SYRACUSE, NY— Lewis
Gardner, the new president of the
Regional Cooperative Marketing
Agency Inc. (RCMA), challenges
the organization’s 22,000 dairy
farmer members throughout the
Northeast to work together to earn
higher prices for their milk.
“I don’t believe we have even
begun to reach our potential,” he
told the RCMA Board of Direc
tors during its organizational
meeting on December 13 when he
was elected. “If we stick together
as a board, I believe we can reach
our potential. It can only be
achieved with unity and common
goals of directors and members.”
Gardner, a dairy farmer from
Galeton, Pa., replaces William G'.
Zuber of Churchville, N.Y., who
served as RCMA president since
1984. Under Zuber’s leadership,
RCMA developed a program that
generated approximately $7O mil
lion in payments known as “over
order premiums” to its dairy
farmer members from 1987
through 1989. Using New York
State’s Rogers-Alien Law, RCMA
also won a state premium for New
York dairy farmers that was paid
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The New York program was
copied throughout New England,
generating a higher milk price
paid to dairy farmers in those
states, too.
RCMA’s main goal is to
increase the price of milk received
by dairy farmers, who have been
struggling for nearly a year as
prices dropped to the same levels
as the late 19705. Many farmers
have gone out of business because
prices have been so low.
Gardner emphasized that if
RCMA’s membership, which
includes dairy farmers throughout
the 11 states of the Northeast,
keeps the organization’s goal in
mind and works together to obtain
that goal, then it will continue to
be a strong economic force in the
dairy industry.
Gardner is the president of
Eastern Milk Producers Coopera
tive. A former Marine Corps
demolitions instructor and a mem
ber of the presidential honor
guard, he and his wife, Lois, pur
chased a 100-acre dairy farm in
1978. There they milk 55 cows out
of a herd of 90 Holsteins, and rent
another 150 tillable acres, grow
ing mainly alfalfa and corn. Their
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RCMA Elects Gardner President
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three sons, Lewis 111, Lee Thomas
and Levi, all help operate the
farm.
Other officers elected include
Vice President Norman Harvey of
Florence, VL, president of Agri-
Mark Cooperative: Secretary Wil
liam Murphy, who operates Pros
pect Farms in Stamford, N.Y.; and
Treasurer Lloyd Patterson of St.
Tohnsbury, Vt., president of Cabot
Farmers Cooperative.
Dairy farmer members of the
RCMA Executive Committee
include Zuber, George Demeree
of Lillie Falls, N.Y.; Donald Dun
can of Robesonia, Pa.; Roy Het
rick of Bernville, Pa; Harold
Howrigan of Fairfield, Vt.; Clyde
Rutherford of Otego, N.Y.; and
Robert Storch of Troy, Pa.
In other action, the Board of
Directors approved the report of
an ad hoc committee that recom
mended moving the RCMA office
from Batavia to Syracuse by Jan.
31 and restructuring staff to pre
pare for future milk pricing initia
tives. The committee presented a
list of alternative pricing programs
that are being studied for future
action. The move and staff
restructuring will allow RCMA to
Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, December 28, 1991-Al9
preserve more of its financial
resources as the directors plan the
next step.
RCMA Directors and Delegates
were encouraged by Congressman
James Walsh and New York Slate
Senator Nancy Larraine Hoffman.
Congressman Walsh, the North
east’s only member of die House
Agriculture Committee, recounted
the efforts during the year to get
the House to enact a new dairy
bill. He is urging Agriculture Sec
retary Edward Madigan to use
administrative policies as he did
last spring to keep milk prices
higher.
Senator Hoffmann, who was
instrumental in signing up many
RCMA members in the mid
1980 s, said she has sponsored a
bill to change voting procedures
under New York’s Rogers-Alien
Law so that ballots not returned no
longer count as “no” votes. She
said the state “would welcome
your next petition” to activate
emergency milk prices under
Rogers-Alien.
Directors also authorised the
RCMA Executive Committee to
protect the interests of Northeast
dairy farmers in discussions of the
future of the federal milk market
ing orders, which regulate milk
prices throughout most of the U.S.
Agriculture Secretary Madigan is
inviting public comments about
the future of the orders.
In late 1990, RCMA and some
of its member cooperatives joined
together to oppose changes in the
pricing structure of the federal
milk marketing orders that would
have reduced the prices received
by Northeast dairy farmers. The
proved effective, for when the
U.S. Department of Agriculture,
announced its preliminary deci
sion last month, there were no
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pricing changes that would hurt
Northeast producers. RCMA’s
Executive Committee will consid
er reactivating the Coalition of the
Northeast to make sure the inter
ests of the Northeast’s dairy far
mers are represented and pro
tected in the current discussions
by the Agriculture Department.
During the RCMA annual
meeting prior to the directors’
meeting, delegates heard the year
end reports of President Zuber and
Executive Director Carmen L.
Ross. They summarized the suc
cess of RCMA’s yean successful
representation of the Northeast’s
interests in the federal order hear
ings and the implementation of
Rogers-Alien emergency milk
prices in New York State, with
similar programs enacted through
out New England.
Both also stressed the need for
unity among RCMA members and
all dairy farmers in the Northeast.
“We must work out some of the
problems and move ahead
together,” Zuber said. “There is no
question that we are going to need
RCMA in the future. Dairy far
mers will continue to need a uni
fied voice working for higher
prices.”
Ross echoed a similar theme:
“You can come together and work
together as a team for the common
good of all dairy farmers. If you
do that, then RCMA has a bright
future and will be an organisation
to be reckoned with in the dairy
industry.”
Gardner, as the newly elected
president, pledged to work to
further develop that unity of pur
pose. “If all the dairy farmers of
the Northeast work in unity, then
RCMA can achieve its goal of
higher milk prices for its farmer
members.”
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