Sara Holthouse reports for the Post-Journal that New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is asking the U.S. Government Accountability Office to reevaluate the system for pricing milk for small farms. Gillibrand chairs the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Local Food Systems, and Food Safety and Security, and passed the Dairy Pricing Opportunity Act, that seeks to reform and modernize the federal milk pricing system. “New York state is the fifth largest dairy producing state in the country,” Gillibrand said Sept. 29, “and yet, we see our small farmers filing for bankruptcy, and sadly committing suicide. Our current milk pricing system is wholly inadequate and nearly a century out of date.... It is time for comprehensive reform. We need a system that fairly compensates our dairy farmers, reflects the modern marketplace, and puts power back in farmers’ hands.” Gillibrand claims that many small farmers lose money producing milk, and that U.S. has lost nearly 60 percent of its dairy operations since 2003. She says she is trying to get the pricing system to reflect the actual costs on small farms. Read more about this story in the Post-Journal.