**ACTION ALERT**

Contact Senators Boxer and Feinstein

April 19, 2012

The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to release its draft of the farm bill by Friday afternoon and members are able to offer amendments early next week. The Senate Agriculture Committee has scheduled a markup hearing on the dairy title of the farm bill for next Thursday, April 26.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has indicated that the Senate farm bill dairy title will be very similar to the draft based on the “Dairy Security Act.” Representatives Collin Peterson, D-Minn, and Mike Simpson, R-ID, introduced the “Dairy Security Act” which is based on the National Milk Producers Federation’s (NMPF) “Foundation for the Future” proposal.

CDC is not supporting the Dairy Security Act (DSA) because once the dairy support price is eliminated as called for in the bill there will be no price safety net and producers will have less ability to negotiate a fair price. The deregulation in the DSA would lead to a vast and unprecedented increase in forward contracting of milk, fuel further consolidation and shift all price risk to dairy producers.

CDC supports the “Federal Milk Marketing Order Improvement Act” S.1640 introduced by Senator Robert Casey, D-Penn. which would pay dairy producers based upon their cost of production, manage milk inventories to meet market demand and address the impact of unregulated concentrated dairy imports which are now on the rise.

CDC members are urged to contact California Senators Feinstein and Boxer today.

Senator Dianne Feinstein-Fresno                  Senator Barbara Boxer-Fresno

Capitol Hill office 202-224-3841                          Capitol Hill office 202-224-3553

Phone: (559) 485-7430                                           Phone: (559) 497-5109

Fax: (559) 485-9689                                                Fax: (202) 228-3864