USDA Secretary Vilsack Attends Emergency Organic Dairy Rally

If the main goal of the emergency organic dairy rally that was held yesterday in West Salem, Wisconsin was to catch the ear of USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, it was a success. Secretary Vilsack came to the La Crosse Interstate Fairgrounds with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to host a town hall meeting about new Obama administration programs that will affect rural communities, but before the town hall forum began, Vilsack made a surprise appearance at the organic dairy rally to assure farmers that he feels their pain.

Vilsack stood on the sidelines for a few minutes, listening to a couple of farmers describing their struggles, before climbing up to the podium, which had non-perishable food for struggling farmers stacked in front of it. "I would never ever suggest to you that I completely understand the stresses and strains you all are under," Vilsack told the farmers, "but I do have some sense of it."

"We are focusing on rules that will level the playing field so that small- and medium-size producers have a fair shot. We are, as you are, asking questions about how producers can make so little, and how others...can make so much. And we are attempting to take steps to provide assistance to dairy producers across the country."

Secretary Vilsack said that USDA is looking into measures to stabilize prices, and he suggested that USDA would work with bankers to adjust existing dairy farmer loans so that they can keep their farms. He didn't address the question of enforcement until a farmer from the crowd demanded to know if the violators of organic standards would be prosecuted. "I commit to you that we will indeed enforce the rules," Vilsack responded, and was met with applause.

The crowd thinned after Vilsack left, but the farmers that stayed took turns telling their own stories. The press releases promised a "symbolic" milk dump, to illustrate that "the value of their milk has deteriorated along with the value of their farms," but there was no photo op, and I was told that the milk would later be sprayed on a field as fertilizer.

-Mark