Welch, Pocan Lead 16 Members Urging USDA to Reverse Course on New Cost-Sharing Requirement that Hurts Dairy Farmers and Producers 

Lawmakers to Rollins: “A requirement meant to stretch federal dollars could instead keep those dollars from reaching the farms and processors Congress intended to help.” 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, joined U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI-02) in leading 16 bicameral lawmakers urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to reverse course on a new cost-share requirement for the Dairy Business Innovation (DBI) Initiatives program, which will burden America’s already struggling dairy industry.  

In their letter to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, the lawmakers highlight how USDA  recently added 25% cost-share requirement for the DBI Initiatives program will hurt dairy farmers and processors already facing volatile markets, higher production and fuel costs, labor shortages, aging infrastructure, and growing competition. The lawmakers call on USDA to withdraw the new cost-share requirement for DBI and reissue the Notice of Funding Opportunity without a matching requirement. 

“Today, the four existing initiatives serve dairy farmers and processors in 41 states and territories, representing 87 percent of the nation’s milkshed,” wrote the lawmakers. “They are the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance at the University of Wisconsin, the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, the Pacific Coast Coalition at California State University, Fresno, and the Southeast Dairy Business Innovation Initiative at the University of Tennessee. Together they have awarded more than $106 million to 911 dairy businesses. Even so, they have been able to meet only about 35% of the demand they see through their competitive award processes. By law, at least half of each initiative’s funding must go directly to grants to dairy businesses. The remainder supports technical assistance in business planning, marketing, and product development.” 

The lawmakers continued: “The need for this support has never been greater. Dairy farmers and processors are facing volatile markets, higher production and fuel costs, labor shortages, aging infrastructure, and growing competition. Small and mid-sized operations in particular depend on DBI to modernize equipment, develop new products, reach new markets, and keep viable outlets for farmers’ milk. DBI works because it puts federal resources in the hands of regional partners with deep technical expertise and long-standing relationships with the dairy businesses they serve.” 

“The organizations that host these initiatives are public universities and a state department of agriculture, working in partnership with a nonprofit trade association. They do not profit from DBI funding, and they generally do not have unrestricted resources to cover a 25 percent match,” the lawmakers concluded. “The initiatives have told USDA that the new requirement could make continued operation of the program untenable. A requirement meant to stretch federal dollars could instead keep those dollars from reaching the farms and processors Congress intended to help.” 

Joining Senator Welch and Rep. Pocan on this letter are Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Reps. Becca Balint (D-VT-AL), Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), Jim Costa (D-CA-21), Joe Courtney (D-CT-02), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH-02), John Mannion (D-NY-02), Gwen Moore (D-WI-04), Chellie Pingree (D-ME-01), and Gabe Vasquez (D-NM-02). 

Read and download the lawmakers’ full letter to Ag Secretary Rollins. 

The Senator has championed legislation to expand federal support for organic dairy farmers and ensure fair prices for family dairies, including the bipartisan Domestic Organic Investment Act, the Milk from Family Dairies Act, and the Organic Dairy Assistance, Investment, and Reporting Yields Act (O DAIRY) Act. The Senator also led 14 colleagues in introducing the Opportunities in Organic Act to reduce barriers to organic farming in Vermont. Senator Welch’s bipartisan bill, the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, was signed into law earlier this year. 

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