NCBA Asks Congress to Oppose Dairy Buyout in Stimulus Package

The NCBA is opposing the dairy buyout in the stimulus package according to this story.

The NCBA says the proposal would use taxpayer dollars to raise dairy prices by buying older dairy cows from farmers, taking approximately 6.5 billion gallons of milk off the market. This would result in nearly 320,000 additional head of cattle entering the beef market, which could drastically reduce the price of beef cattle.

In a letter to the Senate NCBA says:

“The cattle industry is not subsidized by the government, nor do we wish to be,” said NCBA President and Arizona rancher Andy Groseta. “However, we are subject to the unintended consequences of policy directed towards other sectors of agriculture, such as the dairy industry. Flooding the market with beef and driving down the price for our products will be devastating for America’s cattle producers.”

Proponents of the buyout suggest, you guessed it, subsidies for the beef industry:

Proponents of the buyout suggest lessening the consequences for the cattle industry by using United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Section 32 funds to purchase ground beef.

The same bad idea was tried in 1986 and didn't work.