BY TOM FISKE AND JANICE BLAIR
Westby, Wisconsin - On January 22 dairy farmers across the country - including Wisconsin, New York, Missouri, Texas, California, and New Mexico - dumped one day's production of milk or donated it to charity in order to protest low dairy prices. The protest was called by Darin Von Ruden, a dairy farmer from Westby.

Von Ruden said that the milk dumping was a way of drawing public attention. "We're getting less for our milk today than we did in the early 1980's. The only way we can get the attention of milk processors is to take the product away from them." Von Ruden estimated that 3,000 dairy farmers in Wisconsin and 9,000 - 10,000 nationwide participated in the protest. Clint van Fleet, a Sulphur Springs, Texas, dairyman and president of the 250-member Texas Milk Producers Association, said 250,000-500,000 gallons of milk were dumped in that state.

The price dairy farmers receive for their milk is based on the basic formula price set by the U.S. government. Currently, the basic price is $11.34 per hundredweight (approximately 12 gallons). This is down from the $15.37 basic price set in September, 1996. The falling prices lowered income for dairy farmers by an estimated $350 million in the last quarter of 1996 and dropped farm milk prices below the cost of production for most small and mid- size dairy farms in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Nationally, the number of dairy farms declined by 5.3 percent since 1995. Because of the falling milk prices, many working dairy farmers are forced to sell their land. Many others are forced to depend, primarily, on a full-time job in order to hold on to the farm. John Rohl, one farmer who participated in the protest, explained that his son was starting a job. "There's plenty of work for him here, but I can't afford to pay him. Even with him working a job, I don't know if I will be able to hand the farm down to him."

The price of fluid milk is heavily influenced by the price of cheese, which is set by the National Cheese Exchange (NCE) in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The NCE is open only 30 minutes each week and the volume of trade is less than 1 percent of the volume of cheese bought and sold in the country. Monopolies dominate the NCE and are able to manipulate dairy prices. Many farmers think that one monopoly, Kraft, was able to force the price of milk down by buying cheese shares from other sources and then selling those shares on the NCE at a loss, thus forcing down the price of cheese.

The organizer of the January 22 protest, Von Ruden, is calling for another protest day on February 27-28. Again he is calling for farmers to withhold a day's production of milk from the market. Von Ruden is a leader of the Upper Midwest Milk Producers Association.

In West Central Wisconsin members of the association have been speaking to churches and snowmobile clubs for support to their fight. "We have been getting lots of support," stated Jean Rohl, another dairy farmer. "Many of these people are former farmers or related to a farmer."

Jean Rohl thought the January 22 protest was very important. "Every time someone rises up, it helps us hang on longer. The public learns about our fight.... At some time we're going to have to fight for our farms."

Tom Fiske is a member of IAM Local 1037 in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home