Randall was referring to the effects of the September 30 expiration of the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact, a provision in the 1996 Federal Agricultural Improvement Reform Act.

The compact covered dairy farmers in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The measure aided farmers by setting a minimum price that milk processors--capitalist companies that put milk in bottles and cartons--must pay farmers for milk produced in the six states.

Over the past several decades thousands of dairy farmers in the region have been forced off the land. Randall said that when he bought his first farm in 1973 there were more than 4,000 dairy farmers in Vermont alone. Today there are less than 1,400.

In an editorial after the compact expired, the Boston Herald claimed the measure had been a "total failure" all along. The paper cited figures showing that the number of dairy farmers going out of business increased slightly since the legislation was enacted in 1997.

The editorial also pointed out that the average herd size per farm since 1992 in New England has increased by more than one-third and the average production per cow since 1993 has increased by 12 percent. "The smaller farmer was going to get squeezed no matter what--and the squeeze was tightened by the fact that the compact helped farmers in direct proportion to their production--that is, it helped the largest farms the most," the Globe wrote.  
 
Working farmers back the compact
Although the Northeast Dairy Compact, which set prices above the rest of the country, most benefited the largest dairy farmers in New England and tended to widen the gap between them and small family farmers, working farmers across the region supported the legislation.

In 1999, responding to congressional moves to end the compact, many working farmers here organized to win an extension of the pact. "We all think that the compact is not the final answer for the dairy producers and consumers, but if we do lose the compact there will be a very rapid exit of small farmers from the business," Randall explained to the Militant at the time.

The fight to win the compact began in 1986, Randall said. Local farmers organized rallies and milk-dumping protests in North Troy that led the local congressional representative to initiate a bill for the compact.

In June 1997 the Northeast Dairy Compact Commission, which was formed to oversee the compact, set the minimum price for beverage milk at $16.94 per hundred weight, where it stayed for the life of the program. Milk destined to be processed into cheese, butter, ice cream, etc. was not regulated. On average only about half of a farmer's milk production was eligible for the price support.

While the compact was in force the price of milk averaged about $13.50 a hundredweight, and farmers say the price of production for milk is around $18 a hundredweight. Randall said that last year his farm produced nearly 2 million gallons of milk and he collected $22,000 from the compact. His farm's income last year after costs was $24,000.

Randall works the farm with his wife and two of their children. "Do the figures," stated Randall and you will understand the role the compact has played in his family farm's survival.

From June 1997 through December 2000, the compact paid out $140 million. To stop the large capitalist farmers from collecting the lion's share of the price support, Randall explains, "There should be a cap on payments. Those guys don't need subsidies."

From the beginning, owners of large supermarket chains lobbied in Congress and among shoppers against the compact. Shortly after the initial compact was passed, Stop & Shop, the biggest supermarket chain in New England with 274 stores, put a sign over its dairy cases saying, "Due to the increased cost of milk caused by the 'Northeast Compact' authorized by the U.S. Congress and signed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, we have had to increase our milk prices. We hope this poses no inconvenience to anyone."

Echoing this hypocritical concern, Barney Frank, a Massachusetts congressman who opposed the compact, said in the recent debate, "We're talking about something poor mothers buy for their poor children."  
 
Where did price increase go?
According to a study released by the Food Marketing Center at the University of Connecticut in April of this year, consumer milk prices have risen 29 cents per gallon since the compact's implementation.

The study points out 4.5 cents of this increase was due to the compact, while the remaining 24.5 cents was due to other factors, including an 11-cents-per-gallon increase in the profits of the region's milk processors and supermarket chains.

When the compact went into effect, Dallas-based Suiza was the leading dairy processor and brand retailer in the United States. In 2000 Suiza controlled 70 percent of the processing in New England.

Nationally, Suiza Dairy Group operates more than 80 dairy processing plants that produce and distribute milk to 46 states. Its brands include Meadow Gold, Borden, Elsie, Foremost, Oak Farms, Country Fresh, Tuscan, Dairymens, Pet, Flav-o-Rich, Broughton, and Suiza Dairy. Earlier this year Suiza announced a $1.5 billion merger with Dean Foods, the number two milk processor in the United States. Dean reported more than $4 billion in gross sales in 2000, and earnings of $229 million.

Randall pointed out the $16.94 per hundredweight for milk set by the compact in 1997 was supposed to be close to the cost of production for farmers. But, he explained, "In the last couple years costs rose for farmers--fuel, fertilizer, insurance--and the compact price stayed the same."

In 1999, U.S. senator Paul Wellstone, a liberal Democrat from Minnesota, introduced legislation to repeal the compact. In a press release he said, "The Northeast Dairy Compact cuts a special deal for one region's dairy farmers while hurting dairy farmers in the Upper Midwest.... The situation as it stands is fundamentally unfair to Minnesota's dairy producers. Congress ought to pass this bill for the sake of fairness."

In an interview Randall responded, "What I have always said is Wisconsin farmers shouldn't attack Vermont farmers because we had the compact, but we should work together to extend the compact to all farmers across the country."

John McClaughry, president of the Ethan Allen Institute, a Vermont-based anti-farmer think tank, wrote in a syndicated column: "Because of their dependence on cartel profits, many Vermont farmers have shown little interest in strategies that could lower their cost of production or increase their net farm income. These techniques include agri-tourism, management-intensive grazing, on-farm energy production from animal and crop wastes, better cow management....

"The end of the compact premium will bring unhappy consequences for many high-cost farms and their hard-working farm families. It will also bring new opportunities for the best managed and most profitable farms, who will take over the assets of their weaker neighbors and make them more productive even without the compact over-order premium."

In a letter sent to the editor responding to the McClaughry column, Randall wrote, "Agri-tourism can work for some farms, but not all farms. It's true my wife does have some free time between 11:30 at night and 4:30 in the morning, but she does like to rest her head on a pillow every now and then. I don't see her waking up at 2:30 in the morning to get the milking done in time to make breakfast for tourists."

"It's clear McClaughry has never been caught between the rock and hard place where farmers find themselves in this economy," he stated. "Since when has farming become a contest of survival of the fittest? To me farming means producing healthy foods for my community, providing for my family, and taking care of the land for future generations. I'm not interested in 'taking over the assets' of my 'weaker' neighbor."

Ted Leonard is a packinghouse worker in Chelsea, Massachusetts.  
 
 
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