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U.S. Senate Candidate Pledges To Help Dairy Farmers

By Eric Zavinski 4 min read

U.S. Senate candidate Chele Farley spoke on how to ease the burden of recent low dairy prices negatively impacting New York dairy farmers, including John and Laura Knight of Mid-Knight Dairy in Jamestown where Farley was introduced by State Sen. Cathy Young, R-Olean.

Farley highlighted the importance of modern trade agreements that will even the playing field for farmers who look to export their dairy products. The United States and Canada have recently negotiated a new trade agreement that is aimed to improve dairy market access.

Pending Congressional approval, this new agreement will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, a change that Farley supports. As a former financier in companies like Goldman Sachs and Mistral Capital International, Farley said she is used to reworking business deals every few years. She criticized NAFTA for no longer helping American citizens and its 25-year history of little change.

The Knight family and Dick Kimball, president of Chautauqua County Farm Bureau, were clear Monday that what they want is not government handouts. John Knight spoke as well and said he wanted that misconception cleared up. They want instead a market that allows them to do their business and not bear the brunt of expensive tariffs from Canada of more than 275 percent.

"I am here today to talk about how we can help our taxpayers, our consumers and our farmers," Farley said, "by backing the recently passed USMCA trade pact between Mexico, Canada and the United States."

Farley called on her opponent, Democratic incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand, to vote for the new trade pact. Farley pointed out Gillibrand's first bill in Congress was a farm bill, but further explained that she thinks her opponent hasn't continued to support farmers, many of whom are in the middle of a crisis of dairy prices.

"This proposed deal brings our trading standards with Mexico and Canada out of the dark ages and into the 21st century and allows our dairy farmers and workers a fair shake at success," said Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning.

Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello called the situation embarrassing and urged New York residents to vote for Farley in the upcoming election as a way to ease the burden of dairy farmers and other farmers who are struggling due to low dairy prices.

"We need somebody in Washington who can actually get things done and help New York," Farley said. "Western New York farmers desperately need another farm bill."

Farley noted the 6,000 fewer dairy farms New York has in operation since 1989. Milk prices 10 years ago have dropped from $3.87 to $2.96 in the present day. Farley mentioned the dairy price crisis has developed over years, and John Knight said he thinks it'll take years for his family farm to improve even if things get better now. He had wanted to invest in other improvements for Mid-Knight Dairy; the last major investment was the cow barn Farley visited Monday.

"We never thought (milk prices) would stay this low for this long," said John Knight, who said the current crisis is the worst time in his 37-year-long farming career.

In order to further address the problems the Knight family and other farms face, Farley said the trade policies are only the first step to combating chronically low milk prices. Farley would like to see whole and two percent milk introduced once more into school lunch programs.

"It was a misguided notion to be taken out," Farley said.

The Knight family is a multi-generational farming story; daughter Ginny Carlberg works on her own family farm and also provides financial consultation at NY FarmNet. The organization also provides mental and family counseling, a more needed feature than before as Young cited the uptick in suicides, divorces and bankruptcies in the farming population.

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