"Arcuri and McHugh fight for NY farmers"

[Clipper]

Today's Utica Daily News site is carrying a story about the efforts of McHugh and Arcuri in introducing legislation specifically targeted at helping our dairy farmers secure the necessary help to keep their farms a viable business operation.

The days when the family could efficiently run a farm, 24/7, and keep up with the field work and the milking are gone. People like our own Countrygal and her husband and his family are hardworking farmers that have grown over the years from the farm of the 50's and 60's, where a minimal number of cows could be managed by strictly family, to a major dairy operation with in excess of 5 or 6 hundred cows.

Hired help is a necessity, and it is a major portion of costs related to farming, along with fuel and supplies. Cattle ranchers in the west, along with sheep farmers, and grain growing operations in the midwest, have received subsidies for years and years. It is about time that some relief was aimed at the dairy farmers of the Northeast. ANY form of relief is more than what they receive now. I applaud Arcuri and McHugh for their efforts on behalf of dairy farmers. It is my personal fear, that unless SOMETHING is done to aid our dairy industry, we can look forward to drinking reconstituted condensed,and adulterated milk from China. Wake up America. It is time to back the family farm in any way we can, including buying local whenever possible.

The referenced article from the Utica Daily News can be accessed easily by simply clicking on the scrolling banner ad at the bottom of the page and then looking under "News Alerts" on the right hand side of their homepage.

I am really happy to have UDN as a friend to the forum, and I am glad to have the privilege of promoting their site, while giving us instant access to fair and accurate news as it happens. They have linked our site under their "Daily Voice" section, so you can navigate from our site to theirs and back again conveniently. Thanks UDN for allowing us to carry your banner, and to be linked directly to your site.

[countrygal]

Thanks for your support Clip!

A big problem is that 2% of the population are the ones complaing about the milk price paid to the farmer. That 2% ARE the farmers. Nobody else is paying attention to that. They think it doesn't affect them. If things don't turn around, more food will be imported. More farms will be gone and prices will go through the roof.

[Clipper]

Just got in from Nashville Countrygal. Hey girl. I am ALWAYS glad to support farmers in any way I can. I am a farmer at heart. I love the farm, and have always wished I could have been a farmer, even as tough as it is to make a living at it. It is a good and wholesome life. I worked on farms from the time I was 14, and I took agriculture in high school.

Not to mention the fact that you and Tony are SPECIAL farmers, because you are such good folks. I really and truly enjoyed the time that Tony took from his busy day to show me around the operation and explain MODERN farming to an old goat that hasn't milked a cow since 1970, haha.

[countrygal]

Thanks for the kind words! You are always welcome on our farm! We appreciate any and all support because the farmers are not going to change the way things are by themselves. We need support from the non-farming community!

[Clipper]

There is another enlightening letter to the editor in the OD today about farm legislation. EVERYBODY SHOULD READ AND BE AWARE OF AGRICULTURAL ISSUES.

What is the effect of this particular legislation on you and YOUR farm operation Countrygal?

Observer-Dispatch
Posted Mar 28, 2009 @ 07:22 PM

Congress should reject farm legislation

Small family farms are critical to our agriculture economy and the traditional small farmer is critical to the health and economic vitality of our area, state and nation as a whole. Over the past decades, almost completely under the radar, large corporate farms and corporate agribusiness have made a systematic effort to eliminate the traditional farmer. Corporate agriculture has attempted to buy out, pressure or even sue to force farmers out of business.

They have pressured state and federal governments to enact laws written by the corporations that render traditional farming too expensive and cumbersome for the individual farmer to survive. The National Animal Identification System now before Congress would force even the smallest farms to buy expensive new equipment and potentially subject them to unreasonable demands by the USDA.

Congress should resoundingly reject this legislation. Unfortunately they will not, unless they hear from “we the people,” for they have systematically been fed misinformation by lobbyists and the USDA that NAIS will only apply to corporate agriculture. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If enacted, the smallest of farms will be affected and will not be able to survive this additional expense. Contact your senators and representative in Congress and tell them to vote no to NAIS. The growing season is almost upon us. Support your local farmers by stopping at those roadside stands and farmers’ markets to buy locally grown, healthy, nutritious and safe food.

KAREN NOWAK

Brookfield

The days of the family farm are getting short, if we, the people of America cannot stop our legislatures from enacting legislation that favors corporate farms over family run farms. Many of the corporate farms are foreign owned, and the money they earn doesn't even stay here in the USA.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FARMERS AND BUY LOCAL AGRICULTURAL GOODS!

[countrygal]

If this passes, it will be a HUGE cost for us and for all the other farmers as well. You will see more sell their cows and go out of business.

I do take exception to the writer saying that it's just the small farms that are vital to our area. We have a large farm. But it supports three farm families. Think of it as three farms lumped into one. All of the large farms in Oneida Co. support multiple families. We are by no means what people define as "corporate" farms. We are traditional farms that use as much technology as we can to make our job of producing a safe and healthy product more efficient.

We support and encourage all the farmers in Oneida Co., large and small. We're on the same side!

[Clipper]

You are by no means a "corporate farm" CG. With the farming business being what it is today, a small family farm cannot survive. It is only the larger family farms that have found the means and the financing to become much larger and more competitive, that have managed to make it.

I have occasionally wondered if any farmers that had other farmers for neighbors ever pooled their assets and partnered to save both of their family homesteads and to become large enough to make a living. It seems that ONE milking parlor, and double the land, along with some rented cropland could give a couple of good farmers a better chance of survival.

You guys have a wonderful place, and a well run operation from what I could see in my short visit and from what I have heard from you. It is a tough market right now, and I pray for you guys to have continued success every day.