Candidates Get Rural Issues Book
This week, each of the Democratic candidates for governor, lt. governor and secretary of state in the September primary were mailed a copy of the 2006 Massachusetts Rural Issues Briefing Book. Compiled by the Hilltown Democratic Coalition, the book is designed to familiarize candidates with some of the key issues and concerns of voters in the small towns of rural Massachusetts. Using press stories and polling data, the book is focused on highlighting issues that need to be a part of the debate in the statewide elections if the rural vote is to be won by Democrats. The bookâs 13 chapters include: Alternative & Renewable Energy, Digital Divide, Education Issues, Food & Agriculture Issues, Gun Issues, Local Services, Party Building in Rural Communities, PILOT, Public Safety Issues, Rural Polling Data, âSmart Growthâ, State Lands and Transportation Issues. A limited number of copies are available for $20 (including postage & handling). Contact deadbranch19@prodigy.net.
Romney Ravages Rural Massachusetts
Wielding his veto pen, Gov. Romney took aim at some critical titles of the economic stimulus bill that the Legislature enacted this spring that are aimed at rural constituencies. The governor vetoed the rural broadband access provision that is designed to bring high-speed telecommunications to small towns and he also chopped a $30,000 appropriation for Berkshire Grownâs buy local campaign. These initiatives are âporkâ according to Willard. Crafted by Rep. Dan Bosley (D-North Adams), Rep. Steve Kulik (D-Worthington) and other House and Senate Democrats, the economic stimulus bill also contains language to spur more consumption of local farm products by state institutions and define farms as businesses making them eligible for technical assistance and financing from the state Office of Business Development. As Rep. Kulik, who pushed hard for the rural broadband program told the Greenfield Recorder âThe marketplace is not going to respond,â Kulik said. âWeâve got communities that are so sparsely populated and population thatâs spread over such a wide geographic area that itâs going to take some government help to bring equity to high-speed access. High-speed DSL and broadband is a foundation of our future economy, and every community should have it.â Mr. Speaker! Let the overrides begin.
Down on the Farm with Deval
Making his first real foray into the rural hilltowns, Deval Patrick visited a dairy farm in Colrain today and got an earful of feedback on how state government is doing serving commercial agriculture from farmers and farm advocates. Standing outside the calf hutches at Hager Brothers Maple Farm, Patrick listened as Chip Hager described his family dairy operation which is diversified into beef cattle and maple products to help pay fuel bills which have tripled during the last few months while milk prices stay at 1970 levels. The visit, organized by state Rep. Denis Guyer (D-Dalton) and Nathan LâEtoile, communications director for Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation, got the candidate up close and personal with some heifers and the chance to learn how the Romney-Healey administration has turned their back on the stateâs 6,100 farmers. Patrick got to meet MFBF members from as far away as Granville and Sherborn and to hear from representatives of: American Farmland Trust, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, New England Small Farm Institute, and UMass Cooperative Extension Service among other ag stakeholders.
If you know rural Democrats (or city slickers) who want to subscribe to the Hilltown Democratic Dispatch please contact Matt L. Barron, Coordinator at: deadbranch19@prodigy.net
on how hay and crops are doing with all the rain? I heard last night(a rumor, I think, not confirmed) that Vermont had been declared a disaster area, eligible for federal funds, because of the rain – crops washed out, rotted in the field, hay not able to be cut, first cutting still in the fields, when we should be into the second.
It looks as if the place to get that info is the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service:
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http://www.usda.gov/nass/pubs/staterpt.htm
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Like all of New England, we have had a ton of rain in the Berkshires, and I expect conditions in Vermont are similar to conditions here. It may be even worse for farmers in the Pioneer Valley.
A great organization out here in Western Mass that deals with agricultural issues and local farms is Berkshire Grown. It’s funding has been slashed, but through a great staff, hard work and some private fundraising, it is managing to survive and continue to help our communities.
