- I live in Wisconsin, the dairy state. There is (was?) a gradient with Wisconsin farmers getting the least in price support and price support getting higher as the distance from Wisconsin increases ... i.e. California gets the most. Most dairy farms in Wisconsin (my grandparents) were family farms, most dairy farms in Cal are agribusiness.
- I live in Wisconsin, the dairy state. I turn on the local NPR and hear about how farmers are getting screwed with such low prices for their milk that many family farms are going out of business or getting out of the dairy business. At the same time people in Wisconsin are paying extremely high prices for milk. Wisconsin is a big "got milk" state (not that I can drink it). Thus ensues a big debate on what the HELL is going on. Senator Russ Feingold (WI) was been trying to get that "Wisconsin farmers get the lowest price supports" repealed. The idea at the time was to make sure all states were producing enough LOCAL milk for all the children and keep the prices low.
no one knows how many farmers are using rBGH cause they are not required to report same to anybody and Monsanto isnt saying either. But when the stuff came out around
1992 farmers were telling me (I was running for Congress at the time) that they were being pressured by Monsanto to use the stuff. I was part of a bipartisan group that worked to get Wisconsin to pass laws allowing labeling of milk as rBGH free (tommy thompson did sign it) to protect farmers from the wrath of Monsanto who was suing anybody labeling their products rBGH free. I did see rBGH free labeled milk for a few years, but dont see it anymore... well except Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Ingrid"Darwin Vander Stelt" wrote: ... snip
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