Main Street; LaurelBrook Farm; Dairy Farm

Can you do me a favor and just say tape number five. You just do. And can you say I'm Bob Jack here from orbit. By Jack here from Lerberghe farm. J.C.. Q You Are. Me just a little bit about it. Well Nancy we're a family run dairy farm. We milk about 780 cows. Strictly a family farm we have four partners involved including my grandfather my father and my younger brother. We only dairy we don't have any other businesses on the side. You have 800 cows. We have about a hundred cows milking Yes. How much do we crap about 22 hundred acres total. So we do have a very large land base to take care of a lot of land in Connecticut Massachusetts and New York. We're in a tri state area. What do you what's your feeling about this

merger between departments. That was kind of scary Nancy. That again you could tell me just leave my name out of it. OK. And tell me the same thing but just leave my name out of it. What's your opinion about this proposed merger of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection. Well Nancy it concerns me quite a bit Nancy. Yeah don't worry about me I'm not here. You're not going to tell me what you think about the proposed merger of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection. This concerns me quite a bit. I think agriculture is a very regulated business. It needs to be where we as dairy farmers are very dedicated to producing a high quality product for our consumers agriculture.

And second. Bob what's what's here. You know when you first heard about this merger What was it what were your first thoughts. My first thoughts is Who are we going to turn to when we are in a time of need with the changes in the world in a country with biosecurity and animal health issues and safety of our products. I think that if we have a Department of Agriculture that's solely responsible for the products we produce is going to be very beneficial to us consumers. Why do you need that. What is it. What is it. Why do you need that focus on agriculture from the state. Why is it so important to focus on agriculture is simply because agriculture is a seven day a week 24 hour a day business when we have a concern or an issue that uprisers whether it be an animal health or a food quality issue or even in the vegetable industry when

we have a question or something that needs to be tested or question answered We have a place to call. We know who is responsible for that problem and what kinds of questions are you talking about because remember your audience doesn't know a lot about farming so I would urge it. What's the big deal why can't you deal with a department that's kind of in a nine to five Department. It wouldn't be this 24 hour thing for people generally in the Department of Agriculture have an all culture background they understand animal issues they understand the quality of the food that we produce and how it needs to be safe for each and every consumer out there. That is our main concern is food safety. So again I'm going to ask you to get specific Again these years. They don't know anything about dairy cows. What do we have coming. Give me an example. Give me an example it's just important that each herd is very carefully vaccinated to ensure the safety of our

herds our neighbors herds and regulating how animals are transported in and out of this country as well as in and out of the states just to have a good handle on everything that's going on. For example there was a farmer we knew that on a Friday afternoon had a cow that was very sick and had died. They thought that possibly was rabies and it was a Friday afternoon. And where else could you go you couldn't go anywhere else to get this animal tested. He made a call to the Department of Agriculture. It was taking care of within six hours. He had an answer and it wasn't negative fortunately but that was one case. That was it was a very critical time. I mean it could spread very fastly. I mean it was obviously was negative. But the point being is he had a place to go to get the answer he needs. Go out just go over that last part again just I actually don't need my voice on this.

It's sort of the conclusion of that story that told what happened what happened after that what happened after you made the call. Was it the state that had taken care of the problem he made because the animal was diagnosed negative and his life and neighbors life would go on knowing that it was rabies free situation even those hurdles vaccinated. There's always a fluke case where you need to know if you're not sure you'll never know. So I'm just trying to understand that the expertise is around specific very specific knowledge about the animal. That's that's sort of the that's the bottom line. Specific knowledge about animals in our businesses whether it being milk or whether being you know products that we produce being ice cream or yogurts or anything that I think is important.

The Department of Agriculture that has the governor is here for that. Is it important for them to have access to the big guys. Oh it's very important very important. Even in a case of biosecurity where it may be that there's an issue where I sat and that's let's ask that question all morning. Give me one sample. Why do you need access to that. Why do you have that part of it. We need a cabinet level department. To be able to convey the messages and the concerns on a dairy farm level or at the agriculture level to the governor. So they understand the needs of farmers they need a safe secure high quality produce food and it can't get in in the

country. We're going to go back to my original question when you heard about this proposed merger of these two departments. The difference here is about what was your first act. My first thoughts were. Who is going to be responsible who's going to be there. Take care of some of these issues that come about that may affect the quality of our lifestyles in Connecticut and in the world as far as the food chain is concerned. All right well thank you very much. Thank you. If you could just tell me a little bit about your farm. How long has it been here. How much.

If you don't mind because I'm seeing a little bit. Actually. That car also. All my life. 60 years. I was born and raised here. And as. My grandchildren get your kids ready for the for age fear they're the fifth generation of our family to be here on our family farm. And. When I'm around 200 acres. Built 50 cows 40 cows a president go through restringing and make twenty five hundred pounds a day. That's kind of small by most standards but we've seen always survive. We have raised five children all have a college degree and just 17 months ago paid off a mortgage so we're.

