Bill Would Allow More States To Join Dairy Compact
WASHINGTON (D.C.)
The U.S. House of Representa
tives recently introduced legis
lation that would indefinitely
extend the Northeast Interstate
Dairy Compact past its Sep
tember 30, 2001 expiration date
as well as expand the compact
to include states that have al
ready passed compact legisla-
Network Wants Ag Ed
To Be In Forefront
ANDY ANDREWS
Editor
MANHEIM (Lancaster Co.)
Numbers often tell the story.
About 10 years ago, 200
schools in the state had some
kind of vocational agricultural
program.
Now only 167 of 501 school
districts have some type of agri
cultural education program.
“That’s something that really
concerns me,” said Mike Pechart
of the Pennsylvania Farm Bu
reau.
Pechart helps coordinate the
Agricultural Education Collabo
rative Partnership Network. The
network includes the Farm Bu
reau working with a consortium
ol universities and industry on
the re-invention of ag education
in Pennsylvania by the year
2020.
Pechart spoke to about 20
agri-industry representatives last
week at an Ag Issues Forum at
Kreider’s Restaurant in Man
heim.
Said Pechart, “We'ie losing
these agricultural programs in
school that have been helping to
prepare our kids."
Those programs, once a tradi
tion in area schools, are becom
ing lost as successive generations
move away from traditional pro
duction agriculture.
One teacher asked some chil
dren once where popcorn came
from. A common response, noted
Pechart, was “the microwave.”
Though ag remains Pennsyl
vania's number one industry the
past 250 years, in the last 50
years the state has lost 50,000
farms, Pechart noted.
The average age of a Pennsyl
vania farmer is 53. “That’s some
thing that really concerns me,”
said Pechart, who remembers
growing up in Boiling Springs on
a family farm.
“I had friends who lived on a
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tion.
Introduced by U.S. Reps.
Asa Hutchinson (R —Ark) and
Bob Etheridge (D —NC), the
proposed bill, known as The
Dairy Consumers and Produc
ers Protection Act of 2001, also
seeks to create a dairy compact
for southeastern states.
Tracy Jackson, Pennsylvania
farm,” he said. “Now I can only
point to one that remains on a
farm.”
About 20 percent of Pennsyl
vania’s working population are
related in some way to agricul
ture, if they’re not actively farm
ing. Some are bioengineers, plant
pathologists, landscape archi
tects, and others.
There are so many occupa
tions, Pechart noted, that involve
food and fiber production and
distribution. They include truck
drivers who transport tarm com
modities.
The problem with promoting a
program such as the collabora
tive network is there is a lack of
funds, and also a lack of teach
ers, he said.
Less and less farmers and
those related to ag serve on
school boards. So ag education
doesn’t remain a priority in
schools. And many teachers, Pe
chart was surprised to learn re
cently, believe agriculture is sim
ply “a farmer on a tractor” with
a couple of cows.
More and more, Farm Bureau
is seeing ag programs that are
having their funds cut in schools.
But the Network seeks ways to
provide lifelong learning, envi
ronmental stewardship, long
term ag viability, personal devel
opment, professional develop
ment, and use emerging technol
ogies.
The focus remains on provid
ing a system to educate students
in schools about agriculture and
its importance to the state’s
economy.
“We must not let misconcep
tions become emotions and cre
ate problems for those of us in
volved in ag,” he said.
The network seeks to involve
teachers and school administra
tors in a more enlightened way.
“If we don’t, I don’t know who
is going to,” Pechart said.
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Milk Marketing Board
(PMMB) Director of Consumer
Affairs, said that the PMMB re
mains neutral in its position to
ward the compact because cur
rent PMMB price regulations in
Pennsylvania are serving the
needs of farmers.
“We do in Pennsylvania
what the compact is doing in
the rest of the region,” Jackson
said. “Pennsylvania farmers al
ready have the premium (price
paid for milk).”
Jackson said that the PMMB
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will continue to remain open to
the possibility of joining the
compact if conditions would
warrant.
According to a New York
Farm Bureau press release, 27
of New York’s 31 representa
tives signed on to sponsor the
new legislation.
The states of Connecticut,
Maine, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island and
Vermont have maintained an
official Northeast Interstate
Dairy Compact for the past
three years.
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Proponents of the compact
cite regional stabilization of
milk prices, local marketing in
centives and zero operating
costs to state and federal gov
ernment as benefits of the com
pact.
The Maryland Dairy Indus
try Association (MDIA) showed
its support for the new bill.
“We need dairy compacts to
help reverse the decline of inde
pendent farm operations,” said
MDIA president Myron Wil
hide.
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