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http://www.berkshiregrown.org/
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Also, there is a great open State Senate race out here, with some exceptional candidates. Michael Forbes Wilcox is doing a good job reporting about the race and people who are interested in electing strong democrats here in Massachusetts should follow this race. Interestingly, Matt Barron, mentioned in the article above, is working for one of the candidates.
I’ve seen various mentions of government control of milk prices in this area, but don’t know the details. What’s the scoop?
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In general, I’m against farm subsidies, but am for government going out of its way to purchase farm produce from in-state growers. Frankly, I’d rather pay a farmer for what he has grown than what he hasn’t. I’d also love to see the state government get more involved in expanding farmers markets if those markets are going to be selling locally grown goodies. Eat fresh, support the local economy, conserve oil (both shipping and fertilizer), and have tastier foods.
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Milk pricing is a very complex subject indeed. This looks like a pretty good summary of the logic behind the FORMER Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact, and includes additional links for more info:
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http://www.newrules.org/agri/dairy.html
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Big ag in midwest and western states can produce so much milk on giant dairy farms that the small-scale producers in the northeast have a hard time competing. In a nutshell, I believe that the price guarantees of the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact ensured that our farmers would receive a minimal price for their milk if wholesale prices fell below a certain level.
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In spite of intense lobbying from New England-area proponents of the compact, the agreement expired in Sept. 2001. Apparently, monopolistic western and midwestern ag interests would rather that the northeast states have no local supply of milk, and that we get stuff trucked in from their distant, centralized processing plants. Not as fresh, our producers go out of business, farms turn to suburban sprawl, we (eventually) pay more as fuel prices climb and non-competition allow Big Ag to control the market.
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There was a separate, state issue around processing plants a few years ago (2000? or early 2001?). I forget the details, but the big multi-national processing company, Suiza, had bought up local processors and established a New England headquarters in Lynn, MA. They were on one side and the small farmers were on the other side. These links may help to explain how processors and retailers were jacking up prices and blaming the dairy farmers:
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http://www.fmpc.uconn.edu/publications/ip/ip32.pdf
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http://www.aae.wisc.edu/future/publications/cotterill/pressrelease.doc
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Buy local!
How?
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Is Hood really local? What about Stop and Shop? Johnnies Fresh Market? Cumberland Farms?
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Which gallon jugs are made from local (New England + NY) milk, and which aren’t? How to know?
Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture
http://www.buylocalfood.com/
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Southeastern Massachusetts Agriculture Partnership
http://www.umassd.edu/semap/buy_local/welcome.cfm
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Essex County Buy Local
http://www.umassd.edu/semap/buy_local/welcome.cfm
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Berkshire Grown
http://www.berkshiregrown.org/
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I’m sure there are others. Everyone feel free to add relevant links in additional comments.
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If you have a choice, be sure to look for Farmers’ Markets that are “producer only.” Some markets let people buy stuff wholesale and truck it in for resale. Ideally, you want to support local producers.
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If your comment is specifically with reference to milk, I don’t know all the ins and outs of where the trucks go each day. As I mentioned earlier, the processing is a choke point in the market, and sometimes you can’t trace retail milk back to its source. Unfortunately, producers don’t have much choice when it comes to processing.
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I buy only Highlawn Farm milk, which is both produced and processed on a family farm in the Berkshires. (Granted, it was originally the Vanderbilt family, but it seems that sometimes expensive land can be maintained only through nobless oblige – and I know that a number of the current family members are progressive Democrats with FDR and Cuomo ties.) I have met their jersey cows, and they are lovely creatures.
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You might contact your local dairy farmers to find out where they send their milk, and if it is available locally. (Don’t call too late at night, though! They get up early.)
I am not entirely certain that all subsidies involve paying farmers not to grow things. The origins of school lunches for instance began in finding something to do with all the food grown from subsidies. I am living at Georgetown Law for the summer and was reading their student paper the other day. Generally I am not a big fan of discussions of framing, but I thought this was a great line from a professor here “If you live in a city, your government check is called welfare– if you live on a farm, its called a subsidy.” It certainly is an interesting way of thinking about the issue.
