07/23/08 State Farm Bureau to unveil worker pilot program; CWT accepts bids

Washington Ag July 23, 2008 The Washington Farm Bureau says it will debut a ground-breaking program designed to help farmers and ranchers obtain a legal and stable workforce. WFB Director of Employee Services Dan Fazio will unveil the program at the summer meeting of the National Onion Association in Pasco on Thursday. Washington Farm Bureau President Steve Appel summarized the organization's immigration reform by saying "It is obvious that we have a problem, our grassroots policy process has identified a solution, and it is time to make it happen." Cooperatives Working Together, CWT, says it received 609 dairy herd retirement bids in its 5th round of the program. National Milk Producers Federation spokesperson Chris Galen says about a third of the bids are being accepted. Galen: "We have tentatively accepted 209 bids in our current herd retirement program. That is going to result in the retiring of about 25-thousand cows representing 440-million pounds of milk." The Western region accounts for the largest number of cows in the accepted bids, over nine thousand, which also represents the largest volume of milk, 162 million pounds. CWT officials say this round of the milk reduction program should help strengthen farm-level prices for milk as dairy producers struggle with rising feed and fuel costs. I'm Bob Hoff.