[AT] Dairy farming. Dying industry?

[Cecil Bearden]

It is the same in every part of farming. The american people refuse to 
pay what food is really worth, so the mega marts go to third world 
countries to buy food to sell at a lower cost than our farmers can 
produce it. As long as our government allows food imports this what will 
happen. Also, our universities get government grants to go to those 
third world countries and teach them to grow crops to compete with our 
farmers on a global market.

I am retiring today after 30 years in state government. My experience 
tells me that sometimes "bodies" have to wash ashore before they wake up 
to the problem.
I hope to get a garden started this spring.
Cecil in OKla

joehardy at epix.net wrote:
> 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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