Dairymen soured over milk prices - Business First of Columbus:

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The industry, which contributes an estimated $5.9 billion to the state’sd economy, is reeling from the effects of farm-level milk pricees that are now exceeded by production About 18months ago, farmers were beingt paid more than $22 per 100 pounds of a payout that had fallen below $11 in February. Production costs, haven’t headed in the same What that’s causing, said Roger Crossgrove, executive director of the , is a shortfall of roughly 20 cents a gallom for farmers spendingaboutf $1.35 to produce a gallon of That gap could mean more than simplyu tough times for the 3,000 dairy farmas in.
Crossgrove is worried that as many as 30 percentg ofthe state’s farmerx might not make it through the pricingy slump. “If we lose then plants are going to cut back and even more people are goinh to be outof jobs,” Crossgrove Despite the cost squeeze, dairymen have been holding up. Lewies Jones, chief of the statr ’s dairy division, estimated Ohio has lost fewe r than 100 farms in the past18 months, and most of them were smalol dairy farms with no one to take over the A broader concern for the dairymen, Jonesa said, is the harm the credit crunch will do to their businessz prospects.
The state Agriculture Departmengestimates farm-level milk prices may be at their and the Farmers Union expectsz prices to rise slightly in the secondx half of the year. Still, the dairu farmers need an increasein prices, Crossgrove The National Milk Producers Federation has recommended to regulatorx steps that would increase the effectiveness of the Dairyu Product Price Support Program, an initiatives that helps maintain a minimum price for milk by buyint up surplus products.