Posted on 12/29/2012 6:31:37 PM PST by Olog-hai
Lawmakers in the House and Senate agriculture committees are working on a short-term extension to the expired U.S. farm bill, and plan to vote on the extension by Monday, the final day of 2012, a Congressional source said on Friday.
The proposed extension to farm legislation that expired in September would be for “some months” but for less than a year, the source said.
If an extension is passed, the United States would avoid reverting to 1949 “permanent law” and a potential spike in the retail price of milk to as much as $8 a gallon in 2013. …
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
How about we subsidize nothing, and let market forces do their thing.
It would require the absence of regulation, though, which doesn’t look likely.
If that happened all at once every dairy farmer I know would be bankrupt by the end of the month. 6 months from now after all the dairy cows hit the market as beef most of the ranchers I know would be belly up. Within a few months after that after a long haul of the price of beef falling by half the hog and poultry producers would be selling off all of their breeding stock as well. When the smoke clears and there are very few people still in the meat and mild producing ag industry the consumer will then get the message.
Pull the plug instantly on the milk price and it will start a cascade of failures that within a 12 to 18 months will drive the price of food way up.
Kill wind and ethanol subsidies!!
And when America finally goes belly-up, then what?
Your scenario is based on the fact that Big Dairy has been on the government tit too long. There are no industries that need subsidized.
Hope you prepped with stock piling vitamins too..
Let’s advocate a gradual stoppage of subsidies so people have time to adjust. I am no fan of subsidized industry (except perhaps for some limited defense type needs), but to suddenly pull the plug is, I think, wrong. Just reduce the subsidy regularly in a way that is foreseeable and let markets and consumers and farmers adjust.
If milk is worth $8 per gallon, then that is the cost.
I was listening to some talk show gal (sitting in for Mark Levin?) say that 80% of the money in this “farm bill” is for food stamps. Including a food stamp advertising/educational campaign to educate people living in Mexico!!!
The milk increase is a tiny part of it. But an important part as most will not realize they are giving up more of their Freedoms in exchange for a temporary increase in the price of milk.
Why will all of the dairy farmers go bankrupt?
I’m asking because I don’t know, not to challenge your assertion.
Farm welfare should end. Immediately. Or sooner.
bkmk
Posted this before, but,
As a former dairy worker, i think people have to consider that unlike soda - which cost about 1.20 average i think for 67 ounces, but which really needs no refrigeration and can be stored for months, and is just sugar and flavoring - milk, which is about $1.75 for 64 ounces, requires expensive cows be feed, cared for and milked 2- 3 times a day, 365 days a year, and the milk kept under almost constant refrigeration from that time, except for being processed (clarified, pasteurized, homogenized) and delivered at least twice a week, all within about 4 days after the milk came from the cow.
And then there are the milk cases, which we used to lose about half of each year.
Kind of helps keep things in perspective.
Thanks.
Another question: So the subsidy helps to cover all of the extra costs that you referenced and if there’s no subsidy then milk goes to like 7 or 8 dollars a gallon and nobody will buy it and the farmers go out of business. Is that right or close to right?
Again, I’m just wondering.
A few of my relatives receive farm bill benefits. Let me tell you, these subsidies are bull$hit! My aunts have paid absolutely nothing for tens of thousands of dollars worth of craft books. Book reimbursement is just one of their subsidies. For other bennies, they believe they deserve them for being “salt of the earth” farmers. I’ve personally witnessed them dump milk over the hill because the price per gallon will drop if dairy farmers actually sell what they produce.
From link
“We're not going to sit around watching the Super Bowl and eating chunks of butter,” said Gordon, who has about 150 cows on his farm in Washington state. “But the government has to keep buying” to keep the price up.
“Kind of helps keep things in perspective”
It sure does. All those capital expenses tell me they shouldn’t be made if you can’t make a profit without Gov’t welfare!
We need to stop paying farmers and let the market work.
Ditto corporations and other categories of permanent parasitism.
People shouldn’t drink milk anyway. Milk is bad for you.
I make my kids drink milk for the protein and the old school habit. But truth be told, for the money, I bet they are better off getting a whey protein shake after breakfast and dinner.
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