Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney met with New York dairy producers this week to discuss the lack of competition and unfair milk prices. The forum, held in Batavia, New York, drew about 200 people. Although Varney spent most of the meeting listening to about 25 dairy farmers and industry officials, she said her sector of the government was aware of the problem.
"We know prices on the farm are dropping. We know prices at the retail level are rising, or at least not dropping," said Varney, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division. "That means there's a margin squeeze and we've really got to examine what are the factors of the margin squeeze and what are potentially the cures."
The New York meeting was one stop on a nationwide tour for Varney that will also include Vermont, Iowa and Wisconsin.
Read more about this meeting:
Ithaca's Food Web blog
