WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Herb Kohl and Congressman Dave Obey applauded the President’s signing of the FY2010 Agriculture Appropriations Bill today.  Kohl was in the Oval Office for the signing ceremony.  Obey is the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and Kohl is Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.   They worked on weeks of negotiations to finalize the bill that funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, and successfully retained $350 million in additional assistance for dairy farmers.  The bill was passed by a large margin in the House of Representatives on October 7, 2009 and the Senate followed suit on October 8^th.  Today the President signed the measure into law.

“Now that this bill is law, I hope we will see the dairy assistance get out the door quickly to our farmers who are treading water financially.  We’ll continue to work with the Secretary of Agriculture as he determines how this disaster assistance will be used. I’m confident that he recognizes the urgency of the situation,” Kohl said.

“I am pleased that the President has signed the bill into law.  There are a number of important agriculture-related investments for Wisconsin, especially important is the $350 million in assistance to help struggling dairy farmers who desperately need it.  The next step in getting that assistance out will be that the USDA undertakes a 30-day expedited rulemaking process to determine how the product purchases and payments will be handled.  The checks should start going out to farmers shortly thereafter.  This has been a very difficult year, but this action provides a welcome piece of news to dairy farmers in Wisconsin and around the country,” said Obey.

Farmers are struggling with milk prices that have fallen to historic lows while the costs of production – including feed, fertilizer, and fuel – have grown.  The bill includes $60 million in cheese and dairy product purchases for food banks and other nutrition and feeding programs, and $290 million in direct support to dairy farmers using guidelines to be determined by the Secretary of Agriculture under an expedited process.

Kohl and Obey have worked together for more than 10 years to ensure a better milk price safety net through direct payments when prices are low, and both supported provisions in the 2008 Farm Bill to strengthen the MILC program through inclusion of a ‘feed cost adjuster’ designed to enhance MILC payments when farmers need them most.  During fiscal year 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency has made more than $143 million in MILC payments to Wisconsin farmers.  USDA has also taken steps to bolster dairy markets through the Dairy Export Incentives Program and temporary adjustments to the Dairy Product Price Support Program.  In March, USDA transferred approximately 200 million pounds of nonfat dry milk to USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service in an effort to bolster markets and provide hunger relief.