Prescription for a cure
Last time I visited the oncologist, Vitamin C was not the cure for cancer
So why would producers settle for a prescription that is no better than vitamin C for a cancer treatment???
The experiences of the past eight months—even the last few years—since the wheels came off the producer sector of the dairy industry, have forever changed the perspective of anyone and everyone in the industry. The lessons, the images, the strife and stress of what has transpired pushes everyone connected to producers and their families.
The connections, the relationships, the coalitions that have been formed in an effort to find a way toward resolution have certainly changed the landscape and the level of communications between producers, vendors and various other memberships and affiliations. There is even more dialog and understanding between producers and the tenuous partnerships.
Producers, co-ops, processors, retailers and consumers are the partners who somehow keep things moving and provide unparalleled opportunity and possibility for each member of the partnership. Yet there is still so much mistrust, dissension and fractionalization that prevent the type of true partnership that should not have allowed the complete devastation of the producer sector we have seen in these past 30 months.
We have said it before and we will say it again: partners should not treat each other the way co-ops and processors have treated producers during this unbelievable period of time. One of two things is true about 2009 and 2010. Either the existing management of the dairy industry saw what was happening, knew what was happening and did not know what to do about it; or they saw what was happening, knew what was happening and chose to do nothing.
Those who purport to be representing producers and their interests are too smart, too connected, and too much money was (and is) at stake to assume otherwise. In either case, do producers of this country allow the same management team that saw what was happening, knew what was happening and didn’t know what to do or chose to do nothing, continue to set the agenda? Do you allow them to continue to implement more but different dairy policy in this country, sitting idly by hoping that some how, some way there will be change in your favor?
Never have frustration levels been higher. Never has there been a greater need for better leadership and the type of dairy policy that does more than ensure protection against disaster. What is needed is positive and progressive leadership from the producer sector that can and will provide an extended period of growth, and profitability in spite of the continuous upward pressures on the cost of producing milk for America.
In a recent conversation, individuals involved with the dairy industry in Canada, reported to California producer Loren Lopes the following observations.
In order to achieve a successful working relationship and better prosperity for producers, you need three things: a strong and united dairy community, meaning producers; good dairy policy; and a government mentality that is both dairy and business minded. While this is not the exact words used, I think you can catch the drift of their message.
So if they are right, what is it that is missing in America? Can everyone say all of the above? No cohesive producer base, as yet, has been able to speak with one voice and with one plan for the producers. Surely the past 40 years, the past 10 years and the last 30 months can clearly demonstrate that we do not have a working dairy policy that upholds and maintains the best interests of each of the partners in the industry. We have likened the current policy recommendations to a doctor prescribing vitamin C to a cancer patient. Not harmful at best, but woefully short of what is needed to ensure the successful treatment and ultimate cure for what actually has afflicted the patient. Lastly, our government sector is unfortunately preoccupied with issues and problems that are far higher on the attention scale than is the plight of some 53,000 dairy producers in this country—or so it would seem.
More voices screaming, more plans and more possible resolution are not what are needed. Not now, not ever. The solutions are here. They can and must be initiated in the shortest possible period of time. The economic devastation of the producer sector of the dairy industry has been allowed to go on for far too long. Those who now propose change have come up with plans that in no way, with any level of assurance, will put the pay price of milk at a level that represents reality and profitability for the producers of this country.
The responsibly for making the needed changes within the industry must become the primary concern and priority of every producer in this country. No one, and I repeat, NO one is going to do it for you and maybe that is the way it should be. It is your future. It is your farm. It is your family. It is your milk. It is worth working together for. It is worth making needed concessions and swallowing your pride so as to allow you to trust each other. It’s worth working together, sitting at one table as long as needed, to find resolution and then going forward to implement the plans you have collectively resolved to move along.
At no time have the stakes been higher. At no time has the need been greater. At no time have the conditions become more conducive for the producers to suck it up, come to the table, listen more than talk, cooperate more than pontificate. Using common sense and the four powers you have (your milk, your numbers, your collective spending power and your supportive vendor base), you can change forever the landscape and conditional factors that affect the price you are paid for the milk you produce now and in the future. Do it now. Get together. Do it for the benefit of all of your families and the millions of jobs and families connected to those jobs across this country. These people are totally reliant upon you doing what has become your responsibility by virtue of need and benefit.
As a cancer patient, would you really accept the doctor’s recommendation to increase your consumption of vitamin C as the only solution to getting well? If it was your wife, your child, would you really? Or would you immediately break your preoccupation with what you thought was most important for what you know is more important and become devoted to the process of finding a better way? I am convinced you would.
Be assured that there are answers. There is a way to make needed changes, but you are the missing link. The united effort of every producer is the missing link. Trust, but verify. But start with trust. That is the answer. Call to find out more. You will be amazed at what can be accomplished. The status quo is not the answer. Vitamin C for cancer is not harmful, it might even have some positive affects, but is not the real solution to the problem, it is not a cure for cancer. Would you bet your life on it?
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