WASHINGTON, DC – Consumers are paying just as much as ever for milk and dairy products, but our nation’s dairy farmers aren’t seeing as great a share of those consumer dollars as they once were, according to Senator Charles Schumer. The disparity, he says, is costing New York dairy farmers upward of $37.8 million a month.

In a conference call Thursday, the New York Democrat explained that while consumers continue to pay high prices in the grocery store, producers are only seeing 30 cents per dollar spent on dairy compared to the 48 cents per dollar they were receiving as of January 2008.

“Someone is raking in the profit,” the senator said, as he called for a federal investigation into the disparity which, according to his office, has decreased fluid milk revenues by $847,620 per month for Chenango County’s dairy farmers.

“I’m calling on the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to immediately investigate the disconnect between the rock bottom prices being foisted on dairy farmers and the still sticky price of milk at the store,” Schumer said.