Will higher milk prices make up for years of farmers' struggles? - WCAX
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MILTON, Vt. (WCAX) Some good news for farmers in the new year-- milk prices are finally going up.
This month, the USDA says the base price for milk is $19.01 per hundredweight. That's down 32 cents from last month. But still, a lot higher than prices have been over the past several years when they were several dollars lower.
Our Cat Viglienzoni visited a dairy farm in Milton to see if it's enough to combat years of low prices and piling debt.
At Meadowbrook Acres Family Farm in Milton, Donnie Richards and his brother own 330 cows, all Holsteins. And like at most dairy farms, the past five years have been a challenge.
"Terrible. Terrible. We haven't gotten paid really anything," Richards said.
Richards says the price they're paid for their milk hasn't been enough to cover the cost of producing it. He knows farms that had to shut down because of it.
Meadowbrook Acres has survived but it's been a struggle.
"We did it all without borrowing money but it was hard," Richards said.
But last year finally brought some good news: Milk prices went up.
Richards says that's encouraging.
"I just hope it's a long reprieve so that we can all get over the last five years," he said.
Milk prices at the end of 2019 were among the highest they have been in five years. And while that's good news for farms, who hope they will continue to rise in the new year, the state says they're not celebrating just yet.
"This is the first indication that the price is headed in the right direction," Vt. Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts said.
Tebbetts says what drove the drop in price was too much raw milk in the market. And that's where dairy farmers get paid the most for their product. Tebbetts says many farms took on debt to stay open. While he says it's not too late for them to recover, it's going to require milk prices to keep climbing and then stay steady.
"It needs to stay there and it needs to go higher to make up for the losses," Tebbetts said. "We also can't lose the fact that so many have been hurt over this period of downturn in dairy prices."
Reporter Cat Viglienzoni: Where would the price need to be at for farmers to feel really comfortable?
Donnie Richards: I'd say between $20-$23 and stay there so we can plan and we know what we are going to get.
There is another bright spot for Richards' farm this year. Jan. 1 is the first day of the St. Albans Dairy Cooperative's merger with Dairy Farmers of America. Richards says that means they'll have a larger market for their milk.
"I think it's going to be good for us," he said.
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January 02, 2020 at 06:45AM
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Will higher milk prices make up for years of farmers' struggles? - WCAX
"Milk" - Google News
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