HHj UNIVLb.tI I — — 1 .li! ry l. Vol. 41 No. 24 Farm Bill Creates Uncertainty And New Playing Field VERNON ACHENBACH JR. Lancaster Fanning Staff HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.) A lack of easy access to details and provisions included in the 1996 Farm Bill has created uncertainty and confusion about what farmers should do strategi cally to survive an anticipated transition in historic agricultural production and marketing practices. Information has been coming Put Aside Worries For Night Of Fun At Poultry Banquet ANDY ANDREWS Lancaster Fanning Staff HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.) Country music star Ricky Skaggs is the featured entertainment at the Pennsylvania Poultry Federation Annual Fund Raising Banquet next Wednesday evening, April 24, here at the Hershey Conven tion Center. For a few moments, poultry pro ducers can set aside concerns about feed prices and rumors of potential com shortages at the end of the summer and have a night of fun. Social hour begins at 5:30 p.rri. ' followed by dinner at 7 p.m. At the banquet, the main dish Beef Council Responds To Negative BSE Media Coverage HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.) Beef producers and industry leaders are outraged at a blatantly and-beef segment which aired on the April 16 Oprah Winfrey TV Show. Pre-airing promotions touted the episode as a food safety educa tional program for consumers, but The champions at the Spring Maryland Holstein Show. From left, Mike lager with C Maplebrough Revelation Kandy, the reserve senior champion; Chip Savage with Lylehaven Ann Sweetheart, the senior champion and reserve grand champion; Joe Schwartzbeck with Peace and Plenty Counselor Tonla-ET, the reserve intermediate champion; 604 Per Copy slowly out of Washington D.C. as U.S. Department of Agriculture officials attempt to analyse the document, summarize and public ize its intent. However, it is apparent that pro ducers of insurable crops better decide before the end of the week if they want to sign up for the gov ernment disaster protection. And the kicker is that if a pro ducer does not sign up by May 2, then he will not be eligible for that will be turkey piccata (turkey sauteed with fresh herbs and white caper butter), along with au gratin potatoes and grilled vegetables. Desseit will be a “Hershey Snow ball” (vanilla ice cream covered with toasted coconuts). Last year. 1,500 people sat down for a night of dinner and entertainment, according to John Hoffman, executive director of the Federation. “The Federation’s most impor tant activity in the past year has been food safety,” said Hoffman. He highlighted the successful hazards analysis critical control points (HACCP) program imple mented through the all-volunteer a beef industry spokesperson and a scientific expert had 75 percent of their taped comments edited out of the program in favor of anti beef activist Howard Lyman. The show appeared on six stations in Pennsylvania. “The show provided anti-meat activists with a platform for biased Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 20, 1996 insurance for the next seven years. According to a news release by the Ad Hoc Associates for the National Crop Insurance Services, Virginia Beach, Va., “Although the requirement linking crop insur ance to several other farm prog rams has been dropped undo 1 the new legislation, the net result is that if you do not sign up for the minimum (catastrophic) level of crop insurance coverage, you will forfeit your rights to any crop dis Pennsylvania Egg Quality Assur ance Program, or PEQAP. About 225 layer producers are signed up under PEQAP, which has several programs designed to control diseases at the production level. Hoffman also noted the success the worker’s compensation prog ram of the Federation in the past year. Also, members have been kept informed about the Federa tion activities through the monthly newsletter. Poultry Post The Federation provides a num ber of important benefits for pro ducers, including: • Food safety. The Federation is the only state agricultural organi- and unsubstantiated claims against beef, and had done a tre mendous disservice to millions of American consumers,” said David Ivan, executive director of the Pennsylvania Beef Council. ‘The episode was one of beef-bashing not a responsible discussion of BSE and the safety of the Ameri Shannon Harrison with C Arlanda Start) Zobee, the interme diate and grand champion; Amy lager with Tri-Day Jenny Jones, the reserve junior champion; and Ryan Savage with Chip Savage’s Junior champion, Savage-Leigh Lead Chrlssy. aster relief, even access to emergency loans. “Those producers who heeded Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman’s urgent advice to sign up for higher levels of crop insur ance coverage are already pro tected, as ate those who already signed up for only the minimum CAT coverage. “Thc one-time window of opportunity to sign up for CAT coverage is for those producers zation that employs a veterinarian to manage food safety programs for producers and processors. • Poultry health leadership. The Poultry Health Committee conti nuously monitors flock health and avian influenza surveillance data to maintain effective control and eradication programs, including the use of the Federation indemni ty fund. • Nutrient management. The Federation constantly participated f . in the development of nutrient* management legislation and reg ulations to ensure effective but fair requirements for poultry and egg producers. (Turn to Pagt A3O) can beef supply. Oprah took a complex technical issue and turned it into an hour of unjusti fied scare-mongering.” The Pennsylvania Beef Council is aggressively responding to the negative show about BSE, often referred to as “Mad Cow Dis ease.” Beef Council staff has Five Sections $25.00 Per Year who are totally exposed to the risks of crop disaster without any gov ernment protection.” Further, the news release stated that, “Should any producer who has only the basic CAT coverage choose to concel their policy dur ing this (until May 2) period, they will have to sign a waiver acknow ledging that they understand they will not be eligible for any disaster assistance for any insurable crop. (Turn to Page A 32) Ricky Skaggs contacted all of the stations on which the program aired in Penn sylvania to express their dissatis faction with the Oprah episode. The Council has also offered to meet with the of the stations to discuss BSE so that each station is prepared to address (Turn to Page A3O) Zobee Tops Maryland Spring Show KAREN BUTLER Maryland Correspondent TIMONIUM, Md. C Ar ia nda Starb Zobee, a senior three year-old Starbuck daughter owned by Paul “Butch” Harrison 111 and Billy Gregg, took grand champion honors at the Maryland Spring Holstein show. The show was held in Timonium at the State fair grounds on April 13. “She just developed and ma tured into a real nice cow,” said Butch of the purchased animal, which was also named the Inter mediate Champion in the open class, and had die 2nd best udder in her Three-Year-Old class. She was All Maryland senior two year-old and made 20,000 pounds of milk in 1995. Butch, his parents Paul and Susan, and sister Shan non milk 100 head at their Dun- Loafin Farm in Bufkittsville, Frederick County. (Turn to Pago A 24)
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