Save Our Dairy Farmers

CREDO Action offers an opportunity to request the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the large dairy processors under the antitrust laws for price-fixing at the expense of small dairy farmers.  Using CREDO's website, I sent the following email to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Dear Attorney General Holder,

I am greatly concerned about the lack of competition in the food and agricultural sectors and how this negatively impacts America's family farmers and consumers as they work to feed their families food that is safe, healthy and nutritious.

For too long, agribusiness corporations have been allowed to consolidate. Now their market power has created unfair prices that farmers are paid for their goods, the ever-increasing prices that they pay for inputs and the price that consumers pay at the grocery store. Excessive market concentration has also created an overly centralized food system that is prone to massive food safety outbreaks and has empowered mega agribusiness corporations that continue to demonstrate a blatant disregard for environmental and labor laws.

While I am encouraged by the recent Department of Justice suits filed against Dean Foods investigating their excessive market concentration in the dairy industry, these investigations are long overdue. For the past 18 months dairy farmers in America have faced their worst crisis since the Great Depression as the price they are paid for their milk has dropped more than 50% since December 2008. At the same time, giant dairy processors and co-ops have raked in record profits while dairy farmers are losing their farms and struggling to make ends meet just to feed their families.

I encourage you to enforce U.S. antitrust laws to return a fair and level playing field in the food and agricultural sectors and break up corporations that have violated these laws.

As a Vermonter I have many friends and neighbors who are small dairy farmers. A Vermont dairy farm is lost on the average of one per week because the price farmers are paid is only a fraction of the cost to produce it. While the milk processors squeeze farmers with low prices, the retail cost of milk increases. It’s time to pay dairy farmers a fair price for their product!

America's farmers, specifically our dairy farmers, deserve justice, before it's too late.

Sincerely,

Michael I. Yantachka
393 Natures Way
Charlotte, VT 05445

You can add your name to this petition here.

Petitions Filed! Next Target: The Primary Election - August 24th

Yesterday was the deadline for candidates running for state offices to file their petitions to be on the ballot.  My petitions have been duly filed with the Charlotte Town Clerk, and my candidacy for the Charlotte-Hinesburg House seat is official.  My goal now is to win the primary election to be the Democratic nominee on August 24th!

My door-to-door campaign has begun, and I am looking forward to meeting a lot of new people and gauging the pulse of our community with respect to the various issues and what the legislature should be doing.  I expect the economy and the tax burden to be at the top of the list (again), as well as the expected decommissioning of Vermont Yankee and sources of replacement power, the rising costs of health care coverage, and efforts to maintain a clean environment. 

Communication between our community and our representative in the legislature is a major concern as well.  I hope to be available by phone, by email, through this website, and in person not only during this election season, but while I am serving in the legislature as well.

I look forward to serving you, and I ask for your support in the upcoming primary and general elections.

Endorsements

Joanna Cole, Burlington
"Mike Yantachka will be an asset in the Statehouse. I have seen how hard he works for a better Vermont. We served together on the Chittenden County Democratic Committee when he was the Chair. I know Mike will work hard for us and be innovative. We need more people like Mike in the Statehouse, who are talented with numbers, helping us with these challenging economic times. Join me in endorsing Mike Yantachka for State Representative!"

Philip Baruth, Burlington, candidate for State Senate
"It is my hope that I can serve with Mike Yantachka in the Legislature, in that he’s shifted his focus to the House race out in Charlotte.  Apart from being a very nice person generally, Mike combines impressive people skills with a talent for budgets and numbers, two skillsets that rarely go hand in hand. He made things happen as Chair of the Chittenden County Democrats, and I look forward to watching him light a fire in the House."

John Howe, Charlotte
"You get a good sense about what kind of representative Mike will be for us just by the preparation he has put into this website, the care he uses in crafting language and his thinking about the important issues for Vermont. I have known Mike as our Town Democratic Committee Chair and as the County Chair. In both positions he has demonstrated skill in balancing the views of others, speaking respectfully of the opposition and keeping informed on issues. I think Mike is going to be the kind of representative who will keep voters in Charlotte and Hinesburg informed, responds to telephone and email messages promptly and posts regular updates of his work in House committees on his website and in our local papers. From my perspective as a progressive I see Mike as someone who sees the importance of making long term investments in the State's economy by supporting education, job training, green manufacturing and public works to help Vermonters weather through this recession. Mike supports working Vermonters and is unafraid to confront Entergy and the Health Insurance lobby to insure that we achieve safe, renewable energy and universal affordable health care. Please join me by casting your vote for Mike this August and again in November."

A Change of Focus

After campaigning for several months for the State Senate, I have decided to change my focus and run for the Charlotte-Hinesburg (Chittenden 1-2) seat in the Vermont House of Representatives.  My decision to change direction comes in the wake of Rep. Scott Orr's decision not to run for re-election. 

By running for the House seat, I look forward to representing my community of Charlotte and my neighbors in the Hinesburg part of the district in a more immediate relationship, and I will continue to support the same values and goals that I have previously expressed.  I expect to conduct a door-to-door campaign this summer to talk with the people of Charlotte and Hinesburg about the issues on their minds and to let them know why I would like to represent them in the House.  I believe that my extensive involvement in the Charlotte community over the past 25 years has provided me with a good base to work from.

To all my friends and supporters throughout Chittenden County, I am grateful for your support and I will continue working for the same goals as before, i.e. to insure that government serves the governed by providing a framework within which individuals can become productive citizens in a growing economy, a vibrant community, and a healthy environment. 

Geothermal Energy for Vermont

I took the opportunity to attend the Geothermal Energy Roundtable sponsored by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders yesterday, April 17th, at Contois Auditorium in Burlington. The place was packed upstairs as well as downstairs with folks from across Vermont. Cathy Zoi, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the United States Department of Energy, was a guest of Senator Sanders along with a panel of homeowners, academics and business representatives, who were involved in using, researching or installing geothermal energy systems.

The message that came out of this conference is that geothermal energy source systems for both heating and cooling are not just feasible in the north country, but they have been proven to work as well . I spoke with a man from Highgate who had a chart of his electric and heating fuel consumption that showed a reduction in cost of around 60%. This type of energy resource is most efficient if integrated into the design of new construction, but it is also adaptable to existing construction. Key to the latter is an energy efficient envelope, i.e. a well insulated building.

State Representative Tim Jerman of Essex Junction was also at the roundtable. Tim is a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources and Energy. We chatted about the incentives provided by the state for alternative energy generation. Although there is a tax incentive for wind and solar systems, it is restricted to businesses that adopt them. Homeowners are entitled only to federal tax credits. (Those credits, by the way, are substantial, amounting to 30% of the cost of materials and installation.) However, there is no state incentive for business or residential installation of geothermal systems.

A priority in the next legislative session should be to include geothermal systems in the incentives provided for wind and solar energy production. We should also find a way to extend those incentives to homeowners as well as business. While the current budget crisis makes this a non-starter, block grants may be available as part of the federal Jobs Bill. Providing these credits would have the added benefits of creating jobs throughout Vermont, distributing energy production to reduce the peak demand on our electric grid, and helping to replace the production that we will inevitably lose with the closure of Vermont Yankee.

Kickoff Event