E
N
ag secretaries meeting
(Continued from Rage Al)
Economics
“We have to cope with a farm
fiscal situation that is not good.
“Let’s not go with an extension
of the milk compromise program.
“But let’s extend one phase of it -
-the marketing and promotion.”
Agriculture secretaries from
other states in the Northeast had
similar messages for the USDA
and Washington, which was
represented in the person of
Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell,
assistant secretary, USDA, and
several, staff members of the
House and Senate ag committees.
Old “Vinegar Bend” fielded the
criticisms and barbs in his soft
drawly demeanor as craftily as
when he came out of the hills of
North Carolina into the Major
Leagues. He even had a few curves
and changes-of-pace of his own.
Stewart N. Smith, Ag Com
missioner from Maine, kept lob
bying for consideration of creation
of something like the Federal
Reserve Board for agriculture that
would take farm policy out of
politics and transcend ad
ministrations.
“But there is no such animal,”
Vinegar Bend said.
“And, I don’t think Congress and
the President would ever give up
enough to have such an animal. ’ ’
Smith kept returning to the
argument that farmers are more
affected by “macro-economics” -
fiscal decisions like tax codes that
are made completely outside the
realm of agriculture.
And mixed with an Ag Federal
Reserve is the concept of income
maintenance for those endangered
farmers - the middle family
farmers - who lie in the mid
stream of $lO,OOO to $200,000 gross
incomes and who are most
susceptible to the raging currents
of today’s ag economy.
Stephen H. Taylor, Ag Com
missioner from New Hampshire,
lashed out hard at the tax loopholes
and investment credits that doc
tors, dentists and neurosurgeons
are continuing to use as write-offs
for their non-farm income.
“One of ag’s biggest problems
remains the tax code,” Taylor
said.
“I was recently in California and
saw another 2,100-cow complex
being created.
“These people are not concerned
about milk income over production
costs.
“They just want to use their
farm losses to lay-off on their non
farm income.
“This is the real competition for
our family farmers m the Nor
theast to survive.
“Everyday you see ads in the
Wall Street Journal to lease cows.
“That’s the new shape of ag
today.
“Let’s look at that Tax Code and
ferret out those abuses.”
Joseph Gerace, Ag Com
missioner fromn New York, called
for a Blue Ribbon National Food
Policy Panel that would lock itself
behind closed doors and come up
with some national policy similar
to the workings of the recent Social
Security panel.
“We must start singing out of the
same hymnal when we go to
Washington,” he stressed.
Vinegar Bend Mizell spoke of the
USDA’s lengthy “listening
session” process of getting
regional input for Farm Bill
consideration.
Penrose Hallowell, Ag Secretary
from Pennsylvania, threw a high,
hard challenging pitch to Vinegar
Bend:
“I invite the House Ag Com
mittee up to Pennsylvania to hear
from some of our farmers,”
Hallowell said.
“We must look at the world as it
is and not as we want it to be,” he
continued.
“In Pennsylvania, we’re op
posing a free trade law for Israel
because it will put our tomato
processing plants right out of
business.”
Hallowell also had some stern
comments about the investment
credit situation by non-farm
money in ag.
He issued a challenge to Penn
State, too.
“They have lots of people still
involved in farm production, but
we need more full-time university
people involved fulltime in ag
marketing and promotion.”
Robert Gray, of the American
Farmland Trust, also had some
choice words about how pressure is
going to continue on finally getting
something really done about
erosion.
“Conservation has arrived as a
major farm issue,” he said.
“Everyone is frustrated about
the lack of results in recent con
servation programs.
“Erosion in the past decade has
been as bad as the Dust Bowl.
“Erosion is highly concentrated.
Just six percent of the cropland
has 43 percent of the serious
erosion.”
He referred to the so-called
“Sod-Buster” bills.
“We must discourage highly
erodable land from coming into
production.
“And start doing something
about some of this land that has
already come into production.
“There must be an economic dis
incentive to bring and keep this
highly erodable land in produc
tion.”
The ag secretaries from the
“forgotten Northeast” also
discussed other matters of mutual
concern, such as Avian Influenza
status and farmland preservation.
But tops on their minds was the
message to Washington:
“Hey, don’t forget us country
kids. Just because we live prac
tically on the same block, it’s no
reason to continue to ignore us.”
Panel discussing "The Northeast Looks at the 1985 Farm Bill” at Ag Secretaries
Conference includes, from the left, Stephen H. Taylor, New Hampshire; George Dun-
New York.
Symposium of 1985 Farm Bill at Northeast Ag Secretaries Conference includes,
seated from the left, Robert Gray, American Farmland Trust; Daryl Nirenberg, Staff,
Senate Ag Committee; Bob Bor, Staff, House Ag Committee; Steve McCoy, Staff, House
Ag Committee; standing left, Stewart N. Smith, Ag Commissioner, Maine; and Wilmer
“Vinegar Bend" Mizell, Assistant Secretary, USDA.
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