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Farm Groups Call For
Emergency Disaster Assistance
WASHINGTON, D.C. Na
tional Farmers Union and 11
other farm groups recently sent a
letter to Agriculture Secretary
Ann M. Veneman urging the ad
ministration’s support of and ac
tive engagement in securing
emergency disaster assistance for
farmers and ranchers.
The organizations commended
Veneman for the U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture’s timely an
nouncements and actions to ad
dress natural disasters
devastating crop and livestock
production in 2001 and 2002.
However, the farm organizations
pointed out in the letter that
there is still a desperate need for
emergency programs to “reduce
tragic weather-and disease
caused economic impacts experi
enced by farmers, ranchers and
their communities throughout
much of rural America.”
National Farmers Union Presi
dent Dave Frederickson said the
2002 farm bill was a leap forward
for rural America in providing a
safety net for producers, but that
the new farm law fails to provide
emergency disaster assistance.
Congress has enacted produc
tion loss disaster assistance each
of the last four years, but not for
producers who suffered losses in
2001. Last year, drought condi
tions devastated large portions of
Maine, Vermont, California, Ten
nessee, South Carolina, Ohio, In
diana, New York, New Mexico,
Wyoming, Virginia, Washington
and Idaho, and the entire state of
Montana.
In 2002, the drought has per
sisted in Montana, New Mexico
and Wyoming and has spread to
Colorado, Arizona, South Dako
ta, Nebraska and Texas. In addi
tion, army worms have infested
New York and Maine crops, and
more than two million birds have
been struck with avian flu in Vir
ginia. Recently, Minnesota agri
culture producers have been
struggling to stay afloat due to
flooding.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 20, 2002-A3l
ASA Strongly Opposes Amendments
ST. LOUIS, Mo. The Ameri
can Soybean Association (ASA)
joined other farm organizations
recently at a press conference in
Washington, D.C., to express
strong opposition to any amend
ments to the 2002 Farm Bill.
ASA First Vice President Ron
Heck, a soybean producer from
Perry, lowa, spoke at the press
conference about the need to
maintain the spending alloca
tions as outlined in the new Farm
Bill.
“After two years of uncertainty
over new farm legislation, and
historically low prices, farmers
now need stability to make long
term plans for their operations
and their families,” Heck said.
“The last thing we need is for
congress to reopen the 2002 act
and start reducing or modifying
our safety net.”
ASA was a strong supporter of
provisions outside the commodity
title of the 2002 Act that benefit
Land O’Lakes Joins Mitsui
In Cheese And Protein Venture
TULARE, Calif. Land
O’Lakes, Inc., Arden Hills,
Minn., and Mitsui and Co., Ltd.,
Tokyo, Japan, recently launched
Cheese and Protein Internation
al, LLC, a joint venture cheese
and whey production facility in
Tulare, Calif.
Chris Policinski, Land O’Lakes
executive vice president and
Dairy Foods chief operating offi
cer, said the facility is “where the
processing, supply chain manage
ment and marketing capabilities
of Land O’Lakes and Mitsui and
the milk production capabilities
of Tulare-area dairy producers
meet the opportunities we are
seeing in the cheese markets.”
The plant’s location in the na
tion’s number-one milk-produc
ing county, and the fact that U.S.
per capita cheese consumption
has increased by more than 20
percent since 1990 pointed to its
investment potential, Policinski
said.
Masayoshi Sato, chief operat
ing officer, Foods Unit, Consum
er Products and Services Group,
Mitsui and Co., Ltd., added that
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To 2002 Farm Bill
U.S. soybean producers. These
include increased tonnages under
various food aid programs, and
higher funding for the Foreign
Market Development (FMD) pro
gram and Market Access Pro
gram (MAP).
ASA also supported the ex
panded scope of conservation ini
tiatives, including the Environ
mental Quality Incentive
Program (EQIP) and the conser
vation security program for
working lands. In addition, ASA
expects soybeans to benefit from
provisions of the energy title of
the bill, including incentives for
increased use of biodiesel and
other soy-based bioproducts.
“ASA is opposed to reducing
spending in the Farm Bill to fund
other programs, including disas
ter assistance,” Heck said. “ASA
joins other farm groups in strong
ly opposing amendments to the
2002 Farm Bill.”
his company sees tremendous po
tential for the new plant.
The plant, with an injtial ca
pacity of 3.4 million pounds of
milk per day, is producing moz
zarella cheese, dried whey, and
whey fractions. Construction on
the approximately $l5O million
facility began in November 2000,
and was completed on-time and
on-budget. A significant expan
sion, bringing the plant’s capacity
to approximately six million
pounds of milk daily, is anticipat
ed.
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