Portland Press Herald | October 29, 2001 | BY: BART JANSEN Staff Writer
WASHINGTON - After farming for 32 years in Cumberland, Tom Terison has watched other apple farmers fold with much larger spreads than his 20-acre orchard. But Terison wonders how long he can last. Apple growers in China are depressing prices across the United States with their less expensive imports. And a drought in the Northeast this year hurt production that has been sliding for years.
Terison gives himself another five years farming. "What's happening is a lot of farms in this area are hanging on by a thread," said Terison, owner of the Double T Orchard. "It's getting very close to the end."
To help apple farmers hurt by hard weather and soft prices, Congress is debating whether to grant $150 million as part of the annual funding bill for the Agriculture Department.
If the bill is approved, Maine farmers could get $1.6 million, which would be three times more than they received this summer under legislation from last year.
"It's been a tough time," said U.S. Rep. John Baldacci, D-Maine. "This is vitally important."
The House approved the funding, but it is not included in the Senate version of the same bill. Senators agreed Thursday not to amend the bill, because it would go over previously agreed spending limits. But they said they would try to include funding when the bill is reconciled with the House version.
"I will fight for this in conference," said U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., who heads the Appropriations subcommittee for agriculture.
Apple farmers typically don't qualify for federal farm aid, which is targeted primarily to corn and wheat producers in the Midwest. But legislation from last year paid about 60 Maine farmers $541,044 this summer, based on depressed prices in 1998 and 1999.
The assistance provided a substantial increase in what farmers got paid for their crop. Maine farmers got about 29 cents per pound for their apples in 1999 and the subsidy amounted to about 17 cents per pound, according to Brent Mullis, farm program specialist for the federal Farm Services Administration.
"Nationally, the price of apples is in the tank," said Mullis, who also runs an orchard. "This is an income supplement."
The $95 million distributed nationally went to farmers who each produced up to 1.6 million pounds of apples a year, meaning the money went to smaller farms.
The entire state of Maine produces about 40 million pounds of apples a year. For comparison, Washington state is the largest producer with 4.9 billion pounds a year, and West Virginia, the smallest of the top 10 states, produces more than twice as much as Maine.
The U.S. Apple Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation support the financial help, after farmers lost $1.5 billion over the past five years, including $500 million in the last year.
Besides flooding the United States with apple juice, China is selling more apples throughout Asia. This leaves West Coast growers with fewer places to sell, meaning more apples and products such as juice concentrate and apple sauce flow east, hurting Northeast growers.
"It's very competitive," said Judy Demmick, a Madison farmer who is secretary of the Maine Pomological Society. "In every industry, it is very much a global economy."
Another problem is finding labor to pick the fruit. Growers worry that tightening immigration policies could deprive growers of workers to harvest their crops. "It's the issue most likely to put most growers out of business," Demmick said.
The economic threat leaves farms vulnerable for development. For example, Terison says his land 12 miles from Portland is ripe for development.
"Farms that can't make it in agriculture, they're carved up," said Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, who manages 10 apple trees as a hobby on a family farm. "That open space is gone forever."
Critics of farm subsidies, however, oppose increasing aid in a free market. Also, fruit farmers traditionally resisted aid programs, and their rivals for funding among grain producers complain that more strings should be attached to money for apples, just as with corn and wheat.
U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., ranking member of the Agriculture Committee, predicts the general farm bill covering major crop subsidies won't be considered until early next year because of the turmoil after Sept. 11. But he says apple farmers could win some assistance through the agriculture spending bill.
Maine lawmakers are looking for a second bite of the apple to approve the funding. An earlier attempt failed in late July during a debate over emergency spending for farmers.
"It's not every day you get a second chance, but that's what this amendment provides," said U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. "Apple growers in Maine and throughout the nation have suffered tremendously as a result of poor growing seasons, unusual weather events and trade-related issues."
Apple-state senators pushed to add $150 million to the $5.5 billion bill, as one change that boosted the overall cost to $7.5 billion. But with time running out before an August recess, Lugar persuaded the Senate to narrowly reject the changes in order to accept what the House approved.
At that stage, Maine's senators split on that vote.
Snowe supported the larger bill to add the apple money and create a way to extend a New England dairy agreement that expired Sept. 30. But U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, opposed the changes and supported the thriftier version, in order to get the rest of the emergency money to farmers faster.
At this point, both senators strongly support adding the $150 million to a funding bill now being debated in the Senate. Collins had said at the earlier vote that another opportunity would arise to help Maine farmers. The senators sent a letter Oct. 16 to colleagues describing the plight of apple farmers and asking for support.
"The assistance we are proposing will further help these producers and ensure that apple growers will be able to provide the United States and the world with a quality product that is second to none," the senators wrote.
Staff Writer Bart Jansen can be contacted at 791-6335 or at: bjansen@pressherald.com
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