Giving Dairy a Boost

June is Dairy Month and we will be focusing some of our stories on the dairy industry. The industry has been pushing their "Real Seal" program to support the U.S. dairy industry and folks like Pennsylvania dairy producer Mike Eby who is a firm believer in producing quality milk - so much that he's pushing for California standards in his area of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and beyond. Eby's effort is to help stem the loss of fluid and milk consumption.

EBY: The goal would be to actually see this be a nationwide issue. There's been multiple attempts to put it through Congress as to have the national standard changed to actually adopt what California has done but unfortunately every time that gets into Washington D.C. it appears that lobbyists push it down for whatever reason.

Eby believes consumers and dairy producers would benefit if consumers were offered a superior tasting product. The way to do that - he says - is to improve the taste.

EBY: The answer to the 30-year decline in milk consumption is just to merely follow California's lead , take the milk that we're already processing and when you reduce that you simply increase the milk proteins in that milk. As a result you basically can drink a 1%, 2% or whole milk and they all taste the same. You can't even tell the difference between the three different varieties. And it's because of the fortified milk protein that is put in, not when you reduce the fat content.

That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.