In her first Schoharie County stop since being named United States Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand promised dairymen she’ll take their case to the President.
“Anything you think we can do, I want to give the Administration,” she told a crowd of about 200 dairy farmers and others who gathered Monday in the parking lot of The Carrot Barn.
“I will write the dairy letter for President Obama…”
Though one farmer leaving Senator Gillibrand’s 45-minute appearance criticized it as “just a photo-op. I might just as well go home and sell my cows,” others were more forgiving.
“She’s done a good job for us in Washinton. She’s been a real pit bull,” said Cobleskill dairyman John Radliff.
“The problem is what she’s up against. That and she’s the junior Senator.”
Speaking behind a stack of milk crates, Senator Gillibrand said that like others, she’s afraid record-low milk prices and the resulting loss of farms will mean milk from overseas.
“I don’t want to buy my milk from China. I want to buy my milk from upstate New York,” she said.
Senator Gillibrand had hoped to double emergency MILC payments to farmers but found out that was impossible without opening up the Farm Bill.
“I will try to attach it to the next emergency spending bill,” she promised.
Senator Gillibrand did tell the crowd that some $300 million has been made available to Farm Service Agency for emergency loans, but a number of dairymen said afterwards that money has already been promised to farmers who’ve been waiting on it since spring.
Taking questions from the crowd, Senator Gillibrand spoke to President Obama’s health care reform efforts and said she expects some of that to be considered by Washington this year.
But after about 20 minutes on health care, “Can we move this conservation back to dairy?” called out another voice from the crowd.
One farmer asked about controlling the supply of imported milk; another said the $300 million allocated for the FSA isn’t enough.
Senator Gillibrand agreed on both accounts.
She said she’s working on establishing an advisory board and urged anyone with ideas to contact her office to sign up.
Lawyersville dairy farmer John Stanton said It’s time dairy processing plants—showing a $150 percent profit—were investigated; Senator Gillibrand said she’ll take that issue to President Obama as well.
Debbie Coager of Don’s Dairy Supply in South Kort-right stressed businesses like hers are feeling the bite too and won’t be able to hold on much longer.
Sales are down $620,000 and expenses are up $127,000, Ms. Coager said; they’ve bought $500,000 less to re-sell that a year ago.
“If farmers don’t get some help by September…If they can’t pay their bills, then we close too—and that only makes it harder for the farmers left.”
Tammy Graves of the United States Dairy Farmers called for increasing the floor price of milk to $18 a hundred pounds, money that would go directly into farmers’ hands but not at the expense of taxpayers.
All of them, Senator Gillibrand said, are ideas worth pushing.
But Mr.Radliff said Tuesday he’s become more and more convinced that the only thing that will help the industry is time—and an improved economy.
“I think the word is status quo,” he said. “I’m surprised more farms haven’t gone out.
“I’m coming to realize we can only help ourselves. When things improve, we, individually, need to come up with ways to cope when they crash again. Which they always do.”