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US dairy farmers killing cows while Obama (quietly) lifts tariffs on Israeli milk products
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Thousands of dairy cows off to slaughter - to lower the price of milk (USDA)
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According to the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) website, “U.S. dairy producers have been facing unprecedented losses over the past year due to low milk prices and high input costs… dire economic straits have forced many farmers to exit the industry, oftentimes having to sell their herds or farms.”
An Associated Press article making the web rounds this morning concurs with the NMPF, and adds that many of these farmers are opting to send their herds to slaughter.
The AP story focuses on Jake and Lori Slegers, part of a California dairy farming family who last summer sent their 1500-plus head of cattle to be turned into hamburger.
“He [Jake] said it was the hardest thing he ever had to do,” Lori Slegers told the AP. “Luckily, my boys could do it.”
When the demand for milk – driven by the need in developing nations – was high, American dairy farmers often expanded their herds. When the global economy tanked, demand for milk fell and farmers were left with surpluses that could not be sold.
The Slegers estimate they’ve gone through more than a million dollars in savings to keep the farm afloat, and predicted more staggering financial loss was on the way.
So, in order to reduce the milk supply you stop the production source: dairy cows.
Out of options, the The Slegers enrolled in an industry-run program called Cooperatives Working Together (CWT); a program managed by the National Milk Producers Federation. The CWT pays farmers going out of business to kill — rather than sell — their cows and help remaining dairy operations by reducing the milk supply.
For the first six years of the CWT program the organization had paid for about 275,000 dairy cows to be slaughtered. This year alone, it has paid for more than 225,000 to be killed.
The AP reports individual farmers are sending cows to slaughter at a rate of 55,000 per week, leading a professor at the University of Wisconsin to estimate more than 3 million cows will be killed in a year – all in hopes of raising the prices paid to farmers by milk producers.
But while American dairy farmers face the prospect of culling the herd or losing their farms (and in many cases they go hand-in-hand), the Obama administration has removed the import surcharge on dairy products from Israel.
In a story covered by the Israeli news service, Ynet, President Obama signed last week a presidential memo that eliminated the tariffs on exports of dairy products from Israel to the U.S.
In simple terms, the President of the United States just eliminated another wall of protection for American dairy farmers and stopped the flow of much needed levy cash into our faltering economy.
Slightly more disturbing was the response Pacific Free Press contributor (and executive director of If Americans Knew), Alison Weir, received when she contacted the US Department of Agriculture, where no one she spoke with was aware this policy change had been implemented.
According to Ynet, Israeli dairy exports to the U.S. are “constantly on the rise.” In 2007, the export of milk products (including cheese, yogurt and butter) from Israel to the U.S. totaled $6 million.
In addition, U.S. trade authorities are sending $17,000 back to an Israeli export agent as restitution for a levy placed on butter the United States had recently imported.
In July, the Dairy Farmers of America used a “broad effort” marketing campaign to plead with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to “reverse the current dairy crisis” and to exhaust every possible initiative for “the dairy farmers who are fighting hard to maintain their livelihoods.”
This can’t be one of the initiatives DFA had in mind.
“Thanks to hard work, the American authorities have removed Israel from the list of countries on which the levy is imposed,” Yaakov Poleg, Israel’s Agricultural Ministry attaché, told Ynet. “Moreover, in light of the fact that Israel was removed from the list through a presidential declaration, there is no fear that it will be placed on us again in the future.”
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