OL. 27 No. 15
PFU earns charter; opposes milkerendum
J HERSHEY The Pennsylvania
Fanners’ Union officially emerged
from under the wing of the national .
organization on Thursday as
Rational President George-Stone
presented newly-elected president ‘
Jim Brown with the state’s official
charter. , .
“Now they’re going to farm on
their own,” said Stone.,
Although the National Fanners
£fnion has been around since 1902,
JR only has been a statewide
I organization since the early 19705.
But, there have been individual
county Farmers’ Union groups
meeting throughout the'Keystone
state since the early 1900 s.
The Pennsylvania Fanners’
Union' held their ,10th-, Annual
Convention here at the Hersh|y. !
Hotel froth Tuesday to Thursday.
As the first president in the state c
organization, Brown comes to the
'post'with more than 30 years ex- •
perience with Farmers’ Union.
The, Mercer County.,farmer has
organizing ;the'
• .marketing .cooperative r
the late 19505.
S'.
Inside
This
-Week’s...
The Lancaster County Farfh and Home Foundation elected
seven directors to serve Three-year terms. Find more on . . .
815.
Ken Reid is a circuit riding preacher- of sorts. He rides and he
p'reaches and he finds rewards in both ..;. 830.
A depressed market for dairy cattle Ws shown in the average
selling price paid at the 324 th 4 Special Guernsey Sale... DIO.
Confused about ventilating your dairy barn? The answers
aren't blowingin the wind but can be found on page... A 26.
Columns
Editorials, A 10; Now is the time,
A 10; On being a farm wife, BS;
Ladies, have you heard? Bfl; Ida’s -
Notebook,' B 9; That’s a good,
question, B 12; Farm Talk, B 16;
Farming’s Futures, B 19; Chicken
Coop News, B 20; Brockett’s Ag
Advice, B 21; Dairy Pipeline, D 6.
Home and Youth
Homestead Notes, B 2; Farm
Women Societies, B 4; Home oiTthe
Range, B 5; Kid’s Komer, BIO; Jr.
Angus Assn., B 13; PHA field
staffer, B 38; 'Cumberland Ex
tension meeting, 828.
Dairy
i*
Bedford DHIA, 822; Jefferson
:>HIA, 823; Mifflin DHIA, 826;
Lancaster DHIA, . D 4;
.-•'sqaehaima DHIA, DO; York
,l ilIA, D 7; Adams DHIA, Dl7;
* - DHIA, D 18;„ Queens DHIA,
Bradford DHIA, D2O; Blair
, 029; Mercer DHIA, D 29.
Since his exit from the dairy
businesssix years ago, Brown has
switched over to raising beef
cattle. “I thought it would be an
easier way to make a living,’’ he
explained. “But I can’t seem to
make any money at it.” He has a
eow/calf herd of about 40 head of
Simmental x Hereford crossbreds
and fattens about 60 steers each
year. Brown farms 400 acres of
grain, owning 152 acres of land and
leasing all the rest.
■'Helping Brown with the ad
ministration of the now-official
Perihsylvania Farmers Union will
be vice president Barbara Woods,
a Franklin County farmer.
Married to Robert A., Woods,
Barbara' has -been an active
■ ■ member of the Farmers’ Union for
■ Ae serving on the
. state legislative committee as
chairman and as county president
■ for the past three years. On their
farm in Franklin County, Barbara
milk about 60 head of
farm more than 700 •-
president, Wood is
preserving the
‘"The only way to
to give farmers an
inCbnie by Which they can sustains
Protest to'Act 319
spurs PDA to action
HARRISBURG In a concerted
'effort to patch the tew loopholes
that exist in the Clean and Green
Law (Act 31S> that surfaced as a
result of application in Brad
ford/Sullivan counties recently,
Fred Wertz, research analyst with'
PDA and several directors ot rural
affairs and the agriculture
department met Thursday to brief
several legislators on the problem.
, Wertz announced that a meeting
between assessors, tanners, and
representatives from Bradford
County will meet with turn and.
other ag directors to discuss the
act, Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the
Capitol Annex.
The controversy steins from a
protest recently issued by the
Bradford/SulUyan County Far
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 6,1982
' decent living. That’s our only hope ‘
for salvation. The fainiy unit is the
only chance for, farming’s sur
vival. Things have to be changed—
consumers need to realize 'the
worth of the family farm. And PFU
is finally getting large enough to be
heard.”
