{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-leads-bill-to-combat-consolidation-in-the-dairy-industry-ensure-fair-prices-for-family-dairy-farms/", "Welch Leads\u00a0Bill to\u00a0Combat Consolidation in the Dairy Industry, Ensure Fair Prices for Family Dairy Farms", "2026-06-29", "2026", "2026-06", "Democrat", "Senate", "VT", "Peter Welch", "W000800", "www.welch.senate.gov", "welch", "https://www.welch.senate.gov/category/press-release/page/", "scraper", "The Milk from Family Dairies Act establishes a new Dairy Market Stabilization Program\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, and Food Safety, and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) this week led the introduction of the Milk from Family Dairies Act, legislation which would ensure market transparency and fair prices for family dairy farmers, maintain consumer access to reliable and reasonably priced dairy products, and revitalize rural communities by establishing a Dairy Market Stabilization Program to ensure dairy farmers get a fair price for their milk based on their cost of production.\n\nSince 2000, 75% of America\u2019s dairy farms have shuttered. In the past decade, Vermont has lost more than 400 dairies. Today, only 24,000 dairy farms remain in the United States. U.S. dairy policy has fallen short of addressing the market consolidation crisis and modern challenges facing dairy farmers and rural communities.\n\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s dairy industry is in crisis, and Vermont\u2019s dairy farmers know this all too well. Hardworking small and family dairy farms in our state\u2014a majority of which milk fewer than 200 cows\u2014have been hit especially hard by consolidation and price shifts over the last two decades. Too many farms are unable to break even and too many have shuttered completely. Farmers create such an immense amount of wealth, but are more and more often deprived the profits of their hard work\u2014that needs to change.\u201d said Senator Welch.\n\n\u201cDairy farms in Vermont and across this country are being forced out of business every day. Over the past decade, Vermont has lost over half of its dairy farms, many family-owned for generations. Enough is enough. It is time to give our dairy farmers the support they need. This legislation is an important step in protecting dairy farms\u2014especially our smallest\u2014and the rural economies they support,\u201d said Senator Sanders.\n\nSmall farms across the United States are struggling to cover production costs from the sale of milk, and farms are pressured to produce more milk in an attempt to recoup those costs. Additionally, lack of market stability and volatile milk prices\u2014which disproportionately impact smaller, family-scale dairies and often drive them out of business\u2014are forcing producers to scale up operations to stay competitive. This leads to a vicious cycle where increased production creates a surplus of milk, shrinking farmers\u2019 profit.\n\nAt the same time, dairy farmers have very little power to negotiate their product pricing and are extremely dependent on a select handful of processors who bottle milk and make dairy products due to the perishable nature of fluid milk. Moreover, the price farmers receive for their milk from processors can vary greatly and regularly fails to cover farmers\u2019 cost of production. Ensuring a fair price for dairy farmers would allow small- and mid-size dairies to stay afloat and put the brakes on consolidation within an ever-concentrated dairy industry.\n\nThe Milk from Family Dairies Act\u2019s Dairy Market Stabilization Program would match national dairy production to national demand for the product, ensuring producers receive a fair price for the milk they produce. Additionally, the bill would support the consumption of domestically produced dairy, and institute program governance and accountability mechanisms to ensure strong corporate accountability and prohibit financial exploitation or consolidation within the program. The new program would also initiate annual reviews of and publications on the economic impacts of dairy sector consolidation on dairy producers and grocery prices for dairy consumers.\n\nFurther, the bill would reform and create USDA programs that revive regional dairy supply chains, including through new training and apprenticeship programs, expanding access to the Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives, new cost-share grants for small-scale dairy infrastructure, and more funding for the Local Agriculture Market Program.