The Dairy Farm Resiliency Act is “shiny object” distraction
An OPINION by Jim King, Owego NY
In his October 2nd press release Nick Langworthy intermixed the Dairy Farm Resiliency Act (H.R.294) which did not become law and a USDA Farm Service Agency insurance program, the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program. In the DMC, farmers pay expensive premiums to bet against the gap between national average feed prices and national average wholesale milk prices.
The DMC does not address a dairy farm’s rising costs of energy (electricity and fuel), or healthcare (veterinarian), or shelter (barns, silos, etc.), or equipment (milk parlor, tractors, harvesting, etc.), or taxes (employee, property, excises, etc.), or conservation compliance.
Indeed, both H.R.294 (119th Congress, Langworthy) and its predecessor H.R.4125 (118th Congress, Molinaro) sought to increase maximum DMC coverage to an annual 6-million pound of milk. Neither bill made it out of committee. The increase resulted from H.R.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill. The OBBB also caused reduction in dairy purchases by reducing SNAP. The Dairy Farm Resiliency Act is a “shiny object” distraction.
Langworthy ignores the fact that small and medium dairy farms have been suffering legislative neglect and abuse for years.
The increase in available insurance coverage for larger dairy farms based on national averages does not equate to adjusting the local minimum milk price set by Federal Milk Marketing Order 1 (Northeast Marketing Area). MO-1 is a law which Langworthy never tried to fix. MO-1 does not fairly compensate small to medium size dairies. MO-1 put many NY-23 family farms out of the dairy business.
Langworthy did not lie. Nor did he tell the truth. Slippery Nickie. I do not trust him.
Jim King is a self described “moderate Republican” from Owego NY who attempted to challenge Congressman Langworthy for the Republican nomination for the NY-23 candidacy. You can reach him anytime, jgking@prodigy.net
