation, more than $6 below what the farm needs to break even on its dairy operation.
“We don’t know what to do,” he said. “We won’t make payroll next period.”
Plunging dairy prices have forced many area farmers like Speltz into an untenable position — where they are losing money with each load of milk they sell. Most expect prices to continue falling. While congressional leaders push for government assistance to curb the drop, the timeline for a price rebound remains unclear. The uncertainty may force some farmers out of the industry and has even the long-timers pondering the future.
“It just makes you wonder why you’re even doing it,” said Speltz, who has farmed for 32 years. “It’s never been this bad.”
The article discusses the solution:
Congressional leaders have been working to change that outlook. U.S. Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota were among more than 30 senators who sent a letter late last month to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urging measures to address the price drops. Minnesota Democrat Rep. Tim Walz sent a similar letter .
USDA could use funds set aside to purchase surplus commodities to increase the demand for dairy products and help producers, Walz said in the release.
The government could buy the surplus dairy products and then give them to food shelves and other organizations serving those hurt by the hard economic times, [executive director of Minnesota Milk Producers Association Bob] Lefebvre said. He calls the idea a “classic win-win.”
“It’s a two-for-one deal,” he said. “You talk about economic stimulus. This is not just an economic stimulus; it’s a people stimulus.”
Walz's request to Vilsack made news across the state. Little Falls Radio reported on Thursday:
. . .--Congressman Tim Walz is urging the U-S Agriculture Secretary to step in and purchase surplus milk and processed milk products to shore up collapsing dairy prices. Walz says just a few months ago farmers were getting 17-dollars a hundred-weight. Walz says a dairy collapse would result in a number of lost jobs. Minnesota's dairy industry generates more than 27-thousand jobs, including direct employment of more than six-thousand workers. Last year, similar action was taken to address the drop in pork prices that threatened the livelihood of many farmers.
We'll be following this challenge for rural Minnesotans.
Image: (Upper photo) Not Tim Walz, regardless of what you read in the Political Muse's Weekly Romp through the MN Blogs. No, Eric: that's Superman.
We think our friend at Liberal in the Land of Conservative panicked a bit at the chess piece we mailed him. Who knew the he'd be so alarmed upon receiving a package containing a knight?
We're confused that a writer who has the courage to work with schoolchildren and talk common sense about the Crown Hydro project would have such an over-the-top reaction and claim that Tim Walz flies and lives in a Sod Hut of Solitude.
We're definitely not going wrap any of our latest walleye catch and send Hal over with the delivery.
(Lower photo) Tim Walz for real. You didn't think we weren't going to milk this one for all it's worth, did you?
And now a milkman song from Ella Mae Morse, channeling Rosie the Riveter:
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