IDFA: Don’t rush implementation of old dairy law
September 13, 2013 | 05:18 PM
Reacting to a statement this week by House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., that the Agriculture Department should put pressure on Congress to pass a new farm bill by preparing to implement a 1949 dairy law that would come into effect on January 1, the International Dairy Foods Association said USDA should not rush the process.
Jerry Slominski
“IDFA suggests that no one should be in a hurry to enforce an outdated and irresponsible law that would dramatically and artificially increase the costs of nutritious dairy products such as milk and yogurt for consumers and would cause irreparable damage to an important sector of our agriculture economy,” Jerry Slominski, the senior vice president for legislative affairs of the dairy processors group, said in an email to The Hagstrom Report.
“The House of Representatives, by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 291-135, voted to reject Rep. Peterson’s program to raise dairy prices by imposing production quotas on dairy farmers and we urge Secretary Vilsack to reject this very similar effort,” he added.
“The Obama administration enjoys ample legal authority to delay the enforcement of the 1949 act should Congress fail to pass a new farm bill prior to December 31," Slominski continued.
“If placed in that position, the administration should proceed to implement the act in a thoughtful and deliberate manner, following formal rules of evidence, as they have done with hundreds of other regulations,” he said.
“If the administration does choose to move quickly to enforce the 1949 law, it will be responsible for unnecessarily forcing millions of low and middle income Americans, particularly families with children, to pay higher grocery bills and for significantly increasing the costs of our nutritional safety net programs at a time when millions are still struggling to make ends meet.”
Jerry Slominski
“IDFA suggests that no one should be in a hurry to enforce an outdated and irresponsible law that would dramatically and artificially increase the costs of nutritious dairy products such as milk and yogurt for consumers and would cause irreparable damage to an important sector of our agriculture economy,” Jerry Slominski, the senior vice president for legislative affairs of the dairy processors group, said in an email to The Hagstrom Report.
“The House of Representatives, by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 291-135, voted to reject Rep. Peterson’s program to raise dairy prices by imposing production quotas on dairy farmers and we urge Secretary Vilsack to reject this very similar effort,” he added.
“The Obama administration enjoys ample legal authority to delay the enforcement of the 1949 act should Congress fail to pass a new farm bill prior to December 31," Slominski continued.
“If placed in that position, the administration should proceed to implement the act in a thoughtful and deliberate manner, following formal rules of evidence, as they have done with hundreds of other regulations,” he said.
“If the administration does choose to move quickly to enforce the 1949 law, it will be responsible for unnecessarily forcing millions of low and middle income Americans, particularly families with children, to pay higher grocery bills and for significantly increasing the costs of our nutritional safety net programs at a time when millions are still struggling to make ends meet.”
