By PETER GREGG, pgregg@nyfb.org

ALBANY — Dairy is at the top of the list of priorities for the Assembly Agriculture Committee this legislative session, according to its chairman Bill Magee.

“We heard the message loud and clear that something needs to be done,” Magee, DNelson, said in reference to the series of five hearings held across the state on the dairy crisis this winter.

The response from the state to the ongoing crisis may come in the form of a $60 million direct investment in the dairy industry, he said. New York Farm Bureau lobbied hard for the aid package during its Lobby Days in Albany on Feb. 6.

Magee said he supports the idea and would be soliciting support from his colleagues on the ag committee and Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

The governor has set aside $300 million for upstate revitalization in his budget proposal announced in late January. The money could come from there, Magee said. “Gov. Spitzer has many times mentioned the Upstate economy, and I’m sure he realizes that the Upstate economy means agriculture and particularly dairy,” he said.

If action is needed before April 1, then Magee thought the money could also come through special legislation and would pay farmers a direct cash payment based on $1 per hundredweight on the last six months of production.

Magee also said he supported the Center for Dairy Excellence, which would help farmers advance in technology and improve dairy profitability. Farm Bureau lobbied for support of the Center as well during the Lobby Days in February.

Magee stressed that any state action to the dairy crisis would only be a temporary solution — a “Band-Aid.” He said that based on testimony at the dairy hearings, long range solutions would have to come from the federal level.

He said that one solution would be bringing back the Northeast Dairy Compact, which paid farmers an over-order price on Class 1 milk. That program dissolved in 2002.

Other options include decoupling the Class 1 price from the manufacturing price and renewing the Milk Income Loss Contract in the 2007 Farm Bill. Getting the AgJobs Bill passed would be another way to help farmers, ensuring a steady supply of labor, he said.

Magee said he and his colleagues were contacting the entire New York congressional delegation in Washington, asking them to take a look at the crisis.

Back at the state level, Magee said that he was taking a cue from the governor to further pursue getting New York farm products into the Metro New York market. That idea has long been championed by Magee.

Gov. Spitzer announced in his budget address that he was allocating $500,000 for a Pride of New York Wholesale Market in Hunt’s Point in the Bronx.

The other big priority for Magee and his committee is the budget.

Line items for groups like apple growers, wine makers and maple producers were eliminated in the governor’s budget proposal Jan. 30.

Instead, the governor allocated a $6 million lump sum to be divvied up by the new state agriculture commissioner Patrick Hooker, apparently at his discretion. Magee said he did not support that tactic and would advocate “lining out” the budget as has been done in years past.

“I look forward to us going forth addressing the issues of the agricultural community,” Magee said.

Magee, an auctioneer from Madison County, was first elected to the Assembly in 1990. He is in his sixth year of chairing the agriculture committee.