Pa. dairy
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Penn
sylvania dairy industry leaders
and representatives had the op
portunity last week to air their
concerns of the 1985 Farm Bill
during a “listening session”
conducted by Secretary of
Agriculture John Block in
Syracuse, N.Y.
Among the speakers was Keith
Eckel, a dairyman and vegetable
grower from Lackawanna County
who serves as president of the Pa.
Farmers Association. In his ad
dress during the “listening
session,” conducted by USDA to
discuss future food and agriculture
policy, Eckel said that PFA sup
ports a “market-oriented” federal
farm bill in 1985.
Eckel defined “market
oriented” as allowing supply and
demand, rather than the govern
ment, to determine farm
production and prices. “Future
legislation should rely less on
government and more on the
market to maximize long term
opportunities for profit in
agriculture and to reduce in
centives for overproduction,”
Eckel told Secretary Block.
He added that since about half of
PFA’s 23,000 farm family mem
bers are dairymen, PFA has
particular interest in the dairy
provision of the upcoming farm
bill. He said PFA believes CCC
purchases of surplus dairy
products is a “...proven and
essential stabilizing mechanism
for the dairy industry.” But, he
added, “never again must we
allow the price to be supported at a
level that encourages farmers to
industry leaders discuss 198
produce for an artificial market.”
PFA favors a system where the
price support level would be
automatically adjusted according
to net CCC purchases.
Concerning commodity price
support loan levels, Eckel said
PFA favors flexible loan rates
which adjust with changes in world
market conditions. “We must be
competitive in the world market,”
he said. Target prices should be
continued, however, to help far
mers adjust to a market oriented
farm policy.
Other areas of concern to PFA
are the threat of future trade
embargoes or export restrictions
due to foreign policy restrictions,
and unchallenged foreign subsidies
on imports. “We believe that free
and fair trade should be protected
in the 1985 farm bill,” Eckel said.
PFA also believes the new four
year farm bill should address fair
marketing practices between
producers and buyers. “Farmers
must be able to join together to
obtain a fair price for their product
in order for a market-oriented
agriculture to function properly,”
Eckel said.
He recommended that
marketing and bargaining
legislation; define bargaining
units, establish accredited
associations to bargain exclusively
for all members of the unit, require
good faith bargaining, establish
minimum requirements and rights
for accredited bargaining
associations, and set up guidelines
for settling bargaining impasses.
Eckel concluded, “The 1985 farm
bill is a very complicated bill with
7T
■i t
RD2, Box 267, East Earl, PA 17519
many variables to be considered.
All commodities and their support
programs are inter-related and
changes in one program should be
made only after a careful con
sideration of the impact it will
have on all other commodities and
their programs.
“Our association believes that
we need an agricultural policy
which is market-oriented, and that
this program should give farmers
the ability to bargain fairly with
buyers. Producers, processors,
agribusiness, the general
economy, and consumers all have
something to gain from more
market-oriented agriculture.”
Speaking on behalf of the Dairy
Cooperative Coordinating Com
mittee of the Northeast was Clyde
E. Rutherford, president of
Dairylea Cooperative Inc.
Rutherford said that although the
Northeast is one of the leading
agriculture regions in the nation, it
is frequently neglected when
public policy discussions, such as
the listening session, are set up.
“We are very much appreciate this
opportunity to be heard,” he said.
Saying that political pressures
could lead to unworkable and
destructive legislative proposals,
Rutherford stressed the need to
approach the dairy situation “with
our attention focused on what is
now happening and what is likely
to happen in the months and years
ahead.” He suggested that time be
spent on factors relevant to the
current situation.
For example, Rutherford cited
the decline in CCC purchases
during the first five months of this
year. Thirty-six percent less
butter, 29 percent less cheese and
24 percent less nonfat dry milk
were purchased by the CCC this
year, comparable to the same
months of last year, he said.
“We in the dairy industry have
heard that CCC purchases must be
reduced by more than a billion
dollars quickly,” Rutherford said.
“We are, in fact, told that the
budget for dairy price stabilization
is less than one billion dollars.
“It is our hope that the Congress
will read the improving trend I
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have cited and recognize that the
goal will be met. It is our opinion
that an ongoing trend is important
than any specific figure, high or
low.’
In considering the writing of the
1985 Farm Bill, Rutherford said
that the cooperatives in the Nor
theast are looking with favor on a
program which would: set up a
revised dairy parity which reflects
current milk production costs and
efficiencies; take a serious look at
setting up a system to move the
support price up and down quickly
and automatically; and to examine
the milk diversion program as it
proceeds to its conclusion on
March 31 of next year.
“When we talk about a few farm
bill and its dairy provisions, let’s
bear in mind that we are not
dealing with just a relative handful
of dairy farmers,” Rutherford
said. “We are dealing with a
critically important contributor to
the health of our nation’s
economy.”
Rutherford added that of the
60,000 dairy farms in the nation
with 50 cows or more, about 19,000
are in the Northeast.
Cornell
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - “New York
State Agriculture: Foundation for
the Future” is the theme of a
major Cornell University exhibit
which will be unveiled at the 1984
New York State Fair here, Aug. 25
-Sept. 3.
The exhibit is being developed
jointly by the New York State
Department of Agriculture and
Markets, the New York State
Department of Health, the New
York State Agriculture Ex
periment Station at Geneva, the
New York State College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences at
Cornell, and the Division of
Nutritional Sciences at Cornell.
Announcement of the exhibit,
which will occupy in excess of
10,000 square feet in the Fair’s
newly designated agriculture and
health building, was made at a
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5 Farm Bill
The Dairy Cooperative Coor
dinating Committee of the Nor
theast consists of the following
organizations: Agri-Mark Inc.,
North Andover, Mass.; Cabot
Farmers Cooperative Creamery
Inc., Cabot, Vt.; Dairylea
Cooperative Inc., Syracuse, N.Y.;
Green Mountain Federation;
Barre, Vt.; Interstate Milk
Producers, Southampton, Pa.
Also Massachusetts Cooperative
Milk Producers Federation,
Dunenburg, Mass.; Lehigh Valley
Farmers, Lansdale, Pa.; NEDCO,
Syracuse, N.Y.; Northern Farms
Cooperative Inc., Montpelier, Vt.;
Niagara Milk Coioperative Inc.,
Niagara Falls, N.Y.; Pennmarva
Dairymen’s Federation, Arlington,
Va.; Producers Dairy Co-op of
Nashua, N.H.; St. Albans
Cooperative Creamery, Vt.; and
Upstate Milk Cooperative Inc.,
Leßoy, N.Y.
Also representing Pennsylvania
were Edward McNamara,
NEDCO; Charles Krueger,
associate dean for research at
Penn State; Dick Harwood, Rodale
Research; and John C. York,
Dairy Foods Consultant of
Lewisburg.
to unveil exhibit
news conference on Friday
morning (June 22) by officials of
the New York State Fair.
In a prepared statement, Ken
neth F. Wing, Associate Dean of
the College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences, said that Cornell was
pleased to be taking on a new and
expanded presence at the State
Fair.
“Our multi-media exhibit will
give the public an overview of New
York agriculture, including both
historical perspectives and por
trayals of agriculture today in the
Empire State,” he said.
Wing noted that agriculture is
New York’s number one industry,
and that the joint displays at the
1984 State Fair would explain the
interlocking relationships among
the agencies involved and how they
serve the people of the State.
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