The following is a letter my father wrote and sent to President Obama. We are sending copies to government officials as well as other producers. PLEASE JOIN US!
He received emails from The Secretary of Agriculture's Office. The Special Assistant to the Secretary of Agriculture David Lazarus also needs to receive calls. Call him at 202-720-3631.
We also need to call the Assistant to the Deputy Administrator, Dairy Programs, Agriculture Marketing Service, United States Department of Agriculture at 202-690-2998 or 202-720-5751.
Let us know what kind of responses you are getting. We need to organize to get get this accomplished!
January 24, 2009
President Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama,
I am a 75 year old dairy farmer in Ft. Defiance, Virginia and am very disturbed concerning the dairy industry in the United States. The Federal governments along with State and Local governments have studied the problems in this industry for many years and it remains a system that has punished the dairy farmer to the extent that the numbers of operating dairies have been greatly reduced. The dairy farmer receives a minute portion of the dollar for the milk he produces. The Cooperatives and higher organizations within the industry siphon the dollars rather than the dairy farmer receiving the dollars from their product. Many studies and investigations have been made over the years. Court cases, studies and complaints from the dairyman are found by the dozens on the computer. The loss to the dairyman by the efforts of these higher headquarters taking the monies which rightfully belongs to the dairyman causing the dairies to dissipate and at the same time the dairymen producing our milk and many other byproducts are upside down in their businesses. They literally cannot make it on the small amount of monies received from their efforts. These dairy farms leaving the industry and those trying to work on the small amount of monies they receive from their product are families within this nation of ours who are suffering from lack of proper control of milk distribution, milk processing, untruthful and unreliable leadership within the dairy industry who are bringing this situation to the dairy farmer.
President Obama, I understand from all your good efforts and hard work in winning the election that you are for the people of this nation. This situation is as important to many people, of many farms, as are the banks to have rules and regulations Federal government wise to insure that all people are treated fairly. It is imperative that someone at the federal level immediately takes action to look into these problems as soon as possible. By the time you get this letter, no doubt, more dairies will be gone. There are many people in the Department of Agriculture that have been and still are very much aware of the problem with the fairness of milk price to the producer. There is a great amount of dollars between the producers amount received than the amount sold at the retail stores. The in between processors are taking the money and living “high on the hog” with huge and outrageous salaries and commissions, health benefits and many other gratuities.
Yes, I realize that there are many more important things that need immediate attention in our government; however, I don’t think there is a more important thing than having milk for our babies and for our families for consumption daily. It is expected that a day will come when milk, along with many other food items will have to come from a dehydrated food in a box from China or some other nation, because the farmer in this country has been left out on programs such as the 800 Billions of dollars program presently being discussed. It is strongly suggested that a forensic audit be done by the government of the entire industry to flush out the corruption and make a livable condition exist for the dairy farmer. The dairy producer has been taken for many years with only talk to provide a better situation to his occupation.
It is with great respect that I write this letter and I would request that I have your permission to have this letter printed through the nation’s newspapers and I would like to be able to print yours or your designated representatives answer to this correspondence also throughout the nation.
In closing, I pray that you will see favorably to my honorable request.
Thank you, President Obama.
Respectfully,
Frank W. Keel
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We the dairymen of America are very confused about the low mailbox price of milk. The large portion of us dairymen think our co op are out there working to obtain the highest possible price. THAT IS THE BIGGEST LIE SINCE SANTA CLAUS!!!!. The facts are our coops are selling our milk through nothing more then the old trade of prostitution. Believe it or not they pay the proccesor to take our milk. The proccessors dont have any idea what the price is for our milk till the market administrator sets the price at the end of the month.Remember the proccessor has bottled and sold and the consumer has consumed before the processor has paid for our milk.The monies given to the processors for our supply agreement is generated out of our over order premium. Some of us get our over order premiums from NEMMA or DCMA and other agencies.Our co op leaders go to these agency meetings and sit around the board tables and insure everyone there that they have charged all of their customers the over order premium, but they didnt tell how much of the over order money they gave back to the processor for things like administrtive fees, trucking allowences, and even sharing in the processors over time charges for their employees! NOW ON TO THE FACTS!!! Knowing now you the dairymen are paying the processor to take your milk. Do you realize your co op makes the same if you recieve $ 10 cwt or $ 30 cwt for your milk. Some milk marketing coops do a good job and do their best in protecting their producers, and others take advantage of their producers by running these co ops with no accountablity!!! The largest problem facing the dairy farmer is knowing that the processors do not know what they pay for our milk till the end of the month when the marketing administrtor sets the price. Remember he is a government employee. Let me ask you now who is the largest retail purchaser of retail dairy products in our wonderful country? Some of you will say Wal Mart, but they are a wholesale buyer. The largest retail buyer of dairy products is the government through USDA., Social Services,Food Stamps and WIC programs. Knowing this, dont we have a conflict of interst because the biggest retail purchaser is also the same person setting the wholesale price to the processor. What I would like to tell you all I should not. So I must put in a better way, so here it goes. Please get off you milk stool and do something good for your fellow brothers in the dairy profesion. Please dont say you will help and be the last one in line. Try to be towards the front. Anything and everything will help in times like this. 1.Write a letter to your congressman or senator.2. Tell your neighbors and friends of you plight of a slow death to success by changing the way our wholesale milk price is set.3.Call the secretary of USDA 202-720-3631.4. Better yet call the white house 202-456-1414 or 1111. Im sorry that this will shake up your dairying world, but if you dont wake up you will end up with nothing. STILL BITING THE BUTTER FAT A STUGGLING DAIRYMAN
ReplyDeleteI'm not a blogger but this whole thing thing sounds like a parody of the situation on Wall Sreet over recent months the SEC (read USDA) looks the other way while their Good Old Boy network of school chums on "the street" (read Cooperatives)bilks the investing public(read dairymen and consumers.)
ReplyDeleteThe former administration refused to do anything about these things. They had the opportunity but did nothing!
I hope the Obama Administration hits the deck running on all these issues. If it doesn't I'm for single term limits for all elected Federal officials including the presidency, the Judiciary (Excluding the Supreme Court) and both houses of congress and revocation of pprotections afforded Federal Bureaucrats who have evidently betrayed the public trust.
With regard to the Dairy Industry I see a real potential for collusion between individuals within USDA and and the cooperatives (read racketeers)to the detriment of the real producers and end users of the end product. (GOT MILK?) We're probably lucky we do!
A thorough investigation is in order: At minimum there seems to be "Agency Problems" on the parts of Cooperatives Management teams and co-op directors.
Question for Department of Justice:
Can the RICO statutes be invoked in the instance of Farm Cooperatives? They should be!
I'll sign off as
PETER PAN
Something is rotten in Denmark and the Dairy Industry and it ain't the Jarlsberg Cheese!
ReplyDeleteCo-operatives Wrangling Together or CWT is great. By fostering the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of dairy cattle CWT's willing to flood the beef market to hurt beef producers in order to temporarily appease dairymen with increased prices!
ReplyDeleteRacketeers (AS In RICO) are people with illegal gimmicks to make money. Gangsters are the same except they tend towards violence to get their way. If ya don't kill people but you do slaughter 300,000 cow every cople of years are you a racketeer or a gangster?
Also can the USDA be prosecuted under RICO since the Agrocrats buy a lot of Dairy Products AND get to set the price of milk.....seems like a conflict of interest to me.....like price fixing