Collins, King join coalition requesting federal assistance for dairy farmers

Collins photo courtesy / Medill DC, Flickr, King photo courtesy / U.S. Naval War College, Flickr U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King have joined a bipartisan coalition asking U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to assist dairy producers.

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By Staff

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King joined a bipartisan coalition in a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack requesting assistance for dairy producers in Maine and across the country struggling with declining milk prices.

According to a release from the offices of Maine’s U.S. senators, prices for milk produced at farms have dropped 40% since 2014 due to a number of factors.

Those factors, according to the coalition’s letter, include domestic milk production increasing almost 2% above 2015, while global milk production rose significantly, in part as a result of the European Union’s decision to remove its milk production quotas and the loss of its export market to Russia.

The letter also attributed the hardships to an increase in production in other major milk-producing countries that have led to these depressed prices globally.

“We are deeply concerned that U.S. dairy farmers, who are a key part of our agriculture community and agriculture economy, are in greater need of stability and support as they face these significantly lower prices,” Collins, King and their colleagues wrote in the letter to Vilsack. “We encourage USDA to take any and all actions available in order to make an immediate market injection and offer financial assistance that will directly support U.S. dairy farmers equally.”

Collins photo: Flickr/Medill DC, King photo: Flickr/U.S. Naval War College