Got too much milk?
Nation’s largest dairy coop floats supply management plan Vermont coops weigh programs to rein in milk supply Raw milk is a highly perishable product. Once it leaves the cow’s udder, it has to be processed into bottled milk, cheese, butter or yogurt within a few days. That fact makes dairy farmers more vulnerable to the [...]
Antitrust division to probe complaints about Dean Foods’ alleged monopolistic practices
Justice official says “competition isn’t well served when one player controls 70 percent of the market” Senators say dairy industry consolidation hurting farmers A lack of competition may allow dominant dairy processors to “exert power” and depress the price farmers receive for raw milk, according to Christine Varney, the assistant attorney general for the Antitrust [...]
70 percent of Welch’s earmarks were for military expenditures in 2008, 2009
More than $49M directed to defense companies and the Vermont National Guard in two-year period Please note: This is the first in a series of stories about federal budget earmarks (also known as appropriations requests) made by Vermont’s congressional delegation. Like his compatriots in Congress, Rep. Peter Welch, Vermont’s second-term Democratic congressman, brings home the [...]
On the dairy beat
Fair dairy? State hopes consumers will pay more for milk, make donations to farmers The cost of production calculus Dairy farmers tough out costliest downturn Economist says state could lose 150 farms by next summer Vermont’s dairy industry blip on national radar Communities where dairy is king take a hit economically Losses driving farms deep [...]
Fair dairy?
State hopes consumers will pay more for milk, make donations to farmers Got milk? Got a little extra money to pay for it? And by the way, wanna donate cash for a T-shirt? Those are the questions Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture is putting to the public on the new Web site it’s unveiling today at [...]
The cost of production calculus
“You’d have to kind of wake up and think that the planets and stars are all lined up against you. A poor harvest at the same time you have low milk prices and high feed prices – that combination is like three hits in the gut in a row.” — Bob Parsons, agricultural economist for UVM Extension
Dairy farmers tough out costliest downturn
Milk market crash, rise in costs a double whammy The Clifford Farm in Starksboro In spite of what some in the industry are calling the worst ever returns on dairying, Eric Clifford is carrying on the family tradition come hell or high water. He’s determined to keep the land his forebears cultivated – all seven [...]
Prison: A tough environment for mentally ill
Questions raised about Corrections care Bounced from criminal justice system to mental health programs In August 2000, Leah Matteson and her family moved from Cambridge, N.Y., across the state line to Bennington: Matteson had heard the Bennington school system had a good program for children with serious mental illness. Her son Patrick Cristaldi had been [...]
Officials say suicidal inmates are now monitored more closely by Corrections
Dr. Delores Burroughs-Biron, the health services director for the Department of Corrections, agrees that therapeutic options “should be part of almost any state statute that people who have a mental illness should be afforded certain protections.” The corrections community agrees, she said, that segregated prisoners need to be monitored closely “for the purpose of following [...]
