The Modesto Bee May 1, 2001 By Michael Doyle
WASHINGTON--San Joaquin Valley dairyman Joaquin Content is not quite content with federal farm policy.
So this week, the Hanford resident is joining the parade of politically minded farmers who've been trooping through Capitol Hill corridors all spring. The farmers share a common goal in shaping the next federal farm bill, even they differ on specifics.
"If producers don't get involved, no one else will take care of their business," said Content, who runs the family's dairy farm with his brother Tony.
Of involvement, there's seemingly no shortage. The 300,000-member National Farmers Union sent farmers and ranchers from 12 states to Washington last week as part of the group's annual grass-roots lobbying campaign.
Content is staying over this week for additional work. In another two weeks, California's winemakers will be coming out for their own annual lobbying trip, sponsored by the Wine Institute.
Michael Marsh, chief executive officer of the Modesto-based Western United Dairymen, likewise traversed Capitol Hill recently. And on Wednesday, San Joaquin County cherry and apple grower David Rajkovich will be testifying at one of the numerous farm-oriented congressional hearings now underway.
"We've had a lot come through," said Doug Heye, spokesman for Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy.
But the farmers' common interest in maintaining influence breaks down when it comes to specific policies.
"The uniformity is that everyone wants more money," said Rep. Cal Dooley, a Hanford Democrat who serves on the House Agriculture Committee. "The diversity is in how they want that money allocated."
Some diversity is regional. Dooley cited, as an example, the possibility that Midwestern dairy farmers might seek political advantage over the California dairy farmers who now lead the nation in production.
Other diversity is philosophical. Some farmers, in groups like the National Farmers Union, support government programs to control supply, while many do not.
As a member of the relatively new California chapter of the National Farmers Union, the 51-year-old Content is representing but one faction amid all the diversity. Founded only two years ago, the group's California chapter has about 350 members compared to the California Farm Bureau Federation's 75,000 members.
Accompanied last week by fellow Hanford dairyman and Farmers Union member Xavier Avila, Content is urging Congress to take on foreign as well as domestic agricultural challenges.
The philosophical conflict is reflected in a National Farmers Union proposal to dampen imports of milk protein concentrate -- called casein -- into the United States. The European Union subsidizes casein production and increased casein exports by nearly 11 percent last year.
"It's dumping that's been going on," Content said, "and there's a lot of political pressure to keep those doors open."
Dooley, a free trader, put his own emphasis on the California dairy industry cranking up its own casein production if U.S. demand is so high.
Content hopes for another emergency farm relief bill -- which would be the fifth consecutive such agricultural bailout in the past five years -- are shared more commonly on Capitol Hill.
"Until we fix the (bigger) problems, how else are we going to help the farmers?" Content asked.
Dooley said he anticipates Congress will provide disaster relief this year as it has in past years.
But, whether a formal farm bill gets written this year, as some would like, is perhaps a 50-50 proposition. While the House Agriculture Committee has promised to move legislation by mid-July, the Senate Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry Committee appears to be in no such hurry.:
