—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 6,1971
16
Eastern Cooperative Urges Milk Referendum Not Be Held
An overwhelming majority of
Pennsylvania dairy framers
attending a public hearing held
by the Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture in Harrisburg on
October 28 were reported to have
been opposed to mandatory
deductions from their milk
checks for the purpose of milk
advertising However, the same
informant noted that many of
those testifying for farm
organizations were in favor of
such a program, reports Eastern
Milk Producers Cooperative
Arden Tewksbury, a dairy
farmer from Meshoppen, Pa ,
and a member of the board of
directors of Eastern Milk
Producers Cooperative
Association, entered testimony
on behalf of the Association in
opposition to the proposed dairy
marketing development program
being considered and to holding a
referendum among Pennsylvania
dairy farmers to seek its adop
tion
Tewksbury testified that the
9,000 member Cooperative’s
reasons for opposing mandatory
deductions for milk advertising
were numerous.
“Eastern Milk Producers,
while supporting the individual
right of each producer to support
advertising programs if he so
desires, is strenuously opposed to
the adoption of any program
which mandates producer sup
port of such expenditures The
survey results of Eastern’s
membership dictates the above
policy
“Eastern opposes the use of
bloc voting by cooperatives as a
means of railroading a man
datory advertising program into
existence This is a deliberate
scheme to permit what may be a
minority of farmers to coun
tervail the will of the majority
and force producers to par
ticipate in a program they oppose
and one which many cannot
afford It, in effect, turns over to
the cooperative the right to levy a
direct tax on a producer’s milk
check in a way that not even a
creditor or the sheriff of a county
can do
“Pennsylvania dairy farmers
already have voiced their op
position to a mandatory ad
vertising program Before its
recent amendment, the Penn
sylvania Agricultural Com
modities Marketing Act of 1968
called for a referendum of in
dividual producers affected by a
proposed program Bloc voting
by cooperatives was not per
mitted. Before a mandatory
program could be put into effect,
it had to be approved by not less
than 66 - 2-3 per cent of the
volume of milk produced by those
participating in the referendum
“About two years ago, a
mandatory program like the one
currently under consideration
was put to a referendum vote.
The result was that 54 5 per cent
of the 10,000 producers voting,
representing 50 2 per cent of the
volume of the milk produced by
those voting, were opposed to the
adoption of the proposed
program No new attempt should
be permitted to railroad such a
program through under a new
monopolistic voting procedure
requiring only a simple majority
instead of the previous 66 - 2-3 per
cent approval
“There is no conclusive proof
that a program of non-brand
advertising will benefit Penn
sylvania dairy farmers in any
way Dr Leland Spencer,
Professor Emeritus at Cornell
University, recently testifying in
a New York dairy promotion
hearing, noted that in a study he
did back in 1963 on the history of
milk advertising he could find no
objective proof of the value of
advertising. Until such proof
exists, producers should not be
asked to vote on or support such a
program
“The priority being placed on
advertising is totally misplaced.
More urgent problems face the
dairy industry today and they
should be dealt with before a
compulsory advertising program
is even proposed for our con
sideration
“For example, the need for
better quality milk made more
available to consumers.”
Another cause for the current
decline in milk consumption
could be attributable, in part, to
the instability of our economy
and the general unemployment
situation
“Certainly, before we spend
our hard-earned money on ad
vertising, we had better find
some way to assure that any
John J. Hess, ll # Inc.
Ph: 442-4632
Paradise
West Willow
Formers Assn., Inc.
benefits derived from the
program will accrue to Penn
sylvania dairy farmers.
Otherwise, outside milk will just
flood our markets ”
For the foregoing reasons,
Tewksbury said, Eastern Milk
Producers respectfully urged the
Secretary of Agriculture to
refuse a referendum on this issue
at this time
Tewksbury reminded the
secretary that in his recent
column in the “Weekly News
Bulletin”, on October 21, he took
pride in noting the appearance of
a “dirt farmer” before a recent
Congressional hearing He
characterazied the appearance
as ‘‘an honest-to-goodness
example of what a democracy
should be all about”. He sum
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marized his story by stating that Commonwealth ot
“someone has to start listening to and listen to what toe rank and
fhp riirf f arm er now! ” file dairy farmer has already told
“Why not apply this same us in the 1969 referendum, con
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