TUSCARORA, MD - For the past few months many of us have been obsessed with the fiscal cliff, but farmers around the country ask, what about the dairy cliff?
"Dairy is kind of left out in the cold in the whole Farm Bill," says Chuck Fry, with Rocky Point Farm and Creamery, and Maryland Farm Bureau Vice President.
Congress just extended the 2008 Farm Bill that expired in October for one more year. Part of the Bill gives subsidies to different types of farmers, but some dairy farmers say they want it to change to more of an insurance program to keep the cost of feed down.
"We're getting twenty dollars a hundred, not a gallon, for our milk at the farm, which is historically a really good price; but our feed costs have tripled in the past year," says David Herbst, with Misty Meadows Farm and Creamery, and Washington County Farm Bureau President.
Some farmers think Congress started to panic when they realized the cost of milk could double in a month without current farm legislation.
"It would be interesting if the price of milk did double, that would kill the dairy industry. Consumers are what we do. These (cows) produce the same amount of milk every single day, we do this day in and day out. The problem is when we get politics in agriculture, we can manipulate markets and change what we do, and it's not for the good of the industry," adds Fry.
But even after the extension many farmers are not satisfied.
"It's definitely a stalemate, they couldn't figure out what to do and how to do it, so they just extend what's there," says Herbst.
Yet if the bill wasn't extended, farmers say it could be the end of small dairies.
"We watch TV and we all get scared, the end of the world is coming, the dairy cliff, the fiscal cliff. I wish we would stop living in fear. Tomorrow morning, God's going to bring that sun up and it's going to be a better day than yesterday, and we're all going to get through this," says Fry.
The new year may ring in some agricultural changes, but for now, the price of gallon of milk should stay the same.
"Dairy is kind of left out in the cold in the whole Farm Bill," says Chuck Fry, with Rocky Point Farm and Creamery, and Maryland Farm Bureau Vice President.
Congress just extended the 2008 Farm Bill that expired in October for one more year. Part of the Bill gives subsidies to different types of farmers, but some dairy farmers say they want it to change to more of an insurance program to keep the cost of feed down.
"We're getting twenty dollars a hundred, not a gallon, for our milk at the farm, which is historically a really good price; but our feed costs have tripled in the past year," says David Herbst, with Misty Meadows Farm and Creamery, and Washington County Farm Bureau President.
Some farmers think Congress started to panic when they realized the cost of milk could double in a month without current farm legislation.
"It would be interesting if the price of milk did double, that would kill the dairy industry. Consumers are what we do. These (cows) produce the same amount of milk every single day, we do this day in and day out. The problem is when we get politics in agriculture, we can manipulate markets and change what we do, and it's not for the good of the industry," adds Fry.
But even after the extension many farmers are not satisfied.
"It's definitely a stalemate, they couldn't figure out what to do and how to do it, so they just extend what's there," says Herbst.
Yet if the bill wasn't extended, farmers say it could be the end of small dairies.
"We watch TV and we all get scared, the end of the world is coming, the dairy cliff, the fiscal cliff. I wish we would stop living in fear. Tomorrow morning, God's going to bring that sun up and it's going to be a better day than yesterday, and we're all going to get through this," says Fry.
The new year may ring in some agricultural changes, but for now, the price of gallon of milk should stay the same.
