A22-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 30, 1995
Technology, Politics Continue American Ag Metamorphism
(Continuad from Pago A 1)
Perceptions
From gleaning through the past
year’s papers, and from ongoing
coverage of events, organizations
and institutions, the perspective is
that 1995 was a tough year for
many people those directly
involved in agriculture and those
working in other vocations.
There is no doubt that American
agriculture has become more con
densed. Cooperative mergers, pro
cessor mergers, fewer businesses
involved and more foreign owner
ship of food processing and distri
bution all indicate the year con
tinued the trend of recent years
toward a bottom-line driven
industry-.
To draw an analogy, die indus
try appears to be undergoing a pro
cess of “metamoiphism.”
The definition of the term is spe
cific. When the basic constitution
of a rock changes and becomes
more compact and crystaline
because of the effects of heat, pres
sure and water, the process is
called “metamorphism.”
It is the process that changes
coal into a diamond.
If agriculture were to be consid
ered a “rock,” then it could be
viewed as undergoing the process
of metamorphism.
Whether or not the pressures on
agriculture result in a diamond, the
change has been happening.
To give the year some historical
perspective, the breakup of the for
mer Soviet Union and the conse
quent reorganizational efforts
there have had significant effects
on business in the United States.
No longer do we have a large
common enemy with a name and a
face. Without a common enemy,
people tend to seek out new causes
for which to fight and it seems that
for now, the fights are among
ourselves.
As people attempt to position
themselves for a secure life and
attempt to digest the onslaught of
technology that has been created
and discovered, it can be expected
that this virtual “pushing and shov
ing” will continue.
It seems that it has been a tough
year because of all the changes and
so many uncertainties about all
aspects of life for so many people.
Mostly, it seems that people
have been uncertain about every
day things such prices, markets.
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The PDPP/Mld-East ADADC, MAMMA and ADADC Ine. In New York have struck a
cooperative agreement to become more efficient In using dairy farmer funds to prom
ote milk. The state Is now split up In responsibility between the three groups, working
all together to prevent duplication of effort and waste.
policies, leaders, regulations, free
doms, privileges, taxes, truth of
information, and personal safety.
Uncertainty was evident this
past year in national politics with
continued episodic battles between
the House and Senate Republi
cans, the Democrats, the President
and his administration, and the
Washington and sensationalistic
media.
Many times national news
coverage of Washington and our
national leaders were at best dis
plays of juvenile tantrums and
power-mongering.
There are plenty of examples of
heated battles closer to home.
State government has under
gone some upheaval under the
influence of Gov. Tom Ridge, a
former U.S. Congressman from
Erie who took office this year, the
influence of Republican majorities
in the Senate and House, and that
of influential or concerned
citizens.
The state Department of Envir
onmental Resources which
was seen as a bloated, under
funded, politically influenced
anathema to common sense
was divided into two houses.
The regulatory bureaus and
divisions of the former DER have
been lumped under the Depart
ment of Environmental Protection
(DEP) with the name outlining its
mission.
The state forests, minerals and
park system have been given their
own house at the governor’s
cabinet level the Department
of Conservation of Natural
Resources.
Further, Ridge appointed
cabinet secretaries to run his admi
nistrative agencies with the mis
sion directive that they are to help
achieve success with compliance
by working with companies in a
cooperative manner.
Like the “good cop, bad cop”
contrast, the trend is to get away
from the perception of state agen
cies enforcing regulations through
overworked, civil servant tough
guys with a heartless, by-the-book
enforcer approach.
Instead the workers are to have
concern about the possible conse
quences of destroying business.
According to a recent published
report, DEP did not fine businesses
this year as much as DER had
been, and has been working with
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From the left, Daniel Hagen, past dean of the PSU College of Agricultural Sciences
Lamartine Hood Oble Snider, state Secretary of Agriculture Charles Brosius, and Har
ry Roth of Atlantic Breeders Cooperative, cut the ribbon on the $5.5 million dairy
research center.
problem business to find accept
able alternatives to environmental
problems.
With the appointment of Ches
ter County mushroom agribu
sinessman Charles Brosius as sec
retary of agriculture. Ridge said he
was selecting someone who shared
his concern of helping people to
stay in business, through education
and through working diligently to
get Pennsylvania commodities
marketed.
O. Frank DeGarcia, the execu
tive secretary of the Pennsylvania
Milk Marketing Board wore a
number of different hat£ in 1995.
In addition to running the
PMMB which protects consumers
and ensures that producers get
their proper milk check, he also is
council persident for the city of
Harrisburg.
In that role, he was also instru
mental in helping establish a rela
tionship between Pennsylvania
and Hidalgo and Vera Cruz, Mex
ico. As a result, a group of Mexi
can delegates visited Pennsylvania
this year meeting with state sena-
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MAMMA
From the left, Pennsylvanian John Cope, elected presi
dent of the National Holstein Association, talks with outgo
ing president John Selz during the nationafconventlon held
this year In Pittsburgh.
tors, the governor, Secretary Bro
sius and DeGarcia.
They toured different busines
ses and discussed using facilities to
market goods. A large shipment of
Pennsylvania cattle to Mexico was
a result of those talks.
The enhancement of the state’s
natural resources and its park sys
tem, and advertising it to attract
tourists, along with trying to get
manufacturing and exporting
increased to even more significant
levels has become the strategy for
getting the state out of its econom
ic doldrums.
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The end of the Cold War caused
the loss of a reason to work and
spend money for many, many peo
ple, including all American
people i.e. the government
The negative economic and
social effects of ending the Cold
War and trying to pay off the
national debt were and are
expected to be great.
Exporting American goods and
services has been seen as a way to
replace the jobs for the military/
industrial labor force that had been
built up tremendously since the
turn of the century (and even more
so during the presidency of Ronald
Regan) in the fight of
"communism.”
The nation has been left with
tremendous debt from its wars and
peacetime military/industrial
Background
growth.
To help fight the Cold War, the
United Stales had built up busines
ses in nations such as Germany,
Japan, and the Republic of Korea,
and set up protectionist trade
agreements whereby those coun
tries, some small and resource
poor, could build wealth in the face
of neighboring dirt-poor commun
ist nations. (Some of the commun
ist nations built phony “model”
cities close to borders so that anti
communists could see how well
people were living.)
Over the years, unrealistic work
compensation demands by Ameri
can Labor unions, a get-mine greed
ethic, and seemingly ridiculous
legal liabilities against American
manufactures, the businesses that
America helped build overseas
have helped to put many Ameri
cans out of work and on the streets.
Now, at the end of the Cold War,
the reason to continue trade agree
ments which protect other nations’
economies at the expense of
American business has gotten
harder to justify.
Overpopulation has again
become a prominent word as refu
gees from all over the world con
tinue to enter America to escape
the honors of tyrany, terrorism,
ignorance and poverty.
Further, some large corpora
tions have become “global” and
continue to take advantage of low
wages, poor living conditions and
(Turn to Pago AM)