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President Reagan signed the dairy compromise bill on Nov. 29, 1983. The bills two major provisions were to lower the support price to $12.60 per cwt, and the paid diversion measure. This measure requires the Department of Agriculture to establish contracts with dairy producers to cut marketings to between 5-30% of their sales and provides schedules for culled cow marketing. Other features of the bill establish egg marketing orders, drought relief, and freezing of tobacco support prices.

Congress's Conference Committees have approved a bill to lower dairy price supports. The laws are designed to lower milk production and lower government costs. USDA support and presidential support is uncertain at this point.

The dairy price support bill passed in the House. The bill lowers price support by 50 cents. The bill also gives the secretary of agriculture the right to further lower prices. Livestock producers have supported the bill.

A dairy compromise bill was passed in the Senate almost unchanged from its House version. Price supports would be lowered by 50 cents. Producers living up to their contracts with the government program would also be paid $10 cwt for milk not marketed.

Milk producers will be required to pay $1 per hundredweight of milk sold commercially but could receive a 50-cent refund if they could prove they had reduced their production of milk to the desired level. The assessment is an attempt by Congress to reduce Commodity Credit Corp. payments for dairy price supports. The original dairy assessment program went into effect Dec. 1, 1982 but collection has been blocked by court order.

Dairy interests lose in price support and limit of casein imports.

Senator Dole introduced the fourth version of the omnibus farm bill in the Agriculture Committee. Dole's bill retains the concept of target prices and continues set-asides as a method for reducing production when supply is abundant. His bill would use previous years' acreage as bases of reductions.

Wheat and feed grain producers have been noncommittal about new Agriculture Department programs. Farmers must sign upp for the program to be eligible for Commodity Credit Corp. loans. The program aims at a 10% voluntary acreage reduction with the land to be used for conservation. New target prices were also set.

Agriculture Secretary, John Block, announced recently that he would not support a dairy compromise bill unless it is accompanied by a freeze on target prices for commodities. The compromise measure would allow dairy price supports to drop 50 cents per hundredweight and would set up a contract system whereby an incentive payment would be given to producers who agreed to reduce production.