Developing News for Local Dairy Producers: Congress To Compromise on Milk Prices

While Congress can't seem to agree on a compromise to avoid the "Fiscal Cliff," leadership of the agriculture committee announced a compromise on the farm bill Sunday.

The compromise will keep milk prices from skyrocketing to $6 or $8 a gallon.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow indicated that in addition to the one-year extension that has the backing of the committees, the House GOP is also considering two other extension bills — a one-month extension and an even smaller bill that would simply extend dairy policy that expires Jan. 1, reported the Associated Press on the NPR site.

Dairy subsidies under the 2008 farm bill expire on Monday and without a bill in place, prices paid by the government to farmers would revert back to higher 1949 levels, reported USA Today.

For dairy farmer Tom Berning of rural Albertville, the volatility is nothing new. 

"It's always very volatile," Berning told Patch of the dairy business.  Three years ago was really tough for a lot of people. The last two years, I guess, have gone well."

That volatility is why some dairy farmers bailed on their operation when suburban development came calling.

"Imagine having your salaray cut in half for a year, or maybe two," Tom said. "Then you bounce back. That's kind of how this works."

Wheat and other commodities could have been impacted later in 2013.

"If a new Farm Bill is not passed in the next few days, Agriculture Committee leaders in both chambers and both parties have developed a responsible short-term Farm Bill extension that not only stops milk prices from spiking, but also prevents eventual damage to our entire agriculture economy," said Stabenow.

"It is not perfect -- no compromise ever is -- but it is my sincere hope that it will pass the House and Senate and be signed by the President by Jan. 1," Frank Lucas, R-Okla., chair of the House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement.