The Daily Campus

Issue date: 3/24/09 Section: Commentary

The current economy is putting a lot of strain on the state budget, but some plans to alleviate that strain are hurting the state more than helping it. Right now, there's legislation proposed to eliminate the farm sales tax exemption and farm fuel tax exemption. Also, Gov. M. Jodi Rell has proposed to take money from a community investment fund that provides financial support for farmland preservation. These initiatives might help close the huge budget gap, but they would put many state farmers - whose profit margins are already low - out of business.

The Hartford Courant recently published two articles about the plight of Connecticut's dairy farmers - "State Lawmakers Trying to Save Dairy Farms" (March 12) and "Farmers Protest at the Capitol on Agriculture Day (March 18). Connecticut dairy farmers will make about $1.10 per gallon of milk they produce this month, but it costs them $2.00 to produce that milk, according to the Courant. Wholesale milk prices are at a 40-year low, and 50 dairy farms across the state have closed since 2007.

The truth is, Connecticut farms need a lot of help, and everyone should be doing more to help keep them alive. Local farms do more than just provide food - they provide health, economic and environmental benefits to the state.

Food is inevitably fresher when it's delivered locally because consumers don't have to wait those extra days for food to travel from one part of the country to another. This is an advantage on many levels - not only does milk (or any form of produce) taste better when it's fresher, it keeps longer in local refrigerators.

Keeping food and milk local is also a matter of keeping our state as self-sufficient as possible. If all our milk is coming from the Midwest, what happens when fuel costs go up again? Keeping farms in our state makes it easier to ensure that our food is healthy and produced in an environmentally conscious manner. If there's ever a problem with cleanliness or farming practices, the state can regulate its farms to ensure high quality products for our residents. It's much harder to regulate big corporations running their operations out of the country.

Some state representatives are proposing legislation to help local farmers. The Courant reported that four bills will be presented this session, offering a "four-part strategy [that] would charge stores more to sell milk, give tax credits to farmers, distribute subsidies to farmers four times a year rather than once and establish a fund for farm relief." Farmers also want to cap the milk price so that stores don't charge consumers more for milk. Right now, farmers are working hard and losing money. The state - legislators and residents together - should support these local farms as much as possible.

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