BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week

LISBON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing a bill to keep the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) Program intact.

In a visit to Keystone Dairy today, Aug. 1, Schumer said it was time to “churn up support to protect this program for upstate New York farmers and consumers.”

“St. Lawrence County is the heart of Upstate New York’s dairy industry, with over 230 dairy farms, and by the end of this year many could be looking over a ‘dairy cliff’ that threatens lifeline payments, puts the industry in limbo, and increases the price of milk,” Schumer said.

The program, first passed in 1999, was authored by Schumer during his first term in the Senate.

The DMC is a program that offers monthly price support payments from the federal government to dairy farmers during times when expenses to produce dairy products outweigh the income from the sale of such products.

Though the program has been utilized this year, pumping millions of dollars into dairy farms across the country to offset declining dairy prices, Schumer said in many years such payments have not been necessary to keep farms afloat.

“This program gives monthly payments to our dairy farmers to make up the differences for the price of milk and dairy products. It’s a lifeline to our farmers. But if Congress doesn’t pass it, it could expire and that could mean our farmers go without the insurance provided by the DMC,” Schumer said.

According to Glenn Bullock, executive director of the Farm Service Agency for the USDA, DMC payments released to farms nationwide yesterday and today totaled $797,831,245.

For farms in New York state, $74,468,950 has been received over the last two days.

Schumer said he worked with the New York Farm Bureau in 2018 to pass the bill that offered a “vital lifeline” to many farmers.

“We need to get this done and there are problems in the agriculture bill. That shouldn’t affect the DMC. I’m launching a new course to protect this program and as Senate Majority leader…I’m going to do everything I can to see this program is produced as part of the whole farm bill, or separately if we have to do that,” he said.

But other issues will also arise if the bill isn’t passed, Schumer said.

“The price of milk could potentially double. Cheese and other milk products could also double in price. And then we’d see billions of dollars in avoidable government spending because the Fed would go back to a policy from the 1950’s where they bought milk off the market,” Schumer said.

Schumer said St. Lawrence County, the second biggest milk producing county in the country, would be among the first impacted if the bill is not approved by Congress before Sept. 30.

According to Schumer, a lapse in the DMC would endanger North Country farmers and could have irreparable harm to the local economy.

But Schumer said the bill, which has always had bipartisan support, is a top priority for both the House and Senate as the deadline looms.

“Right now, margins for dairy producers are about as tough as I’ve ever seen them. Thankfully, the DMC program is built for times like these,” said Keystone Farms Co-owner Eric Fonda.

““In recent years, the DMC program has provided our 7-million-pound dairy farm with much needed support in the face of milk prices falling below the cost of production, providing as much as 10% of our farm’s income some months,” Fonda said.

Schumer and Fonda alike both spoke to the impact dairy farms have on the local economy, with dairy farms in St. Lawrence County selling around $140 million in dairy products every year.

“That’s 72% of the profits of agriculture products in the whole county,” Schumer said.

Catherine de Ronde, Vice President of Economics & Legislative Affairs, Agri-Mark Dairy Cooperative also spoke to the initiative to pass the DMC, saying dairy farmers also play a crucial role in regional food security.

“The Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) Program is a vital safety-net that has proved invaluable in recent months. Congress must act to reauthorize the pending 2023 farm bill and ensure that the DMC program remains intact and evolves to fit the needs of today’s dairy farmers,” de Ronde said.

Chairman of the St. Lawrence County Legislature David Forsythe also spoke to the impact failing to pass the bill would have on the local economy, saying farmers are the backbone of the North Country.

“It’s only right and fitting that our elected officials stand up for the agricultural community, as Sen. Schumer has done today, to support this essential part of the nation’s economy with the inclusion of the dairy margin coverage, the next farm bill. The needed support that you deserve, this is not only about the continued success of the agricultural community but also for those rural communities like Lisbon,” he said.

Congress is expected to take up the bill again in the near future, with hopes of both the House of Representatives and Senate passing it before the current bill expires on Sept. 30.