Farmer voices in Washington

Where did the summer go? Am I the only one who was not able to cram in everything that was on the list of things to do before school started? We missed out on some of the adventures we were planning, but the seasons and harvest won’t wait. Now it is on to corn silage and preparing for another year of fall school farm tours and, of course, World Dairy Expo visitors. I will be taking phone calls and text messages and trying my best to answer emails periodically throughout the day to make sure I don’t miss anyone interested in coming out to visit. This year, reservations are a must. I will no longer be doing drop-in tours.

This September and October will be a bit different. We welcomed our first granddaughter, Piper Marie, Aug. 30. Anna, Kevin and the newest family member, Piper, will be working, or should I say, strolling in the stroller, or riding in her car seat in the Kubota on days when the weather permits it. I will be pulling back on some of the last-minute reservations, where I am not able to group together enough people to make it worth my time and effort. Having a grandchild and spending time with her has shifted many of my priorities. Watching her change each day is so amazing. I am having a hard time leaving the farm to venture off on other commitments with some of the farm organizations that I am a part of.

This year the farm bill is a big part of the conversations farmers should be discussing with the lawmakers to get it passed and not to wait until after the election. If the bill gets kicked down the road any longer our farm programs, the security of our food systems and health care, will be further strained and families throughout the U.S. will suffer. Participating in fly-ins to Washington D.C. is the best way to voice directly to the people who can take action to make it happen. These Congresspeople are elected officials that represent us, but so often know nothing about the issues we face every day.

One of the topics that will be discussed on the hill today will be the Federal Milk Marketing Order, known as the FMMO. This order was originally intended to help farmers get the most from their milk being sold to the milk processors. This order is complicated and messy.  Over the past two years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been examining and has held hearings on what the players in the dairy industry are looking for. Dairy farmers and dairy processors are looking for different things in the end product of a new FMMO. 2008 was the last time the FMMO was updated and a lot has changed since that time.

The world in which we live has seen a shift in milk consumption, going from families drinking milk in their cereal every morning to grab-and-go items for breakfast. The fluid milk drinkers have switched habits and we dairy farmers are now relying on more products like cheese, yogurt and butter to make up the use of our milk.

Little changes can add up to a lot of money when processors are looking for more money for the make allowance. This make allowance is the cost the processors have to make all of the products from the milk whether it is cheese, dry milk, butter and other items coming from our milk. This allowance is how the Class I, II, III and IV milk prices are determined.

Class I is milk used in fluid milk products, including whole, reduced-fat, low-fat and nonfat milks. Class II is milk used in heavy cream, cottage cheese, yogurt and condensed products. Class III is milk used to make hard cheeses, cream cheese and other spreadable cheeses. Class IV is milk used to make butter and dry products like non-fat dry milk.

Interest groups that we all belong to, whether it be our farm or milk cooperatives, along with milk processing plants have been involved in the hearings about the need for change for the FMMO. These people from our milk cooperatives are expressing the need for more money to make these products and have given out to lawmakers the higher cost to produce these dairy products. There are many more processor voices in the hearings than there are dairy farmers who are at home milking their cows. This representation of dairy cooperatives and cheese plants outnumber us farmers. The reality is the milk cooperatives are voicing their needs but often not always speaking about the needs of the farmers that hold them together.

We all know the struggles with the cost of production to milk our cows, the volatility of all the markets from seed costs, machinery, labor and the cost to continue farming. Little differences in just cents pulled from our milk check to ease the cost of the make allowance for the processors will be another painful squeeze to try to get more from our milk checks. We are all working with less money and spending more to make ends meet. Our belts are not going to be able to handle more money taken out for the processors.

Throughout Wisconsin and also the rest of the United States, dairy farmers have been the ones hit. Dairy farms are disappearing, farm families’ lives are crushed and the ripple effect has changed our rural communities. We have worked with less money and found ways to struggle on, and it is time for the processors to get creative and find a way for them to continue making the products with limited budgets. New product developments that are promoted in retail grocery stores can get consumers excited to try these products. I don’t know if this is just a simple idea from a dairy farmer, but perhaps this could be a family farmer-friendly way to have those make allowances covered. After all, dairy cooperatives and processing plants would not have grown so large without the family farms that supply the milk to make them what they are today.

While I am in Washington D.C. for the next few days, I will be advocating for dairy farmers regarding the FMMO and other farm bill priorities. The farm bill has a deadline for the end of September. I am hopeful that we as a nation can come together to figure out that we are all more alike than different. Our similarities bind us together as dairy farmers. Being less than 1% of the population feeding everyone else, this farm bill is vital for all of us.

Tina Hinchley, her husband Duane and daughter Anna milk 240 registered Holsteins with robots. They also farm 2,300 acres near Cambridge, Wisconsin. The Hinchleys have been hosting farm tours for over 25 years.