BRATTLEBORO, Vt. – Rep. Bernard Sanders has crafted new legislation that would combine elements of the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact and more traditional milk subsidies to help struggling farmers.

“There is great concern and great alarm over whether family-based agriculture can continue in this country,” Sanders said.

Sanders’ bill, which he calls the National Dairy Equity Act, would set up five regional marketing regions, each with a minimum price for Class I milk. Class I milk is bottled, as opposed to that used for yogurt, butter or ice cream.

When the market price falls below the minimum, processors would be forced to pay the difference into a national pool. The U.S. Department of Agriculture would then distribute the money back to the regions.

That money would not be enough to compensate farmers, so the government would cover the difference.

But Sanders believes the cost of doing so would be far lower than what the government has been spending on farm subsidies since the 2001 expiration of the compact.

When the dairy compact ended, Sanders helped pass the Milk Income Loss Contract. That was a more traditional program of subsidies that were triggered when milk prices fell below set levels.

But in recent years, milk prices have been so low that the government has been spending more on the program than had been projected. Its price tag is expected to approach $4 billion by the time the program ends in September 2005.