UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Dairy farmers and producers can learn about their options under the 2002 federal farm bill during a special satellite workshop hosted by Penn State in cooperation with Cornell University, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The satellite broadcast will be offered from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 6 and will be available nationwide on the KU and C bands. Program coordinator Ken Bailey, Penn State associate professor of dairy markets and policy, says the program will focus on the dairy and grain provisions of the farm bill and how they will affect dairy producers in the Northeast and nationally.

"The new farm bill is pretty broad," Bailey says. "It has new dairy provisions, new grain programs and expanded funding under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which is a cost sharing program for livestock producers to develop waste management systems.

"We want to make producers aware of provisions that can affect their agricultural operations. For example, many producers don't know anything about the new dairy deficiency payment program."

Bailey says the satellite program will be targeted for dairy operations in the northeastern United States, but will address dairy issues that affect the entire nation.

"For instance, the farm bill's new dairy deficiency payment program is targeted to assist smaller farm operations with 133 cows or less, which predominate in Pennsylvania and several northeastern states," Bailey says. "The grain provisions of the farm bill are for anyone who produces grain in the United States, but we're not really going to delve into cotton and rice because those aren't big commodities in the Northeast."

The satellite program will unfold in two parts. "Part I -- 2002 Farm Bill" starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 10:50 a.m. It begins with a welcome by Bailey, followed by introduction to the dairy title to the farm bill by Mark Stephenson, extension professor at Cornell University. Charles Abdalla, associate professor of agricultural economics at Penn State, then will review the EQIP program and its potential effect on livestock producers.

Joel Rotz of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau will discuss the legislative deliberations surrounding the dairy provisions. Bailey, Stephenson, Abdalla and Rotz then will address questions called in from the audience.

After a 15-minute intermission, Bailey will return with introductory remarks followed by a discussion of the farm bill's grain provisions by Lou Moore, Penn State professor of agricultural economics. Jayson Harper, professor of ag economics, will explain crop insurance provisions and join Bailey and Moore in answering audience questions.

Part II of the program, covering round IV of the Dairy Options Pilot Program (DOPP IV), will start at 11 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m. Panelists from USDA's Risk Management Agency will cover the basics of dairy risk management, including an introduction to dairy options. The afternoon portion of the program then will focus on the rules of the DOPP program, ending with a simulation game that will help participants understand the program more thoroughly.

"This will be the fourth and final round of the DOPP program," Bailey says. "USDA provided extensive cost-sharing for the program, which has been valuable in helping dairy producers learn to deal with volatile dairy markets."

Information for tuning satellite receivers to access the program will be available through local county cooperative extension offices, which will have receiver information and a list of counties hosting this satellite downlink. Not all counties will host the program. Satellite coordinate information also will be available on the Penn State Dairy Outlook Web site at http://dairyoutlook.aers.psu.edu/.

###

EDITORS: Contact Ken Bailey at 814-863-8649 or baileyk@psu.edu.

Contact: Gary Abdullah gxa2@psu.edu 814-863-2708 814-865-1068 fax #206