A34—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 6,1982
Del. Holstein breeders elect officers
CLAYTON, De. The Delaware
Holstein Breeders Association held
their annual meeting on Saturday,
January 23 at the Eastbum farm
(Continued from Page A 22)
when they are due. This
cooperative arrangement of direct
trading is being encouraged by
countries like Mexico, Bergland
stated, because it does not threaten
national security.
In countries like Japan,
Bergland pointed out, the gover
nment pays exorbitant price
supports to its dairy and beef
producers even though it would be
far cheaper for them to import the
meat and dairy products from the
U.S. “They’ve retreated with the
knowledge that it’s dangerous for
them to become so vulnerable, that
they’ve got to maintain the sem
blance of a beef economy and a
dairy economy even if it costs
them a bundle. Because if they
were to allow their country to be
taken up in imports in all regards,
they would be completely helpless
if there was an embargo or war.’’
This type of attitude, said
Bergland, is common throughout
the world. “It doesn’t need to
prevent trade,” he said, “but must
be addressed and realized as we
start contemplating the future.”
Bergland forecast that
cooperatives will have about three
years to fashion programs,
energies and attentions to feeding
a hungry world.
In stUl another prediction, the
former Secretary of Agriculture
announced tus belief that farmers
will never see another farm
program. “There’s a big argument
these days about federal budgets,
farm income, and the role of
government programs and market
orders, and the entire spectrum of
traditional kinds of federal farm
programs. I’m convinced that this
program we now have is probably
the last program we’ll ever have in
any Congress of the United
States.”
Bergland, who served six years
as a Minnesota congressman, said
the toughest problem he faced
during his time in Washington, was
convincing urban legislators that a
farm program was in their best
interest.
“I am convinced that govern
ment price supports will be to the
farm economy what minimum
wages are to the working world
no profit in a job at $3 an hour. And
the pressures against passing
programs that guarantee a decent
return on your investment and for
your time are immense because
people are convinced that the
benefits go to big farms that the
small farms don’t really share in
the benefits of these programs.”
Bergland added that he became
convinced during his last three
years with USD A “that the old
days of marketing quotas, acreage
allotments and higher price
supports were probably not
possible again given the political
situation in Congress.” He con
fessed he was “fed up” with a
number of federal programs that
were passed under the premise of
saving the family farm, citing
cases of Farmers Home Ad
ministration loans to “persons who
had incredibly bad business
judgement, that were huge in their
scale. We had 200 loans that were
more than $1 million a piece for so
called emergency credit, and not
enough money to help people get
started.”
Under this direction, USDA
organized and published the
“Structure Study”, an attempt to
“get down to brass tacks” and find
out where the USDA benefits were
going. This study also identified
where the strength in our nation’s
agriculture lies, the family farm.
“There are 2.6 million farms in
near Clayton. About 75 people
attended.
Dan Vanderwende was elected
president of the Association, and
Bergland
our country today. Of that number,
1.7 million have income, gross
sales, of under $20,000 a piece, and
together produce only 10 percent of
that which finds its way to the
market place. These 1.7 million
farms, with $27 billion income in
nonfarm wages, don’t depend on
price supports or market orders
because they’re not in the business
of farming for a living.
“On the other extreme, there are
60,000 farms in the U.S. with gross
sales of more than $200,000 a piece
that produce 40 percent of
everything that finds its way, to the
market place. And those big farms
walk off with the lion’s share of the
farm subsidies.
“The myth is that those are the
efficient farms. The fact is they’re
not because if the federal subsidies
were withdrawn from those 60,000
large scale farms, for the most
part, they couldn’t make it go.
“In between, then, we have
about 800,000 farms that we
commonly call the commercial
family farm average gnwo
income at $150,000 a piece. Big
enough to keep a family busy, big
enough to use modern fanning
techniques, small enough so that
the decisions are made by the
family itself. Some people feel that
kind of family agriculture is a
vanishing breed, not strong. The
fact is, that kind- of family
agriculture is the most resour
ceful, energetic, efficient structure
in farming in the U.S. today.”
One of the enemies of the family
farm today, according to
Bergland, is farmland inflation
escalated values of land which can
be mortgaged toward expansion of
farms and which prohibit young
people from entering the field
because of the extreme costs.
Government subsidies aren’t the
answer, said Bergland, because
they would not benefit those who
need them the most. He suggested
revamping the tax strategy in the
U.S. and putting limits on land
speculation.
“We ought to establish a credit
policy that says we’re going to
provide meaningful credit
assistance to those who want to
start, and those who want to im
prove and modernize but there’s
a limit. Once they’ve achieved a
size that’s big enough to use all the
modern methods and economies of
scale, government subsidies stop.
They can choose to grow beyond
that, but they do so at their own
risk.
In summing up, Bergland urged
dairy producers and cooperatives
to take their industry into their
own hands, dealing with surplus
production and improved
marketing abroad, and dealing
effectively with questions on the
structure of the dairy industry.
“Should we continue to subsidize
and encourage large scale dairy
production in some states? Does it
make sense? If not, what do we do
about it?” Bergland urged a
careful assessment of the role of
market orders and federal price
guarantees; and an assessment of
the role of cooperatives to see
what can be done to fashion a
program that is “independent of
the political whims of that city
called the Nation’s Capital because
you don’t know what’s going to
happen next year. You make a
committment to go in the dairy
business, and you’re in for the long
haul. It’s not something you can
get into this week and out of next
year.”
“I think the dairy industry is in
for hard times,” remarked
Bergland, “and the only effective
means of managing that is to get
control over their own destiny.”
Wayne Colhson vice president.
Vanderwende, Marty Dickson and
Levis Phipps were named direc
tors. Outstanding junior members
are Mike Cam, Harrington, and
Linda Cook, Middletown.
The Association presented ex
tension dairy specialist George
Haenlein with a framed
photograph of the Eastbum’s cow,
Aucreek Ivanho Star Gay Beauty.
At 36,833 pounds of milk and 1,200
pounds of fat in 348 days’ milking,
she is the highest producing cow in
Delaware history.
During the three-day convention, Penn
sylvania Farmers Union honored three of its
members for outstanding service. National
President George Stone congratulates the
Golden Triangle Award winners: from left,
Norm Hutchinson, dairyman from Mercer Co.
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to proposed policies for 1982. One of P. r 0 rru^t Y 0? se H r l t’
the major policies they voted on s tfted. He conceded that if brand
was their stand on the upcoming advertising would be a provision of
milk referendum. According to referendum, it would help the
Brown, PFU will be opposing the Farmers Union consider its
milkerendum. And its milk support. However, as it stands, the
cooperatives will be exercising the president professed PFUs
right to bloc vote even though determination to defeat the
PFU campaigned strongly against referendum,
bloc votmg last year and its policy Other resolutions considered by
still opposes it. the delegates included water
* *,wn. .» Swiss'
consumption is down, and
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Cumming's & Bricker, Inc.
PFU charter
(Continued from Page Al)
at mei .. since 1949, Cooperation
Award; Jack Philson, Mercer Co. dairyman and
10-year member, Legislative Award; and
Chester Reed, Tioga Co. and Eastern PFU field
representative. Education Award.
HORN
p
ROL