Rickey L. Cole

DEMOCRAT

Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce

"Common Sense, For a Change"

529 Woodland Hills Place

Jackson, Mississippi 39216

(601) 316-1356

rickey@rickeycole.com

IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Rickey Cole

March 14, 2007 (601) 316-1356

Spell Fails to Deliver for Mississippi Milk

Democratic candidate for Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Rickey Cole released the following statement on the failure of the Mississippi Senate to consider House Bill 1572:

"Senator Tommy Robertson's decision to kill House Bill 1572 means that dairy farming will continue to decline in Mississippi. Through opposition or inaction, the state senate, the governor and Lester Spell have sealed the fate of dairy farmers devastated by Katrina. Many wanted to rebuild or modernize their operations, but without state help, production of this vitally important part of our food supply will be almost completely surrendered to huge corporate farms in far away states. Despite the urging of the Mississippi Farm Bureau and others, the senate, the governor and Lester Spell have refused to do anything to help make dairy farming profitable for the 175 remaining dairy farmers in the state. In the last eighteen months, approximately sixty dairy farms have ceased operation. The little "band-aid" legislation that remains alive, Senate Bill 3199, would do nothing to help dairy farmers recover, rebuild, or modernize, and would only give a partial refund of transportation costs for two years. Why hasn't Lester Spell used his influence with his fellow Republicans in the senate and the governor's office to save dairy farming in Mississippi, a 200 million dollar annual economic impact on our state's economy?

With turmoil continuing in the Middle East, any increase in fuel prices will result in higher milk and dairy prices for Mississippi consumers. As we continue to depend more and more on far-away places like New Mexico for our milk supply, three dollar a gallon fuel prices will likely bring five dollar a gallon milk prices. As our milk travels thousands of miles and passes through so many different middlemen, how safe can it remain in this era of dangerous food contamination?

This is not a federal problem, and Mississippi's leaders cannot wait for a federal solution. It was the federal government that imposed these unfair transportation costs on Mississippi dairy farmers in the first place, and the federal government did nothing to help Mississippi dairy farmers after Katrina. It doesn't matter to the federal government whether Mississippi's milk comes from Tylertown, Mississippi, or Tulare County, California, but it ought to matter a lot more to Mississippi leaders, especially Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Lester Spell."