By JOE LoTEMPLIO
Staff Writer
PERU — Hoping to get a better feel for what farmers need, Congressman Bill Owens spent much of Tuesday touring area farms with Congressman Collin Peterson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.
"The only way you get a feel for what is happening on the ground is to come to the ground floor and see what's going on," Owens (D-Plattsburgh) said.
"Collin has been very good about going around the country and meeting with farmers and listening to the different issues."
MILK PRICES CRUCIAL
Owens and Peterson met with Jon Rulfs of Adirondack Farms in Peru and Roger Giroux and his sons Craig and Willie, operators of Giroux's Poultry Farm in Chazy.
The two lawmakers talked about improving regulations for all agriculture enterprises, including stabilizing milk prices for dairy farms.
Dairy farmers have been struggling to make ends meet in recent years because prices for their milk, which are set by government formulas, have not kept up with production costs.
"Stabilizing milk prices is very important, and being able to keep a good labor force is also key to our survival," Rulfs said.
MIGRANT WORKERS
Migrant farm workers are often caught in the middle of the immigration debate, which is polarized between those who want to deport all illegal aliens and those who want to give them amnesty.
Owens said the Agriculture Committee has been working on legislation that will provide migrant workers and their employers an easier path to working in the country.
"A lot of people don't realize that more people were deported in the first year of the Obama administration than in eight years with George Bush," Owens said.
"But we need these workers."
Rulfs, who operates a diary farm of about 2,000 cows, said his dairy operation relies on a stable work force.
"It doesn't matter if unemployment is 4 percent or 10 percent, our needs stay the same," he said.
Owens, who was elected last year in a special election in the 23rd District, will face the winner of the Sept. 14 Republican primary between Matt Doheny and Douglas Hoffman.
Doheny and Hoffman were preparing for a debate Tuesday night and could not be reached for comment on the farm issues.
But at a debate last week in Plattsburgh, they both pledged support for farmers and vowed to support laws that benefitted farming families.
"Farmers are not being treated fairly," Hoffman said.
"The big conglomerates are driving the family farmer out."
Doheny said he has met with several farmers the past nine months he has been touring the district.
"We need to make sure that farmland stays in farm families," he said.
FARM BILL TIMING
Peterson said he hopes the new Farm Bill can be completed by the end of next year, and parts of it can be enacted in early 2012.
"A lot of people don't realize that New York is a big agriculture state because it hasn't gotten much attention," Peterson said.
Owens said it is imperative for the entire region that operations like Giroux's remain healthy.
"In the past 10 years, they have probably grown tenfold and increased their employment by about 50 percent," Owens said.
"They are good employers who are very conscientious about doing things right, and it is good for us to tour places like this because it gives us a different level of knowledge than just doing a round-table discussion."
E-mail Joe LoTemplio at: jlotemplio@pressrepublican.com
