I urge you to cosponsor the Milk from Family Dairies Act (S.4906) to implement fair prices for family-scale dairy farmers to address the ongoing U.S. dairy crisis. 

For years, the prices U.S. dairy farmers get for their milk are regularly below their costs of production. Volatile, low prices mean that family-scale dairy producers cannot pay their bills, contribute to their local economies, invest in sustainable practices, pay workers a fair wage, or transition their farms to the next generation. Even with current farm bill programs, the industry has continued to consolidate and farm country has continued to lose thousands of dairies each year since those programs were implemented.

As a result, farmers have had to “get big or get out” to recoup their costs, and milk production has moved to industrial-scale operations, whose large-scale production drives farmer incomes down. Overproduction and low prices have also led to an overreliance on export markets to dispose of excess milk volume. Existing dairy policies acknowledge these problems, but have not fundamentally addressed them. Dairy farmers cannot afford to wait for reform. Each year, the US loses an average of 7% of its dairy farms – the 2022 Census of Agriculture shows that there are only 24,000 active dairy farms left. The U.S. dairy sector needs immediate systemic reform to support fair prices for family-scale producers, address corporate consolidation, and reduce dependence on export markets.

The Milk from Family Dairies Act (S.4906) would address the crises facing small- and mid-sized dairy farmers, including through:

• Price floors, based on scale of operation, that allow family-scale dairy farmers to cover their costs of operation;
• Mechanisms to re-balance U.S. dairy supply with demand, focused on scaling down the industrial-scale mega-dairies that contribute most to overproduction;
• Managed imports to prevent undercutting farmer incomes and limit dependence on foreign markets;
• Measures to address consolidation in the sector; and
• Investments and incentives to rebuild regional dairy infrastructure.

It is time for change in the dairy industry. Please support farmer-centered systemic reform of U.S dairy policy in the farm bill by cosponsoring the Milk from Family Dairies Act (S.4906). Thank you.