Because the backbone of American farming deserves a fair shot

The Problem

Small family farms are disappearing—not because they can’t produce quality milk, but because the pricing system is built for scale, not fairness.

The federal minimum milk price applies the same floor to a farm with 40 cows as it does to a corporation with 4,000.

Large dairies can operate with huge efficiencies: automated systems, bulk feed contracts, year-round labor, and the power to negotiate with processors. Small farms have none of that leverage.

When the minimum price is too low, big farms survive. Small farms go under—even though they are the backbone of rural communities and state economies.

Once small farms disappear, they don’t come back. The land consolidates, rural economies shrink, and local food systems weaken.

What the Act Does

✅ Creates a Tiered Minimum Price to Protect Small Farms

Milk pricing is updated so the minimum price rises for smaller herds, acknowledging their higher per-unit operating costs.

Larger operations still receive a federal floor, but no longer benefit from a system that quietly crushes family farms by treating unequal producers as if they were the same.

✅ Preserves Market Stability

The tiered system prevents sudden market shocks and avoids forcing artificial price spikes on consumers.

Pricing remains predictable and federally regulated—just finally fair.

✅ Keeps Family Farms Competitive Without Subsidies

Instead of endless emergency bailouts, the Act corrects the pricing imbalance at its source.

Small farms gain breathing room, fair revenue, and a stable path to long-term survival.

✅ Strengthens Rural Economies

Healthy small farms support local jobs, veterinarians, feed suppliers, equipment shops, creameries, and community stability.

Keeping them alive strengthens entire regions—not just the farms themselves.

Why It Matters

Family farms are more than businesses—they are cultural anchors, environmental stewards, and the foundation of rural America.

When they fail, towns fail. When they thrive, entire regions thrive.

A fair pricing system rewards honest work instead of corporate scale. It ensures that the next generation still has a place in agriculture, and that rural communities aren’t hollowed out by consolidation.

This Act doesn’t punish large farms—it simply recognizes reality: small farms can’t survive on a minimum price built for giants.

The Bottom Line

The Family Farm Protection Act brings basic fairness back to U.S. dairy policy.

It modernizes the federal minimum price so that small farms can survive, rural economies can stabilize, and America keeps the agricultural diversity that makes its food system resilient.

Family farms deserve a future. This Act gives them one.