[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 26 (Thursday, February 29, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H1620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DAIRY FARMERS FACING FINANCIAL PROBLEMS

  (Mr. SANDERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, the family dairy farmers in Vermont and 
throughout this country are facing disastrous financial problems. While 
consumer milk prices have been going up, the price that the dairy 
farmer receives has been going down.
  Adjusted for inflation, the price Vermont dairy farmers receive has 
dropped 50 percent over the last 15 years. No wonder that today there 
are fewer than 2,000 dairy farms left in Vermont, and more and more of 
them are going out of business.
  Tragically, none of the proposals that we were permitted to vote on 
during the farm bill provided for a significant increase in dairy farm 
income. In fact, the proposal that was passed threatens to actually 
lower the price that farmers receive.
  Mr. Speaker, in an effort to save the family farm, the six New 
England States each have passed the Northeast dairy contract, which 
finally would provide dairy farmers a fair price for their product.
  In the final Senate bill, if the final Senate bill contains the 
Northeast dairy compact, this House must support that provision in the 
conference report. To do less would be to allow New England dairy 
farmers to disappear.

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