Weekly Dairy Market Outlook (Continued from Page Al 6) The next part of my assign ment was spent with a one-year old milk cooperative called Jav lacta. They are located in South ern Moldova, where milk produc tion is less common. The co-op manager, Ms. Maria Culesov, is well educated, articulate, and has very good business and computer skills. My job was to help her de velop a strong business plan for this new and fragile cooperative. It was clear that Ms. Culesov was both exited about their fu ture prospects and frustrated by all the setbacks they had experi enced during the past 12 months. There are expectations in Moldo va that any new business should start immediately with large profits. Also, the many villagers think about making money today, not tomorrow, making the concept of investment difficult. But cooperatives only work if farmers are willing to invest to gether in a new business. Thus the concept of a cooperative is very new and strange to the vil lagers. Part of Ms. Culesov's role is to educate the villagers about production issues and coopera tives, and to help them contribute to a new form of business that they can all participate in. Part of my role as a CNFA vol- National Farmers Union Opposes CAFTA WASHINGTON, D.C. Na tional Farmers Union criticized the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which it believes will adversely impact do mestic producers of sugar, fruit, vegetable, dairy, and other com modities. “The CAFTA agreement offers few benefits to American agricul ture producers,” said NFU Presi- Keystone concrete PRODUCTS unteer is to provide these fledg ling co-op leaders a bit of encour agement. I did what I could to help Ms. Culesov. I was very im pressed with her business savvy and leadership skills. I explained that it will take time for the vil lagers to understand what a co operative is all about. I also explained that the coop erative leader is someone who has no friends. Her role is to be tough and business-minded, and that she had a tremendous re sponsibility to all the members. There is no school or classes that can teach her all that she will need to learn. I also said I was confident that she was going to be very successful in her new role. The Moldovan economy is slowly trying to recover from the events of the past 10 years. Agri culture is an important economic base for the country and that’s why CNFA is focusing their American volunteers on this sec tor of the economy. It provides jobs and economic activity for those villagers who want to stay home and work. It is also very encouraging for me to see strong, well-educated leaders such as Visillii Gheorghita and Ms. Cule sov. Also, it is rewarding to see new, fledgling cooperatives mak ing economic progress in a very short period of time. dent Dave Frederickson. “CAFTA countries represent a relatively small market of ap proximately 31 million people with limited resources that can be used for the purchase of agricul tural products. Additional mar ket access and tariff relief for a few U.S. products will not offset the negative impact of increased imports from these countries.” 477 EAST FARMERS VILLE RD. NEW HOLLAND, PA 17557 ("waffle slat" (717) 355-2361 ■ NO OPINION (Continued from Page A 10) According to the USD A Food Safety and Inspection Service, Vems Moses Lake Meats, Moses Lake, Wash., is recalling 10,410 pounds of raw beef that may have been exposed to tissues containing the infec tious agent that causes BSE, which has a dangerous link to transmissi ble spongiform encephalopathies. That includes the family of human illnesses, a variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), which is be lieved to be caused by eating tissue from BSE-affected cattle. U.S. Ag Secretary Ann M. Veneman was quick to respond to the news. “Despite this finding, we remain confident in the safety of our beef supply,” Veneman said. “The risk to human health from BSE is extremely low." Since 1990 the USDA has had an aggressive surveillance program in place to ensure detection and a swift response plan to be used if BSE is identified in the U.S. In 2003, Veneman noted USDA has tested 20,526 head of cattle for BSE, triple the level of 2002. The surveillance program is aggressive. We commend them for that. But USDA needs to put ALL of its resources toward eliminating the threat now. They need to impose harsher and stiffer penalties on those selling or feeding ruminant animal feed. Perhaps more importantly, the issue is going to become one where the consumer will actively seek out those producers they can trust. According to crop manager and beef producer Matt Balliet, in the “Making An Impact” series we continue this week in the newspaper, freezer beef demand is exceeding some farmers’ ability to be able to supply. Consumers want safe food, and they want to know where it’s coming from. Now with this, demand from consumers for a safe product could skyrocket. We’ll see. Frederickson said that in 2003, U.S. agricultural trade deficit with the four CAFTA countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, Hon duras, and Nicaragua) was about $3OO million, representing nearly one-sthird of U.S. agricultural ex ports to those countries. If Costa Rica joins the agreement, he said the trade deficit grows to more than $9OO million and equals nearly 80 percent of the United States’ exports to the five nations. “The CAFTA agreement offers little prospect that the trade defi cit with these countries will be re versed and resembles failed trade policies of the past,” the farm leader said. “The CAFTA further encourages a race to the bottom for producer prices and fails to address major issues that distort fair trade.” Yield (tons/acre) 4 54 416 4 47 4 25 Entry L-411HD Somerset WL 325 HQ P S3Q6O Plant L-411 H D and all the Legacy Seeds Products with confidence See the following dealers for your Legacy Seed. Area Distribution Donald Kauffman David Stoner Manheim 717-665-7655 Larry Eshelman Sinking Spring 610-777-8794 Richard Fox Clay 717-733-4519 Jim Hil Fredericksburg 717-865-9038 Huber’s Animal Health Myerstown 717-866-2246 (Continued from Page A 10) existing authority by townships to regulate agriculture are just not true. Farmers can’t operate under a patchwork of separate laws and regulations that could be adopted in 1,450 townships. Some farms even cross township boundaries. If this were allowed to continue, Pennsylvania would stand alone among states by allowing an ac tion so destructive to its agricul ture. Beyond our existing farmers, picture how the matter affects their sons and daughters, who may be thinking about staying on the farm (and who are already too few in number). Farmers, young and old, have confidence that state and federal lawmakers will deal with agriculture fairly and responsibly over the long term. But many won’t risk their investment and future if they know that a few local officials often reacting to unfounded fears rather than facts can make up regulations that go far beyond state and federal laws. Those who support and defend illegal township farm ordinances portray the regulations as reason able oversight of large farms. The commonwealth already has strin gent environmental safeguards which are among the most re strictive in the nation. Pennsylva nia Farm Bureau will never de fend willful violations of laws governing agriculture, and we continually work with agencies and lawmakers to ensure that laws are up to date. Farm families are counting on Governor Rendell to remove the dark clouds gathering over Penn sylvania’s agriculture by signing the legislation. Crude RFV 140 143 127 133 Protein 22 6 23 0 21 5 21 5 NDF 40 43 42 Remholds 717-336-2612 Walter C Martin New Holland 717-354-9830 David Mast Elverson 610-286-6479 Nel-Ray Farms Richland 717-866-6167 Leon Newswanger Newville 717-776-6985 Farm Forum ❖ Guy F. Donaldson Pa. Farm Bureau Camp Hill NDF Milk/ton*Milk/acre* (lbs.) 13274 12311 12264 11874 (lbs.) 2924 2959 2744 2794 Digest 61 8 62 2 58 7 591 Manheim 717-664-3119 Wencrest Farms Lebanon 717-949-3215 limmerman Ephrata 717-354-5684 Ken Zurin Mount Joy 717-898-8736 1 1 <. u i si i ns iv
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers