have a lot at stake here. >> Farmers in Wisconsin and
across the nation wait and watch the unfolding and hurried
negotiations in Washington over a new farm bill. The old farm
bill needs to be extended by December 20th or Key farm
programs expire by the end of the year. Now, 80% of the
roughly $500 billion farm bill goes to nutritional aid for low
income people. The rest includes price supports, crop insurance
and other programs directed at producers. It's a lot of money
and a lot of programs here to weigh in on the progress is
Tyler Wenzlaff of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. And
thanks very much for being here. Thank you. So what are the most
important parts of the farm Bill for Wisconsin producers?
>> Yeah. So some of the priorities that Wisconsin Farm
Bureau has been advocating for is changes to reference prices.
As you alluded to earlier, we would like to see a change in
the DMC program, which is a dairy margin program, changing
the tier one coverage from 5 million pounds to 6 million
pounds, and then also changes to the dairy business initiative.
And so right now it's funded at $20 million with the help of
Senator Baldwin and Congressman Van Orton. We'd like to see that
money moved to $36 million. >> So you you talked about a lot
of programs that might be kind of like a foreign language to a
lot of viewers, but it has to do with price support. Is that
right? >> For sure. Yeah. The dairy
margin coverage program is something that covers small to
medium farms. And so Wisconsin has the highest participation
rate in the country at over 80%. And so we'd like to make sure
that as our dairy herds become a little bit bigger, this program
modernizes with those programs, with those farms.
>> So what is the status of talks around this in Washington
right now? Yeah. >> So negotiations are hot and
heavy right now. So we could see a deal by the end of the
weekend. And Congress has been very good at pushing off things.
They've gotten to an extreme level right now where we only
have four days left in the congressional session. And so
what we're hoping for is a clean extension into next year. And
that's probably the most likely scenario. And we hope to have
something confirmed by the end of the weekend and voted on next
week. >> What happens if nothing is
confirmed or voted on? >> Yeah. So Wisconsin probably
faces the most dire situation because of our reliance on
dairy. We're facing what's called the dairy cliff. If we
don't have something done by the end of the year. So if we don't
have an extension done, USDA would be forced to revert back
to permanent law, which is from 1949. And so they would have to
begin purchasing dairy products at accelerated levels. So that
would be at twice the price of what we see right now. So
instead of farmers getting 25, $24 per hundredweight for their
products, they'd see $50. And so while that may sound like a boon
to Wisconsin farmers, the chaos that it would put into markets
would would outweigh any kind of benefits.
will be a deal for the one year extension by the end of the
weekend? know, when you talk to different
congressional offices, the most likely scenario is a clean
extension into next year with a continuing resolution to fund
the government that has ad hoc disaster and economic assistance
as well. >> So it appears that the
incoming Trump administration wants to deeply cut spending.
What concerns are there for spending in the farm bill?
>> Yeah, so that's one of the things that we really have been
taking a look at is what does that mean for Snap benefits?
Because while those support those that go to the grocery
store that are low income, it also supports Wisconsin farmers.
They're buying Wisconsin farmer products. And so we hope that we
can take a look at and make sure that those reforms are moderated
in the future, because again, Snap is kind of the former food
stamp program. Yep, yep. Exactly.
>> And again, farmers products go to stores for people to buy
that. >> Yep. Yep. Definitely. And so
connection the connection between, you know, the nutrition
program and snap and Wisconsin dairy farmers is very deep in
something especially in Wisconsin is very something that
we have to be very mindful of something else on the headlines
right now is around raw milk. >> And I have two questions on
that for you. First, what is your position on the consumption
of raw milk and second, what about the testing requirements
that are now being rolled out for dairy farmers around testing
raw milk against things like bird flu? Sure.
>> So Wisconsin Farm Bureau has a policy that we believe right
now. It is up to the consumer whether they want to purchase
raw milk or get that from the farm. We would say that it is
not the best idea to do. There are some health concerns that
come with that, and it's probably better for the consumer
to get pasteurized milk from the grocery store, but that is up to
the consumer to decide. When it comes to testing for bird flu,
USDA has rolling is in the process of rolling out new
mandates for testing. They are beginning with the six pilot
program, states that they started with a couple of months
ago. Wisconsin will begin testing over the next couple of
months, and we're working with USDA and our Department of
Agriculture and Trade and Consumer Protection to make sure
those details are worked out and how that that testing will be
done, because Wisconsin isn't like a lot of other states where
we only have 80 dairy farms, we have over 5000. And so testing
each and each one of those is going to be a hefty lift.