A24-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 28, 1988
Farmers Are Uniting To Draft Dairy Legislation
BOONVBLLE, NY Several
farm organizations are urging
dairymen to become involved in
developing new federal dairy poli
cy. “With auctions filling our
newspapers, it is obvious that dairy
farmers are enduring financial dif
ficulties beyond any normal or rea
sonable expectations,’’ said Bruce
Krug of Constableville, who has
just attended a National Farmers
Union Dairy Committee meeting
in Washington, DC.
“Another 500 per cwt. cut in the
milk support price is a virtual cer
tainty this coming January 1, while
the impact of the last cut has not
yet been fully felt. This means an
uncertain future for farmers at
best.” There is one 'certainty, he
went on to explain: There will be a
new farm bill after the 1985 Farm
Bill runs out in 1990.
According to Krug, “Whether or
not this bill is good for family far
mers or good for processors will
depend upon farmers becoming
involved in development of new
legislation.”
The New York Farmers Union,
The Pennsylvania Farmers Union,
the New York State Farm
Alliance, the Committee on Rural
Affairs, Rural Vermont and the
National Save the Family Farm
Coalition have all been involved in
the effort to draft new legislation
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as an alternative to continued sup
port price cuts.
Krug warned that if the recom
mendations of two recent studies
are put into effect, the result for
dairy farmers will be disastrous.
The two reports were issued by the
National Commission on Dairy
Policy and the General Accounting
Office. “Both reports recommend
a pricing structure which virtually
guarantees the demise of the fami
ly dairy farm.”
“Each report gears pricing tow
ards providing processors with
cheap raw product, under the mis
taken assumption that low farm
prices are passed on to consum
ers,” Krug stated. David Dyer,
Executive Director of the NCDP,
came under severe criticism for the
report from members of the NFU
Dairy Council at a recent meeting
in Washington. A comparison of
the price of manufactured products
versus the milk price received by
farmers over the past five years
proves that lower farm prices are
not passed on to consumers.
However, both studies contain
statements which farmers should
find useful in developing farmer
oriented dairy policy. The NCDP
report states that as a last resort, a
mandatory two-tier pricing system
could be installed to keep produc
tion in line with demand. Krug
notes this, “seems to be an admis
sion that mandatory production
controls would work in controlling
production and maintaining
prices.”
The GAO report is even more
favorable to this point of view.
According to the GAO, “In both
the short and long term, marketing
quotas would decrease national
production. The pressures for
increased production, brought on
by higher prices, would be
restrained by the quota level that
would otherwise exist.” The GAO
report points out that mandatory
production controls would be
effective in controlling production
and are the only option that would
increase producer income!
Recently, the PFU, NYSFA,
NYFU and CORA, along with the
NSFFC have embarked on a cam
paign to involve dairy farmers in
developing new dairy policy. This
campaign has thus far developed a
discussion draft of a bill that con
tains regional supply management
with cost of production pricing.
Farmers from all across America
have had input into this bill which
returns a fair pricing structure to
dairy farmers.
Bruce Krug emphasized that it is
important for local farmers to
become involved with this discus
sion. “We need to develop a policy
moreSSom?
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which benefits farmers and the rur
al economy as well. If we farmers
fail to do so, the probability of
another processor oriented farm
bill will increase dramatically,
with the resulting hardships and
empty barns that a ‘market
oriented’ policy guarantees.”
Anyone wishing more informa
tion should contact Bruce Krug at
315/397-2523 or Arden Tewks
bury at 717/833-5776.