Dairy farms have been going out of business left and right in California and across the country - in part, they say, because milk prices are so volatile, and today are well below production costs.
Now the National Family Farm Coalition is proposing the Milk from Family Dairies Act - a long-term solution that would set a minimum price that processors pay producers.
Lynne McBride - executive director of the California Dairy Campaign at the California Farmers' Union - said it would also put in place an incentive-based system to guard against overproduction, which sends prices down.
"Our plan would send signals to dairy farmers across the country about the amount of milk that's demanded in the market," said McBride. "And any dairy farmer who's interested in exceeding that wouldn't be paid the same as all the dairy farmers who are meeting that level."
The coalition would like to see the proposal included in the U.S. Farm Bill, which is being negotiated now and is expected to come to a vote in the fall.
Advocates say corporate consolidation has led to a situation where processing plants often operate as a monopoly in their region.
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