AIS-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 4,1986
(Continued from Page Al)
In Wednesday’s milk strike,
participation occurs in Vermont,
Maine, Massachusetts, New York,
Wisconsin and Minnesota, said
Fred Shaw, a strike organizer in
New York.
He reports that since the strike
began, the dairymen have
received premium offers from
local milk plants and co-ops.
Robert Stronach of Eastern Milk
Producers explained that while
Eastern is contemplating a
premium, it will be a temporary
premium lasting until spring. The
premiums are in response to the
seasonal milk shortage, not one
brought on by the milk strike. He
added that competition for the
same supply dictates the
premium. The bonus is limited to
the additional amount Eastern can
receive for the milk from their
customers, Stronach added.
Over 650 farmers attended
meetings explaining the milk
withholding, Shaw said. He
estimates 20 percent of the
dairymen in New York are par
ticipating.
However, for the strike to have
an impact on the fluid milk supply
80 to 90 percent of the dairy far
mers need to participate, ex
plained Joseph Gerace, com
missioner of agriculture and
marketing for the state of New
York. He also described the par
ticipation as sporadic.
A large percentage of par
ticipating farmers are needed to
influence the supply because the
milk market administrator con
trols the supply regionally. When a
shortage of fluid milk appears, the
administrator shifts supplies from
the manufacturing facilities to the
bottling plants. This process in
sures adequate class one milk
supplies.
The strike appears to be “fairly
well organized. They are getting
the message across without a great
deal of milk loss,’’ Gerace added.
While the farmers may not boost
the milk price, they are focusing
media attention on the problem.
“It’s an item on the 6 and 11 news,”
Gerace said.
In the Herkimer County area,
farmers are receiving support
from the ag related industries and
local labor unions, Shaw reported.
The labor unions have aided the
effort by developing slide displays
and rallying public support, he
said.
The farmers are running the
strike without public money and
*B3s
FARMERS AgCREDjT
CORP
Farmers Dump Milk
they have no title for their group,
Shaw said. He added that this
strike will continue until a result is
achieved.
Some farmers in New York have
continued to dump their milk since
the first milk withholding episode.
These farmers and the farmers
participating in the current strike
are surviving by taking the equity
on their insurance policies or by
living on credit, Shaw explained.
Frustration over low prices fuels
the current strike. Only 10 percent
of New York farmers operate
solidly in the black and 25 to 40
percent operate in critical con
dition financially, Gerace stated.
Yet in the Northeast region, 34
billion pounds of milk were con
sumed last year and only 28 billion
pounds of milk was produced in the
area, Gerace said.
“We are at a crossroads. We will
be losing more of the market if we
don’t find a way to keep the far
mers in business,” he said.
The Regional Cooperative
Marketing Association represents
the logical alternative to the milk
strike, according to every co-op
spokesman and independent
dealer interviewed.
Gerace is a firm believer in the
possibilities of RCMA and has been
working day and night and every
weekend to enroll farmers.
“RCMA will only be successful if
90 to 95 percent of the farmers sign
up,” he said.
The price support dropped by $2
per hundredweight for the Order 2
farmers. Now, 16 to 20 percent of
the farmers in New York are
operating below the breakeven
price for a herd average of 12,500
pounds of milk, Gerace notes.
While RCMA will help the far
mers in the future, dairymen need
the money now and have at
tempted to solve the immediate
problem with the milk withholding,
he explained.
He urges farmers to channel
their energies into getting the over
order pricing organization moving.
Gerace listed three major ad
vantages of RCMA;
First, he said, the organization is
run by farmers who will set the
milk price. It will enable farmers
to be “truly independent for the
first time.” Farmers will be able to
command a price as other vendors
do.
RCMA will also unify the 30,000
northeast dairy fanners and
permit them to have a voice in
Washington. While the farmers are
working hard, they have no impact
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Finally, RCMA will make
cooperatives and independent milk
dealers market the milk more
effectively.
RCMA worked in 1973 and 1974
when members received an
average of $7,000 over the blend
price, Gerace explained. RCMA is
a unique organization since it
permits farmers to set, not
negotiate, set the price of milk.
The marketing association was
legalized under the Capper-
Volstead Act.
“It is the only alternative except
to attempt to ride the wave,” he
said. Last year, from August 1985
to August 1986,1,700 farmers in the
11-state northeast region failed to
ride the wave and silently went out
of business, Gerace noted.
If this was a factory closing
down, everyone would focus the
spotlight on it and try to save the
industry. The story is different
with ag; no one hears when a
farmer goes out of business,
Gerace added. But for now, he
said, the strike has focused at
tention on the plight of the farmer.
With RCMA, the farmer has an
organization bargaining for a
better price. With the strike, there
is no clear organization and no one
to bargain with, Gerace said in
explaining a benefit of RCMA over
the strike.
On the darker side of the milk
strike, two farmers have been
arrested and await trial for attacks
on milk trucks, Shaw said. He
added that the meetings he con
ducts presents facts; he does not
encourage violence.
New York State Police in
vestigated reports of 17 stolen
plunger valve stems and nuts last
Friday. A loaded truck near
Whitney Point lost its valve and
consequently dumped a load of
milk valued at $lO,OOO.
The sabotage occurred
throughout the state at four
locations. State police are in
vestigating the possibility that
striking farmers organized the
thefts. Trooper Gene Barnes of the
Marathon barracks reported that
Donald Hill lost six plunger valves
from his trucks between 9 p.m. and
6:30 a.m.
Donald Hill estimates the cost of
the valves at $3OO each. In his
opinion, striking farmers per
formed the misdeed to prevent his
truckers from picking up the milk
of non-striking farmers. However,
his firm was able to replace the
valves and follow a normal milk
hauling schedule on Saturday.
Striking farmers are also
suspected of dumping antibiotics
in neighbors’ farm bulk tanks and
milk tankers. The excessively high
antibiotic level indicated tam
pering.