\n\nThe Milk from Family Dairies Act is supported by: Agrarian Trust; American Agriculture Movement; American Economic Liberties Project; Ashtabula, Geauga; Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment; Dakota Resource Council; Dakota Rural Action; Farm Action Fund, Farm Aid; Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance; Family Farm Defenders; Food for Maine\u2019s Future; Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement; Kansas Farmers Union; Kentucky Black Farmers Association; Lake Counties Farmers Union (Ohio); Land Stewardship Project; Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance; Minnesota Farmers Union; Missouri Farmers Union; Missouri Rural Crisis Center; Montana Cattlemen\u2019s Association; National Family Farm Coalition; North American Marine Alliance; Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance; Northeast Organic Farming Association \u2013 Connecticut; Northeast Organic Farming Association \u2013 Massachusetts; Northeast Organic Farming Association \u2013 New Hampshire; Northeast Organic Farming Association \u2013 New Jersey; Northeast Organic Farming Association \u2013 New York; Northeast Organic Farming Association \u2013 Vermont; Northern Plains Resource Council; Ohio Farmers Union; Pennsylvania Farmers Union; Powder River Basin Resource Council; R-CALF USA; Rural Coalition; Rural Vermont; Wisconsin Farmers Union; and the Women Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN).\n\n\u201cFarm policy has shifted away from ensuring farmers a fair price to one that sees agribusiness profit as its sole driver. This is especially true for the dairy sector,\u201d said Jim Goodman, Co-President of the National Family Farm Coalition and retired dairy farmer. \u201cFarmers and their customers need a return to common-sense farm policy that stops the endless cycle of consolidation, low prices, and overreliance on export markets. The Milk from Family Dairies Act is the best dairy legislation we\u2019ve had in many years, and we urge Congress to support this bill before we lose any more U.S. dairy farms.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmerica cannot afford to lose another generation of family dairy farmers,\u201d said Joe Maxwell, President, Farm Action Fund. \u201cFor too long, consolidation and unfair market conditions have pushed independent dairies out of business while concentrating power in the hands of a few. Senator Welch\u2019s Milk from Family Dairies Act recognizes that family farmers deserve a fair shot and that strong rural communities depend on fair markets. Farm Action Fund proudly endorses this legislation.\u201d\n\n\u201cVermont\u2019s dairy farmers, organic and conventional alike, deserve a fair price for their milk and need a dairy industry that offers a viable future for the next generation,\u201d said Maddie Kempner, Policy & Organizing Director, NOFA-VT. \u201cThe Milk from Family Dairies Act offers a pathway out from under corporate consolidation and oversupply and toward a fairer future for all dairy farmers.\u201d\n\n\u201cDairy farmers are struggling through serious economic headwinds due to low prices, market volatility, and consolidation,\u201d said Lorette Picciano, Executive Director, Rural Coalition. \u201cWe support the Milk from Family Dairies Act of 2026, and are grateful to Senator Welch for advancing real solutions through this marker bill, which would establish a Dairy Market Stabilization Program. By restoring competition in the sector and investing in infrastructure, this bill brings real solutions to the table, especially for small- and mid-sized dairies.\u201d\n\n\u201cRural Vermont and its members have, over many years, worked to inform and support the Milk from Family Dairies Act,\u201d said Graham Unangst-Rufenacht, Policy Director, Rural Vermont. \u201cWe have long supported some of its key provisions, such as a just pay price for farmers and measures that stabilize a volatile dairy market. We appreciate the work of different members of Vermont\u2019s congressional delegation working so diligently on this bill \u2013 and with farmers \u2013 for many years. In particular, the offices of Senator Welch and Senator Sanders, as well as our coalition partners at the National Family Farm Coalition.\u201d\n\nLearn more about the Milk from Family Dairies Act.\n\nRead and download the full bill text and view a section-by-section summary of the legislation.\n\n###", 1, "2026-06-30T06:29:10Z", "2026-06-30T06:30:42Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-leads-bill-to-combat-consolidation-in-the-dairy-industry-ensure-fair-prices-for-family-dairy-farms/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.290211919695139, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}