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New York
Farm Bureau president John Lincoln
today said New York's farm families
are excited that the Senate passed
its version of the Farm Bill, which
contains many provisions that will
benefit New York agriculture.
"There are many key items in the Senate's Farm
Bill that are important to New York
farmers," said Lincoln, a dairy
farmer from Bloomfield. "We are
very pleased with the bill that came
out of the Senate Agriculture
Committee and are excited to see
that it has now passed the full
Senate. We are hopeful that the
final version can soon become law."
"Senators Schumer and Clinton have both been long
supporters of New York agriculture
and we are grateful for their
continued support of our industry,"
Lincoln said.
The bill
provides big increases in funding
and programs for specialty crops,
conservation, research, and energy
while maintaining a needed safety
net for commodity crops and dairy.
The focus of the bill is much more
on the type of farms that are found
in New York including dairy, fruit
and smaller crops like maple syrup
and berries.
The bill
also expands on the much-needed MILC
program for New York's dairy farmers
by improving the payment rate from
34 percent to 45 percent of the
difference between a safety net
value of class 1 (drinking) milk,
which is $16.94/cwt, and the actual
class 1 price. The Senate version
also increases the cap from 2.4 to
4.15 million pounds milk production
for full participation in the
program.
The
program is essential in protecting
dairy farm families when the price
of milk falls below the cost of
production.
The Senate
version of the farm bill also
expands programs for fresh fruits
and vegetables, specialty crop block
grant funding and nutrition
programs.
Since much of New York agriculture
is devoted to fruit, vegetable and
dairy production, the Senate bill is
particularly beneficial to farm
families in New York
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