The federal government is launching an investigation into dairy prices.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer says farmers are not getting a fair price for their milk, and consumers are paying the price for it.

Action News reporter Gabe Osterhout spoke to a local farmer, who isn't expecting much to come out of the investigation.

Matthew Kuhlman has been a dairy farmer all his life.

He says the industry is struggling because farmers are getting the same prices for milk his father got in the 1970s.

"Frustration because knowing we have no control. See, essentially, what it is, once that milk gets put into that tank, it's no longer mine but I still have to pay the trucking to get it to the plant," Kuhlman says.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer has asked the head of the Department of Justice to start an investigation into anti-competitive practices in the dairy industry.

Schumer says prices paid to dairy farmers have dropped about 50 percent.

While store prices only dropped 15 percent.

Schumer says part of the problem is Dean Foods, the nation's largest fluid-milk buyer.

"There's virtually one company that controls all the processing so they can hurt the dairy farmer on one end and hurt the consumer on the other so I've asked because when 80 percent of the market is controlled by one person, one company, that's a bad thing," says Schumer.

Kuhlman is not overly optimistic about Schumer's investigation.

"This has happened before. Ya know, in fact, the investigation whether it be him or somebody else in Washington in the state ya know," says Kuhlman.

Schumer wants to make sure dairy farmers are getting their fair share for their work.

He also says consumers won't take the hit at the stores for the potential increased payments to farmers.

In Owego, Gabe Osterhout, WBNG-TV Action News.

No start date has been set for the investigation, but Schumer expects it will be in the next couple of months.

He says the investigator will speak to both farmers and consumers.