Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says USDA’s Dairy Industry Advisory Committee is expected to make recommendations soon on how to address the issues of milk price volatility and dairy farmer profitability.

“They are on track to make some preliminary recommendations in December or January,” said Vilsack during a press conference with farm broadcasters last week. “Obviously dairy prices have improved a little bit over where they were last year. I hope that doesn’t take away from the urgency of doing something because we can just as easily dip back into historic low prices as we did in 2009.”

Vilsack says the recommendations from the committee could take many forms. “It may be something that’s done through a regulatory process, or it may be something that requires legislation, or it may be something that’s appropriate to fold into a 2012 Farm Bill discussion,” he said.

Listen to or download Vilsack’s comments here: Vilsack Dairy