Vol. 41 NO. 17
Common, Page In Holstein HaU, Weimers Distinguished Breeders
Creedln Cornman, left, and George Page, Jr., were named
to the Pennsylvania Holstein Asaaeiation’s Hall of Fame
last weefcat the annualcpnvntfon in Williamsport.
Farm Organizations Split
On Farm Bill Proposals
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Fanning Staff
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) State farm and mud orga
nizations are split, not evenly, on
proposals from the U.S. Senate and
House on a new Farm Bill, espe
cially dairy provisions.
A Senate Farm Bill proposal has
already been passed and has been
criticized by some farm organiza
tions for what is seen as certain
deficiencies or excesses depending
Kelly West captures the
New York State Dairy Prin
cess title during pageant
festivities last week. Turn to
page 814 lor pictures and
story.
60a Par Copy
ing on the perspective of the orga
nization’s leaders, while the House
had been expected to complete its
version of the Farm Bill this week.
With each legislative body
offering a different version of a
Farm Bill it is expected that a con
ference committee members
from the Senate and House
would convene to create a final
approved version to be passed on
to the President for final approval.
The Farm Bill has been labeled
as the “Freedom to Farm” bill
because it is seen as a way to elimi
nate government support for agri
culture and let producer prices fol
low whatever market and proces
sor demand allow.
The range of possible outcomes
of total deregulation go from some
predicting certain failure of
remaining American independent
family farms because of unfair
pricing of agricultural commodi
ties by developing nations, to vis
ions of higher prices being paid to
American farmers because pro
duction would reflect demand and
not cause constant oversupply.
While details of the entire prop
osal have not been readily avail
able to the general public, the staff
of the state’s different farm organi
zations have been active in picking
up on recommendations from their
respective national organizations
and trying to gain public support
fra those positions.
On Feb. 23, the Pennsylvania
State Grange, the Pennsylvania
Fanner’s Union, and Progressive
Agriculture Organization held a
joint press conference in the state
Capital Rotunda denouncing the
(Turn to Pag* A 22)
Lancattar Farming, Saturday, March 2,1996
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Managing Editor
WILLIAMSPORT (Lycoming
Co.) Riding on the wave of
national accolades for' hosting
Holstein USA’s annual convention
in Pittsburgh last June, the Pen
nsylvania Holstein Association
met last week to review the year’s
activities, elect officers, and pre
sent Hall of Fame, Young Holstein
Breeder, and numerous other pro
duction and type awards.
Begining on Thursday of last
week, Ralph DeVillars. a Muncy
salesman and hobby milk bottle
collector, opened the event with
the history of the milk bottle.
DeVillars has one of the most
extensive collections of bottles,
with local and national examples of
the first “jars” used to distribute
milk door to door. Special innova
tions such as the cream top, the
baby face cream top, the bottle
with an indented side cream separ
ator bottle, and the bottle with the
pewter handle and top were-among
the illustrations.
At the Pennsylvania Mule Day Tuesday on the farm of Henry Kauffman, Christiana,
in Lancaster County, several hundred Amish farmers and a few “English” stopped by
to see a 20-mule team being hitched and driven by Jack Strode, mule trainer from Ten
nessee. One Amlahman reported it was “quite a sight," and the Englishman agreed.
For a visual report of the event, see Managing Editor Everett Newswanger’s photo
essay on pages A3O-31.
In the old days, the fanner didn’t
let someone else do the marketing.
He did it himself. At first it was just
a milk can with a dipper to ladle out
milk into the town customer’s con
tainer. Later, various milk bottles
with additional advertising mes
sages were added to the farmer’s
marketing program.
DeVillars contends that one of
the problems with marketing-today
is that farmers have given up their
own efforts to bring their products
to market.
In a panel discussion. Dr. Robert
Yonkers, moderator, expanded on
the marketing topic with “Policies,
Issues and Challenges.” James
Dunn from Penn State had worked
in U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum’s
office to help draft the new Farm
Bill. Dunn said they expected to
have passed a Farm Bill by now,
but the bill is still waking its way
through the system. At any rate, the
bill didn’t include anything about
dairy because no one could agree
on what should be included. The
Four Sactiona
major difficulty is that while such
things as food stamps, welfare
reform, and Medicare follow party
lines, the dairy issue follows reg
ional lines.
Dennis Schad, Atlantic Dairy
Association, agreed He said there
were many players in the field
beside farmers. Environmental and
nutritional interests are especially
strong in the Farm Bill
negotiations.
Efforts to lower milk hauling
costs have begun in some areas by
cooperatives working together to
pick up milk at each other’s farms
if they are side by side. The move
to consolidate federal orders is
being done to make the business
environment better so milk plants
don’t need'to move from one to the
other.
Richard Waybright, Mason
Dixon Farms, said the nation
doesn’t need Pennsylvania’s milk
but Pennsylvania needs the nation
al markets.
(Turn to Page BIS)
$25.00 Par Year