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A24-Lancaster farming! Saturday, March 25,' 1995
State Grange Meets With Federal Legislators
HARRISBURG (Daupin
Co.) —Nearly 100 Pennsylvania
State Grangers visited their feder
al legislators during the annual
Washington Legislative Tour to
discuss pertinent issues concern
ing agriculture and rural affairs.
Among the issues discussed
during the March 21-22 visit with
U.S. Congressman and Senators
are the cuts being made to agricul
tural programs, rural health care
reforms, wetlands legislation and
food safety proposals.
Brenda Shambaugh, PA State
Grange legislative director, said
the Washington tour presents an
opportunity for the Grange to
voice its position on issues that
have been developed through the
Grange’s grass-root policies.
A summary of the issues and
Grange policy follows:
Government programs that sup
port agricultural prices and far
mers’ incomes are facing their
most serious attack since the early
days of the Agricultural Adjust
ment Act, which the U.S. Supreme
Court overturned in 1936.
Congress is proposing to reduce
target prices by 3 percent a year.
This proposal would reduce gov
ernment spending in support of
agriculture in two simple, but
drastic, steps.
It would reduce spending by
almost $l5 billion over the next
five years. And, it would scuttle
export subsidies, which would
save $3.4 billion, and cap off
$11.5 billion by phasing-down
crop subsidies.
The Grange, according to
Shambaugh, realizes that farm
programs are in for an overhaul
due to the decreasing number of
farmers and, therefore, supports
an initiative that would pare down
present programs.
‘The Grange, like most farm
and commodity organizations,
favors a shaved-down version of
present programs,” Shambaugh
said. “Reduction in payment
acres, reduced or no set-asides.
DON'T THROW AWAY
UP TO 45%
OF YOUR HAY.
Losses occur when crops are stored-regardless of the storage
method. Those losses are real -colorless, odorless and invisible—
you can’t see them, but they’re there
The air trapped within stored feed begins the fermentation process
-and fermentation continues until all the air is consumed. The less air
within the stored feed, the less loss.
Because bunker silos are not easily packed, losses in bunker silos
range from 27% to 45%. If the feed is valued at $3O per ton, every
1000 tons stored in a bunker would suffer losses from $B,lOO to
$1 3,500. Tower silo losses range from 3% to 8%, or $9OO to $2400
for every 1000 tons.
Those losses occur for every 1000 tons-every time feed is stored,
year after year. Before investing in any storage method, consider
the total cosfs--including fermentation loss.
Compare the various methods of feed storage. Contact the Crop
Storage Institute for your free copy of" Methods of Crop Storage" and
“Know the Facts."
Crop Storage Institute
219N.4thSt. P.0.80x560
Lafayette, Indiana 46902*0560
more flexibility in crop bases and
a loan rate that is tied to the aver
age world prices are methods the
Grange supports to reach that
goal.”
The Grange’s interest in health
care reform dates back decades.
At the national level, the Grange
has sponsored a multi-year, politi
cal, educational and action prog
ram called “Health Care in
America.”
The PA State Grange supports:
reform of the insurance market;
providing 100 percent deductibili
ty for the self-employed; making
coverage for children more afford
able; helping workers who lose
their jobs to keep coverage; and
making a wide range of home and
community-based options accessi
ble and affordable for families that
are caring for a sick parent or dis
abled child.
The Grange opposes employer
mandates, government interven
tion except to revise current laws
and regulations and raising taxes
to pay for health care reforms.
“The Grange is continuing its
fight to bring about health care
reform,” Shambaugh said. “The
Targeted Individual Health Insur
ance Reform Act focuses on indi
vidual health insurance reforms
and portability, non
discrimination, renewability and
fair rating standards. It also limits
an insurance company’s ability to
use pre-existing conditions to
deny coverage.’'
The Grange, along with a coali
tion of 13 other national farm
groups, are addressing their con
cerns regarding a Memorandum of
Agreement that put the Natural
Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS), formerly known as the
Soil Conservation Service, as the
lead federal agency for delineating
wetlands on agricultural land as
part of the" Clean Water Act
(CWA).
“Unfortunately, the MOA is not
meeting its stated goals and
should be modified immediately”
the Grange wrote in a letter to
President Bill Clinton.
“The problem the Grange has
with the MOA is that although its
purpose was to put the NRCS in
charge of wetlands delineation or
agricultural land, the actual lan
guage of the agreement allows the
Environmental Protection Agency
to preempt such authority,” Sham
baugh said. “Technical changes
need to be made to the MOA to
truly place the NRCS in charge of
agricultural land delineations and
provide a consistent determination
for farmers and ranchers from all
federal agencies.”
The Grange is seeking a mora
torium on the MOA and delinea
tions of agricultural wetlands until
passage of the 1995 Farm Bill and
is supporting legislation intro
duced by Bud Shuster, R-PA, that
creates an adminstrative appeals
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process for wetlands determina
tions and would authorize the state
revolving loan fund program at $2
billion a year.
The bill also seeks to provide
greater recognition of different
wetland functions and values, pro
cedural rights and private property
rights, according to Shambaugh.
The Grange backs the United
States Department of Agricul
ture’s (USDA) attempt to incor
porate! scientific testing of meats
and poultry to achieve systematic
prevention of food contamination.
A USDA proposal would
require the nation’s nearly 6,200
federally-inspected meat and
poultry slughter and processing
plants to adopt science-based pro
cess control systems called
Hazard Analysis and Critical Con
trol Points (HACCP).
‘This program would identify
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potential food safety hazards that
arise in slaughter and processing
plants and would build-in science
based preventive controls,” Sham
baugh said. ‘The Grange supports
any program that further ensures
our food supply is wholesome and
safe for consumers.”
Included in the trek to the
nation’s capital were a congres
sional breakfast with legislators, a
meeting with Pennsylvania’s
senators and House and Senate Ag
Committee staff memebers and
tours of the National Cathedral,
Union Station and the DAR
Museum.
The Pennsylvania State Grange
is a rural/farm organization with
33,000 members in 475 local
Granges across the state. They
Pennsylvania State Grange is
committed to improving the lives
of rural Pennsylvanians through
legislative initiatives, community
service and providing services to
its members.
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