ADAMS, Mass. – George Beebe says he hates getting handouts from the federal government.

But unless Congress extends the Northeast Dairy Compact and increases farm subsidies, the Great Barrington farmer says his business is as good as gone.

“I hate to say this because I’m a Republican, but without the government’s help, we’ll all be out of business,” said Bebee, who grows feed for dairy cows. “We don’t want welfare, and we don’t want to be dependent on the government. But farmers in Massachusetts are teetering on the brink, and we don’t have anywhere else to turn.”

Beebe and about 25 other Berkshire County farmers met with U.S. Sen. John Kerry at an Adams dairy farm Monday to discuss the dairy compact, which will expire Sept. 30 unless Congress reauthorizes it.

The compact, which includes the six New England states, was established in 1997. If the wholesale price of milk per 100 pounds falls below $16.94, dairy farmers are paid the difference. The cost is borne by consumers and milk processors.

“If you give a dairy farmer $100,000, he’s going to reinvest just about all that money locally,” said farmer Don Leab, a former dairy farmer who said low milk prices in the mid-1990s forced him to grow crops. “The money generated by the dairy compact gets spread around to all the farmers and farm businesses in an area.”

Supporters of the 5-year-old compact say price controls are needed to help dairy farmers turn a profit. The costs of farm maintenance are exceeding the selling price of milk, they say.

But farmers in major dairy states in the Midwest and West want the controls abolished, saying they encourage overproduction.

Congress failed to reauthorize the compact before adjourning for a summer recess on Friday. But Kerry told the farmers he’s confident it will be extended when lawmakers return to Washington next month.

“The dairy compact is the only way we currently have to make sure you can make ends meet,” said Kerry, D-Mass.

In another setback to New England farmers on Friday, the Senate gave final approval to a special farm assistance bill that fell $2 billion short of what Democrats had hoped for.

The $5.5 billion package earmarks $86 million for New England farmers, but sets aside hundreds of millions for single states in the Midwest, said Richard Levitt, a Kerry staff member.

“When we return to work in September, that issue will still be on deck,” Kerry said. “We’re going to fight for the money you need.”

Wallace Chenail, a Williamstown dairy farmer, said the future of many New England farms rests in the hands of Congress.

“Right now, a farmer is better off selling his land, taking the money and investing it in something other than farming,” he said. “There’s not a whole lot of incentive to stay in dairy farming these days, let alone get into it in the first place.”