G264jncmtr Fanning, Friday, January 10, 1997
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y.
As this year and this century com
es to a close, agriculture truly is
entering a new era. Farm Service
Agency Associate Administrator
Randy Weber said at the National
Farmers National Convention
here recently.
“Programs and policies have
been with us for decades and are
changing, and the role of govern
ment in agriculture is changing.”
Weber said. “But there is one con
stant It also remains the govern
ment’s responsibility to assure a
healthy, strong farm economy,
and to work with the producers
who make it possible.
“1996,1 believe, will go down
in the books as a watershed year
for agriculture,” Weber said.
The new farm bill will subject
farmers to the discipline of open
and sometimes volatile markets,
such as those markets seen in the
1996 grain and dairy commodi
ties. Weber explained.
Today’s farm policies are
bringing producers throughout the
nation choices and new opportuni
ties, but Weber cautioned that
more than ever, farmers will face
new risks.
Futhermore, Weber expressed
concern about the North American
Free Trade Agreement and its
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FSA Official Warns Producers Of New Market Risks
impact on American independent
farm operators. “We were very
disappointed in the NAFTA
panel’s report supporting high
Canadian tariffs on U.S. exports
of dairy, poultry and other prod
ucts,” he said. He said USDA
would work to improve U.S.
access to Canadian markets,
including woik with the World
Trade Organization.
National Farmers leaders agree
with Weber. “The United States
government needs to work proac
tively to protect American produc
ers. in an effort to assure that free
trade is fair to our farmers,” said
National Farmers President Gene
Paul.
The FSA adminstrator also took
issue with industry concentration,
from railroads to livestock opera
tions. “Secretary Glickman
believes strongly that it is the gov
ernment’s role to assure a level
playing field at home as well as
w
Wy
abroad,” Weber said. “As agricul
ture becomes more dependent on
the market, the forces of competi
tion must work.”
Four companies account for 87
percent of all red meat slaughter
and processing in the U.S. “Never
before in the history of agriculture
has America seen so much market
power in so few hands,” Paul said.
“It is time today to focus a positive
effort on returning competition to
the markets.”
Weber said the USDA will con
tinue to work with its committee
on livestock concentration. “We
are concerned about concentration
wherever we see it,” Weber said.
And, he pointed to the inequity in
the unusually wide difference
between the price farmers receive
for their production, and the price
American consumers pay for their
food at the supermarket.
The farm bill was passed on
April 4, 1996, but the FSA and
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USDA greeted it with questions
and doubt “Although this particu
lar piece of legislation provided
much-needed planting flexibility,
we believe it fell short of provid
ing an adequate safety net,” Web
er said. He added that President
Bill Ginlon hopes to revisit that
issue, although it is unclear
whether the farm bill would be
addressed again.
“Dairy is a program that I
believe was short-changed in the
1996 act,” Weber said. “In
essence, the dairy price support
program is phased out after 1999
... the more immediate problem is
that since October wholesale
prices have plummeted by 52 per-
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cent for butler and over 25 percent
for cheese.”
From September to November,
the pay price to producers dropped
about $4 per hundredweight.
‘This is the largest two-month
decline on record,” Weber said.
“We’re very concerned about
this rapid and sharp decline in
dairy prices, and the secretary is in
the process now of reviewing
what in his arsenal he has that can
help,” Weber said. The USDA can
work to increase exports through
reactivating certain programs and
increasing exports under others.
But under current law, the assis
tance USDA can provide is lim
ited, he explained.
Todd& Cecil Irvin
Cecil J. Irvin and Son
State College, Pennsylvania