A22-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 18, 2002 President Signs Farm Bill, USD A Faces Distribution Chores DAVE LEFEVER Lancaster Farming Staff WASHINGTON, D.C. Now that the new farm bill is official, the nation’s fanners are slated for a boost in conservation and price support funds. While grain, cotton, and rice are the most heavily subsidized commodities, dairy farmers will also be eligible for payments dur ing times of depressed fluid milk prices. Farmland preservation funds were increased about 20-fold in the bill “great news for farm land preservation in Pennsylva nia,” said Mary Bender, director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Farmland Preservation. President Bush signed the six year legislation into law Monday, after it passed the U.S. Senate by a 64 to 35 vote and the House by 240 to 141 in prior weeks. According to advocates of the new bill, price supports were boosted to reduce the need for providing emergency assistance to farmers, a common practice under the Freedom To Farm Act of 1996. The bill has generated broad support from farmer organiza tions, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Na tional Farmers Union, the Na tional Corn Growers Association, the National Soybean Associa tion, and Pennsylvania farm groups as well. “This farm bill is the strongest yet in terms of conservation and benefits for the environment. The new farm bill puts in place a strong conservation program that includes incentives for farmers to improve resource conservation,” USDA Seeks Nominees For National Dairy Board WASHINGTON, D.C. USDA is asking dairy producer and farm organizations to nomi nate candidates to serve on the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board. Nominations must be submitted by May 31. The secretary of agriculture will appoint 12 individuals from those nominated to succeed members whose terms expire Oct. 31, 2002. The 12 new members will serve 3-year terms beginning Nov. 1, 2002, and ending Oct. 31, 2005. Appointments will be made from nominations for the follow ing: Region 2 (California); Re gion 3 (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming); Region 4 (Arkansas, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas); Region 5 (Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dako- Agencies Announce Formation Of Wasting Disease Group WASHINGTON, D.C. USDA and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) recently an nounced the formation of a joint working group on chronic wast ing disease (CWD) to ensure a coordinated and cooperative fed eral approach to assisting the states with CWD response ef forts. “Working together with indus try, states and other federal agen cies is vital in further addressing this issue,” Deputy Undersecre tary of Agriculture Dr. Jim But ler said in testimony before a joint hearing of two House Re sources Subcommittees. “In par ticular, working with the Depart ment of the Interior will ensure the must efficient response to said Joel Rotz, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau director of national legislative programs. Others have expressed dissatis faction with the new policies. Kathy Lawrence, executive di rector of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, said the bill fails to address the needs of many of the nation’s farmers. “By promoting big industry over family farms and ranches, this bill spells trouble for agricul tural communities, the environ ment, and consumers and we cannot support it,” she said. One initiative supported by Lawrence’s group that remains in the final bill is the new Conserva tion Security Program, a measure that rewards farmers who prac tice environmental stewardship. The new dairy program, which will provide direct payments to the nation’s milk producers when the Class I price falls below $16.94 per hundredweight in the Northeast, has met mixed re views. While a majority of Pennsylva nia’s dairies produce less than the 2.4 million pounds of milk that are eligible for funds, some in the dairy field worry that the subsidies will result in flooded milk markets. “On average, this will be a boon for dairy farmers, but it will have size-specific effects. If you believe anything about econom ics, you would have to believe that more money for producers will mean that more milk will be produced,” said Mark Ste phenson, economist at Cornell University. That could mean dairies with more than 400-500 cows may lose ta); Region 6 (Wisconsin); Region 7 (Illinois, lowa, Missouri, and Nebraska); Region 8 (Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee); Region 9 (Indi ana, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia); Region 11 (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania); Region 12 (New York) and Region 13 (Connecti cut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont). For nominating forms and pro cedures, contact David R. Jami son, Chief, Promotion and Re search Branch, Dairy Programs, AMS, USDA, Room 2958-S, Stop 0233, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-0233; telephone (202) 720-6909; fax (202) 720-0285; or e-mail at david.jamison2@usda.gov. CWD by coordinating the efforts of both departments in the areas of research, surveillance and management.” CWD is a transmissible spong iform encephalopathy (TSE) of deer and elk. There is no evi dence that CWD is linked to dis ease in humans, or in domestic animals other than deer and elk. The disease has been detected in wild deer and elk and in farmed elk herds. Wild deer and elk have been found with the disease in Colorado and Wyoming. The first meeting of the joint working group on chronic wast ing disease is scheduled for May 23. Joined by government officials and the media, Presi dent Bush signs the new Farm Bill Monday morning. more on lowered milk prices than they would gain from the subsidy payments, according to Ste phenson. Penn State dairy economist Ken Bailey said the effect of the program on milk supplies is diffi cult to predict. “We will be getting more milk, but it’s hard to say how much,” he said. The dairy program is in effect from December 1, 2001 through September 30, 2005. Dairy farm ers will need to apply at their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office in order to receive pay ments, Bailey said. According to Rotz of the PFB, dairies with 70 cows averaging 18,000 pounds of milk can expect a $5,600 check this fall. Rotz’s projections indicate av erage herds could receive a total of about $B,BOO for the year, and dairies producing up to the eligi ble limit could receive twice that amount. - ■ * * N tßmm All this adds up t 0... Grandrib 3* PLUS is backed by an industry leading: 35 Year Sidewall & 30 Year Roof Paint Warranty 25 Year Sidewall Corrosion Warranty 20 Year Roofing Corrosion Warranty 10 Year Edge Rust Warranty 717-866-6581 761 E. Linden St. Richland, M 17687 While the PFB had supported dairy compact legislation that would have used money from the marketplace to sustain milk prices, Rotz said the Farm Bill provision will actually add up to more funds, especially for smaller farms. With a large portion of the milk produced in Pennsylvania eligible for the subsidy, “the reali ty is that this program will pay more (than the compact would have),” he said. Administered by the USDA through local FSA offices, the program will require an “incred ible amount of work” to get the new regulations in place. “There’s no need (for dairy farmers) to watch the mailbox be fore this fall,” Rotz said. The new farmland preserva tion funds will be distributed to programs across the country. Both publicly administered and private, nonprofit farmland pres Grandrib 3 9 PLUS Complete Building Packages, Trusses And Glue-Laminated Timbers ervation groups will be eligible, according to Bender of the Penn sylvania Bureau of Farmland Preservation. With $5O million allocated be fore October 1 of this year and $lOO million for fiscal year 2003, the funding “shows how impor tant farmland preservation has become nationally,” she said. “We will be seeking our share here in Pennsylvania.” The Farm Bill also: • Mandates an additional $17.1 billion for conservation in centives. • Raises subsidies for grain and cotton. • Revives subsidies for wool and honey. • Allows meatpacking cor porations to continue owning livestock, overturning a Senate proposal to ban packer owner ship. • Requires country-of-origin labeling for meat, fish, produce, and peanuts, starting in two years. • Allows com, soybean and small grain producers to update yield and base acreage figures. • Requires importers of dairy products to pay 15 cents per hun dredweight to the dairy checkoff program to fund milk promotion activities. • Expands an adjusted gross revenue insurance program for specialty crop producers, now in effect in six eastern Pennsylvania counties. • Allocates $405 million for bioenergy initiatives. • Increases marketing lo§n rates. • Provides new payments for peanuts, lentils, and dried peas. 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