Klobuchar Meets with Minnesota Dairy Farmers

Press Release

Klobuchar continues efforts to help Minnesota's dairy farmers hurt by falling prices

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar met with nearly 75 dairy farmers at the Minnesota Milk Producers Association Picnic in Foley, Minnesota over the weekend to discuss the impact of declining dairy prices. Klobuchar, who has successfully pushed for several measures to assist dairy farmers, said she will take the concerns she heard back to Agriculture Secretary Vilsack and President Obama. Since dairy prices started dropping early this year, Klobuchar, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has actively worked to help support dairy farmers.

"The effects of an unstable marketplace are hitting close to home for dairy farmers in Minnesota," said Klobuchar. "The farmers I met with this weekend are struggling -- they're doing everything they're supposed to be doing, working hard and playing by the rules, but their way of life has been put at risk by factors beyond their control. I will continue to advocate for Minnesota's dairy farmers during these difficult times."

As a result of the economic crisis, the dairy industry is struggling to survive during this difficult time of low commodity prices, unusually high costs and a drop-off in international demand.

Over the last several months, Klobuchar has advocated for a host of actions to help dairy farmers get through the crisis.

In August, the Senate passed a measure Klobuchar cosponsored to provide additional relief to dairy farmers struggling with plummeting dairy prices. The amendment, which Klobuchar sponsored with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, provides the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with $350 million in additional funds to enable it to increase the level at which the government buys surplus dairy products off of the market. Buying surplus dairy products off of the market will reduce supply and increase prices. This change in prices would add approximately an additional $1.50 per hundredweight to the farm gate price.

In July, Klobuchar sent a letter with Vermont Senators Pat Leahy and Bernie Sanders asking Secretary Vilsack to temporarily boost price supports for dairy farmers. She then met with Secretary Vilsack, and soon after that meeting, the USDA raised the federal price supports effective August 2009 through October 2009, increasing farmers' revenue by $243 million.

In May, after working with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of Agriculture, Klobuchar announced that USDA would launch a program to help dairy exporters compete with world prices, which are kept artificially low through subsidies.

In February, she joined with other Senators to send a letter to Secretary Vilsack asking him to take action to help stabilize prices and protect Minnesota's farmers from the rapidly declining milk prices. Then, at a White House Middle-Class Task Force meeting in St. Cloud in March, Klobuchar strongly urged the Agriculture Secretary to provide help to Minnesota dairy farmers as soon as possible. Shortly after the meeting, Klobuchar announced that USDA would create a program to purchase dairy products from the market and provide them to food shelf programs in order to stabilize prices and boost demand, effectively leveling the playing field for U.S. dairy producers.

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