Perham farmers demand action on low milk prices, health care costs

A 24-year-old dairy farmer’s first milk check of $14.50 per hundredweight set the tone in Perham, where about 30 farmers and rural residents pressed for changes they said could decide whether family dairies survive this season.

The Minnesota Farmers Union held its free People’s Town Hall at the Perham Center For The Arts, 101 Fifth St. NE, inviting the public to weigh in on how state and federal leaders should strengthen family farm agriculture, improve health care and build stronger rural communities. The conversation quickly turned to the costs and market pressures that shape daily operations in Otter Tail County, especially for dairy producers trying to restart or stay afloat.

One attendee pointed out that dairy farmers were paid $13 per hundredweight in 1979, a comparison that underscored how little room many producers have today when prices rise only modestly but expenses keep climbing. Health care costs came up alongside monopolies, the right to fix farm equipment, unstable markets and the broader question of how farmers can force policy change when price-setting power sits elsewhere.

Andrea Vaubel, deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, attended the town hall, along with Minnesota Farmers Union president Gary Wertish. Wertish urged attendees to contact their political representatives about the problems they are facing, a reminder that the most immediate levers are in St. Paul and Washington, D.C., not on the farmyard itself.

The issues discussed in Perham mirror the pressure MFU says it has heard across Minnesota. In spring 2025, the organization held 10 town halls and heard from more than 600 farmers and rural residents. Its report, Voices Need to be Heard, said producers are dealing with razor-thin profit margins, concentrated markets, no new Farm Bill, federal funding freezes and escalating tariffs.

For Otter Tail County farms, those policy fights are not abstract. Milk checks, health insurance premiums and equipment repair rights can determine whether a dairy can cover monthly bills, hire help and make it through the season. The Perham meeting showed that many local producers want more than sympathy; they want changes that touch prices, competition and the cost of staying in business.