NY-22 Minute: Brindisi calls for more federal aid to dairy farmers during pandemic By Luke Perry
Dairy farming is a major industry in NY-22. New York is home to over 4,000 dairy farms, the largest segment of the state’s agricultural industry. New York is the fourth largest producer of milk nationally, and the largest producer of yogurt, cottage cheese, and sour cream.
The coronavirus pandemic created new challenges for dairy farmers. Dairy farmers “have been on very shaky ground for a long time,” Brindisi said. Prices were “looking a little bit better” at the beginning of the year, but have now fallen to unsustainable levels with decreased demand from restaurants and school lunch programs.
Even though grocery store demand is up about 40 percent, some estimates suggest New York dairy farmers dump 35 million pounds of raw milk in a given week. Upstate farmers have donated thousands of gallons of milk to people in need.
The challenge now is how to shift supply to where the demand is, including food banks and senior nutrition programs. Brindisi believes the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and New York State needs to purchase milk and make this happen.
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue (from USDA)
Brindisi is upset with how USDA has implemented $19 billion in aid for farmers. The aid enables USDA to buy agricultural products, donate them to food banks, and make direct payments to farmers.
Brindisi said the problem is “they’ve been very slow.” USDA waited a month before making purchases, though now intends to make direct payments to dairy farmers.
Brindisi was also critical of Sonny Perdue, Secretary of Agriculture, for not reopening the Dairy Margin Coverage Program. This insurance program seeks to “offer protection to dairy producers when the difference between the all milk price and the average feed price (the margin) falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the producer.”
Sec. Perdue declined to reopen the program, and allow additional farmers to enroll, because doing so would “really distort the whole concept of crop insurance and dairy margin coverage if we allow people to take advantage after the fact.” Perdue said this program should not become an “ad hoc disaster program.”
Photo from flickr
Brindisi was pleased that Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the Small Business Administration are now available for farmers per recent federal legislation. Farmers were previously ineligible.
The number of dairy farms in New York has declined over the last decade, losing 880 farms between 2012 and 2017 alone. Small to midsize farms were hit hardest. The number of farms with 20 to 200 heads of cattle fell by 25 percent, while farms with over 200 grew 11 percent. “The larger-scale farms are showing a greater ability to survive,” observed Andy Novakovic, Professor of Agricultural Economics at Cornell University.
Brindisi said that losing small and medium farms will result in “nothing but factory farming.” This has been problematic in chicken and pork production, two industries controlled by factory farms who have limited plants around the country. COVID has resulted in plant shutdowns, prompting a disrupted meat supply and increased prices.
Luke Perry (@PolSciLukePerry) is Professor of Government at Utica College
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