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Pocono News Section
Milk Price Concerns Dominate Dairy Ag Day in Wayne County
Milk Price Concerns Dominate Dairy Ag Day in Wayne County - Monday, February 15, 2010 at 5:37PM EST
Reported by: Eric Deabill
Monday, Feb 15, 2010 @ 05:37pm EST
HONESDALE, WAYNE COUNTY - Honesdale High School was full of hundreds of people Monday afternoon. Dairy Ag Day brought many people out to talk about farming concerns.
Dairy Ag Day is kind-of-like a farm show where farmers, vendors and suppliers can sell their equipment and supplies but also talking about the challenges they are facing. Front and center, the main issue of the day was milk prices.
"The major problem is the price of milk has tanked and it's slow to rebound," Honesdale farmer James Billard said.
Billard worries many farmers may not survive the current financial crisis. He says they are just not making enough money for the milk they produce.
"Congress has to step in and do the right thing to fix the situation," Billard said. "The people in this room here, we all know that, but the public needs to know that."
Organizers of Dairy Ag Day say the issue of milk prices is nothing new but it has got to be fixed soon. Until something is done, farmers are not upgrading their equipment and many can't pay their bills.
"We must adopt new technology and be able to produce more with less but that is a two-edged sword," Marlyn Shaffer said. Shaffer is the president of the Wayne/Pike Farm Bureau.
Several local lawmakers attended Monday's event. They say they are working on the problem but it takes time. In the meantime, farmers in Wayne County say they'll just hold on as long as they can.
"I think they all know what is going on here. It is up to them. They know our situation and they know the answer," Billard said.
Besides farmers in Wayne County, farmers in Sullivan County, New York, also took part in Monday's event. | | |
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