Things Are Tough All Over
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
It has been painfully obvious for a while that the challenges of the general economy also have direct impact to Nevada farm and ranch families. For almost a year, dairy producers in Nevada have faced serious problems with being able to get their milk into processing plants. That is the place where they need to get their milk in order to be paid for milking their cows, twice-per-day, 365 days per year.
Over-abundance of milk supplies and protectionist efforts by California producers to keep Nevada milk out of the processing plants on their side of the Sierras has been an ongoing problem facing Nevada dairy farmers.
Watching the agricultural news wires for the past few weeks, greater attention is being given to hardships for dairy producers throughout the country. News accounts of the financial situation for dairy farmers have been widely published from California to the East Coast. The problem has become so serious that there were efforts put into trying to include dairy provisions in the bail-out working its way through Congress.
Beyond the dairy sector, other Nevada and national agricultural commodities are also struggling, although not anywhere being near the dire straights of the housing or other hard-pressed portions of the general economy.
The problem has also been a world-wide challenge with economic impacts on farmers in many countries. What really brought home the scope of this matter, on an international basis, was this recent article explaining the problems being faced in China.
It may not make the conditions we face any better, but putting things into this level of perspective does assist in helping us to appreciate that we really aren’t in as bad of mess as it could be.
It has been painfully obvious for a while that the challenges of the general economy also have direct impact to Nevada farm and ranch families. For almost a year, dairy producers in Nevada have faced serious problems with being able to get their milk into processing plants. That is the place where they need to get their milk in order to be paid for milking their cows, twice-per-day, 365 days per year.
Over-abundance of milk supplies and protectionist efforts by California producers to keep Nevada milk out of the processing plants on their side of the Sierras has been an ongoing problem facing Nevada dairy farmers.
Watching the agricultural news wires for the past few weeks, greater attention is being given to hardships for dairy producers throughout the country. News accounts of the financial situation for dairy farmers have been widely published from California to the East Coast. The problem has become so serious that there were efforts put into trying to include dairy provisions in the bail-out working its way through Congress.
Beyond the dairy sector, other Nevada and national agricultural commodities are also struggling, although not anywhere being near the dire straights of the housing or other hard-pressed portions of the general economy.
The problem has also been a world-wide challenge with economic impacts on farmers in many countries. What really brought home the scope of this matter, on an international basis, was this recent article explaining the problems being faced in China.
It may not make the conditions we face any better, but putting things into this level of perspective does assist in helping us to appreciate that we really aren’t in as bad of mess as it could be.
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