taster Farming, Saturday, February 22, 1997 AlB-L«i mci Ag Secretary Seeks Comments On National Cheese Exchange (Continued from Page A 1) support for a milk strike during a series of meetings held in southern New York state and across the northern tier of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Milk Produc ers Association is a 2-year-old organization founded by its presi dent Marshall Wilson, an Elk County dairy farmer who tills 200 acres and milk 45 cows. He mark ets milk through Milk Marketing Inc. According to Wilson, PMPA has 200 members and they have been wprking in cooperation with Tewksbury and Pro Ag in calling for a national strike. He said that similar organiza tions in seven other states have joined PMPA in forming the United States Milk Producers Council, an independent organiza tion comprised of the presidents and vice presidents of the different state affiliates. In northeastern Pennsylva nia, the PMPA and Pro Ag have had a number of opinion articles published recently in farm publications that have urged dairy farm families to Pond together in a common jffort to secure a price for milk .hat reflects cost of production. According to Wilson, his urgamzalion’s latest projec jon of cost of production for a aundredweight of milk is 517.77. Withholding milk, as a last ■esort, is the main power upon which the groups are basing their strategy to achieve that cost of production. No Strike For Now However, according to a news release this week from Pro Ag, and according to Wil son, the strike has been post poned for at least three weeks, as a result of a Feb. 10 meeting at the Keystone College in Scranton between dairy pro ducers, the dairy support industry of northeastern Pen nsylvania, and U.S. Sens. Arlcn Specter, Rick Santor um, and U.S. Ag Secretary Glickman Cost Of Production Other dairy and farmer groups, such as the National Farmers Organization and the National Farmers Union, have also promoted national milk pricing policies that are based on the cost of production. However, the actual cost of dairy production varies greatly. All things being equal there are economies of size that fac tor against small family farms. Beyond that, personal skills, knowledge, abilities, proximity to processors, road conditions, local competition, and farm management strate gies vary greatly and present perhaps the greatest obstacle to pricing milk according to the cost of production. Determining whose farm ing style should set an industry standard for cost of production seems to be the greatest barrier to achieving such a standard price. While such a standard does not seem inconceivable to determine (though complicated), even if some new formula would be created to standardize the cost of production, it would seem impos sible to achieve complete agree ment among dairy producers. In general, the number of dairy farms has been continuing to decline year after year while the amount of milk produced has increased. This could indicate that production lost through the exit of dairy farms is not rally being picked up by expanding opera tions, but that those expansions are increasing the total amount of milk, and thus lowering the market value of milk. It also indicates, as statistics bear out, that dairy production is coming more and more from the larger operations. That continuing trend can be expected to also mean that the divide between cost efficiencies of the different dairy operations is gradually widening, puting more pressure on the smaller farms com peting in the same market. Some smaller farms have been switching production and market ing strategies, such as grazing to lower operational cash flow and debt requirements, or attempting to gamer a premium price by supp lying specialty markets, such as the “organic” market However, Pro Ag and the Pen nsylvania Milk Producers Associ ation have stated that their demand of a price received that reflects their members’ cost of production must be met or a strike will occur. According to Andy Wallace, Sen. Specter’s northeast Pennsyl vania regional administrator (in the Scranton office), and a staff employee for 14 years, the Feb. 10 meeting was put together within a week, and resulted from numerous farmer meetings that have been occuring during the past several months. “It was the largest meeting of dairy farmers ever in Pennsylvani a,” he said. “There were not only dairy farmers, there were feed With m MuAihc Advantage w Harness Xisa mwMt ly Ihtitie's Mm rJu Tiber o, Wfio , mil, the 40 eds UuUwrf iiintmh lln inui/h '.mil ll Veiled Hjfl ji*— brmdleoves tes=T" Buep U leave'. H bir behind. And ■ "*" |@ unlike Bicep (I - - aIeSP ar, d Extrazine, Ham®* 5 D n Harness Xtra ’ X*r» stops triazine resistant weeds. 30 Always read and follow label directiona 'Based upon sod binding and release comparisons as measured by Koc between the acti Harnna producti art not raglittrtd In tba stata of Ntw York. Meeting In Scranton It's time for you to make a herbicide choice. That means choosing the herbicide that gives you superior control of more weeds all season long. Of course, you can't be 100% sure that the tough weeds you had this year will be your only tough weeds next year. That's why it pays to have science on your side when growers, veterinarians, bankers. The (misconception) is that (the low milk price and the loss of dairy farms) affects just the farmer, but it’s affecting the entire economy, feed suppliers, etc., the support industry to the consumer.” According to Sen. Specter’s staff in Scranton, about 750 attended the Feb. 10 meeting. Wilson said if he would have had more notice he could have been able to inform more of his members. Wallace said that staff members have been attending some of the farmer meetings. He said that the meetings shouldn’t be considered Pro Ag meetings or PMPA meet ings, but instead they should be considered farmer meetings. He said his office has been made aware of the problem and that the entire Pennsylvania delegation including Representatives such as 10th District Rep. Joseph McDade whose district includes Scranton has been concerned and working to bring some relief. At the request of Sen. Specter and Sen. Santomm, U.S. Secretary - ° EHE •>™ f Check the labels for MdlQWdll ’ yourself. Harness Xtra advantage w ith the Max Avail of Agriculture Glickman also attended the meeting. The meeting was held on a Mon day morning, the same day as the annual meeting and Cornucopia event of the Pennsylvania State Council of Farm Organizations in the Harrisburg Capitol. Planned for months ahead of time, the Cornucopia provides farm organization and industry representatives an opportunity to discuss with state Legislators the current conditions of their respec tive industries) and issues affect ing them. The state Legislature is in the beginning stages of a new legisla tive session and developing new proposals. But according to many reports from different sources, at the meet ing in Scranton, local farmers, dairy industry support business representatives, and some local representatives of the state’s major agricultural organizations and others testified about the injury to Pennsylvania’s northeast dairy producers, and the potential devas (Turn to Page Al 9) choosing a herbicide. And with the Max Avail™ Advantage of Harness® Xtra __________ herbicide, you do. Advantage controls 15 percent more weeds than Bicep® ll—including tough grasses and broadleaf weeds. The Max Avail Advantage of Harness Xtra also stops the triazine-resistant weeds Extrazine* and Bicep II leave ivt ingredients m Hirneu and Dud II tßased upon 1996 product labi J
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