For Immediate Release
August 10, 2011
Contact
Scott Coriell
202.225.4115 (o)
202.689.5352 (c)
ST. ALBANS, VT – At a St. Albans dairy roundtable on Wednesday, Rep. Peter Welch met with Vermont dairy farmers to learn their priorities as the House Agriculture Committee takes up legislation that will set that nation’s dairy policy for years to come.
Welch – a member of the House Agriculture Committee – convened the roundtable to hear from Vermont dairy farmers after the Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), released a draft dairy reform proposal. The proposal includes a strong growth management concept, an idea developed by Vermont dairy farmers that will prevent the price swings that led to the 2009 dairy crisis. Last year, at the request of Vermont dairy farmers, Welch introduced growth management legislation.
“Vermont dairy farmers have been rolling with the tough punches of price instability for too long,” Welch said. “I applaud them for leading a national conversation among dairy farmers on the best approach to stabilizing prices. The time to enact common sense reforms is now before the industry experiences another downturn. I intend to bring the good ideas of Vermont’s farmers to the table in Congress.”
At the roundtable, Welch also announced legislation to close a trade loophole which drives down the price paid to Vermont dairy farmers for their milk. The loophole allows for the unlimited importation of milk protein concentrate (MPC), a form of dried milk product. Welch’s bill, the Milk Import Tariff Equity Act (H.R. 2813), will update existing trade regulations to include MPC and treat it like all other imported dairy products. In the past decade, MPC imports have dramatically increased, undermining the market for domestic powdered milk and driving down the price dairy farmers are paid for their milk.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) has introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
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In September, 2009, Vermont’s congressional delegation called a meeting with farmers in St. Alban’s to discuss Dean Foods. As Dean Foods processes 70% of New England’s milk, our delegation brought with them Christine Varney, the assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice to bolster the antitrust concerns about Dean Foods. She said, “Competition is not very well served when you have one player in the market who controls 70 percent of the market. We look very carefully at the activity in a market when you have that kind of dominance.” The meeting was well promoted and covered.
http://vtdigger.org/2009/09/20/antitrust-division-to-probe-complaints-about-dean-foods%e2%80%99-alleged-monopolistic-practices/
http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=fcc5095e-72cc-4f99-a35f-be295f2fc6fc
http://www.vermonttiger.com/content/2010/08/leahy-milking-votes.html
Since then, an ad hoc group of dairy farmers (but not the Antitrust Division of the US. Dept. of Justice) has sued Dean Foods. Dean Foods is willing to settle for $30 million, with the farmers’ Washington lawyer getting 20% of the settlement. Farmers will get a pittance, maybe $2,000 – $3,000 each on average, the value of one good milker or 600 or so gallons of diesel fuel.
For a $30 million settlement, Dean Foods may have dodged the anti-trust bullet once more. A feat they’ve accomplished often over the past decade.
In 2008 and 2009, Dean Foods reported Net Income of $184 million and $240 million respectively. For 2010, times were a bit tough with Dean Foods reporting Net Income of $91 million. Though Net Income was down, revenues at $12.1 billion (more than twice the entire Vermont state budget) were a billion higher than 2009’s $11.1 billion.
So now we have another meeting with farmers in St. Alban’s. Can Vt. Digger dig a bit with our Congressional delegation, or Christine Varney, or Elliot Burg at the Vermont AG’s Office who’s following the Dean Foods settlement case and find out if the U.S. Dept. of Justice is going to take any action, or whether the meeting in St. Albans was all for naught?
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Christine Varney is no longer at DOJ. As I understand it, from a Sanders staffer, the investigation has hit a wall. I’ll follow up on details.
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Thanks Anne….it looks like campaign contributions go both ways to congressional folks with a slight edge to R’s in recent years.
http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/dean-foods/79107ce1e4764455af7bdb8cbdff873f?cycle=2010
http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/committees/dean-foods-company-political-action-committee.asp?cycle=10
However,it would seem to me that the decision to file an anti-trust action rests with the executive branch’s DOJ and with Leahy and Welch holding the positions they do, and given the clear focus at the 2009 meeting in St. Alban’s, it will be interesting to see what wall has been hit. Thanks again.