Contact: John
Bunting (607) 746-3892
Katherine Ozer (202) 543-5675
NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL ELIOT SPITZER ‘TROUBLED’ BY SMALL FARMS INADEQUATE
VOICE IN THE DAIRY INDUSTRY
Syracuse, N.Y., April 6, 2004—Over
170 people attended the highly successful “Concentration and Market Power in the
Dairy Industry” meeting on April 1, 2004. Many dairy farmers from around the
nation came to hear New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the key speaker,
who voiced his concern for farmers struggling to compete in their industry.
“I appreciated the opportunity to address the National Family Farm Coalition’s
Conference and was especially interested in the dialogue regarding concerns
expressed by many farmers that competition is eroding in the dairy industry,”
said Spitzer. “The notion that small farms have an inadequate voice in the
industry is especially troubling.”
Spitzer’s concern regarding the concentration issue in the dairy industry is valid because it provides various entities the ability to control prices on the cheese market and the dairy farm. This is not a new concept according to Thomas Dubbs, with Goodkind Labaton Rudoff & Sucharow LLP in New York, N.Y.
Dubbs led the lawsuit against Kraft Foods North America, Inc. for price fixing on the National Cheese Exchange (NCE), which the University of Wisconsin’s “Cheese Pricing: A Study of the National Cheese Exchange” sparked in 1996. “Many of the concentration issues that govern trading on the National Cheese Exchange (NCE) may still be occurring on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), and we believe that should be looked at,” said Dubbs.
“The main traders on the NCE are the same players on the CME today and they have dictated the low farm milk price for years,” said John Bunting, a New York dairy farmer from Delaware County. “There is a near perfect correlation between farm-gate milk prices and block cheese prices on the CME.”
“It was clear to me that whether it be on the Wall Street trading floors or in the barns and farms of Upstate New York, fundamental fairness must be maintained in order for markets to operate efficiently,” said Spitzer.
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The National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC), founded in 1986, brings together farmers and others to organize national projects focused on preserving and strengthening family farms and rural communities. The organization’s mission is to serve as a national link for grassroots organizations working on family farm issues. NFFC membership currently consists of 30 grassroots farm, resource conservation, and rural advocacy groups from 32 states. NFFC coordinates grass roots efforts on the following issues: farm and trade policy centered on cost of production plus profit pricing at the farm level; equal access to farm credit programs; environmental stewardship; an affordable food supply; educational campaigns about biotechnology and corporate control of food production. For further information about the organization, call 1-800-639-3276 or visit www.nffc.net.