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US Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Visits New Hampshire
By Phil Sletten on Monday, July 6, 2009.
US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is promising new help to struggling farmers and dairy workers.
Vilsack spoke at a Concord apple orchard on Monday.
NHPR’s Phil Sletten has more.
Milk prices have hit a thirty-year low, and now dairy farmers are losing money each time they produce a gallon of milk.
Many family farms face a shutdown.
Flanked by the state’s top Democratic officeholders, Secretary Vilsack said that the Department of Agriculture is immediately forming an advisory committee to reexamine the old government pricing structure for milk.
“We’ll make sure that this state and this area of the country is well-represented on that advisory committee, and begin the process of looking for longer-term solutions to these problems.”
There is concern that a change in government price support would cost too much.
Vilsack also said the Department has crafted a new agricultural loan program that should be ready in ten days.
For NHPR News, I’m Phil Sletten.
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The milk cheese price at the store is too high because of food companies' monopoly pricing. Customers cannot afford milk products. Dairy farmers should sell direct. Where can I buy five gallons of milk from a farmer. I'll pay more than the government controlled price.
Since there is a huge body of research that confirms cow milk increases risks for every western disease that is now being seen in so called "developing" nations westernizing their diets, tax dollars should NOT prop up an industry doing the harm this one is.
On every level, from human health to the environmental destruction from the cows, to the cruel and violent veal industry, there is nothing good, ethical or even necessary from the industry.
As we learn more about the connection between cow milk and IDDM, breast and prostate cancers, heart disease and higher cholesterol from cow milk and cow milk products, it strikes me as unconscionable that the AG Sec would spend one cent of our taxes to keep something going that should die away, like children who are suffering from the ravages of the western diet...
We really need an overhaul of the USDA so that nutrition means health, not welfare for producers of commodities that make us sick and are resource intensive...Dairy "farmers" should get help converting to growing soybeans, flax, and other products that can be turned into SO many healthier products.
www.notmilk.com