It's an extraordinarily frank report paid for by a lightning-rod industry about a subject on which it's constantly criticized. Four University of Idaho researchers last week released a dairy-industry-commissioned study on the community impacts of dairying in the Magic Valley and elsewhere. Among its findings:

• There are many "working poor" in Idaho's dairy counties - and a disproportionate amount of child poverty - although that doesn't necessarily have much to do with the dairy industry.

• Foreign-born workers in the dairy industry have a major impact on the criminal justice system, but not in ways you might expect.

• Finding resources to educate the children of foreign-born workers is taxing some Magic Valley school districts' resources to the maximum.

We can't think of a document in recent history quite like "Community Level Impacts of Idaho's Changing Dairy Industry." It not only identifies problems to which the dairy industry contributes, but proposes solutions that are often innovative.

It's most important suggestion is for an informed, community-wide conversation about the place of foreign-born workers and their families, including an industry-supported study to learn who dairy workers are, where they live and what their needs are. Specifically, it recommends a survey in "safe" environments such as churches. The information could be used to help school administrators, health care providers and employers meet the needs of workers better.

The report also proposes public forums on community-level impact of dairy workers and hiring a Spanish-speaking community liaison - in conjunction with the U of I - to build relationships with the industry and government agencies that deal with foreign-born workers.

The study's authors also suggest a simple step that would quickly improve the economic well-being of dairy workers: Spread the word about the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, which offsets taxes for low-income working families with the highest benefits going to those with incomes below the poverty level.

In 2008, the federal EITC returned $3.3 million to taxpayers in Jerome County alone, but between 15 percent and 25 percent of those who qualify for the credit don't claim it.

And after the economy improves, the Legislature could establish an EITC on state returns.

While there are significant negative impacts by foreign-born workers, most are in proportion to their numbers, the study found. The authors didn't find enough data to reach a conclusion about whether migrant workers are driving up indigent care costs - a common complaint but they don't go to emergency rooms any more frequently than does the population as a whole.

And while Latino felony rates are higher than for non-Latinos, they're falling in south-central Idaho.

But public schools are hurting from the influx on non-English-speakers. Although Latino families are supportive of education, financially strapped small school districts struggle to afford English-as-second-language teachers. And in an education system now absolutely dependent on standardized testing, non-English-speakers struggle to compete.

Still, the report offers a different picture of dairy workers - and their industry - than most Magic Valley residents have come to expect, including the fact that single men now dominate the dairy workforce. Its chief value may be in telling us how much we have yet to learn.