VOL. 33 NO. 29
Beef Referendum
Passes National Vote:
Beef Council Tally
BY LISA RISSER
LITITZ (Lancaster) —Beef and
dairy farmers from around the
nation have voted overwhelmingly
in favor of the beef checkoff,
according to an unofficial tally by
the National Beef Council and the
Beef Checkoff Campaign
Committee.
“I don’t think there’s any ques
tion that it passed,” commented
Robert Coleman, executive direc
tor of the Pennsylvania Beef Coun
cil. “There is just no official num
bers out yet. Pennsylvania was
questionable because of some
opposition, but by our unofficial
count, 63 percent of the producers
voted ‘yes’. If we had this many
(counties) passing, then there’s no
doubt of it passing in more positive
states.”
Coleman and the other council,
staff members called 40 of the
state's 67 county Agricultural Sta
bilization and Conservation Ser
vice offices. They found that
approximately two-thirds of the
state’s dairy and beef farmers vot
ed for the referendum.
“Unofficially, in all but one
state, voters were in favor of the
referendum,” said Don Ricketts,
coordinator of the Beef Checkoff
Campaign Committee. “That state
wasn’t in the New England or Mid-
Allantic regions. Our tally also
doesn’t include Alaska—nothing
has come out of that stale.”
In Lancaster County, however,
the results were quite different. Of
the 540 eligible votes, 370 were
against tfie referendum, reported
Ray Brubaker at the county ASCS
office. Two additional votes were
challenged, and the voters found
ineligible.
“There will be an influx of funds
available for research, promotion,
and consumer education now,”
said Dr. John Comerford, Penn
Until Thursday the weather around this part of the coun
try was better for ducks than farming. Willis Rohrer, Smoke
town, took this picture of a mallard mother and babies that
were hatched behind his house by the patio. The drake stay
ed In the grass field nearby and came to get Mrs. Duck every
evening and they went out to dinner together.
Four Sections
State beef specialist. “We at the
universities have the facilities and
personnel to do the research and
educational programs.” Comer
ford hopes to see the funds allo
cated to universities.
‘ The funds, which haven’t been
allocated yet, will help finance
research on the production of new
markets, methods of beef prepara
tion, and genetics.
One beef producer not 100
pleased with the predicted out
come is Robert L. Frame, owner of
Vintage Sales Stable in Paradise.
“If it passed, it passed. But how do
we know how honest it was?” he
questioned. Of particular concern
to him was the treatment of the
absentee ballots, which were com
plicated to get and many of which
in this county were counted as ine
-4iotble because they lacked signa
tures or were received late.
“I’m never going to change my
mind on it for as long as I live,”
claimed Frame. “They’re not out
of the woods yet on this because
we’re still in court on it,” he added,
referring to his refusal to collect
checkoff funds last year. “We’re
going to court in Philadelphia, and
(Turn to Pag* A 23)
A happy and safe Memorial
Day Weekend to everyone!
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 28, 1988
Farming went Into full gear late this week as fields started to dry after the long per
iod of rainy weather. By late Thursday evening some fields in Lancaster County still
had visible wet spots, but other soils dried more rapidly. As the sun went down late
Thursday evening, this farmer was working the field with horses and had begun to
plant tobacco. Pho, ° by Ev,r,tt N,w * w » n 9» r -
Dairy Industry Versus Dairy Farmers
BY PAT PURCELL
LITITZ (Lancaster) If the
Penn Marva Dairymen Federation
has its way, milk producers in the
northeastern part of the nation will
get more money for their product.
By proposing a Class 111 designa
tion, the federation hopes to move
certain products out of the present
Class 11, into an intermediate class
and gain an additional 10 cents per
hundredweight above present
Class II prices. However, the prop
osed pricing plan would not oper
By Karl Berger
Special Correspondent
The National Milk Producers
Federation, the Washington-based
lobbyist for most of the nation’s
dairy cooperatives, has already
begun an effort to avert the possi
bility of another 50-cent reduction
in the federal government’s dairy
support price.
Federation chief executive
James Barr and president Tom
Camerlo, a Colorado dairy farmer,
announced the “Stop the Price
Cut” campaign at a May 9 press
conference in Washington. The
federation is enlisting the support
of its member cooperatives and
their producers in a “grassroots”
lobbying effort targeted at Secret
ary of Agriculture Richard Lyng.
The Council of Northeast Far
mer Cooperatives, which repre
sents six New York and New
England-based organizations, and
Atlantic Dairy Cooperative, the
major Federal Order 4 producer
group, already have announced
Cooperatives" Split
On Pricing Proposals
ate under the same criteria in use in
other Federal Order areas.
“In terms of volume of milk to
be included in Class II under our
proposal, the amount is substantial
and it would mean more money for
our producers,” said Jim Fraher,
Economist with Atlantic Dairy
Cooperative, members of PMDF
However, that proposal will
meet with some opposition from
Eastern Milk Producers and the
New England Cooperative. While
they are not opposed to the crea-
National Milk Federation Launches
Campaign To Stop Price Cut
support for the idea of averting the
50-cent cut. However, they may
wind up differing from National
Milk in the exact means they advo
cate to accomplish this.
With milk production rising in
at least some parts of the country, a
national campaign may be the only
way for dairy farmers to avoid
another round of the falling prices
that have befallen them since Lyng
implemented a 50-cenl support
BATAVIA, NY—The Region
al Cooperative Marketing Agency
Inc. recently announced that its
22,000 members will receive a
17-ccnt premium per hundred
weight on all milk produced during
March The premiums paid over
the 11-state region by
RCMA total $2.34 million for the
month.
50( Per Copy
RCMA March Premium
Set At 17 Cents
The 17-cent premium is up two
$lO.OO Per Year
tion of an additional class, they are
opposed to the Federation’s prop
osed classification guidelines.
The proposals will be brought
before the USDA during hearings
scheduled tentatively for some
time in June. The outcome would
affect the Federal Orders in the
Northeast. Federal Orders in much
of the nation utilize a three-class
pricing system, but in the North
east there are only two pricing
classes. Class I is the high priced
(Turn to Pag* A 22)
price reduction January 1.
Under the provisions of the
1985 farm bill, the Secretary is
required to cut the support price 50
cents at the beginning of each year
if, as now seems likely for 1989, U.
S. Department of Agriculture offi
cials estimate that the govern
ment’s purchase of surplus dairy
stocks will exceed the 5-billion
pound level. A similar mechanism
(Turn to Page A 26)
cents from the amount received by
dairy farmers for February milk
sales. RCMA has paid more than
$l3 million since starting premium
payments seven months age.
According to RCMA President
William Zuber, the organization is
working to increase the amount
paid in premiums to off-set conti
nuing declines in federal order
(Turn to Pago A2O)