[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 98 (Monday, June 18, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1324-E1325]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         INTRODUCTION OF THE NATIONAL DAIRY EQUITY ACT OF 2007

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN M. McHUGH

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 18, 2007

  Mr. McHUGH. Madam Speaker, I rise today with my colleague from New 
York, Mr. Reynolds, to introduce the National Dairy Equity Act of 2007 
(NDEA), which is designed to establish a minimum price for fluid milk 
and create a market-based safety net for dairy farmers.
  I greatly appreciate the men and women who work the extremely hard 
and long hours needed to produce milk, butter, cheese, ice cream, non-
fat dry milk, and yogurt. Thus, I would like to begin by noting that 
June is Dairy Month. It is hard to overstate how important dairy is to 
the United States economy, nor for that matter, how important dairy is 
to the economies of New York and its 23rd Congressional District, which 
I represent. In fact, in 2006, New York was the Nation's third largest 
dairy state; it accounted for about 7 percent

[[Page E1325]]

(638,000 head) of the Nation's milk cows, 6.7 percent (12.04 billion 
pounds) of total milk production, and 6.9 percent ($1.6 billion) of 
total cash receipts from milk marketing. The importance of dairy to New 
York's 23rd District is readily apparent when one considers that the 
2002 Census of Agriculture reported there were 1,989 dairy farms with 
188,305 milk cows in the 11 counties that comprise the District.
  I also appreciate the fact that the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) 
has provided about $230 million in much-needed support to New York 
dairy farmers over the past 5 fiscal years and I know my constituent 
farmers do as well. Moreover, it is critical that the 2007 Farm Bill 
continue to provide dairy farmers with some form of income support. 
While I appreciate the support provided through MILC, the NDEA is an 
alternative that could help to provide additional support to American 
farmers with greater stability and at less cost to the taxpayer.
  The NDEA would establish 5 Regional Dairy Marketing Areas (RDMA); the 
Intermountain, Midwest, Northeast, Pacific, and Southern. The Midwest, 
Northeast, and Southern regions would automatically be included as 
participating regions while the Intermountain and Pacific regions would 
have the ability to opt into the program.
  In each region, a Regional Dairy Board would establish the minimum or 
over-order price for Class I (fluid) milk; that price would then have 
to be approved by farmers through a referendum. In the first year, the 
maximum price that a Board could establish is capped at $17.50 per 
hundredweight (cwt.), but thereafter the price could rise based on the 
Consumer Price Index (CPl).

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