Lancaster farming. (Lancaster, Pa., etc.) 1955-current, January 31, 1998, Image 1
Vol. 43 No. 13 ARMPPA Presents Case To Amish Farmers EVERETT NEWSWANGER Managing Editor CHRISTIANA (Lancaster Co.) More than SOO Amish far mers with a handfiill of “English men” mixed in, packed church bench style into Peter Shams’ cow mattress manufacturing building Wednesday evening. By nightfall, the normally deserted rural road that winds west of town over small hills and vales, was lit up like Grand Central Station with horses and buggies, Amish transport vans, farm trucks, and cars of every dis crip tion. They came to hear offi cials of die new American Raw Milk Producers Pricing Associa tion (ARMPPA) bring a case fora national grass-roots effort for far mers to take back pricing of their milk into their own hands. ARMPPA is structured as a non profit. non-stock cooperative which supporters say has its base in the Capper-Volstead Act of 1921 This gives farmers the right to organize as a cooperative and puts the rules in place to govern the pricing and moving of milk. In a telephone conversation with the organization’s vice {Resident, John Kinsman. LaValle, Wisconsin, Lancaster Farming learned that An Mtlmated 600 Amish dairy farmers crowded Into a Christiana manu facturing facility Wednesday night to hear officials of the American Raw Milk Producers Pricing Association (ARMPPA) discuss the merits of this new milk pricing cooperative. Many of the farmers were already members, Calif. Dominates Southeast, Mid-Atlantic Peach Market - ANDY ANDREWS Lancaster Fanning Staff HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.) At the annual meeting of the slate vegetable and fruit growers here at the Hersbey Lodge and Conven Four Sections the roots of the movement are in the fanner efforts to mobilize far mers in what was known here in the East as RCMA. Kinsman said a lot was learned from this effort six years ago and said the present effort started two years ago is a pricing-only cooperative aimed at doing esentially on a national basis what RCMA tried to do regionally. Because of the national scope, Kinsman believes this effort will succeed where the regional effort did not “Our goals ate to keep fanners on the land and help the industry, not work against it,” Kinsman said. “We plan to work with Marketing Agencies In Common (MAIC's) and other supportive handlers and cooperatives to negotiate prices that the market will bear. We do not want to come across as being against present cooperatives, but we want to act as an umbrella cooperative to help them and to help independent handlers get more otUhe consumer’s dollar back to die dairy formers.” The cooperative has designated 12 regions for the nation. Each reg ion has a director on the board, and each region will be researched for (Turn to Pagt A 23) don Center, the managing director of the National Peach Council told growen that California is gaining, and everybody else is losing. What’s being lost? It’s the battle for peach crop maiket share. Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 31, 1998 Amanda DeSto was named the 1998 Pennsylvania Fair Queen at the state fair asso ciation's annual meeting last week. In her court are from left, April Brylngton, retiring queen; Ms. DeSio; and Jessica Watson, first mnner-up.See story page A 22. According to Charles Walker, managing director of the National Peach Council, Columbia, S.C., California will ship about 750-770 million pounds of peaches this sea son, nearly double the amount of a hers to show solidarity. Many others became members at the close of the meeting. One Amish dairy farmer who attended the meeting estimated that 85 percent of those attending the meeting are now members. Photo by Evaratt Nawawangar, managing adltor. decade ago. Peaches will be hauled to store shelves in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, where tradition ally seasonal crops in the heart of summer from local growen domi nate store displays. $28.50 Per Year Walker spoke to more than 100 peach producers and agri-industry representatives Wednesday at the 139th Annual Meeting and Trade Show of the State Horticultural (Turn to Pag* Alt) 600 Per Copy