NORWICH – Last week, county lawmakers officially joined dairy producers and supporters who are petitioning the federal government to do the right thing in relation to the price of milk at the farm gate.

The Chenango County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution calling upon U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack to scrutinize the federal milk pricing structure and convene the hearings necessary for establishing prices that match the cost of production. South New Berlin farmer Ken Dibble initiated the measure before a meeting of the Agriculture, Buildings and Grounds Committee in September.

“We need the support from the public on this,” Dibble said. “It’s a long shot, and I’m not sure that Congress is capable of doing what’s right, but the Secretary of Ag has to go for parity, and is authorized to have a hearing on milk orders.”

Nationally, a grass roots effort has been fostered to petition Secretary Vilsack to fix a reasonable price for milk. He is required to ascertain the parity prices of such commodities prior to fixing minimum prices to be paid to producers according to federal agricultural regulation, Dibble said.

Dibble has spent the past 25 years of his life fighting for fair milk prices, in Chenango County, New York and on the federal level, including testifying before Congress. Prices came in at about 80 percent of the cost of production until 1981, he said, but have spiraled downward ever since. He blamed the fall off on cheating scandals at the Chicago Board of Trade and unscrupulous agricultural cooperatives.