Dairy Market Report (Continued from Page Al 6) this policy proposal. On the one hand, NMPF is pushing legisla tion that will close unfair trade loopholes in the World Trade Agreement (WTO) by placing new tariffs on MPC imports. We chastised the Canadians for ex porting beyond their WTO limits. But now NMPF intends to use export bonuses funded by this voluntary program to “dump” surplus cheese and butter abroad. This is contrary to the spirit of our trade agreements and can only cause economic hardship for dairy farmers abroad. But let’s assume for the mo ment that world prices aren’t* negatively impacted by this pro gram, all dairy farmers contrib ute their 18 cents per hundred weight, and milk prices then rise >ST*R Silo I nloadcr Icchiiologs lakes a (liant I cap lorward! I luantum CALL US TODAY FOR A VIDEO AND BROCHURE. 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That, we snobbishly argue, represents a form of socialism and is better left to the Cana dians or the Europeans. The Ca nadian system, by the way, does work: they provide high and YOUR ALL-IN-ONE FARMSTEAD EQUIPMENT SOURCE SIMPLY THE BEST! You know tower silos are the best way to store Now Jamesway* gives you the best way to fill and feed fast, with great reliability. Plus, you get: • Better Feed Quality • More Feed Storage • A Clean Chute The all-new industrial-design Big Jim QUANTUM System can be installed in any type of 20' to 30' forage silo, conventional or oxygen limited. And since it requires little maintenance and has no doors to change, you eliminate trips up and down the silo HOOVER EQUIPMENT Tyrone, PA16686 814-684-1777 LAPP’S BARN EQUIPMENT SALES & SERVICE Gap, PA 17527 717-442-8134 stable prices within a quota framework. But in the U.S., we want it both ways: higher guaran teed milk prices and no mandato ry supply control. We have reached a critical point where we have to make some fundamental choices re garding what kind of dairy policy we want in this country. One can not continue to have newer and greater price guarantees without some thought given to a national mandatory supply control pro gram. Such a program would re quire everyone to participate. But we really don’t like man datory supply control programs in America. And if that is the case, we have to rely on market forces instead to determine milk supply, demand, and prices. That will require us to give up all sub sidy programs. Why? Because subsidies and price supports im pede market forces. 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HOSTETTER McVeytown, PA 17051 717-899-6386 Contact your local dealer for details l SOMERSET BARN EQUIPMENT Somerset, PA 15501 814-445-5555 STAR SILOS Chambersburg, PA 17201 1-800-909-6909 GLADHILL TRACTOR MART Frederick, MD 21701 301-663-6050 . . . . a big problem. The fact is, you can’t have your cheese and eat it too. The benefit of a real market is that it forces producers to devel op products that consumers want. This is a far cry from the current situation where it is more profitable to produce nonfat dry milk for the government than for real customers. Because of the support price program, we are now relying on countries like India and Estonia to provide part of our dairy protein needs. In ad dition, the support price program is providing an artificial floor on milk prices that allow some very efficient California dairy produc ers to add more cows, even when market prices are depressed! If you don’t believe me, check out the March 2003 milk production report. If I was elected the new Dairy Czar, my preference would be to eliminate the price support pro- competitively produce milk pro teins such as MPC and casein here in the U.S., and would make year-after-year expansions in states such as California much more risky. I’d keep the MILC payment program because it is targeted to smaller producers who aren’t likely to expand. Also, it is socially appealing to provide some price protection to smaller, more vulnerable market partici pants. The U.S. dairy industry would be better off and stronger in the long run if we moved toward less government intervention and greater market orientation. Few economists would argue against this. That said, if we don’t want freer markets and do expect greater protection from market forces, we should accept some form of mandatory supply con trol. Voluntary supply control sounds good, but has not worked in the past. California alone has doubled their milk production since supply control programs were last used in the mid-1980s. gram and keep the Milk Income Loss Contract pro gram (MILC) if there was going to con tinue to be government involvement in the mar kets. Getting rid of the price support program would allow processors to Either we will have higher guaranteed milk prices for all producers with a Canadian-style supply control program, or we’ll opt for much less go\ eminent in tervention and a mai ket-oriented dairy policy. You simply can’t have it both ways. Editor’s note: This column was published earlier as a Cheese Market News guest column. The opinions here are those of the au thor and not of Penn State Uni versity nor necessarily of this newspaper. 4.9$ Long Distance Service 4.90 per minute, first minute, every minute, in your state, and in all 48 states. 6 second billing Call JDS Telecom 1-888-315-1179 Wfyt Baity B&ecorb Umx'Mtt, ytn»»>h «rtli Awci* Milton Hershe: Returns to Lancaster!
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