An Udder Failure

Lester Spell and cows apparently don't mix. First he led the effort to bring the Beef Plant boondoggle to Mississippi wasting millions of Mississippi tax dollars. Now he is failing to act to protect Mississippi's dairy industry.

Rickey Cole placed blame for the industry's problems squarely on Spell and other Republican leadership saying:

"Senator Tommy Robertson's decision to kill House Bill 1572 means that dairy farming will continue to decline in Mississippi. Through opposition or inaction, the state senate, the governor and Lester Spell have sealed the fate of dairy farmers devastated by Katrina. Many wanted to rebuild or modernize their operations, but without state help, production of this vitally important part of our food supply will be almost completely surrendered to huge corporate farms in far away states. Despite the urging of the Mississippi Farm Bureau and others, the senate, the governor and Lester Spell have refused to do anything to help make dairy farming profitable for the 175 remaining dairy farmers in the state. In the last eighteen months, approximately sixty dairy farms have ceased operation. The little "band-aid" legislation that remains alive, Senate Bill 3199, would do nothing to help dairy farmers recover, rebuild, or modernize, and would only give a partial refund of transportation costs for two years. Why hasn't Lester Spell used his influence with his fellow Republicans in the senate and the governor's office to save dairy farming in Mississippi, a 200 million dollar annual economic impact on our state's economy?"

Cole is concerned that this is not a priority of Agricultural Commissioner Spell saying:

"It doesn't matter to the federal government whether Mississippi's milk comes from Tylertown, Mississippi, or Tulare County, California, but it ought to matter a lot more to Mississippi leaders, especially Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Lester Spell."

Rickey Cole cares about cows.

He also cares deeply about agriculture and Mississippi. He has a first draft out of how to help our ailing Dairy industry. It can be found here: At The Clarion Ledger