Farmers in region may get some help, Norwich Bulletin

Farmers in region may get some help
Lebanon farm hosts congressional visit

By ERICA JACOBSON

Norwich Bulletin

May 29, 2008

LEBANON — Nothing is getting cheaper or easier for farmers as the economy weakens, a group of Eastern Connecticut farmers told members of the state's congressional delegation Wednesday morning.

Fuel and fertilizer prices keep rising. Demand for corn, manure and other products sometimes double or triple the bill from just a year before. Increased health care costs obliterate what raises farm employers can offer their workers.

And the immigrant labor many farms rely on to milk cows, tend to plants and harvest crops can be disrupted or disappear entirely.

"We've had employees that have been stopped for seat belt violations," Paul Miller, owner of Woodstock's Fairvue Farms, said, "and, before you know it, they're back in Brazil."

That news greeted U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, as they visited the region with news of the impending Senate passage of a five-year, $289 billion farm-spending bill. Both said Washington has finally started to consider the needs of agricultural communities beyond the Midwest's commodities-driven market.

"The past is no longer acceptable, this is about the future," DeLauro said, standing in the yard of Lebanon's Graywall Farms, a 400-head dairy farm. "It is the time to end the domination of the commodity sector."

DeLauro is chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee. She said the bill, expected to be approved by the Senate next week, includes a 5-cent decrease in ethanol subsidies, which have driven up demand and the price of corn. It also includes money for helping new farmers get established, making existing farms more energy efficient as well as working with land trusts and other programs dedicated to preserving and strengthening rural communities.

"Historically," DeLauro said during a morning roundtable at Courtney's Norwich office, "our part of the country is never in the farm bills. There was nothing."

While funding fixes some situations, farmers asked if there wasn't anything the two House members could do to remedy a shaky immigration situation for many of their employees. Mark Sellew of Lebanon's Prides Corner Farms said meaningful immigration reform appears to be stuck on certain concepts.

"Most of the immigrants aren't looking for amnesty," he said. "They're not looking for citizenship."

Tim Slate of Kahn Tractor and Equipment in North Franklin said he doesn't think the public has any idea just how vital immigrant labor is to farm products. Sellew agreed, saying the cable television political talk show hosts have won the public relations battle when it comes to the issue.

"I have so many unbelievable employees," he said.

"No excuses," Slate said, "never late."

Allyn Brown III, who runs Maple Lane Farms in Preston, said even local high school students don't apply to work the land anymore.

"If we had to depend on local labor...," he said.

"We'd be out of business," Slate said.