Pl-'.P I n l) TT ALS niVISION uaiTHF MHRARY PkUu-.YI.V RN t A hTATR JNIVFPSHY HNIVrKRITH RAH K PA lf>B ° 2 * VOL. 30 No. 36 House Committee approves dairy provisions Farm Bill title grants diversion authority, ties price supports to production costs BY JAMES H. EVERHART WASHINGTON - The House Agriculture Committee has passed a controversial dairy title as part of its 1985 Farm Bill package, which is now nearing completion. The title, very similar to the National Milk Producers Federation “dairy unity” proposal, was passed by the committee Tuesday as it struggled to complete its “markup,” or final preparation of the Farm Bill it will present to the full House. The measure, if approved by Congress, would place the legislators on a collision course with the Administration over a number of points of national dairy policy. Specifically, the measure in cludes; • Stand-by diversion authority. In a program similar to the one which expired April 1, the legislation would authorize USDA to institute a diversion program if government purchases exceed five billion pounds equivalent, and would require a diversion plan if purchases reached seven billion pounds. As with the previous program, producers would be paid $lO a DER kicks off Bay Program BY JACK HUBLEY LITITZ Department of En vironmental Resources Secretary Nicholas Deßenedictis came to Lancaster County yesterday to Farms lying within the crosshatched areas shown are eligible for cost-share funds available through the Chesapeake Bay Program. Funding may' be available within a year for the Pequea and Octoraro watershed areas. Four Sections hundredweight to reduce their marketings, and would sign a two year contract. The Secretary would also have the authority to accept bids at other payment rates under a 100-percent buyout plan. In the event that a diversion program is placed in effect, producers would be required to pay an assessment sufficient to fund the cost of dairy programs on all milk produced above the five million-pound-surplus level. Current figures place the assessment at 40 cents a hun dredweight. • Price supports. Each year, the Secretary of Agriculture would compute a preliminary support price, based on changes in cost of production, as compared to a base year. If projected government pur chases at this price level are ex pected to exceed four billion pounds of milk equivalent, the Secretary is authorized to reduce the support figure by 2.6 percent for «very additional one billion pounds of surplus, up to a maximum of 7.8 percent. For the current marketing year, it is estimated the formula would produce a support level of about $11.74 a hundredweight. Sign-up deadline is July 17 officially launch the joint state federal $2 million Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort. Meeting at the J. Roger Moyer firm, Lititz, Vvith the Conservation Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 13,1985 • Marketing orders. Within 120 days of the enactment of the legislation, the Secretary of Agriculture would be required to raise the differentials in 33 marketing orders. This provision, which establishes those figures by law, is designed to assure adequate supplies in the Southeast. The- bill also would permit milk handlers who provide market-wide service m marketing orders such as moving milk into deficit areas to get service payments which have the effect of spreading servicing costs among all farmers supplying a marketing order area. • Dairy Research. The bill would create a National Dairy Research Endowment Institute which would conduct research on nutritional needs for dairy products and on ways to develop new dairy products. • Livestock Industry Protection. In order to prevent adverse impact on livestock producers, USDA will be permitted to purchase an ad ditional 200 million pounds of meat, whenever a dairy diversion program is in effect. The purchases, which would be donated to domestic food assistance programs, are designed District chairmen from the six southeastern counties en compassed by the program, Deßenedictis signed contracts that make $1 million available for in stituting the so-called Best Management Practices. Installation of BMP’s at the farm level is aimed at managmg farm related nutrients in an effort to keep excess nutrients from reaching groundwater supplies, streams, rivers and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. “Farmers can improve production and at the same time reduce nutrient costs by using animal wastes in a balanced program with chemical fer tilizers,” the Secretary pointed out. “Through the new cost sharing program we hope to save the Chesapeake Bay while Penn sylvania’s farmers save money.” The remaining $1 million is earmarked for three other phases of the program including education, a nutrient management assistance program at the local level involving a mobile nutrient testing lab, and a water quality monitoring program for the lower Susquehanna basin aimed at evaluating the program’s overall progress. Deßenedictis emphasized that the department is pleased with response to the voluntary program thus far, with 77 farmers in the six eligible counties completing ap (Turnto PageAZl) to offset the effect of the additional numbers of dairy cows sent to slaughter. • Imports. Within 60 days of the enactment of the bill, USDA would be required to conduct a study to determine whether imports of casein interfere with or render ineffective the current price support program. The Reagan Administration has been critical of a number of bill’s provisions in the past, especially the diversion plan and the price support program. One official noted that the plan would virtually guarantee a “permanent dairy diversion program,” Purchases in 1984, when the diversion program was in effect, topped eight billion pounds, a definite improvement over the INSIDE this Cow Sales, Show It may be vacation time, but the area’s dairy producers still manage to find time for shows and sales. This week’s edition includes coverage of two outstanding sales the Ray Anthony sale in Meadville and the July Jubilee in Erie County and the Northwest Pennsylvania District Jersey Show m Mercer. Turn to page A 25 for the sales and page A 33 for the Jersev show^. Have you seen this Jersey lying on the grassy bank of the Brandywine? For more about her, turn to page A 26. There's more to Australia than kangaroos and aborigines. Read about farm life in the southern hemisphere on page AlB. $7.50 per Year previous year’s 16 billion pounds. This year, purchases are expected to reach 10 billion pounds. The Adminstration has also called for more market-oriented policies, and proposed sharp reduction of dairy price supports over the first few years of the new farm program. In other Farm Bill action, the Committee late this week ap proved Wool, Conservation, Credit and Research titles with relatively few amendments to subcommittee proposals. The Conservation title included the key reserve and sodbuster provisions, while a proposal added to the Credit title is designed to prevent the USD A from “dum ping” large amounts of farmland on the market through foreclosures. issue Dairy Marketing Recognizing the im portance of marketing in today’s dairy industry, Lancaster Farming this week inaugurates a special new feature on dairy marketing. Coverage this week includes stones on the effectiveness of dairy ad vertising, a history of price supports and stones on prices. Turn to page A 32 for this new feature.. . and look for it in succeeding issues
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