[AT] Dairy farming. Dying industry?

[joehardy at epix.net]

Charlie, This whole farming thing is very worrysome to me. We have become so dependent on imports of all farm products resulting in forcing our farmers in the US of A to quit; what happens if imports suddenly stop? Fewer & fewer persons keep a garden or know how to grow one! Farmers that continue to be in business today have to be multi-skilled; some of which can't be learned from a text book. We could very quickly develop a food shortage. The problem, as I see it, is our government on both the state & federal levels are out of touch with our farmers.  My $0.02 Joe Hardisky  Ryman Farm; Dallas, PA> 
> From: "CEE VILL" <cvee60 at hotmail.com>
> Date: 2007/02/25 Sun AM 11:30:07 EST
> To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
> Subject: [AT] Dairy farming. Dying industry?
> 
> 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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