Letter to DeCA - New Fed Plan On How Military Gets Their Everyday Dairy Would Be A Real Milk Dud For CNY Economy

Letter

I write to express concern regarding a proposal by the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) to alter its current procurement and distribution model for fluid milk provided at military installations in New York State. DeCA's proposal will have a detrimental impact on regional, local dairy producers and family farms throughout the state.

While the current model of delivering fresh fluid milk directly to military facilities has opened up an important market for regional dairy producers, I understand DeCA is considering a move to a "warehouse" style distribution model. Under the proposal, DeCA would service military facilities in New York from warehouses possibly located as far away as Maryland and Virginia. In order to service such model, producers will have to supply larger quantities and shoulder increased transportation costs, effectively making it more difficult for New York State dairy producers to compete and ceding the fluid milk business to larger, national suppliers.

In addition, due to the limited shelf-life of these types of products, a "warehouse" model does not appear to be cost effective and efficient for fluid milk. The distances involved would, again, be prohibitive for regional dairies to supply these fluid milk accounts.

Local producers have proudly served military installations with fresh dairy products for nearly two decades under contracts with DeCA. The dairy products are provided to DeCA are sourced from family farms in New York and the distribution networks support well-paying jobs throughout the state. The "warehouse' proposal for fluid milk increases the likelihood that milk shipped to New York's military installations would not be from New York producers, putting local jobs and farms at risk.

I believe a change in the sourcing model from "direct-store-delivery" to "warehouse" for fluid milk unfairly undercuts regional dairies and would move the DeCA business to a handful of larger corporations. I appreciate your consideration of this important matter. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or my staff.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

United States Senator

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