While Washington remains deadlocked over a "fiscal cliff" deal currently being negotiated by the President and House Speaker, little attention has been paid to the legislature's inaction on the Farm Bill, which was left to languish as the last legislative session ended. Concern is growing among agriculture industry leaders who fear that continued inaction could lead to severe pricing problems across the supply chain as an antiquated system — under which the government would buy milk at an inflated price from dairy farmers and then resell it to consumers — would be reactivated. Karen Gefvert, a lobbyist with the Wisconsin Farm Bureau, said:
"If the government is going to continue to buy it and store it, eventually you're going to have an overabundance of dairy products in storage. That will eventually be put on the market at reduced prices and you'll have this flood of inventory that would severely depress prices."