The membership of PFU has
grown steadily during the past 10
years and now numbers 5,600
family units. The magic number of
5,000 was reached last year the
v number needed for chartering
however the orgamztion said it telt
it wasn’t quite ready to leave the
National’s nest just then.
This year they’re ready, with
plans on how to continue to in
creasenembership and build their
organization through membership
-drives, providing full-line in
surance programs, offering ac
‘ counting services and possibly
N legal services, too. At the present
time, there are 30 county
organizations that have received
*' theirstate charters.
During.-the convention, voting
- delegates from these counties gave
their blessings and non-blessings
Harkin terms ’Bl Faurm Bill as
“Family Farm Liquidation Act”
BY SHEILA MILLER
HERSHEY - In his speech to
dose to 300 of Pennsylvania’s top
agricultural leaders, legislators,
and Fanners’ Union members,
lowa Congressman Tom Harkin
surprised and startled those
assembled for the Tuesday
evening banquet of the Penn
sylvania Farmers’ Union’s _loth
Annual Convention by his criticism
of the 1981 Farm Bill calling it
the “Family Farm Liquidation
Act.”
“It amounts to little more than a
raid on farmers to pay for billions
of dollars in tax breaks for the rich
and giant corporations, a grossly
mers' Association to the Bradford
County Board ot Assessment for
raising land use values on property
enrolled under the Clean and
Green Act.
■ The protest committee objects to
the increase -in assessment
because it may be discriminatory
in that only landowners under the
Act are being singled out, and that
procedure specified under the Act
to notify the landowners of their
new assessment has not been
followed. . _
One director at the meeting
commented that the resolution of
this Bradford/Sulhvan problem
will indeed set a precedent for the
state's farmland assessment under
the Act.
National Farmers’ Union President George Stone, left,
presents PFU President Jim Brown, Mercer County, right,
and Vice President Barbara Woods, Franklin County with the
state farm organization's official charter. Brown and Woods
arethe ffrstofficers intheh^SiyWPTV.
unfair bucket, and a staggering
increase in the military’s big
spending,” he exclaimed.
Harkin labelled the Farm Bill as
a “blatant political payoff to The
‘boll weevil’ southern democrats
who rescued the President’s tax
and budget plans” earlier last
year.
“It is interesting to note that
while northern crops such as
wheat, com, and other feed grafts,
and dairy were feeling the full
force of the axe, southern crops
fared especially well,” Harkin
continued. He cited the increased
loan rate for peanuts and a new
sugar program as evidence of the
Administration’s program payoff,
while dairy producers were
ignored and the 75 percent parity
floor of the price support program
abandoned.
“ Next year, under the new Farm
Bill, the support price will be set at
$13.25 per hundredweight a
mere IS cents increase from the
current support price,” Harkin
remarked. Since dairy farmers
didn’t receive an increase in
support price at the beginning of
the marketing year, Harkin
pointed out that, in reality, they
will be going at least three full
years with a Oat price.
“By the end of next year, the
$13.25 support price for milk could
be equivalent to about 65 percent of
parity, and by the end of our new
four-year Farm Bill, the support
price could be in the neighborhood
of 58 percent parity,” he ad
monished. “Contrast this to the
dairy program which the House of
Representatives passed which
would have set a firm floor of 70
percent of parity. Still lower than
$7.50 per year
the traditional 75 percent level, but
necessary to gradually bring
supply in line with demand.”
Harkin, chairman of the House
Dairy Subcommittee, pointed out
that he did not vote for the Farm
Bill.
In addressing the leaders of
Pennsylvania’s agriculture,
Harkin emphasized that the “key
determinant to reviving
agriculture” in the U.S. is linked
very closely to the economy.
However, his outlook was not
optimistic.
Harkin noted that January farm
prices were 9.7 percent below a
year earlier while the index of
prices paid by fanners was up 4.1
percent. He stated that in terms of
parity ration, farm prices are
hovering around 57 percent the
same level as during the
Depresssion compared with the
average parity ratio of 64 percent
in 1980, 71 percent in 1979, and 70
percent in 1978.
“Net farm income which was
almost $33 billion in 1979 plum
meted to $19.9 billion in 1980,”
Harkin stressed. This farm income
stayed about the same in 1981, he
added, pointing out that when
adjusted for inflation, these in
come figures during the past two
years are the lowest they’ve been
since 1934.
Much of the farm community’s
dilemma can be blamed on high
-unemployment currently 8.9
percent. When people are out of
work, Harkin said, they don’t have
the dollars to spend on food and as
a result meat and dairy product
consumption falls off
dramatically.
(Turn to Page A 22)