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Sorry I didn’t come close to answering your question.
from our outside the “loop” (128, 495, 91)…neighbors
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I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Dalton (Exit 2 on the Mass pike) and see a completely different state. I wonder often how the eastern part of the state affects the west…
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Mark
When I interviewed Rep. Bosley for my blog a few months back, he told a story about Shelby Scott, who was the first woman anchor in Boston. Seems she was at some luncheon and was going to speak, and the hostess asked her where she was from originally. She didn’t want to talk about Seattle, necessarily, so she said “Out west.”
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When the hostess introduced her, she said Shelby was “from Worcester.”
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WF
That’s pretty cool. My wife and I have been up there a couple of times and we’re still working on a gallon jug of Hager Brothers maple syrup. Last time we were up there, Chip and his wife Sheri were telling us about Shelburne’s “right to farm” bylaw and how Colrain was considering something similar.
While I am not truly from rural Massachusetts (Pittsfield passes for urban in the Berkshires) I am from Western Mass. so I thought I should say that I am always glad to see fellow western-Mass. folk on here. As you mentioned, MFW’s blog is the best source for info on the state senate race. I will say no more as I am rather biased on that particular contest (my brother Ben is in the race; we’re seeing victory in the distance). There’s also a pretty interesting primary issue-wise for DA, but I don’t see it turning into much of a race.
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Good to know that the area is well-represented on this blog.
I’ve spent some time in MN with relatives. One big-shot (wealthy) dairy farmer told me he could sell milk in New England for 30% to 50% less than our usual shelf price. But they are prohibited from doing so by the various federal (and, I recall, some regional) regulations supporting dairy production in New England.
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Indeed, one sees a gallon of milk on sale often for $1.99 a gallon at Hy Vee or other big MN grocer. I saw skim on sale for $1.49. A gallon.
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Are we getting gouged? I hate to PO all those small dairy farmers in MA, but why are we being overcharged?
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It’s one thing to pay extra for locally produced products at the specialty store in Weston or on Beacon Hill, but for the middle- or lower-income family with 3 or 4 kids, it’s patently unfair.
how he could sell it for so much less in Massachusetts?
I spend time in Rochester, MN (Mayo Clinic.) There’s a regional brand name dairy that operates a milk factory there that’s as large as any manufacturing plant I’ve seen in MA. Huge. 10 stories tall. Rail lines in and out. The “farmer” I spoke with (retired multi-millionaire) outlined just how big the dairy business is in MN and WI. It’s beyond the scope of what we can imagine any single farm could be.
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New Engalnd can’t possibly compete as land is too expensive, and historically we never developed those economies of scale. I imagine it’s like the cattle business in TX and OK … millions of acres devoted to it. It’s too late here to try to compete.
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Why am I interested in this? There was an episode a few years back, followed by the Globe, where Cumberland Farms owner acquired a huge dairy farm with production facilities in NY, just across the MA border. He was vertically integrated, from the grass and the cows in NY to the retail outlets (his stores.)
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If I recall correctly, he ran afoul of state, not federal, milk stabilization price controls when selling 1% and 2% milk in his Brockton stores (why Brockton?) for $1.99 a gallon. I followed the story for a couple of days, and then it disappeared. But I remember discovering some MA agency with a 1930’s sounding name … like Dairy Price Stabilization Control Board, within the MA Dept of Agriculture.
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Again, I’m for buying local. It’s far superior produce, meat and bread. I can afford to pay the premium.
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But for progressives it raises an dilemma: who do you throw overboard? The modest-income Brockton family with 4 kids forced to pay $2.99 for a gallon of milk, or the local MA dairy farmer benefiting from these price supports?
on an early “West Wing” TV show when they flash back to one of Barlett’s early pre-primary appearances in NH? As I recall, a dairy farmer asked him about milk prices, and he basically said he was happy to scrap the dairy compact and screw the farmers so that poor families could buy milk at lower prices. In the story line, that’s what persuaded Josh to back Barlett for president – his willingness to irk a powerful and sympathetic interest group to advance what he considered a more important goal.