The state of Connecticut is giving the dairy industry a boost in the form of $22.5 million dollars.
The money will be used to help dairy farmers recover as they pay higher prices for fuel and fertilizer while getting less money from the federal government for their milk.
Stacey Stearns, a dairy farmer in Mansfield, said there's a lot of need financially to support the farms and keep them moving forward.
“I think a lot of the dairy farms in the state will be reinvesting into their farms and catching up on some of the bills that they've got that they're facing right now for feed, fuel, fertilizer,” Stearns said.
Gov. Ned Lamont spoke about the crisis at a dairy farm in Hebron Wednesday.
“Here you are in the dairy farms, and you can be doing absolutely everything right, and every once in a while the market turns against you, and you're getting screwed. And I think that's what we're looking at in the world right now,” Lamont said.
The price paid to dairy farmers for their milk is down by up to 25%, state officials said.
How much farmers get will depend on how much milk they produce. State officials said when those distributions will happen is still in the works.
