Senator says dairy report kills debate
A state senator is accusing Augusta of misrepresenting a task force's recommendations on dairy subsidies.
Sen. John Nutting of Leeds said the Department of Agriculture omitted part of a report by Governor's Task Force on the Sustainability of the Dairy Industry in Maine posted online because it dissented from the majority opinion, according to the Kennebec Journal. The separate report was filed by five of the 20 members and did not agree with the majority decision to create a new subsidy payment tier for the state's largest farmers, which Nutting said would negatively impact small farmers. "It's like they want to squelch debate and not present both sides to the Legislature," Nutting said of the department's decision not to include the minority report.
The task force met this summer and fall to discuss changes to the dairy stabilization payment system. Tim Drake, executive director of the Maine Milk Commission and a nonvoting member of the task force, said the group voted not to include the minority report in materials sent to the Legislature, but that the governor's office on Friday asked him to include it as an appendix and post it on the Department of Agriculture's website, according to the paper. The Legislature's Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee is scheduled to discuss the report Wednesday and decide if legislation is required.
Go to the article from the Kennebec Journal >>
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