With the state’s farm bill set to be up for discussion once again in 2024, the Chautauqua County Farm Bureau has a few specific areas that they would like to see change.

Chautauqua County Farm Bureau President Dick Kimball said it is not a concern as to whether or not the bill will pass, as it would keep getting extended if it does not. What is more concerning for him is a few specific areas included in the farm bill, such as how the milk check is calculated for dairy farmers.

“There are things that need to change that are not getting done,” Kimball said. “They changed how the milk check was calculated during the pandemic to the average plus 74 cents. This does not reflect the true value of what is being seen by the farmers.”

Another big issue for Kimball is that processors currently have the option to opt out of being a part of the federal milk order system if milk classes three or four — classes covering the production of butter and cheese — under the federal milk order system are high. If the price for butter or cheese is high, Kimball said these producers have the ability to opt out of the system so that the money goes into their own pockets and not back to the farmers.

“So, there are two points that need to change,” Kimball said. “It needs to change back to an all price formula for the milk check, and it needs to be harder for producers to jump in and out of the federal market order. The market should work for you whether it is good or bad and if it doesn’t then you shouldn’t be in it at all.”

Back in November the Chautauqua County Farm Bureau’s resolution committee held a meeting and passed a resolution to change the way the milk check is calculated back to how it used to be. Kimball said he called the American Farm Bureau’s economist, who confessed that processors are pulling out of class four. Kimball added that this is costing farmers a lot of money, including $20 thousand a month for him personally.

“The price for farms is not fair at the moment,” Kimball said. “The farms in the system should get the money from processing cheese which should come out of the pool. This is not getting done.”

Kimball said a hundred million dollars have been lost to the dairy industry in the state since 2020. The American Farm Bureau and the milk producers went along with the change, but Kimball said no one could have predicted how cheese would take off during the pandemic.

The American Farm Bureau and New York Farm Bureau have held forums for people who participate in the dairy industry to voice their concerns about the federal milk order and the Department of Agriculture is currently holding some.

One other concern Kimball discussed was the block vote.

“We want to do away with the block vote,” Kimball said. “Right now milk co-ops can vote for their members and you have to write a letter to opt out of that. We want it to reflect the thoughts of the farmers, not the co-op.”

Kimball said many of the changes to the market have occurred because when the federal milk order was put in place the class one milk producers were 60% of the market, which has now dropped to 20%. The main concern is how to get the money from the high class three and four production to the farmers themselves to help better reflect the farm order market.

“It’s costing a hundred million dollars to farmers how it is written,” Kimball said. “It needs to be rewritten, but we are not looking to simplify it. If we do it will do away with the order as we know it, and we don’t know what would replace it. We need to go back to what is fair.”