Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. letter to Dan Glickman, November 14, 1997

ROBERT L. EHRLICH, JR. .NKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES ASSISTANT MAJORITY WHIP Congress of tfte Uniteb States $ouee of &fpresratatto« ШайдавИп, SC 20515-2002 November 14, 1997 The Honorable Dan Glickman Secretary U. S. Department of Agriculture 14th and Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D. C. 20250 Dear Secretary Glickman: Recently I have been contacted by a number of dairy farmers in Maryland concerned about the cataclysmic impact a recent federal court ruling will have on their industry. As you know, U. S. District Judge David Doty, ruling in the case of Minnesota Milk Producers v. Glickman, has enjoined USDA from implementing Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) provisions establishing location differentials for Class I milk prices. If this decision is upheld, Maryland dairymen will lose as much as $1 .30 per hundredweight (cwt.) of milk. This will send Maryland’s dairy industry into an economic tailspin from which it may never recover. Maryland dairy farmers are already facing a number of hardships that threaten their industry’s survival. First, milk prices are already $2.50 per cwt. less than they were this time last year. Additionally, the summer drought ruined feed crops for dairy cows, leaving dairy farmers without adequate feed supplies for the winter. Many drought-affected dairymen have been unable to secure affordable recovery loans, and cannot sustain another unexpected loss of income in light of high grain prices. Third, the state’s prime dairy counties are under increasing pressure for rural development. In light of these difficulties, the loss of an additional $1 .30 per cwt. will surely be the death knell for the state’s remaining dairy farmers. Moreover, without a local dairy industry, citizens in Maryland will be at the mercy of weather, transportation, and production schedules in remote locations. Severe blizzards in the upper Midwest may paralyze milk shipments, leaving Marylanders without fresh milk and dairy products for days. School children who now rely on fresh local milk may now be forced to wait for the weather to thaw half a continent away. MORE