Here’s a little bit of news for you dairy farmers. It sounds like there’s a lot still going on behind the scenes in Washington, DC on the Milk Income Loss Contract expiration. This report is from my partner and wife, Cindy.

The Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program was the cause of a delay in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s budget reconciliation meeting that was scheduled to take place on Thursday October 6. The meeting was postponed until further notice on Wednesday, and Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) issued a statement Thursday morning about the delay. According to Chambliss:

“We did achieve the difficult balance for conservation and food stamp spending and among program crops; however, some committee senators said they were concerned at the cost of extending the MILC program at the expense of other commodity programs. There is strong support for this counter-cyclical dairy program among both parties within this committee, but it does not appear there is the support that is necessary. This committee is still required to choose where $3 billion in 5-year deficit reduction cuts will come from. As a committee, we must participate with other committees that are cutting the budget, or we lose the right to choose our cuts when the Congress votes on budget reconciliation.”

The MILC program expired on September 30. The budget reconciliation meeting has yet to be rescheduled.