[AT] Dairy farming. Dying industry?

[CEE VILL]

With the list being pretty quiet, it seems a good time to toss in this 
article from a Pa. newspaper which I read yesterday.  Sad but interesting 
read if you are interested.

Charlie V.

P.S.   (tractor ref.) These guys use a lot of tractors.  Fodder for future 
collectors.

    02/24/2007
Casey hears concerns of local dairy farmers
BY DAVID SINGLETON
TIMES SHAMROCK WRITER


SOUTH CANAAN --- As he walked U.S. Sen. Bob Casey through his Wayne County 
barn, Joe Davitt summed up the crisis confronting Northeastern 
Pennsylvania's dairy farmers in a tidy 16 words.

"We provide a product to feed the world," the 37-year-old dairyman
said, "and we can't afford to feed our families."

With Mr. Davitt's barn as the stage and part of his herd as the backdrop, 
Mr. Casey listened for more than an hour Friday as about 20 area dairy 
farmers pleaded their case for federal assistance to help keep their 
operations afloat.

The Scranton Democrat, who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, came to 
Davitt Farm to discuss the 2007 Farm Bill now pending in Congress. Final 
passage is expected in the fall.

Mr. Davitt and others said they can't wait that long. "We're asking you to 
help. This is the last straw," Mr. Davitt, who took over the family farm in 
1992, told the senator. "We need money now. We can't wait six months. We'll 
be out of business in six months."

The problem is production costs that are far outstripping the prices farmers 
receive for their milk, which is sold in units of 100 pounds --- about 11.6 
gallons. Mr. Davitt said his costs are $19 to $20 per hundredweight; he's 
paid $15 per hundredweight --- $13.50 after hauling costs are deducted.

The farmers told Mr. Casey they need a simplified milk pricing system that 
sets the minimum price at a level closer to their actual production costs.

Brian Smith, 44, who has 75 dairy cows on the farm he has operated in 
Damascus Township since 1993, said every other industry passes its cost on 
to consumers. He believes milk consumers would be willing to pay more.

"What we need to do --- bottom line --- is get more money for milk," Mr. 
Smith told the senator. "This is urgent. You need to understand that."

Will Keating, who operates a farm near Cortez, told Mr. Casey there were 
1,200 dairy farms in Wayne County in the 1960s. By 1997, the number had 
dipped to 240. There are fewer than 100 today.

Mr. Casey, who noted dairy farming is a $4 billion industry in Pennsylvania, 
said the Farm Bill presents an opportunity to address the farmers' concerns. 
While he will do his best to meet their short-term and long-term needs, he 
said, "I don't have a magic wand."

"I'm not going to promise anything other than we are going to work very hard 
on it," the senator said.

As he walked through the barn with the senator, Mr. Davitt carried his 
9-month-old son, Dylan.

"What it is going to come down to," he told the senator, "is instead of 
passing heritage down to this guy --- like my father learned from his 
father, and I learned from my father --- it's going to be history.

"It's going to be history, not heritage, because once I quit, that's it. 
It's not coming back."

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