74 percent of Americans believe that milk prices should be determined by the marketplace as opposed to set artificially by government, according to a new poll of 2,094 adults conducted by Harris Interactive for the International Dairy Foods Association.
While the Harris poll did find that 52 percent of Americans support providing subsidized insurance to protect farmers from unforeseen losses, a mere 8 percent back federal policies to keep milk prices above market value. It is clear that the vast majority of Americans favor the market determining dairy production and prices over the federal government setting arbitrary limits on production to drive up costs.
However, the Dairy Market Stabilization Program (DMSP), a provision buried deep within the massive trillion-dollar “Farm Bill” lumbering through Congress, would buck the preferences of consumers and producers and enforce caps on the amount of milk farmers produce in a misguided attempt to increase demand.
This intrusive insertion of the federal government into the milk marketplace would result in higher dairy prices as well as a whole host of new regulatory complications, adversely affecting both consumers and producers. In addition, farmers would likely face stiff penalties for exceeding the federal “cap” on production, and with reductions to the amount of milk farmers are permitted to produce, jobs within the dairy industry could be eliminated as well.
It is clear that the DMSP is bad news for all Americans, and this is why NTU has joined with Citizens Against Government Waste to oppose the DMSP and help involve concerned citizens.
Visit YourMilkMoney.org to learn more about the destructive consequences of the DMSP, watch informative videos, and take action to tell Congress that the market, not the government, should set the price of milk.