e
(Continued from Pago A 1)
Agriculture Edward Madigan
already has announced the Bush
administration’s opposition to
each one of these provisions.
However, the bill also contains
various provisions that National
Milk opposes, such as an assess
ment that dairy fanners would pay
to recompense cattlemen if beef
prices drop in the wake of
implementation, Keller said. It also
contains an administration
sponsored proposal for assessing
dairymen to pay for cost increases
in the government’s various food
assistance programs, the spokes
men added.
Even a provision to raise the
minimum standards for the amount
of nonfat milk solids for fluid milk
is not without opposition. Admi
nistration officials have argued
that congressional legislation is an
inappropriate vehicle for such a
move and that the matter should be
settled through the federal order
hearing process.
The controversy has been
reflected in a series of close votes
in the House. For instance, the fed
eration’s initial proposal called for
a support price increase of $1.50, to
$11.60 per hundredweight. In the
House Agriculture Subcommittee
on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry,
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New Dairy Legislation Takes Shape In Congress
this was changed to a $2.50
increase in an amendment passed
by one vote. In the full House Agri
culture Committee, an amendment
that would have deleted the major
price support and supply control
aspects of the bill - the main sub
stance of the bill - was defeated by
just two votes. With a number of
favorable votes and a presidential
signature still necessary for the bill
to become law, many farm lob
byists remain skeptical of its
chances.
The debate reflects the conflict
ing agendas of interests both within
the industry and within the govern
ment, according to lobbyists famil
iar with the legislative process.
On the one hand, this year’s con
gressional debate is a logical out
growth of a provision in the 1990
farm bill that called for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture to study
and Congress, subsequently, to
consider various inventory man
agement alternatives. That process
was accelerated by the dramatic
plunge in farm milk prices this
winter. USDA produced an analys
is of four types of supply control
programs in May and followed that
up with a recommendation to stay
with current policy (which leaves
the support price at $lO.lO and
relies on producer assessments to
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exceeds certain levels).
Yet, at the same time, the debate
is seen as the latest in a disturbing
sequence of special fixes needed
by the dairy industry, according to
Leroy Watson, a lobbyist for the
National Grange. Both the 1981
and 1985 farm bills were followed
by legislation that established new
dairy programs, he noted, a trend
that has not endeared dairy policy
to many legislators.
“A lot of people I talk to are get
ting a little tired of supporting
something that farmers turn around
and tell them doesn’t work,” Wat
son said.
The twisting course of national
dairy policy also reflects divisions
within the industry itself, accord
ing to Steve Kerr, who lobbies for a
group of Northeast dairy coopera
tives. Since 1985, when the indus
try more or less came together on
the whole herd buyout program as
a compromise, positions have
hardened into two antagonistic
groups. Today, Kerr said, there is
little common ground between
those who support the use of quotas
to control production and those
who favor unfettered prices. With
the prospect of another whole herd
buyout program ruled out by the
adamant opposition of the cattle
industry, the industry has groped
for other solutions.
The federation proposal was
approved unanimously by its
executive committee in early June,
no mean feat, according to Lisa
Keller, a federation spokesman.
“I think it’s the first time we’ve
had unity on this big an issue since
the 1985 farm bill,” Keller said.
However, the fragile unity
depends on the controversial
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exemption from two-tier pricing
that would be granted to the South
east under the proposed legislation,
according to several observers.
And that provision, which was
approved by just one vote in the
House subcommittee, already has
been assailed by several key
legislators.
Finally, there are agendas in
Washington, including, most
notably, the desire to minimize
government expenditures. Less
obvious, but perhaps of equal
importance in shaping dairy poli
cy, is the administration’s position
in the ongoing GATT (Genera!
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)
negotiations on international trade
in farm goods, which calls for gra
dual elimination of domestic poli
cies that subsidize production.