A24-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 25, 1997 Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board Approves 40-Cent Increase (Continued from Pago A 1) Therefore, on May 1,1998, the over-order premium is set to return to 50-cents. Close to, but prior to that time, it can be expected that the PMMB will again hold a public hearing to gather information to help guide its policies. Just less than half of all milk sold in Pennsylvania is used as fluid milk and receives a federal Class I use rating. The federal government uses a formula to determine minimum federal order prices. The nation is divided into “milk pools” and the federal orders reflect those pools, though the relevance of the rela tionship between local prices and local milk availability has been dimming in recent years with mer gers of producer and milk market ing cooperatives. Furthermore, the whole prog ram is undergoing change as pre scribed in the 1996 Farm Bill, and the Farm Bill calls for a reduction in the number of different federal orders. in general, the USDA sets monthly national minimums for each federal milk marketing order by considering market prices of milk and related dairy poducts, as well as production prices. It also considers how the milk is used. An USDA federal order admini- WATERLESS TOILETS - j “Sun-Mar” Composting Toilets Several models available including non-electnc • NO Septic System •NO Chemicals Save the Environment l Recycle Back to Nature l FREE: 12 Page Color Catalog We Reclaim Failing Septic Systems - Guaranteed Results! ECO-TECH Call Today 1-800-879-0973 c CONSTRUCTION, INC. MANHEIM, PA (717) 653-4023 - Pre-Engineered Buildings Lifetime Design Warranty Dairy T.ESTER Equine Self-Storage Commerical Rick’s Gradall Rental, Lie. Pond Buildinq Pond Cleaning Stone Reventment Stream Restoration Demolition call Scott or Bruce HI poqcr HIO-339-8991 strator announces the prices, and provides data on milk usage and volume. Farmers receive their pay for milk after it is used by a processor. The processor decides how best to use the milk to supply its markets, and then pays the farmer based on those decisions. The farmer usual ly also gets billed for hauling the milk to the processor. The PMMB is an oversight and consumer-interest board for the dairy industry in Pennsylvania, charged with the mission of ensur ing a safe, reliable milk supply, and protection of farmer-pay from the sale of milk, among other mandates. It has the authority to set mini mum retail and wholesale prices on milk sold in Pennsylvania, and to set an over-order premium (money that gets paid to farmers above the federal marketing order minimum pice) on drinking milk produced, processed and sold within Pennsylvania. The Oct 10 special hearing of the PMMB to reconsider the level was held at the recommendation and request of state Secretary of Agriculture Samuel Hayes Jr., whose reasons included severely declined milk prices, increased feed prices, and decreased crop production (currently the entire state is eligible for disaster assis tance via federal low-interest loans). Upon learning of Secretary Hayes leadership in calling for the special hearing, the state’s leading agricultural organizations joined in support. Secretary Hayes also testified at the Oct 10 hearing, as well as did representatives of the farmer organizations. “My testimony is not going to be a statistical treatise about milk prices. I have poured over num bers, charts, coefficients, graphs, tables, diagrams, and other data,” Hayes told the board. “However, after all of the eco nomic analysis, you come back to one fundamental fact dairy far mers are receiving approximately 30 percent less for their milk today than they did last year. “Dairy farmers cannot survive this type of economic depression forever.” He said that while some con tinue to offer that, “Fanners need to be better managers,” an oft repeated phrase of no specific help, Hayes argued that today’s Pennsylvania dairy farmer is an excellent model of efficiency. ‘There are over 3,000 fewer farms, 92,000 fewer cows, but the remaining dairy fanners and their cows have increased total avail able milk by 400 million pounds,” Hayes said, comparing 1996 data to that of 1986. WHEN TIMES ARE TOUGH AND MONEY RENAISSANCE NUTRITION, INC. Quality Products, Exceptional Service, Competitive Pricing Now more than ever is the time to trust Renaissance with your herd. We help you combine the best nutrition with the best price to give you the most return on your investment. WHO SHOULD YOU TRUST? The proven leader for over 12 years in Northeastern Dairy Nutrition. Call us today! Discover why there is no substitute for quality rcrrissrrcc nutrition, inc 1-800-FINE MIX “The dairy fanner knows how to be a good manager. But, it is pretty hard to manage over an extended period of time through a depression-like environment which brings about a 30-percent drop in your revenues.” He said that though individual states cannot change the federal order milk marketing structure, Pennsylvania has the opportunity to adjust its over-order premium to provide some relief to instate producers. “Such an opportunity will not solve all of the problems which are inherent in the federal pricing sys tem. Nevertheless, we should do what we can to provide some mea sure of empathy and economic relief for our embattled dairy fanners.” He said that he wanted to, "... respectfully suggest we should be guided by a few principles when considering the dairy farmers’ plight” He said that the first principle should be the prevention of the loss of the state’s dairy business. “You and I do not want the dairy industry to become an offshore industry as happened with Pen nsylvania’s steel and textiles. “From 1956 to 1996, Pennsyl vania employment in the primary metal industry dropped 74 percent ‘Textile and garment employ ment in Pennsylvania dropped 75 RCDftISSfIdCC is TIGHT? percent during this same penoa. “Do we want the same for the Pennsylvania dairy industry which generates approximately 38 per cent of Pennsylvania’s agricultural economy? Do we want our dairy industry to migrate out of Pennsyl vania and off-shore as has hap pened to steel, textiles, and the gar ment industry? I think not.” He said his second principle was the prevention of the loss of diver sity in the dairy industry through the attrition of family farms and the take over of mega corporations “Big is not a bad word; but, it should be possible for the indivi dual dairy farmer to grow larger, enjoy the economic advantages offered by economy of scale, with out the need to sell out to mega corporations,” he said. He said the third principle should be to ensure that consumers do not suffer a surge in shelf price. “A few things should be noted. While dairy farmers have exper ienced a 30-percent drop in their prices (received), consumer prices for retail dairy products have remained fairly stable. For sure, consumer prices have not dropped 30 percent “It should also be noted that for every dollar spent only 23 cents covered the hum value of food purchases, and the rest 77 percent was marketing costs. (Turn to P«a* *25)
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