ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 25, 1996 TAG: 9601250033
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
FARMERS WILL BE PLANTING in a few months, but they don't know what's ahead.
Dairy farmers probably will have to cope with the uncertainty of not having legislation regulating the marketing of milk until after this fall's election, a policy analyst with the National Milk Producers Federation said Wednesday.
"There's not going to be an awful lot happening in this Congress," said the federation's Peter Vitaliano, formerly of Virginia Tech's faculty. "Everything that happens will be part and parcel of the 1996 elections."
Vitaliano predicted that Congress may decide to extend the last farm bill for two years and take up the legislation again after the election. Vitaliano spoke at the annual meeting of the Virginia State Dairymen's Association at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center.
Although most federal farm programs expired last year, the current milk program runs through the end of this year. Debate over the milk program became so controversial during last year's farm-bill debate that Congress decided to take it up separately.
On Tuesday, Steve Gunderson, R-Wisc., a key player in the debate, agreed to go along with the federation's proposed compromise to reform the milk program, Vitaliano said. The plan eliminates most milk price supports and simplifies the complex system of federal milk-marketing orders, which are essentially quotas on milk production.
Nelson Gardner, a Rockingham County dairy farmer who sits on the federation's executive council, said it was tough compromising the variety of positions of dairy farmers across the country. Vitaliano described the compromise as a complex take-it-or-leave-it package that has something for everyone.
Some congressmen had proposed eliminating the milk program altogether, but both Gardner and Jerry Henderson, a Botetourt County farmer, said that would be a bad idea. People forget that the dairy program was first developed to protect consumers by providing a stable supply of milk and a high-quality product, Gardner said.
If milk were deregulated, consumers would see wide swings in its price, Henderson said.
Farmers are already suffering because of overproduction and low prices, Gardner said.
Commissioner of Agriculture Carlton Courter said farmers at the meeting were talking with him about low commodity prices and the uncertainty of what's going to happen in Washington. The budget and the farm bill need to be resolved, he said, because farmers need to start making their planting decisions for this year by March.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. Kim Miller, who insuresfarms, wears a milk
mustache at the Virginia Dairy-men's annual session. color. by CNB