Chichester dairy farmer Gordon Jones approached the hotseat at Tuesday’s Dairy Farmers Task Force meeting carrying a plastic bag. Out of it he pulled two T-shirts he said he was debating to wear.
“Farmers: Someone has to feed you people,” he read off of one shirt. Then the other: “Plays well with udders.”
Jones garnered some chuckles at what was an otherwise serious three-hour session between legislators and those in the dairy industry.
In contrast to the first, sparsely attended meeting, almost every seat was full in the Legislative Office Building room Tuesday.
Many of those seats were taken by dairy farmers. They faced the seven-member task force, testifying and answering questions as legislators considered this year’s drought and the affect on the industry.
Combined with federally set, low milk prices, the lack of rain and resulting feed losses puts many of the state’s 101 or so dairies in a tight spot. So far, 19 of 120 dairies in New Hampshire have stopped shipping milk since Jan. 1.
The state’s Milk Producer Emergency Relief Fund Board recommended the Legislature appropriate $3.6 million in one-time payments for dairy farmers, plus appropriating $2 million each year for the relief fund so it stays between $2 million and $6 million to address unpredictable market or weather events like this year.
The fund, which went into effect in 2008, hasn’t had more than $1 in it since its inception.
In its first meeting, the task force questioned why the dairy industry is more deserving of funds than other industries affect by drought.
Farmers responded strongly during the second meeting, noting their industry feeds people local food and supports open land, tourism and agricultural business like fertilizer and veterinarians. It also faces disadvantages other industries don’t, like having milk prices set by the federal government.
More farmers took offense to a suggestion during the first meeting that dairy was a “dying” industry not worth putting money into.
“We are an endangered species that is worth preserving,” Jones said.
On Tuesday, task force members focused on understanding the complicated federal milk market, and how the state can get to the root of the problem.
Though the task force was originally scheduled to finish this week, it recessed its meeting until Nov. 15.