About 40 local dairy producers gathered Friday to discuss industry woes at the annual meetings of the California Dairy Campaign and the California Farmers Union.
With dairy prices still in the tank, discussion focused on what the problems are and what some of the fixes might be.
Joaquin Contente, president of the California Farmers Union, said a lot of dairy producers struggled just to stay in business in 2009, and most of them lost large amounts of money. The price of feed for dairy cattle soared in 2009, and milk prices plummeted.
"We are trying to get a supply management proposal going," Contente said. He added that the prices for dairy products to the producer don't always function the way they should.
"We've seen high prices to the consumer, and low prices to the dairymen," Contente said.
A national program that would manage the supplies would help steady the prices to dairy farmers.
Another problem facing dairymen is that there are only four large buyers that mostly control the market, Contente said. Those four -- Dean Foods, Kraft Foods, Leprino and Fonterra -- call the shots. And there are 55,000 dairy producers.
"We don't have cooperatives big enough to go against these big guys," Contente said.
He said that last year, consumers were contributing between $30 and $50 a hundredweight for the milk and milk products they were buying. In contrast, the dairymen were getting only $10 a hundredweight for their milk.
"We only got 50 percent of what it cost us to produce that milk," he said.
Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, was in Merced between visits to New York and Alaska. He said the problems facing dairies will be huge in 2010 and 2011.
"Prices go up, and prices go down, that's farming," Johnson said. "But they're not up very long, and they're down a long, long time."
Johnson said dairy producers are struggling with a host of issues -- and Washington, D.C. doesn't do well with important issues.
"We've got the worst economy since the Great Depression," Johnson said. "People are angry and upset."
Legislation is one way that dairy farmers can be helped, Johnson said. But farmers need to step up and let their elected officials know what they want.
"Legislators have a lot on their plate, and that's a struggle we deal with every day," Johnson said. "We have to get the most bang for our buck from them. And it has to come from you."
Reporter Carol Reiter can be reached at (209) 385-2486 or creiter@mercedsun-star.com.
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