We're pleased with that. As I said I was born or raised here and been farming on my own for 40 years because I've lost my father to cancer when I was 16 years old when I took over the farm at that time and I've never in all those years spent through financial stresses we're facing right now at the present time. That because. Yeah. And they've been to my milk prices alone have been low for such a long span that we just have bills that have added up like never before. The best thing about farmers is that those people we do business with have a lot of confidence in you and so they do extend your credit and it gets to a point where you wonder how long it should should really last. When you owe people money for fuel to operate every single

day with no money to people that supply your supplies through the milking system and whatever. Oh the money that you and you never owed them money before why. It's just not a nice situation for a family farm to be in. Yeah. In all the years I think this is about the third maybe the fourth time that I've been involved in a in a fight to save the Department of Agriculture. It seems as though. It just comes up and then everybody thinks within government that they're going to save a lot of money. But the benefits of the Permaculture far outweigh any money that they can spend on an entire program. Well they may save half a million dollars as far as

administration and all that kind of thing is concerned but if we don't have the people in place to take care of an emergency as far as safety of food is concerned and biosecurity within our state and don't have the proper people that can step into action immediately that no agriculture and have been involved in agriculture for many years. We're going to get lost in the cracks and we're not going to be able to take care of a serious situation if it comes up. Very. Well with the layoffs and everything that I've been involved in in the state departments

we have technicians that come to the farm to take samples from our cows for mastitis which is a disease of the mammary glands and all the results are tested at the University of Connecticut and then we get a feedback from that. And if you have a problem those people can come back and retest and and help you in this situation. And if we lose those people that have been involved with us. Who who have got quite a few years of service that would be the first ones that they would like to get get rid of because of their salary and whatever being on a higher scale. We're going to have new people come in and we're going to have to start teaching over again and the procedures and whatever it takes to handle some situations we have on the far side of the state at the present time a disease in the poultry barn and the department has been on top of that immediately with other agencies and they're taking care of that so it doesn't spread to neighbors or to other states or wherever and also to protect the safety of the food for our

general public. So we need the people involved to know what to do when it when a situation like that arises. Experts Yeah it sure is. And like I said if you've got to start retraining them and bring in new people in at a lower scale and everything else. And if we're in a different agency we're just not going to have the support there too to carry on. And to have the service of the people service the way we really need them to. Market it are not selling. Oh yeah that's a special program all in itself has Connecticut grown and it does not affect the milk marketing business as much as it affects vegetables and nursery and landscaping in that part of agriculture. But it certainly is a very important part and

I hope that the audience would understand that in order to ship milk in the state of Connecticut I have to have a license and a permit that's renewed every year and I have state inspectors that come here and and inspect and make sure that things are up to snuff as far as making quality milk and and whatever and so we we have an update every year and if there's a small problem if you have a little high bacteria count or something are dire inspectors are here immediately to help us try and counteract the situation. And if we're not. Represented by farmers we're. Finishing up on. Pick it up like you if we're not represented by Amherst we're talking about next week.

We don't care if we don't have those people involved in our agency that have been there and have the experience why we're not going to going to have the service immediately on the spot so that we can have safe food for our general public. And that's kind of what it's all about is to have I think all the politicians like cheap food and good safe products. So we need a culture that's in place now to support those kind of programs that we have had and to continue to we should continue to have them. They're very important for agriculture less visible less. On the minds of Agriculture consumer. My number one thought is that if there are layoffs and there are people from consumer protection moved into agriculture once

again the educational. Program that will have to. Work. I guess we're worried that agriculture is going to be it's going to it's not going to be number one. My last visit does not have a string it. Now do you have any concerns about what happens next. I believe that it could possibly be that we become a second rate in the department and it's just too important to be properly represented. To let that happen. We have a Department of Agriculture that's intact. We have people working for many years with experience and just I don't believe I don't know what the prediction is but I don't believe that there's a great savings there by making a merger. And if we were happen to have

people from consumer protection for instance come into our Department of Agriculture and say one of them was a person who had been out inspecting restaurants or whatever and he comes to inspect my farm that's two different entirely entirely different situations and I don't know how they would how they would handle that. And once again a reeducation would enter into it. It would just it's just it's like starting over again in some situations and that's not what we need. We need to continue as we are. The other reasons why this might not. I don't know if they have any other points to make as far as the merger is concerned except that I think it's very important that the general public support agriculture and support the farmers and call your senators and call your representatives and tell them that you are not in. You do not support the merger of

the Department of Agriculture it's too important too to mingle with something else. It needs to stand alone