Farmers meeting seeks dairy solutions

KENDUSKEAG – State, local and federal officials sat shoulder to shoulder with dairy farmers Wednesday, trying to solve what some are calling a crisis in farming. In the end, the two-hour forum, called by a local dairy farmer, was as much about frustration at current pricing policies as it was looking ahead toward solutions.

The economic realities of dairying in Maine are simple: It cost $22.07 to make 100 pounds of milk in March, according to the Maine Dairy Industry Association. Farmers were paid $17.89.

Compound that dismal price differential with exploding costs for fuel, feed and fertilizer and Levant dairy farmers Joan Gibson Call and Brian Call are left wondering whether they are going under this year. To seek solutions, the couple held a solutions-based forum.

The response was impressive: Maine Agriculture Commissioner Seth Bradstreet, two state legislators, Don Hoenig, the state veterinarian, representatives from three of the four congressional delegates, Marge Kilkelly, director of the Northeast States Association for Agricultural Stewardship, Julie Marie Bickford of the MDIA, and at least a dozen farmers attended.

“This is the first time in years we have had this type of representation in one room,” Bickford said. “I think farmers are finally being heard.”

After several hours of discussion, including praise for some of Maine’s existing farm programs, several ideas were presented. They included an expanded state milk testing program and possibly a state-branded milk so consumers can easily identify Maine-produced milk.

Kilkelly said several other Northeast states are looking at having processors, rather than farmers, pay hauling and transportation costs. “Together, the Northeast can be a powerful force,” she added.

Farmers were frank in their discussions, talking about many taboo subjects including dairy farms that are blackballed by processors, that milk tests are manipulated to eliminate small processors, and that most of the milk industry in this country is a monopoly.

“The same frustrations I’m hearing from the farmers here, I’m hearing from state legislators,” Kilkelly said. Because there is a processor monopoly – one company produces 90 percent of all milk in the U.S. – small farmers and small milk-producing states such as Maine have no leverage in the marketplace, she said.

“We are seeing that when laws are proposed, processors threaten to stop buying milk from that state,” she said.

Commissioner Bradstreet agreed that “some programs are working but for every one that works, three or four fail and leave a bad taste in the farmers’ mouths. The bottom line is that milk is sold under a Federal Order system created in the 1940s that simply doesn’t work anymore.”

The Calls said the playing field needs to be leveled, with small farmers able to have access to subsidies and benefits as large farmers are able to do. “The money that is taken from the taxpayers must be evenly distributed,” Gibson Call said.

“Nine percent of U.S. farms are getting 60 percent of government subsidies,” she said.

Gibson Call outlined some of her small farm’s problems. “We made zero profit last year. We have no insurance. We are in trouble,” she said. “I didn’t call this meeting to cry poor-mouth, but this is the reality.”

Gibson Call said it boils down to an issue of food security for Maine families. “If you think dealing with oil imports is tough, try dealing with food imports,” she said.

Bickford said that Maine’s 335 remaining dairy farms range from 20 cows to 1,200 cows, with the average farmer milking 90 cows. “A small farm in California is 4,500,” she said.

“The dynamics makes dairy farming in Maine challenging,” Bickford said. “In the West and Midwest, there is huge expansion going on, in Idaho, New Mexico, California and Texas. It is very different than the Northeast, which steadily declines.”

Maine dairy farms in Maine provide $570 million for the state’s economy, she said. “That’s 4,000 jobs and more than $150 million in wages and income. Dairy is often referred to as the linchpin of Maine’s agricultural economy.”

But it costs more to farm in Maine, she said, because of property taxes, equipment repairs and utilities. The farmers are fortunate, she added, because “Maine people understand the importance of Maine agriculture and how it affects them. That gives us a good foundation.”

Richard Lary, a Clinton dairy farmer, said, “If we give up, we’re all doomed.” But he said it is very discouraging when a neighboring farmer sold his organic milk to a store for $2.75 a quart and that store sold it for $4.19. “The farmers are getting ripped off,” he said.

A follow-up session has been scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 28, at Mystic Tie Grange on Route 15 in Kenduskeag.

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