Dairy Cliff: Thought of $8 Gallon of Milk Hard to Swallow

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- It's a grocery staple that many of us start drinking as children. The price of milk may jump to $6-8 a gallon after the first of the year. 

This could happen because Congress hasn't passed a new Farm Bill. Farmers have been waiting anxiously for this legislation for some time.

CBS news is calling it the "dairy cliff" and with days left until the New Year, local farmers to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture have little hope for the passage of a Farm Bill.

Read More:
Milk, Grocery Prices on the Rise if Congress Ignores Farm Bill
Missouri Farmers Anxiously Await Last-Minute Farm Bill Decision

Most people are going to find milk at $6-8 a gallon hard to swallow.

"Well, it's high enough now," says Ruby Reynolds.

Shoppers of all ages find it hard to believe.

"It's definitely unfortunate though," says Roman Harty. "Milk is like kind of like a staple in everyone's diet I feel like. I mean, everyone buys milk so the fact that it would be going up around the board is not cool."

But, for people who rely on milk at work and at home, like South Side Senior Center cook Teena Jacobs, the news is concerning.

"I heard on the news it's supposed to go up to seven dollars a gallon," she says.

Jacobs and other cooks serve milk as part of a balanced diet for seniors.

"The seniors get milk with their lunch everyday. They get their choice of chocolate: 2 percent, 1 percent, whole. They enjoy their milk."

Jacobs says she can't think of anyone who won't be affected.

"Even at home my children still drink a lot of milk and I am very upset about it."

Jacob's assistant Doreen Martin says she relies on milk for her recipes for the seniors.

"I order gallons of milk because I use it in my baking," she says. "I use it in my bread puddings, my regular puddings -- just, I use it in my baking."

But, some of the seniors are more concerned about others.

"I think it is going to be very hard on families that have children," says Gloria Boudreau.

Shopper Aaron Orlowski says what most dairy farmers fear with higher prices, that milk will get passed over and left on the shelves.