Feingold Welcomes Relief For Wisconsin Farmers

Press Release

Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the amount paid for dairy products through the Dairy Product Price Support Program (DPPSP) would be increased and estimated that it would increase dairy farmers' revenue by $243 million. The announcement comes just days after U.S. Senator Russ Feingold called on USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to specifically raise the floor price for the DPPSP to provide the much needed relief for dairy farmers. Following the announcement, Feingold released the following statement:

"Today's announcement from USDA is good news for Wisconsin's farmers. All year, dairy farmers have watched milk prices fall, while their costs remained high. This situation has had farmers in Wisconsin and across the country facing significant losses and I made that clear to Secretary Vilsack when I met with him earlier this week. I'm very pleased with his quick response to my request and his decision to provide this relief to dairy farmers. While I and farmers throughout the state would have liked to have seen the floor price raised higher, this relief is welcome news in this difficult economic climate."

On July 15, Senator Feingold along with Senators Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) wrote to Vilsack urging USDA to take aggressive action to halt the crisis facing dairy farmers and temporarily increase the DPPSP. On July 29th, Feingold joined other Senators in a meeting with Secretary Vilsack during which they asked him to work with the Office of Management and Budget to find a way to provide the emergency relief.

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