U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-NH, meets constituents in Groveton on Thursday. Paula Tracy photo
By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
GROVETON – Maggie Goodlander, New Hampshire’s newly elected Democratic Congresswoman for District 2 was in the North Country Thursday taking notes as she met and heard from the agriculture and forestry community about the federal impacts they face for their small businesses.
From tariffs impacting milk and fertilizer prices, to the H2A temporary foreign worker agricultural visa program to delays to get into USDA slaughterhouses, to dealing with agricultural equipment manufacturers requiring their licensed techs do repairs, Goodlander said she wanted to be of assistance and has experience taking on corporate abuse of power.
“I really am here to listen and learn from you,” she said at the meeting at the Groveton United Methodist Church.
Goodlander is a Nashua native who grew up next to her grandfather’s farm, though she noted that one of her favorites, Fletcher Manley of Lancaster, called her hometown in the southern area of the state “Dixie,” which got a laugh.
Goodlander said she hoped this would be the first of many such gatherings around a big table where she could learn about their issues and take that back to Washington.
She was asked to come by for the first time by the NH Farm Bureau Federation and the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association.
The sort of a get-to-know-you event here was organized by former Fish and Game Executive Director and North Country farmer Scott Mason.
Goodlander asked how many find the tariffs working for them.
Not a single hand shot up.
Jasen Stock, executive director of the NH Timberland Owners Association, said a big issue for his members is workforce related, noting a bill coming up in Washington that could help by allowing 16 year olds to get involved in the harvesting of timber.
But noted the big issue for his 1,000 members is trade and tariffs.
“I don’t want this to be a trade and tariff gripe session but the impacts of it are just severe, significant. We have mills idling because they literally cannot move wood. Because of this market upheaval,” Stock said.
Farmers also said they are facing drastic milk price fluctuations and labor shortages which are not improving with the nation’s immigration policy.
Without speaking of Republican President Donald Trump by name, his policies related to trade and immigration were the subject of ire.
“This little tariff thing has cost us two fifty three dollars a hundred weight, for a farm our size that’s a hundred thousand a month. Just like that,” said Scott Forbes of Lancaster.
He has operated one of the largest dairy farms in the state along with his family since 1902. Forbes Farm has about 1,300 milking cows who each produce about 10 gallons of milk each week which goes to the Hood plant in Concord and is part of a dairy cooperative.
Forbes said the volatility of milk prices is one of the biggest issues, but labor is right up there, while he pays up to $30 an hour and has 35 employees. “There isn’t help enough around here to do the jobs,” he said.
“I don’t want to get into the immigration issue,” Forbes said, “but we got to because there ain’t many farms in the United States who don’t use migrant labor. We have to do something to fix this problem. You got to have them…but they need to be 100 percent legal. That’s what they need to fix. So they are 100 percent legal. Come here for a while. Go home. Somebody else can come. But they can’t work on this H2A visa. It is no good for the animal industry. You can’t go ten months with a man then two months without him, who is going to feed the cattle for two months? That’s the problem with that program.”
Rob Johnson, executive director of the NH Farm Bureau, said we are going to have to make a decision in this country: “are we going to bring in our labor or bring in our food?”
Another potential issue the federal government could get involved in relates to agricultural equipment makers like John Deere requiring service of equipment they sell to farmers to be serviced by them or a licensed technician.
In February, the Federal Trade Commission and five states joined a suit against Deere & Co. alleging an unlawful monopoly which adds unnecessary costs and delays for farmers.
Noting on Forbes’ ball cap the John Deere logo, Goodlander said she is not a friend of John Deere.
“I am no friend of lobbyists and I am no friend of the big corporations. The work I did in the Justice Department was focused on taking on monopolists and corporate abuse of power. And when you look at the agricultural industry, there is really no more consolidated industry in America. There is a lot of work we have to do,” she said.
Ted Tichy, a forester, farmer and beef rancher in West Milan and former member of the NH Fish and Game Commission introduced Goodlander. Tichy’s wife, Mary, is president of the Coos County Farm Bureau Board of Directors, who also attended.
Tichy said right now it is hard for a small farm to get their meat processed and sold. The farm bureau is working on some legislation “to allow a home farm or slaughterhouse to do some other stuff instead of having to go right directly through and have a federal inspector,” he said.
Joyce Brady, New Hampshire state president of the Farm Bureau, said there is a delay for those raising their own animals and booking out a year or two. It really spiked during COVID-19 and had a middleman problem in getting it to the consumer. In March, the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed House Resolution 18 urging the congressional delegation to allow small scale slaughterhouse plants to use the Federal Meat Inspection Act’s Custom Exempt meat processing inspection criteria with third-party inspectors rather than having to go to one of the four USDA approved slaughter plants in New Hampshire.
Brady said during COVID-19 small local meat producers had a lot of food but couldn’t get it to the consumers because of the “middleman.”
“And in this case, the USDA was a middleman,” Goodlander asked.
“Yes,” Brady said, “but the problem we are having now is the state doesn’t have a state meat program. So if you want to sell an individual it has got to be slaughtered by USDA.
Cuts are purchasing portions of animals from farms as listed in https://www.nhfarmbureau.org/agriculture/meat_listing/)
Tichy thanked Goodlander for coming and opening a dialogue.
“I am truly pleased that one of our representatives in Washington can take the time to come up and listen to us,” Tichy said.
“This part of New Hampshire is our home. These are the industries that we work and we live for. We are small businesses. We struggle to compete with large corporations, the weather, distance to markets, overwhelming regulations at times and to be honest the insignificance, sometimes, of our voices and our votes compared to the population centers.”
He said that “everyone around the state wants to use our land to recreate for nothing but no one wants to hear about how we struggle to pay our taxes and our insurance, just to keep our farms and forests. I hope we can continue to count on you,” Tichy concluded. “Once they get to Washington they kinda get stuck there,” he said of past congressmen and women.
“My word is my bond, you can count on me,” Goodlander said.
“I’ve always loved and believed in the North Country,” she said. “I hope this is going to be the first of many conversations.”