U.S. Senator Charles Schumer from New York says that if the government fails to renew the farm bill, the prices of milk and other dairy products might rise two-fold its current price. Senator Schumer says that a gallon of milk will cost up to $6 if the farm-aid plan is not renewed.
The national Farm Bill is a five-to seven year plan legislation created to aid and assist the agricultural sector. The 2008 Farm Bill expired on Sunday, 30 September. Congress has not renewed the act yet. The act met approval in the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 64 to 35 in July, but the bill has yet to be approved in the House of Representatives.
According the Associated Press, Senator Schumer said if the House does not pass the bill; it would be as if times reverted back to the 1940s when milk and other dairy products were excessively expensive.
The failure to renew the bill means that the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC), which is a program that compensates farmers in New York or providing milk to New York for the cost of milk when the prices fall below expected level, has expired and so is the safety net for milk providers in the state.
According to Sherveportimes.com, the House may vote for a temporary extension of the bill during the lame-duck session in mid-November. However, the damage might already be done by then, since farmers say that the delay has already affected their planning for 2013.
Jonathan Taylor, manager of feed and nutrition at the 900-cow Oak Orchard Dairy in Elba, told Shreveporttimes.com, "We are only a couple of months away from purchasing feed for next year and determining what crops we will put in."
