From Empire Farm & Dairy magazine:
By MARC HELLER
WASHINGTON — Dairy farmers hoping to see a rush of business between the United States and Canada — a market largely closed to American milk products — may want to hold their applause for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
That is the message from lawmakers and organizations representing dairy farmers and plant owners, who say the 12-nation deal reached in 2015, still subject to approval in Congress, does not clearly spell a big win for New York agriculture.
Lawmakers are likely to vote on it this year.
The outcome could shape the future for key parts of the dairy business in New York, which ranks near the top in U.S. production of manufactured dairy products such as cheese and yogurt that can be easily exported; beverage milk is reserved mostly for domestic use, although U.S. producers have angled unsuccessfully for more fluid sales into Canada too.
The big issue is whether Canada will relax its milk supply management system enough to allow substantial amounts of U.S. dairy products into the country.
“Even with the TPP agreement, Canada continues to strongly endorse their supply control program and protect their borders from serious dairy imports and exports,” said Bruce Krupke, executive vice president of the Northeast Dairy Foods Association, representing milk processors.
“I don’t see their domestic dairy policy changing in the near future, much to their detriment. I also don’t see any increased dairy trade near-term opportunities with them either,” Krupke said.
Krupke said he does not rule out the possibility of longer-term trade prospects with the agreement’s signers, including Japan and Vietnam. New York Farm Bureau, representing farmers of every type in the state, generally supports the deal because it could lower trade barriers to growing markets, said spokesman Steve Ammerman.
Skeptical lawmakers, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Reps. Tom Reed (R-Corning) and Elise Stefanik (R-Willsboro) said they haven’t decided whether to support the deal, largely because of concerns about U.S. dairy trade with Canada.
“The TPP negotiations have caused me a great deal of heartburn,” Reed said in an interview. “I still believe they have a lot farther to go.”
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, “pushed our trade negotiators until the very end to secure the best deal possible for American dairy farmers in TPP,” a Democratic committee aide said.
The Obama administration strongly supports the deal, which its representatives helped negotiate. President Obama urged Congress in his State of the Union Address to approve it this year.
Passage isn’t assured. In addition, some presidential candidates, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-running Democrat, say they oppose it.
The biggest lobbying group for dairy farmers, the National Milk Producers Federation, which represents farmer-owned bargaining cooperatives, hasn’t come down one way or the other.
“It’s quite a complicated agreement,” said Shawna Morris, vice president of trade policy at the NMPF, headquartered in Arlington, Va. The deal contains hundreds of dairy provisions and will take some time to review, she said.
The good news, from the U.S. dairy industry’s perspective, is that the TPP does not appear to open the U.S. to a flood of dairy products from other countries such as New Zealand, where milk is produced cheaply for export.
“When the TPP effort began, it was little more than a façade for a free trade agreement with New Zealand,” the NMPF said in a newsletter to members. “Eventually, in response to consistent recommendations from NMPF and others, countries with more significant dairy markets – Canada and Japan – were added to this agreement. Those decisions created new opportunities for our industry in TPP that previously had not been possible.”
Dairy groups agree that trade is becoming more important to the U.S. industry, and New York as the third-ranking state for cheese production and a top producer of yogurt is especially affected.
Nearly a fifth of U.S.-produced dairy solids were exported in 2014, Krupke said. As much as some farmers or manufacturers may not like the idea of depending on trade with foreign countries, he said, “We have to get used to the concept and embrace it.”
Reed, who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee — which oversees trade policy — said in an interview that he worries about how the actions of U.S. trading partners affect the state’s milk and wine businesses, for example.
Already, New York wine makers can’t use the term “Champagne” for the sparkling white wine they sell to some countries, and terms such as “gouda” or “parmesan” for cheese made in New York may be endangered in some European markets.
This year could bring more developments on that issue, known as geographic indicators, farm groups said.
That dispute plays out in yet another trade deal taking shape, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
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Showing posts with label Empire Farm & Dairy magazine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Empire Farm & Dairy magazine. Show all posts
Friday, January 22, 2016
Saturday, August 1, 2015
4-H Helps Youth Develop Many Life Skills
From Empire Farm & Dairy magazine:
If Josh Chisholm had his way, all youths would participate in animal shows.
“I’d highly recommend it,” he said. “It’s a good way to meet people and learn a lot of new things.”
Chisholm, 17, will be a senior at Carthage High School in the fall and has been showing dairy cattle for 10 years. He’s been a regular at the Jefferson County Fair in Watertown, and he showed for two years — 2012 and 2013 — at the New York State Fair near Syracuse.
In his first year there, he took first place in Ayrshire Showmanship and first place in the junior 3-year-old 4-H class. In the open show — in which everyone shows — he placed fourth.
