Milk prices may double in New Year, possibly up to $7 a gallon

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The New Year could push milk prices to $7 a gallon.

With Congress spending all its time trying to avert the fiscal cliff, a slew of other legislative matters are going unattended. One of them is the agriculture bill which, if not addressed, could lead to a doubling of the price of milk early next year.

It works like this: In order to keep dairy farmers in businesses, the government agrees to buy milk and other products if the price gets too low. The current agriculture bill has a formula that means the government steps in if the price of milk were to drop by roughly half from its current national average of about $3.65 a gallon.

Problem is, the current bill expired last summer, and Congress had been unable to agree on a new one. Several protections for farmers have already expired, and several more are set to do so over the next few months. One of them is the dairy subsidy, which expires January 1.

But instead of leaving farmers entirely out in the cold, the law states that if a new bill isn't passed or the current one extended, the formula for calculating the price the government pays for dairy products reverts back to a 1949 statute. Under that formula, the government would be forced to buy milk at twice today's price -- driving up the cost for everyone.

"We call it the diary cliff," said Chris Galen, a spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation, which represents over 30,000 dairy farmers.

Galen uses the ominous term because milk prices at $7 a gallon wouldn't necessarily be good for dairy farmers.

While it might provide a short term boost to profits, there's a fear that consumers would either cut back on dairy or opt for imported diary products. It could also force food makers to search for alternatives to dairy, like soy.

Fortunately, there's still time for Congress to act.

Galen said the government would have to issue a notice saying it was going to pay the increased price for dairy products, then set up a schedule for when purchases would start, a process that could take a few weeks.

"It's not like people would dump blocks of cheese on the USDA's front lawn January first," he said.

To prevent the price spike, Congress either needs to extend the current bill, pass a new bill, or enact some provision to keep the 1949 law from taking effect.

Given the current state of the fiscal cliff talks and Congress' inability to get things done in general, dairy lovers might want to stock up now.