Wisconsin is America’s Dairyland, and for good reason: we are one of the country’s leading dairy producers, and make the best cheese in the entire world. Dairy is integral to our identity, but this industry is facing historic economic challenges. 2020 was supposed to be the year that dairy farms across our state were able to turn things around, but the Coronavirus pandemic changed that -- causing worker shortages, reductions in demand, and farmers to dump their milk product. How exactly is the Coronavirus impacting Wisconsin Dairy Farms, and what is being done to help them out? What will be not only the economic impact of milk dumping, but the impact on our environment as well?
On this special edition of the NEW Look Podcast, Rep. Gallagher explores these questions with four guests to share a comprehensive perspective on the topic:
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GT Thompson, a congressman from Pennsylvania and a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee,
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Karen Gefvert, Executive Director of Governmental Relations at the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation,
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John Jacobs, a dairy farmer in Northeast Wisconsin, and
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Chris Clayton, a representative from the Wisconsin DNR.
While times are certainly tough for dairy farmers, these four experts share insight as to what we can do to help, and why Northeast Wisconsin dairy farmers are some of the most resilient people around. Click HERE or see some highlights from the conversations below.
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The State of Dairy on Wisconsin |
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Karen Gefvert: "I would say right now is probably not the time that you would want to be a dairy farmer. Dairy farmers have gone through five years of really tough situations with low prices, a lot of milk on the market, terrible weather last year. And now to add a sixth year of a really remarkable economic situation, we have restaurants that have shut down and people aren't visiting those establishments. In Wisconsin 90% of our milk goes to make cheese, and approximately half of that cheese goes into the retail industry. So if restaurants aren't open, or they're at least not serving the same kind of constituencies that they used to, we have a lot of cheese that used to be produced that had a place to go that now doesn't. Retailers processors can send some of that into cold storage, but the problem is that we had quite a bit of cheese and product and cold storage to begin with. So there's only so much room where we have the capacity to store that. So what's happening is that processors, one are facing a challenge with labor shortages causing a reduction in the amount of cheese that's being produced from milk. And then there isn't enough movement of that cheese that's in cold storage to keep producing at the rate we were at. So that's why we have seen some stories about dairy farmers dumping their milk, and it's a really unfortunate situation. Some of those farmers are still being paid for that milk, but some are not. Dairy farmers can't just turn a cow on and off...so they're trying to figure out how to how to come to grips with the new economic norm that they're facing."
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The Federal Response to Help Dairy Farmers |
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Rep. GT Thompson: "The CARES legislation included a total of $19 billion, $3 billion of that is to be used for direct purchase of agriculture commodities -- and right now because of market disruptions, there's quite a few excess ones out there that we can be helping our farmers out by purchasing....and those will all be donated to the great nutrition programs that we have...And then there is an additional $16 billion that's for direct support and of that, $2.9 billion is flagged for our dairy farmers. And so there will be a sign up in the beginning of May. I don't know what form that's going to look at right now probably be through FDA but, but we really haven't gotten that kind of detailed guidance yet from the from the Department of Agriculture. Secretary Purdue's goal though is to get that money out in the pockets of our dairy farm families before the end of May. So between them participating in the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Impact Disaster Loan and Grant Program, the money that they just got into their banking accounts from Treasury, this is just it's another resource to try to be able to keep these folks farming. We can't afford to lose our family farms."
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The Environmental Impacts of Milk Dumping |
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Chris Clayton: "Some of the things that we're worried about with emergency milk disposal are the environmental impacts, potentially. When this all started to happen we started receiving phone calls right away from some different people asking what's the first thing I can do in this situation? What do I do with my milk? The easy answer to that, especially for larger farmers that have manure storage and have the space in their manure storage, is to place it there first. That buys them some time where they can then spread that milk with the manure waste later on. But the impact itself, I mean milk, obviously organic matter here, there's lots of nutrients in milk. It's actually surprising to think about this, but it's a lot more potent, as a pollutant, than manure is. So if milk gets into a waterway, all the microorganisms that work to break down the milk are working that much harder to do so for milk versus even manure. And so fish kills are much higher probability if milk reaches a waterway...This is obviously something we want to prevent."
Rep. Gallagher: "So milk, while good and nutritious for human beings, not as good for the soil or for the water or for the fish."
Chris Clayton: "Exactly, but because it does have those nutrients in it, and if a farmer is forced to have to dispose of it in some manner, it can be a valuable nutrient source for plants. Now, there's a lot of considerations around there, a lot of them well above or over my head. But certainly one of the things we're working with farmers on and telling farmers is that if they get to the point where they actually have to land apply their milk, then they should do it according to a nutrient management plan as a best practice and do it in conditions that are very low risk. So non-saturated soils, flatter fields, do it at a time when it's not raining. Milk can actually provide nutrients to crops moving into the spring season in the same way that manure does."
**Looking for more info on land spreading practices? Click HERE, HERE, and HERE.
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On the Source of Strength for Farmers in NEW |
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John Jacobs: "One, I think it's the history of how long we've been doing it as a society and as a community in Northeast Wisconsin. I think it's our resolve, and I think that resolve is kind of embedded in us. And I'm not talking just in agriculture, just the overall commitment and work ethic from individuals in Northeast Wisconsin is strong...Our resolve and our commitment to our work ethic and what we're doing is as strong as anywhere in the world. And then, you know, there's some resiliency with that, but also some innovation...We're really innovative here in Northeast Wisconsin. And there's not a lot that's going on in the dairy industry that we're either not adapting to or we're not the test pilot for. People are watching what happens here."
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De Pere
1702 Scheuring Rd., Ste. B
De Pere, WI 54115
www.gallagher.house.gov
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Washington, DC
1230 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
www.gallagher.house.gov
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