146 Dairy Owners Get $1 Million Each for Curbing Surplus
One hundred and forty-six U.S. dairy owners are receiving more than $1 million each under the federal program that pays farmers to slaughter their cows in an effort to curb surplus production, U.S. records indicate.
And nearly 9,000 dairymen across the country will get more than $50,000 apiece under the five-year, $1.8-billion program, according to records released by the Agriculture Department.
Just over half of the million-dollar-plus payments will go to California, a state with some of the nation’s largest dairy herds.
Topping the list of recipients is a large dairy investment partnership in Jerome, Ida., Magic Valley Dairy Investment Group, which is due to receive nearly $10 million over the life of the program.
Running a close second is De Graaf Family Dairy near Riverside, with anticipated payments of $9.8 million. The third highest payment, $8 million, is going to producer Joe Gonsalves of Kings County, Calif.
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