“The state fair is a big competition that everyone takes seriously,” Chisholm said. “You can see how much time people put into it.”
4-H — which stands for head, heart, hands and health — is a worldwide network of youth development and mentoring programs.
4-H is operated by Cooperative Extension offices throughout the United States and provides educational and developmental programs for youths, including agriculture, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), environment, creative arts, healthy living, and business and citizenship.
4-H also helps youngsters develop social skills and participate in experiences that provide them with the skills and opportunities to grow into successful adults.
Josh first got involved with cattle when he joined 4-H 10 years ago. He said his grandfather owned a dairy farm at the time and that his mother, Julie, was in 4-H when she was growing up on the farm. His grandmother was a 4-H educator.
“Grandpa bought us calves to show,” Josh said.
From there it was on to learning how to exhibit animals, how to deal with unruly animals, and how to act in a show ring.
Josh said showing as a youth was always fun — getting to see friends you hadn’t seen in a while and spending time at the fair.
But while showing cattle was “fun and games” when he was younger, it was a more serious endeavor as he got older. He said he learned a lot at each competition and used that knowledge to improve each time he stepped into the show ring.
“I’m a very competitive person, but the biggest thing I learned is you can’t always win,” Chisholm said. “And from that, I learned that I would have to work harder and that there was something I could do better next time.”
He said he remembers one show at the state fair when the judge was having difficulty deciding among the top three competitors. The judge pulled all three cattle out for a final look, and right at that time, Josh’s cow started sidestepping instead of walking normally.
“It angered me,” Chisholm said. “If affects you, but then you have to remember what you’ve learned.”
Chisholm said he isn’t sure which field of study he’ll pursue when he attends college in the fall of 2016, but he’s narrowed his choices to agricultural business, dairy management and environmental conservation.
*** If you'd like to read more stories like this, subscribe to Empire Farm & Dairy magazine. A one-year subscription is $50 and two years are $75. Send a check to Empire Farm & Dairy, 260 Washington St., Watertown, NY, 13601
 |
| Josh Chisholm from a couple of years ago with his cow at the State Fair |
“I’d highly recommend it,” he said. “It’s a good way to meet people and learn a lot of new things.”
Chisholm, 17, will be a senior at Carthage High School in the fall and has been showing dairy cattle for 10 years. He’s been a regular at the Jefferson County Fair in Watertown, and he showed for two years — 2012 and 2013 — at the New York State Fair near Syracuse.
In his first year there, he took first place in Ayrshire Showmanship and first place in the junior 3-year-old 4-H class. In the open show — in which everyone shows — he placed fourth.
“The state fair is a big competition that everyone takes seriously,” Chisholm said. “You can see how much time people put into it.”
4-H — which stands for head, heart, hands and health — is a worldwide network of youth development and mentoring programs.
4-H is operated by Cooperative Extension offices throughout the United States and provides educational and developmental programs for youths, including agriculture, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), environment, creative arts, healthy living, and business and citizenship.
4-H also helps youngsters develop social skills and participate in experiences that provide them with the skills and opportunities to grow into successful adults.
Josh first got involved with cattle when he joined 4-H 10 years ago. He said his grandfather owned a dairy farm at the time and that his mother, Julie, was in 4-H when she was growing up on the farm. His grandmother was a 4-H educator.
“Grandpa bought us calves to show,” Josh said.
From there it was on to learning how to exhibit animals, how to deal with unruly animals, and how to act in a show ring.
Josh said showing as a youth was always fun — getting to see friends you hadn’t seen in a while and spending time at the fair.
But while showing cattle was “fun and games” when he was younger, it was a more serious endeavor as he got older. He said he learned a lot at each competition and used that knowledge to improve each time he stepped into the show ring.
“I’m a very competitive person, but the biggest thing I learned is you can’t always win,” Chisholm said. “And from that, I learned that I would have to work harder and that there was something I could do better next time.”
He said he remembers one show at the state fair when the judge was having difficulty deciding among the top three competitors. The judge pulled all three cattle out for a final look, and right at that time, Josh’s cow started sidestepping instead of walking normally.
“It angered me,” Chisholm said. “If affects you, but then you have to remember what you’ve learned.”
Chisholm said he isn’t sure which field of study he’ll pursue when he attends college in the fall of 2016, but he’s narrowed his choices to agricultural business, dairy management and environmental conservation.
*** If you'd like to read more stories like this, subscribe to Empire Farm & Dairy magazine. A one-year subscription is $50 and two years are $75. Send a check to Empire Farm & Dairy, 260 Washington St., Watertown, NY, 13601
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