Re: BST, scale or sector bias

Alan Furchtenicht (FURCHT@macc.wisc.edu)
Mon, 19 Jul 93 13:50 CDT

From: IN%"DAIRY-L@UMDD.BITNET" "Dairy Discussion List."
To: Multiple recipients of list DAIRY-L <DAIRY-L@UMDD.BITNET>
Subject: Re: BST, scale or sector bias

Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1993 10:22:08 -0400
From: Steven P Washburn <swashbur@WOLF.CES.NCSU.EDU>
Reply-To: "Dairy Discussion List." <DAIRY-L@UMDD.BITNET>
Sender: "Dairy Discussion List." <DAIRY-L@UMDD.BITNET>
Subject: Re: BST, scale or sector bias
To: Multiple recipients of list DAIRY-L <DAIRY-L@UMDD.BITNET>
X-To: DAIRY-L@UMDD.UMD.EDU
In-Reply-To: <9307191118.AA19111@umd5.umd.edu> from "Alan Furchtenicht"
at Jul 19, 93 06:14:00 am

Opinion! Opinion! Opinion! Opinion! Opinion! Opinion! Opinion!
Yes, I am concerned about rural America. There is need for Land
Grant Universities to conduct more research that has application
and potential for sustaining small-to-moderate sized dairy farms.
I personally think that there are opportunities in seasonal
breeding and in intensive grazing management that would be more
applicable to small and moderate sized farms although some farms
with 500 or 600 cows might also benefit. To date, most of the
information about such practices is from uncontrolled
demonstrations or farmer testimonials --- we need better data!!
However, it also concerns me that there is a growing rhetoric
that agricultural technology is wrong and unsustainable. Certainly,
we have lost many dairy farms but we have been able maintain an
economical source of milk and milk products with a growing
population. We likely would have to improve our efficiency (lower
cost of production) even more if we had a wide open international
market --particularly for manufactured dairy products.
My question is why can't we conduct research and develop
technology that may result in advantages for some size or sector?
Perhaps other efforts will help another group so that collectively
we are better able to compete internationally. I particularly
despise scare tactics that unfairly make unfounded claims that
certain products may present a health hazard. We do need to support
regulated approval processes that assure that our products are safe
and then let the market decide if they are economical to use.
Finally, I believe that proponents of "sustainable agriculture"
can make their cases without sweeping away all "high-input"
agriculture as inherently evil!

Sincerely,

Steve Washburn

Opinion! Opinion! Opinion! Opinion! Opinion! Opinion! Opinion!

--
Steven P Washburn
E-Mail  : swashbur@wolf
Internet: swashbur@wolf.ces.ncsu.edu
Phone   : (919) 515-7726