The Dairy Business Association of Wisconsin, together with the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, Wisconsin Dairy Products Association, Wisconsin Agribusiness Council, Wisconsin Farm Bureau and the Wisconsin National Farmers Organization drafted a letter to members of the Joint Committee on Finance, including chairs Senator Russell Decker and Representative Kitty Rhoades, encouraging them to support the Dairy Plant Investment Tax Credit in the 2007-09 biennial budgets.
This Investment Tax Credit will allow for up to $200,000 of investments to be made by Wisconsin’s dairy production plants to expand or modernize their operating structure and processes, which will increase production and create new jobs, while retaining 128,000 dairy-related jobs that put $5.5 billion into our economy and onto our tax rolls. Wisconsin can also be more competitive in an international market where lower cost of production is the necessary edge needed to stay out front and remain a viable dairy processing industry.
The letter states that this investment in dairy plants is not just about cheese. It’s about yogurt, ice cream, sour cream, butter and all the other products made from wholesome milk produced on Wisconsin’s 14,300 dairy farms. It’s about rural jobs. Every farm that surrounds a small town in Wisconsin moves an average of $50,000 a year through those communities. As our farms leave, the farm-support jobs leave too. The loss of farms reduces productivity and the departure of farm-support industries creates a ripple effect that closes the doors of small businesses and causes declines in school enrollment.
The letter goes on to recognize that while Wisconsin reigns as the cheese capitol of our nation, California is a contender for this title as a result of its in-state milk pricing order, which provides an 18- cent per pound advantage in cheese pricing.