—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March’,3o,l96B. 26 Ammon Gives Positive Action Ideals Richard I. Ammon, executive director of the Northeastern Poultry Producers Council re cently presented his ideas on the poultry situation at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Poul try Meeting at Quakertown. Am mon’s topic was "Egg Produc ers At The Cross-Roads. Which Way Is Best?” His text where he lists his five “Positive ac tions we might take individually and collectively as an industry,” is reported in part as follows: “ First is our started pullet buying and selling practices. While orderly buying and sell ing are practiced in some areas, too much of it is still quite spec ulative. Too many producers still take a chance on picking up their replacement stock at bargain prices buying pul lets ‘off the shelf’ or, having en tered into an advance order agreement, think nothing of can celing the order shortly before delivery often for n<J better reason than that they found something that appeared to be better or cheaper The practice, of course, has been worked both ways Sometimes started pullet growers will renege on an order because they found a higher priced buyer On a falling egg market, this practice becomes a form of Russian roulette to see who is stuck with the pullets. And since no one can afford to destroy 20-vveek old pullets, they all find a home, they all produce .. and thus contribute to over production at the very time when it hurts most “As Harold Florea pointed out in a recent editorial in Poultry Tribune, the answer to this prob lem is self-discipline and fair play We’ve got to develop a code of ethics in this industry by which orders and agreements are honored and a man’s word is as good as his bond Produc ers should order their replace ment stock well in advance of needs and on a firm agreement which could only be cancelled for certain specified, emergen cy reasons. Pullet growers, in turn should honor such agree ments and discontinue ‘specula tive’ raising “A second positive action we could take is to give up the spe cial privilege accorded farmers long ago of using the cash ac counting system of bookkeeping This was first proposed to the industry at a summit confer ence of industry leaders held in Cincinnati m 1961 It proved very unpopular then, but a lot of producers have since come to realize that cash accounting has become an instrument of self destruction for the egg industry “When you are on the cash ac counting basis and enjoy a good year, it’s only good business and perfectly legal business, at that to make forward pur chases of all manner of inputs and pay for them in the current tax year in order to reduce your tax obligation Theie is consid erable evidence to indicate that this was at the bottom of much of the expansion that took place in 1965, 1966 and 1967 “On the other hand, produc ers who use accrual accounting may not be able to grow as rap idly, but they will have a much better chance of coming through a period of low prices m sol vent condition If producers were gn en a period of time to change over to accrual accounting with out penalty, this stimulant for expansion by tax postponement would be removed As a result, the whole industry would be healthier and individual opera tors would still retain their free dom to make decisions and to grow ‘ A third positive action also comes under the heading of ‘self disciphne’ It has to do with re porting, tabulating and dissem ination of "production and mar keting statistics. USDA statisti cal reports are used throughout the industry for literally thou sands of decisions daily. I be lieve the government’s statisti cians are honest men who are trying to do the best possible job. That’s not to say that USDA reports and the techniques used to produce them can’t be im proved. My pet gripe is that in this day of computers and all kinds of electronic gadgetry, we still have to wait nearly two years for the agricultural cen sus reports. “More importantly, though, is the admitted inaccuracy of many of the reports. Statisti cians can only compile and re port what’s given to them and today a large volume of eggs completely by-passes the dealers and handlers who report the sta tistics. In addition, there are a number of sizeable operators ivho refuse to report anything, to say nothing of the long-held suspicion of many that some de liberately distort the reported figures. True or not, the fact remains that inaccurate reports upon The SEIF CLEANING TIRE! Cali us for complete ON-THE-FARM TIRE SERVICE! LOOK FOR BFG's x #«MISS RADIAL AGE ABC«IV . J- '*» #’ , , ' which important business deci sions are made are worse than none at all. So it seems to me here might be another plank for our platform of ethics. But let’s go one step further and sit down with the government statisti cians in an honest effort to im prove the reporting, tabulating and disseminating of production and marketing statistics. “My fourth suggestion for pos itive action has to do with our egg price discovery system and price reporting by Urner-Barry. Seems to me that all most folks have done in recent times is damn the system without sug gesting a really workable alter native. A recent top-notch sci entific study of the New York Mercantile Exchange and Ur ner-Barry’s reporting indicates the system has been remarkably accurate in consistently ‘discov ering’ or developing true mar ket value for eggs Now that doesn’t mean it’s perfect, but it does indicate to me that the least we should do is stick with the system and try to improve it. “There are a number of things we could do For example, while POWER GRIP Nylon Cord LANDIS BROTHERS, Inc. 1305 Manheim Pike, Lancaster Phone 393-3906 the Exchange hM ;sl,q\sly^iis. k .uy’<?c£s*?. th^y. ■ h«ve; v -come .to proved its quality etfeH they still leave much to-be de- other a.lot more'than was ever sired. Right now, NEPPCO,* in -the case in the past. I commend cooperation with our southern these men and would hope .that friends, is attempting to haVe before long we could establish a thd quality standard for the top whole chain of such clearing grade of eggs traded on the Ex- houses across the country. change upped to 90% Grade A „ My fl(lh and linal proposal or better. It s now 80%. With a f or positive action concerns our ‘f ( P r “ e ; we 1 probably cooperatives. I know this still get 85%. But if all the produc- raises the fur of some of my in ers who trade with New York dependenti commercial friends, based Exchange members rais- but famep cooperatives are as ed a ruckus, we d get it up to much a tof our fr „ enter . 90% in no time. We believe this prise syatem as any ot hfer form would not only stimulate more of business entity. True> they trading on the Exchange, but once were g ran t e d certain ad would produce a price for a vantages oV er their independent product -that m o r e closely re- competitors, but so were the as sembles the quality of eggs be- lines and man other industries ing traded throughout the coun- in - their forma tive years. ry 0 ay ‘ “Unlike airlines, though, our “Then there’s the problem of egg m ar k e t ing cooperatives the’Urner-Barry market report- have never enjoyed outstanding er. The more information he has growth .or success. The princi available on inventories and egg pal reason, in my judgment, lies movements across the country, with their producer patrons. In the more accurate will be the too many cases, the producer price he reports and the less used his co-op as a dump for he will have to rely on Exchange eggs he couldn’t otherwise, sell, and New York street trading for As a result, co-op eggs have not his judgments. A group of egg had the best reputation in the dealers in central Pennsylvania market place, has been successfully operating “T hen, too, producers who a clearing house for such infor- were elected to co-op boards of mation for over a year. They directors were not business or furnish this information regular- market oriented, they balked at ly to Urner-Barry and in the (Continued on Page 27) REAR TRACTOR TIRES m Has a wider, more open center tread...cleans itself. ■ Extra room between cfeafs means debris cant wedge in between.,,you get a full bite every time. ' ■ Fights its way over rocks and stumps, and gets fewer bruises and breaks...because it's nylon cord. ■ Protects itself against moisture, because nylon cord doesn't rot. 'ome in a/ E MOUNTING! 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