Please Congress just one more thing...FARM BILL NOW!

Forget the fiscal cliff and the automatic budget cuts. Come Jan. 1, there is a threat that milk prices could rise to $6 to $8 a gallon if Congress does not pass a new farm bill that amends farm policy dating back to the Truman presidency. Because of the apparent lack of any cooperation between either house of congress on ANY issue we are in danger of going into 2013 without an updated farm bill. Without an updated farm bill the government has to follow a 1949 farm law that would force Washington to buy milk at wildly inflated prices, creating higher prices in the dairy case. Milk now costs an average of $3.65 a gallon

Because of adjustments for inflation, and other data, the government will be forced to buy milk at about twice its current market price to help stabilize the milk market. If 1949 rules go into effect, the government would be required to buy dairy products at around $40 per hundredweight, or about roughly twice the current market price, to drive up the price of milk to cover dairy producers’ cost. Of course this will drive the price up for all products that use milk, like cheese and butter, and force some producers to buy milk overseas. Consumer can also expect the cost of their milk in the stores to raise dramatically from the lost in available milk supply.

Vincent Smith, a professor of agriculture at Montana State University in Bozeman. “This is a totally antiquated law that has nothing to do with farming conditions today,” Professor Smith said. “It was put as a poison pill to get Congress to pass a farm bill by scaring lawmakers with the prospect of higher support prices for milk and other agriculture products. Letting it go into effect for even a few months would be particularly disastrous for consumers and food processors. “

So with everything else going on in the world we may soon be asking ourselves why we can't afford milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream, and multiple other food items that require milk as an ingredient. So please Congress just one more thing...FARM BILL NOW!