Bernie Sanders

Not to the detriment of the program, that it should be done away with for that reason, but it's a concern that I have.

One of the concerns that I might have, and it's been brought up to me, is with this program, how would young people get started with a supply management program?

After denouncing the Federal Government, they cashed the checks, right?

Do you believe that, in fact, the Federal milk marketing order system is broken?

Do you think there's a connection between the two or do you think it's just an accident and a coincidence?

Did everybody hear that? What you're saying is, on average, farmers get 20 cents.

Most people assume that when they go to the grocery store and they buy a product, a gallon of milk, they kind of assume that most of that money goes to the people who produce the product, i.e., farmers.

The fight to preserve dairy and family-based agriculture is not just an issue of dairy farmers.

The problems that we are having in Vermont and New England are not unique. They're taking place all over the country

This is not just a Northeast issue, it's a national issue, various regions.

The public has a right to know, Congress has a right to know.

I think the people of this country have a right to know, Congress has a right to know, to what degree there is concentration of ownership.

It is fairly widely known that in late August 2006, career professionals in your division...concluded a 26-month investigation into far-ranging anti-competitive practices in the dairy industry.

No, you haven't. I don't see any clocks here. When you're the Chairman, you never go over your own time.

We'll bring you back in mid-January, how's that?

One distributor is responsible for the purchase of more than 70 percent of Northeast dairy production.

We take very seriously the concerns about the competitive consequences of those changes.

I was very interested to hear Senator Sanders break down, on a regional and State basis, the concentration.

Thank you very much for holding this important hearing.

Senator Leahy is one of those people who forced that discussion.

Can family based dairy farmers survive when we have that degree of concentration of ownership in the industry?

Is there anybody in this room who doesn't see a connection between those two facts?

What we have seen in recent years is a growing concentration of ownership in terms of the dairy industry, specifically in terms of dairy processing.

We are here because consumers, if this trend continues, will not be able to get the fresh, quality food that they want.

We are here today because farmers, dairy farmers in Vermont and throughout this country are receiving the lowest prices for their milk that they received in 40 years.