Letters To The Editor

Editor:

I am an advertiser and have been a reader of Lancaster Farming for more than 25 years.

An article by Charlene Shupp Espenshade in the Oct. 17 issue (“Farming Looks Easy — From a Distance”) was both interesting and thought provoking. My family has been in the livestock hauling business for 60 years, since 1949. We were also dairymen, but I sold my cows in 1979. If I remember correctly I received $12.50 to $13 per hundred for my milk.

Here it is 30 years later, and you are receiving the same price or less.

I used to ship my milk to Dairymen’s League and sat through many meetings and listened to the same speeches, the same promises and the same proposed solutions.

The National 25 x ‘25 Alliance, with a goal of getting 25 percent of our energy from renewable resources like wind, solar, and biofuels by the year 2025, last week called S.1733 (the Kerry-Boxer Climate Change bill) “a work in progress that will need serious modification” before it can maximize the role of farms, ranches and forestlands in reducing the nation’s carbon footprint and combating global climate change.

The alliance said that S.1733 fails to explicitly exclude the U.S. agriculture and forestry sectors from rules that cap emissions, and to allow the sectors to deliver quick, low-cost, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions in a volume significant enough to help meet the national goal established in the bill, which starts at 20-percent below 2005 emission levels by 2020.

John Berry
Penn State Extension

Wow! The past several months (seems like years some days) have been stressful in many farm communities. I’ve been around a while and do not remember economic/financial conditions such as these. As I drink my coffee in the morning and reflect on what is going on around me, thoughts center on not only the dollar effect of all this, but more significantly the human effect.

A topic causing me concern lately includes this:

We (everyone, no matter what our perception) exist surrounded by a global market situation. In this context, market conditions may have little to do with supply and demand. The world does not always operate as we wish. People can distort a market when they start to act as a herd.

Editor:

A recent Cargill announcement regarding the launch of an ingredient for use in making non-dairy cheese product has raised concerns by a number of our customers which I would like to address. The product, called Lygomme ACH Optimum, is designed to replace the functionality of casein in imitation cheese applications.

Cargill developed Lygomme ACH Optimum for food manufacturers who already are making imitation cheese. It meets a specific nutritional need for those who cannot consume dairy products, and helps food manufacturers address challenges within the current casein supply chain, which in the U.S. is imported. Lygomme ACH Optimum is one of a wide array of food innovations developed by Cargill to meet specific customer needs.

Editor:

On Oct. 19 a forum was held at the N.Y. state capitol building in Albany to develop solutions N.Y. state government could adopt to aid state dairy farm families who are dealing with the worst downturn in the dairy farm economy in several decades. The meeting was called by New York state Senators Catherine Young, ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee; John J. Bonacic, James L. Seward, and George Winner.

Witnesses were heard from all aspects of the New York dairy industry — farmers, milk co-ops, processors, farm and industry advocacy groups.

Much was said; little was clarified. In reviewing testimony one thing stands stark — lack of consensus.

Paul Slayton
Pennsylvania Beef Council
Beef isn’t the only part of the food industry faced with safety concerns. The Center For Science In The Public Interest (CSPI) released their list of the Top 10 riskiest FDA-regulated foods include leafy greens, eggs and tuna. While the beef industry is regulated by USDA, not FDA, food safety concerns are growing in all areas of the country.
Here is the list:
1. Leafy Greens: 363 outbreaks involving 13,568 reported cases of illness
2. Eggs: 352 outbreaks involving 11,163 reported cases of illness
3. Tuna: 268 outbreaks involving 2,341 reported cases of illness

Editor:
I am writing this letter to inform the dairy industry in the U.S. of the back stabbing we are receiving from the Cargill Company. One of their many divisions has developed an “analogue” (fake) cheese product as an alternative solution to pizza topping, and other prepared food applications as a cheaper, more cost controlled solution to the volatile pricing of real cheese produced in this country. They “spin” this fact by saying that it is for a niche market — the vegans and lactose intolerant.
I am convinced that if this product is accepted by the consumer, it will be produced in whatever quantities it takes to meet demand. The U.S. dairy industry must take a stand against this outrageous situation. The level of arrogance and greed exhibited by the management of Cargill is stunning to me. During an upcycle this situation would be hard to take, but given the extreme hardship being endured by the dairy industry it is intolerable.

Editor:

In the Sept. 19 edition of Lancaster Farming, comments made by Captain Barry Simns (“Maryland’s Leading Waterman Praises Farmers, Hits Sewage Plants,” page A10) left me wondering where he gets his information on water waste treatment plants not doing their share of limiting their contribution to the levels of phosphorous and nitrogen to the Chesapeake Bay. Since I am a member of an authority in Pennsylvania that is about to spend tens of millions of dollars to upgrade our treatment plant at great cost to the rate payers, the captain may not be informed on what is taking place by municipalities facing similar expenses to upgrade their plant.

Editor:

I always read these articles in your paper about “Calling young farmers” or “There isn’t enough young farmers,” but what these articles fail to mention is the sky-high start-up costs for a young farmer like myself.

My father and I together farm approximately 250 acres. I rent 70 of them.

We plant corn, oats and orchard grass hay. How can any young man or woman afford to buy 200 acres of land at $3,000-$4,000 an acre, build a house, a barn, an equipment shed, and then buy enough equipment, tractors, baler, wagons, hay rake, plow, disk, harrow, corn planter, combine, and the list can go on and on.

Editor:

Another milk check has come and gone. Things still don’t look too good.
We read articles about meetings to discuss the dairy dilemma — people joining together to share worries, frustrations and ideas. Another government committee forms to look into the possibility of maybe doing, or not doing, something to help.

We see articles such as, “When Is It Time to Quit,” “Direct Market or Get Out” and other such wonderful self-help items.

If you are shipping milk to a co-op that owns a processing or bottling plant you should see a huge rebate at the end of the year. They have made tremendous profits, and certainly they will be glad to share with their producers. If you don’t have the money perhaps you will finally realize who your enemy really is.