Photo by Graham Cullen Local dairy farmer Chuck Fry, left, and Bruno Le Maire, France’s minister for food, agriculture and fisheries, hold a young turkey during a tour of the Point of Rocks farm, as Le Maire tries to acquaint himself with the challenges of the U.S. dairy market.

Maire said he wanted to learn how the U.S. dairy market is organized, and to understand measures being taken here to address the crisis for farmers.

"Every sector of the agriculture department is facing a huge crisis in France, which raises great difficulties for farmers," Maire said.

Low prices are making it difficult for farmers to make a profit, he said. "It's a worldwide crisis. We need to find a way to stabilize prices and farms."

Maire said he sees many similarities between the United States and the European Union.

The EU is pondering abolishing the quota system by which farmers are now paid in favor of a pricing system based on a contract with producers that would identify production and prices so farmers would know ahead of time what they will be paid, Maire said.

Establishing quotas is equivalent to issuing rights to sell a certain quantity at set prices, Maire said. Efficient farmers who might wish to increase their production cannot do so because they are not authorized to exceed their quotas.

Getting rid of quotas would require intervention at the EU level, he said.

"My deep conviction is to get rid of the quota system and develop a new system," Maire said. "Our farmers are waiting for politicians to make the right decisions" for a viable agriculture industry.

As the EU works to abolish the quota system, the U.S. is embracing it, said Chuck Fry, the owner and operator of Rocky Point Farm, who hosted the delegation.

"It's not working," Fry said.

Fry is known for his large turkey production, but Rocky Point Farm also milks about 150 cows daily. His dairy business has lost $100,000 over nine months, said Fry, who is Maryland Farm Bureau vice president.

"We're experiencing a tremendous crisis," Fry said. "Farmers are putting in loan applications but they can't get the loans due to no cash flow."

Awareness of each country's production levels would help curb overproduction, which results in diminished prices across the globe, Maire said.

The U.S. and the EU face the same dilemma, Fry said.

Maire and Fry said requiring smaller farms to compete with huge operations under the same rules is unfair to small producers.

"We have to find a way we can live together," Fry said. "When the price of a gallon of water is more expensive than the price of a gallon of milk, that's a problem."

French Embassy spokesman Emmanuel Lenain said he was impressed by the Maryland Farm Bureau's organization of the 90-minute field trip.

"We appreciate the warm greetings. This farm is professionally managed, and he (Fry) is a very impressive farmer," Lenain said.

Fry's 1,300 acres and 170 cows, while small by American standards, is considered a large farm in France, where the standard is about 40 acres and 40 cows, Maire said.

Maire will report to his European partners on the lessons from his visit at a ministerial meeting Oct. 12 in Vienna.

At the end of the visit, Fry presented Maire with a turkey, which the French official pardoned.

Maire also met with several U.S. government officials, including Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Ron Kirk, U.S. trade representative, responsible for negotiations at the World Trade Organization.