Jeff Bingaman: “I would have liked to be able to vote for this farm bill, but regrettably, I cannot. I will vote no on this conference…”

“I would have liked to be able to vote for this farm bill, but regrettably, I cannot. I will vote no on this conference report. The Farm Security Act of 2002 is not good for New Mexico. It introduces a new, expensive, and counter productive direct payment provision to dairy producers on some of their milk. The over one billion dollars thrown into the dairy economy will result in reduced milk prices on all milk regardless of the size of farm that produces it. The family run dairy farms in New Mexico will be especially hard hit. According to FAPRI, the average payment will be about 85 cents a hundredweight but that will only be on the first 2.4 million pounds produced or a maximum payment of about $20,400. This payment will be more than offset by the average milk price on all milk of 14 cents a hundredweight. For the average dairy farmer in New Mexico that is about $52,500 per year. This is a real loss of income.”