Building a Vision for Rural Pennsylvania holds session in northeast PA

Dairy issues receive significant attention at public forum

WAYMART – The Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee continued its Building a Vision for Rural Pennsylvania series yesterday with a listening session in Waymart in northeastern Pennsylvania, Committee Chairman Mike Brubaker (R-Lancaster) said.

State Senator Lisa Baker (R-Dallas) hosted the public session at the Salvation Army Camp Ledore. Approximately 100 people attended, including Brubaker, Baker, and state Representatives Sandra Major (R-Montrose), Ed Staback (D-Enyon) and Mike Peifer (R-Honesdale). The office of state Senator Terry Punt (R-Chambersburg) was also represented.

"I was very pleased that so many people joined us this morning to address the important issues facing agricultural and rural communities," Brubaker said.

Tony Herzog, Chairman of the Board of Wayne County Commissioners, welcomed the group and was the first to discuss the issues facing dairy farmers and the dairy industry, a topic that dominated a large part of the day's testimony.

"Dairy farmers are dealing with a crisis, particularly in northeastern Pennsylvania," Herzog said.

Several testifiers, including Wayne County dairy farmer Joe Davitt, asked for what they considered to be a fair price for their milk, rather than receiving government subsidies. Milk consumers would pay more for their milk if they knew the extra money would go directly to the dairy farmer, they said.

Dairy farmers need an assessment on their products that would provide them with an additional $3.00 per hundredweight from January 2006 through March 2007, said Davitt, who also noted that the total cost of such an assessment would be about $37.5 million. "Such a payment to dairy farmers needs to take place immediately, within the next 30 days, to prevent the loss of more farmers," Davitt stressed. "Spring planting is coming and fertilizer and seed providers require prepayment."

"The number of dairy farms in Pennsylvania dropped from 8,900 in 2005 to fewer than 8,700 in 2006," Davitt continued. "Many farms have already gone out of business in the past month, and many more will follow in the next few weeks." Others who testified felt that it was already too late for dairy farmers in the region.

Scott Brown, who already got out of the dairy business, agreed. He estimated that 80 percent of farmers have tapped into their savings just to pay the bills.

Mickey Kilm, a Susquehanna dairy farmer with her husband for 31 years, attended the meeting to try to ensure a future for her son, who wants to take over the farm. She asked the legislature to investigate the cost of having milk hauled from the farm to the processing plant, which is currently borne by the farmer and costs her farm an average of $2,000 per month. The processors should be responsible for this expense, Kilm said.

Emily Montgomery, who runs Calkins Creamery in Honesdale with her husband, also mentioned that other states have established programs that assist dairy farmers in developing value-added operations that allow them to maintain successful businesses.

Other dairy farmers recommended that the Committee:

Support the continuation of the state's Center for Dairy Excellence, which has been zeroed out in Governor Rendell's budget proposal for the 2006-2007 fiscal year
Review the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board's policies to expand the over-order premium – an amount over the applicable Federal Order or Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board-established base price currently paid to Pennsylvania producers who produce, process and sell their milk in Pennsylvania – to all dairy farmers in the state
Help farmers to meet the financial burden of increasing regulations through the Resource Enhancement and Protection Act (REAP), recently introduced by Senator Brubaker, and other programs
Work with the federal government to make the milk pricing system reflect the cost of production

Although the dairy industry received the largest focus, individuals who testified at the listening session also addressed many other diverse topics.

"I believe in growing locally and selling locally," said Leaf Winters, a local vegetable grower. "It is important to put more money toward educating farmers on their options, as well as toward incubator kitchens that allow producers to experiment on value-added projects before making a large capital investment."

Dennis van Englesdorp, a bee inspector for the Commonwealth, talked about the recent loss of honeybees both in Pennsylvania and across the eastern United States. "About 99 percent of our apple production relies on honeybees," Englesdorp said. "If there are no bees, there will be no apples."

Animal care received attention from both the veterinarian's and farmer's perspective. Dr. Andrew Nebzydoski noted that there is a shortage of large animal veterinarians in the state. "Additional loan forgiveness programs would be beneficial for those who practice in this field," Nebzydoski said. "We also need to make a concentrated effort to save our family farms as a means of keeping the pool of students who are familiar with large animals from continuing to shrink."

Farmers also need assistance in caring for their sheep, particularly to protect them from predators, said Marian Schweighofer, a Wayne County sheep farmer with 400 ewes. "We have lost 200 animals to coyotes in the past couple of years," she said. "Partial reimbursement comes from the Dog Law Restricted Account in the Department of Agriculture, but because only $20,000 is appropriated, the funds are depleted quickly and should be increased."

Many testifiers addressed other funding issues, such as funding for conservation districts and Penn State's Cooperative Extension and agriculture research programs. Governor Rendell has proposed cuts to conservation districts through both the state Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, and has recommended only maintaining current levels of funding to the Penn State programs.

"I rely on the Penn State Extension a great deal," said Peggy Simons, a maple syrup producer, "but in recent years I have been forced to seek out expertise in Ohio and New York since our Extension program has been cut."

M.H. Burkhardt, a certified tree farmer, praised the success of the state's Clean and Green program, but suggested that it does need some tweaking to give foresters and farmers the help they need to protect their investment, including future growth and productivity. "Foresters should receive the same relief from a base acre charge that production farmers receive," he said. "Mini-estates should not be considered for forest reserve, though, as the owner of the mini-estate usually has no interest in developing his trees as a resource; tax relief is the owner's only goal."

Other individuals who discussed the Clean and Green program made additional suggestions for improvements, such as providing more authority to the Department of Agriculture to enforce violations, defining agriculture more strictly, and requiring forest management plans and nutrient management plans on lands in the programs.

The federal Forest Legacy Program and deer herd management were also brought up by several testifiers.

Brubaker noted that the session ran over by nearly three hours in order to give all the attendees a chance to comment. "It is very important to me that we hear the viewpoints of everyone who took the time to come here today," Brubaker said. "Agriculture is Pennsylvania's number one industry, and clearly touches the lives of our citizens in many ways."

"I want to thank Senator Baker for working with us to have a listening session in her district," Brubaker said. "All of the information we received is very valuable to me and to my Committee as we work to build an agenda that meets the needs of our entire Commonwealth."

Contact:

Kristin Ebersole, Executive Director
Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee

717-787-4420