Recently passed federal drought relief bill should provide the necessary aid to keep farmers in business but the legislation will not be a total solution to their problems, said Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa., yesterday.

Heinz spoke to area farmers and representatives of Pennsylvania agricultural groups yesterday morning at the Penn State Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs to survey their concerns and tell them about new developments .

The program, Heinz said, would benefit everyone, not just the farm community.

"It is very much in the interest of the consumer to have a stable source of supply," Heinz said. "Smaller farmers can react to consumer choices and demands."

If small farms were lost, food prices could increase while supermarkets would see shortages of consumer products and fewer choices, he said.

The program costs $3.9 billion, about $2 billion less than the cost of price supports not used this year because of increased costs from lower agricultural production due to the drought, Heinz said.

Provisions of the bill, outlined in a prepared statement, include:

-- Elimination of a planned cut in dairy price supports and a temporary price increase from April 1 to June 30, 1989, to allow dairy producers to recover drought-related costs.

-- Disaster benefits to farmers who have lost at least 35 percent of their crops.

-- A limit on aid to emphasize smaller farms. Only farms with gross revenues below $2 million for crops or $2.5 million for livestock are eligible.

-- Access to government feed grains for all farmers.

Heinz said benefits will be visible within the next four-to-six weeks.

But some local farmers saw problems with the bill and said it might not help their situations.

Local dairyman Harold Wolf said the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service had indicated that he would not be able to get aid under the new bill because he had some reserve corn and hay in stock from 1987.

Losses from this year -- his corn supplies will fall between 0 and 70 percent of last year's crop -- and the loss of expected price supports because of the drought will hurt Wolf next year when he plants his 1989 crop, he said.

"If I'd had a year like this in my early years as a farmer, I wouldn't have survived," Wolf said.

Wolf also said he believed the bill benefits farmers who did not plan last year by penalizing farmers for reserves.

Pa. Farmers' Union representative Alan Dieter said the bill would not provide enough benefits to state dairy farmers because of overproduction in the Western states, which was made possible by federally subsidized water facilities.

Heinz agreed, but said those states would object to the loss of a long- time benefit.

Local dairyman Wayne Harpster said a possible solution might be a quota system on milk production.

Local beef producer Paul Espy said he was happy about the final bill because it allowed aid for farmers with crop insurance, who total about 1 percent of Pennsylvania farmers. Without the allowance, the $100,000 deductible from losses would create problems.

Heinz' stop in Centre County was one of 20 made by Heinz this week.