Deal reached for stopping spike in milk prices
WASHINGTON (AP) - The top leaders in both parties on the House and Senate Agriculture committees have agreed to a one-year extension of the 2008 farm bill that expired in October, a move that would head off a possible doubling of milk prices next month.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow indicated that the House could vote on it as early as Sunday evening.
The agreement to extend current farm law until next October was reached as negotiators hit a snag on averting a broader fiscal cliff combination of higher taxes and spending cuts Jan. 1.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Americans faced the prospect of paying $7 for a gallon if the current dairy program lapsed and the government returned to a 1948 formula for calculating milk price supports.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow indicated that the House could vote on it as early as Sunday evening.
The agreement to extend current farm law until next October was reached as negotiators hit a snag on averting a broader fiscal cliff combination of higher taxes and spending cuts Jan. 1.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Americans faced the prospect of paying $7 for a gallon if the current dairy program lapsed and the government returned to a 1948 formula for calculating milk price supports.
Milk prices aren't much higher than they were when I was a kid. In the same time (50 years) candy bars have gone from a nickel to a buck. Keeping milk prices so low has driven most small producers into bankruptcy. Funny how they sell farm policy as helping the small farmer, but the big businesses get all of the money..
 @david_42Â
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You must not have bought milk where I bought milk; prices have more than tripled since I started buying it.
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In 1991 I would pay less than $1 for a gallon 9usually $0.75). Yesterday i bought it for $3.50.
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I don't doubt anything else you're saying, but milk priced have gone up in the last 20 years.
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The government subsidies continue. We can't afford these handouts any more.
Well, don't they already pay about $7 per gallon for milk in Hawaii?
 @theobserverÂ
Just got back from there. I think it was about $4.50 a gallon.
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Now the price of energy is 5-6 times what it is here.