Agriculture
Back-to-school season is giving some Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers a chance to renew their fight for whole milk in schools.
U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) are pushing to get whole and 2% milk back in schools. Those varieties were banned under the Obama administration nutrition guidelines. Currently, schools can only serve skim or 1% milk. The 1% option was allowed just last year when the U.S. Department of Agriculture removed that ban.
Pennsylvania dairy farmers have been under continuous pressure of decreasing fluid milk consumption in the country and tight markets met by production surpluses and tariffs. Congressman Glenn Thompson led a summit at Mount Aloysius College in Cambria County Monday, reassuring producers and farmers that a handful of new policies would offer meaningful assistance to the industry.
Dairy farmers have never had an easy job, but it's no secret that life has been particularly hard the past few years.
Low prices. Cost cutting. Bad weather. Sleepless nights.
It's enough to make a dairy farmer lose hope, and indeed, thousands have decided that the best path for their family is to sell the cows.
But dairy farming hasn't gone the way of the dinosaurs.
There are still 12,800 dairy farms in the Northeast, more than twice the number of Walmarts in the entire U.S.
WASHINGTON — Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) and Congressman Glenn ‘GT' Thompson (PA-15) introduced the School Milk Nutrition Act of 2019—bipartisan legislation to expand milk options for students and reverse the decline of milk consumption in schools.
WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT' Thompson welcomed the PA Dairymen's Association Executive Director David Smith to testify on the state of the dairy economy.
WASHINGTON –This week, U.S. Representatives Glenn ‘GT' Thompson (PA-15), Filemon Vela (TX-34), John Joyce (PA-13), and Henry Cuellar (TX-28) introduced H.R. 2081, the Chronic Wasting Disease Research Act, a bipartisan bill that would increase research for a fatal brain disease that is decimating deer, elk and moose herds across the country.
Area farmers are making sure their voices are heard in the nation's capital.
Two local farmers, both Pennsylvania Farm Bureau members, were among a group that visited Washington, D.C. Feb 26-28.
"Pennsylvania Farm Bureau believes it is critically important for farmers to travel to Washington D.C. to meet face-to-face with lawmakers who represent them on national issues," spokesman Mark O'Neill said.
BELLEFONTE, Pa. – In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue Thursday, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson (D-Minn.) and Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Ranking Member Glenn ‘GT' Thompson (R-Pa.), and more than 70 Democratic and Republican House colleagues urged the Department to prioritize the implementation of dairy provisions included in the 2018 Farm Bill.
BELLEFONTE, Pa.– U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT' Thompson today applauded the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) decision to allow more dairy farmers the option to enroll in both the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) and Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy Cattle Program (LGM-Dairy) for 2018 coverage.