Dairy farmers make case to Vilsack
WEST SALEM, Wis. — Tomorrow isn’t soon enough.
Dairy farmers can’t wait for a government process to work its way through the system, they need Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to raise the price they receive for the milk they sell now.
The price paid to conventional dairy farmers has dropped from near $20 per hundredweight last year to around $11 per hundredweight this year. A hundredweight is equal to 11.63 gallons of milk.
For organic dairy producers, the story is much the same, with prices falling from close to $30 per hundredweight in March and April to $12.50 earlier this month.
Both organic and conventional dairy producers are losing money every day, dairy farmers told Vilsack Thursday during a stop in West Salem.
