SOUTH NEW BERLIN – South New Berlin Dairyman Ken Dibbell has long been an advocate for change in the dairy industry. The man, often referred to as “Mr. Milk,” has spent the last few years fighting for industry reforms to address milk pricing among other issues. Now, he says, it’s time for dairy producers to start fighting for themselves.
“It’s time for them to get off their butts,” he said.
Dibbell is encouraging local dairy producers to join what is becoming a national movement to create an industry association to represent their interests. The effort to create the organization, called the National Dairy Producers Organization, is being spearheaded by John and Tom Van Nortwick, publisher and editor of the Fresno, California-based Agribusiness Dairyman magazine.
Throughout the month of September, the movement’s organizers began holding town hall-style meetings via conference call. Initially they reached out to some 39,000 dairy producers across the country. 4,800 farmers participated in the first call, which took place on Sept. 8, listening to a panel of experts discuss a plan of action to unite producers and fight for a “fair, profitable price for milk.”
A subsequent call was scheduled for the following week, but because of the response, the schedule was expanded and tele-meetings were held each weekday through the end of the month.
The next step was to hold a produers conference during the World Dairy Expo, a meeting which Dibbell attended.
The goal of the fledgling NDPO, he explained, is to secure the support of 55,000 producers and others associated with the industry. Each would pay a membership fee of $80 per year.
According to Dibbell, all farmers should be able to afford the fee, because farm gate milk prices have started to rise.
“It’s not up to the cost of production, but it’s up,” he said.
With 55,000 members each paying that fee, the organization would have an operating budget of $2 million, which would be used to influence change. According to literature distributed by the group, its goal would be to: “immediately impact the price of milk paid to producers by focusing greater attention on the development of a true milk supply management program, restructuring the national pricing formula, and developing proper language and legislation that will prohibit the unnecessary importation of dairy products.”
Investing the $80 is a no-brainer, according to Dibbell, who said that if the group is able to raise the price of milk by as little as $1, it would mean an additional $5 million a day increase for the nation’s dairy producers.
For more information, visit www.nationaldairyproducers.com or call (888) 202-0272.