Milk Prices Hinge on Farm Bill

The Farm Bill battle has been going on for more than a year and if a new bill isn’t passed soon it could affect milk drinkers around the nation.

Rob Vandenheuvel, of the Milk Producers Council said, “This has been a threat, they called it the milk cliff, we had the fiscal cliff, and now the milk cliff. There needs to be some message to Congress that they need to act.”

Milk producers said an unintended consequence of in action would cause a 1949 Farm Bill law to kick in.

The old law is intended to give milk producers a safety net by forcing the U.S. government to spend more to buy milk. That could drive the price of milk and other dairy products up.

Some industry analysts said prices could double, making a gallon of milk cost more than a gallon in gas.

The national average for a gallon of whole mile is about $3.45.

Last year, Congress extended the 2008 farm bill. That stabilized prices temporarily.

Lawmakers are schedule to act, but they said the ongoing battle over how much to cut from food stamp program is a major sticking point.