Changes in line for U.S. farming

Press, 18 December 1985, Page 28

Changes in line for U.S. farming

NZPA staff correspondent Washington Big changes to United States dairy farming are proposed under a bill expected to get Congressional approval this week. The 1985 Farm Bill, rated the most complex farming measure considered by the United States legislature, calls for farmers to slaughter during the next 18 months roughly 600,000 of the 11.4 million cows in the nation’s herds.

The aim is to cut United States milk production about 7 per cent The reduction would save the United States Government more than $1.9 billion in the next four years by cutting the costs of buying and storing surplus dairy products, according to the National Milk Producers’ Federation.

To qualify for the programme fanners have to contract with the Department of Agriculture and agree to slaughter their herds. They will then be paid about 60c for every gallon of milk the herd would have produced that year. The costs of the pro-

gramme will be paid by taxing existing producers. "It’s a good deal for farmers who have wanted to get out of the dairy business,” said Jim Barr, chief executive of the federation. ■

The bill proposes to freeze the Federal subsidy for dairy prices in 1986 and cut it 4c a gallon in 1987. The Farm Bill, which will set the programme for United States agriculture until the end of the decade, has been working its way through the Senate and House of Representatives for the last 11 months.

A background to debate — which has shown a desire to reduce production and* increase farm income while lowering Government costs by lowering support for basic commodities such as wheat, corn, and milk — has been the financial and social crisis afflicting farming, particularly the Mid-West The cost of the package has been variously estimated at ?98 to $lO2 billion during the next three years, a record amount.

President Ronald Reagan has said he will not sign the bill if the commodity sec-

tions cost more than $94 billion.

The Senate majority leader, Robert Dole, said yesterday, however, that he was optimistic of Presidential approval. , “The President has an opportunity now to cap this effort by signing the bill and sending a signal to the fanners of the nation that he is sensitive to, their problems,” he said.

Among other parts of the long and complex bill is a proposal to , create a of up to 40 million acres by paying fanners to retire land prone to erosion. It would prohibit also the payment of Federal farm benefits to farmers who plough up grasslands or convert fragile wetlands to crop production.