(Continued from Page A2O)
the off-farm work was to provide
health benefits for the family. He
said that while some may be work
ing off-farm to support their farm
ing activities, he believes that in
addition to health benefits, those
who work off-farm do so to help
minimize the impact of volatile
commodity prices, such as hap
pened recently with milk prices.
“It’s not because they have time,
not because they are paying for
expensive vacations, but (they
work off-farm) to supplement
(farm income) during price lows,”
he said.
Redding said the outlook for
agriculture can remain good if it is
kept in mind that increased pro
duction needs increased markets.
He said that the United States
has one of the slowest population
growth rates in the world, at 1-per
cent per year, while agricultural
production increases by 2- to
2.5-percent per year. That extra
production must be exported, if
prices are to remain stable.
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Pa. Farm Bureau Holds Membership Rally
Other issues that are affecting
some and can be expected to affect
other producers include country
specific prerequisites to accepting
products into their country.
With the Noth American Free
Trade Agreement, and the recent
General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade which became the World
Trade Organization for settling
trade disputes among the member
nations, Redding said that produc
ers, primarily exporters, are going
to have to work with the state
Department of Agriculture which
is going to have to work the federal
government and become adept at
finding ways to achieve com
pliance with another country’s
requirements for product treatment
standards.
For example, he said that the
export of Christmas trees from
Pennsylvania to Mexico was held
up because' Mexico required the
trees to be sprayed with a pesticide
that is banned in the United States.
To work around the problem,
Pennsylvania worked with Mexico
fSpi j
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mM
Advantage means that Harness Xtra
includes a molecule that is more available
for weed uptake when you need it—where
you need it. When other herbicides are
binding to the soil and unavailable for
weed control, Harness Xtra is being
taken up by germinating weeds to give
you season-long control of more weeds.
More Powerful. Harness Xtra with the
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to develop a testing and certifica
tion program to document and ver
ify that the Christmas trees were
free of the pest of concern. Now,
Christmas trees are exported to
Mexico.
Redding said that as nations
around the world attempt to
increase the standard of living for
its middle class, that protectionis
tic regulations and standards can
be expected to be implemented and
work will have to be done to help
exporting concerns overcome
obstacles.
It’s a new role for state depart
ments of agriculture, Redding said,
becoming involved in product or
commodity specific issues in trade
disputes.
Food safety is also a concern
and ties into the role of the PDA to
help ensure compliance and public
trust
Another issue of which farmers
should be aware concerns the com
modity marketing programs and
mandatory deductions for
promotions.
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*1
So before you make a herbicide choice,
consider this fact: only Harness Xtra
with the Max Avail Advantage is more
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More available
Redding said that a U.S.
Supreme Court is considering a
case in which California peach and
nectarine growers are challenging
the constitutionality of their indus
try promotion program by claim
ing that it is a violation of the First
Amendment to force people to pay
for expressing an opinion that may
not be their own.
The outcome of that case could
have wide implications for the rest
of agriculture, he said.
He also touched on the current
dairy situation and said that while
dairy prices dir* decline sharply,
that it is turning around quickly
and prices should recover soon.
In addition, he said that Secret
ary Brosius recently sent a letter to
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan
Glickman praising him for the
actions taken to stem the drop in
milk prices due to the drop in
cheese prices on the National
Cheese Exchange.
Redding said that Pennsylvania
has requested an options pilot
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LwcMtef Firming, Saturday, February IS, 1997-A2l
program. He said that the New
York Cocao/Coffee/Sugar
Exchange would allow futures
trading on milk and the pilot prog
ram would allow for all commis
sions to be paid by the government
for six months while producers in a
six-county area are given the abili
ty to use the market.
Further, he said that those dairy
producers who have some ideas
about what the Basic Formula
Price should look like, and perhaps
have contrived a formula to
achieve a better basic price, or just
have some ideas to share, should
take the opportunity to do so now.
He said that Secretary Glickman
is seeking input on the issue, and,
“It’s not often the federal govern
ment asks,” Redding said.
One of the goals of the PDA
is to help relieve fanners from
the burden of excessive reg
ulations and a series of time
consuming inspections. He
said the goal is not to reduce
the quality of product or safety
assurances, but rather to seek
whether certain regulations
are necessary or if there is a
better way of achieving the
goals such regulation was
created to achieve.
Redding said the outlook is
good. “We are extremely opti
mistic about all the change,”
he said.
With a strong work ethic, a
climate that is conducive to
agriculture (even though the
best land is still being chewed
up through liberal allowances
for residential and retail deve
lopment), a strong support of
infrastructure such as high
ways, the fact that more than
50 percent of the United States
population as well as 60 per
cent of Canada’s population is
within a 24-hour trip by a
refrigerated truck of Pennsyl
vania fanners, a governor who
understands the importance of
agriculture and a good agricul
ture secretary, “All of this
translates into a very solid
base to support agriculture.”
He said that all of the issues
discussed are not to be solved
alone by government. They
require a constant communi
cation between the agricultur
al community and the PDA.
Afterward, Redding fielded
questions from the floor
several of which were actual
ly comments than question
which dealt with local tax
reform, local interpretations
of definitions in the slate’s Act
319 Clean and Green prefe
rential tax law, reform of the
municipal code and local
zoning.
Also, it was asked why
public sewer and water lines
were apparently easy to run
through farmland enrolled in
an official Agricultural Sec
urity Area, since it would do
nothing but encourage deve
lopers to target that property
for their use and also cause the
tax rates to increase further
helping to separate farmer
from land.
The PFB is a member of the
American Farm Bureau and
serves as an instrument for
developing, publicizing, and
representing fanning policies.
It also provides services for
members, such as estate,
financial and farm manage
ment planning, as well as a
group insurance plan.