Vermont: A Recap

Apparently, I couldn't be more wrong regarding who is at fault for the financial crises of the Vermont dairy industry. Dan Hurley, the main man at northeastfarmer.com, saw fit to 'correct' me with the following comment:

"Vermont is desperately trying to stem the rapid loss of fairy [sic] farms, farmers and farmland -- largely caused by a national ag policy that generally pays off the big crop & livestock guys at the expense of the smaller, traditional Vermont farm. The state has been paying millions in aid to try and prevent a complete collapse of the agricultural economy here, it has just approved another stopgap program to get through the winter and let farmers order seed for the spring. Meanwhile, many gigantic farms in the south, midwest and west get generous federal subsidies that they don't really need to supplement their wealth. Right now, corn growers prices have surged with the rapid expansion of the ethanol, market and production,where big bucks are being made all around, yet which is getting absurd subsidies and tax breaks. Corn is already dear, but prices will get higher and the feed for dairy cows will continue up, and up.
The whole system stinks. Remind you of the whole health care system?"

Admittedly, I know extremely little about this topic, having had no exposure to the dairy industry aside from consuming their end products. Had I done some research before voicing my opinion, I would have found that the amount of Vermont dairy farms has declined for almost a decade, and state officials have been fairly busy trying to shore up the financially damaged industry. An Associated Press article that summarizes the situation indicates that state legislators have actually been pumping money into Vermont's farms for years, specifically through the USDA Farm Service Agency's 2002 Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program. The program, which has a history of being shot down and reinstated by the federal government, might suffer further cuts in Bush's 2007 budget.

Apologies to the state officials of Vermont whom I unintentionally libeled, and thanks to Dan for taking an interest. To Dan: If you have a possible solution or opinion on the health care crisis for the industry, please let me know.

On a somewhat related note, the Borderbeat.net staff was recently treated to a talk by Ignacio Ibarra, the reporter to talk to concerning border coverage. Ibarra's article "Why You Need La Perra Flaca" draws the strong conclusion that illegal immigration exists in part due to an American desire for cheap food. Americans reportedly pay up to 10% of their total budget on food, far less than any other developed country in the world, because migrant workers from Mexico will work for low wages and little protection in the farm industry.

Apparently, paying more for swiss to ensure the economics of the dairy industry is out of style.