Beginning in April 2001 the Northeast Dairy Compact Commission traveled throughout the New England region and held its regular monthly meetings in five of the six different Compact states. (Before April, the Commission had held almost all of its meetings during the previous four plus years in the sixth state, New Hampshire.) The Commission’s tour through the Compact states was intended to build a record from each individual Compact state, documenting the individual experience of the regional price regulation’s impact in that state.
The agendas were planned by the Commission delegation representing the state where the meeting was to be held. The Commission heard in each state from a wide range of private citizens and public officials. The Commission heard from economists, WIC program directors, environmentalists, activists, processors, consumer representatives, farmers and representatives of farm service companies.
The Commission also heard from a variety of state and federal government officials, including many members of the region’s congressional delegation.
Not surprisingly, the meeting experiences and resulting records varied with the character of each state. Also quite understandably, the testimony in each state reflected the respective interests of the state in the price regulation. This meant a greater focus on farm profitability in Vermont compared with greater attention paid to consumer concerns in Rhode Island.
At the same time, there were a few central themes common to all of the meetings. Farm profitability and viability proved to be a critical concern in every state, even in Rhode Island, which has only about 25 remaining dairy farms. The Commission heard eloquent testimonials from both farmers and government officials about the absolute necessity ofkeeping farmers on the land, and about the price regulation’s contribution to the accomplishment of the combined public policy goal and personal need expressed in those testimonials. Of equal concern, the Commission heard in every state of the importance of maintaining working farms to ensure thevitality of the region’s economies and rural landscapes.
Finally, the Commission heard in every state from political leaders expressing strong commitments to extending the Compact past its current scheduled sunset date of September 30. These leaders uniformly lauded the Commission for their work, and expressed their belief that the Compact had proved its value to the states and the region sufficient to warrant reauthorization by Congress.
The agendas, minutes and statements of almost all the meeting participants are provided as attachments to this report. Here are some extracts from each of the meetings.