Consumer Specialist Explains
Why 31 Cent Steers Cost
Fanners, even with unusually
good prices lately, have been
getting 30 to 35 cents a pound
for steers.
Why, then, do they have to pay
$1.39, or even more, to buy back
the same animal at the local
giocery store?
There are thiee major reasons,
according to an explanation this
week by Harold Neigh Penn
State extension consumei mar- Low y a i He Cuts
keting specialist Thud, moie than hall of the
Speaking on What Makes meat, howevei. is chuck loasl
Beef Prices’” at the Faun and and giound beef, the lowest \alu-
Home Center, Neigh said cai- ed cu * lS u sing uSD'k statistics,
cass waste, the letailer s maikup Neigh showed that an a%ei d „ e ol
and the high propoition of low- 250 pounds will be giound beel
pi iced cuts account foi most of and 90 pounds Wlll be chuck
the puce inciease roast His figuies foi the Phila-
First, while the meat packets delphia aiea show chuck sells
buys a 1,000 pound steer, only for 69 9 cents and giound beef
438 pounds of it will end up on 63 ce nts both well undci the
the local giocer’s countei This Harold Neigh 95 cent cost
mean, the p.iee w,„ have to be tSm«m
moie than doubled, just to ac- mai k U p coveis cutting, packag- of the beef, less than 200 pounds,
coun. for the loss in o ( selling and oveihead costs must be sold at puces well o\ci
One-Third Markup Neigh gave an example of a cents in oidei to make up foi
Second, the ictailei noimally 1,000 pound steei selling at 315 ess an cent portions
operates on a 25 per cent gioss cents a pound the approximate That, accoicimg to Neigh ex
margin, which actually figures cunent maiket puce Assuming plains whv loin steak lound
out to a one-thnd maikup This the slaughtei house makes its steak and lump loast sell foi an
Heim Outlines PFA Legislative Goals
Pomition pesticides, fdi m tax sme that the pesticide issue is had anothei $lOO million 01 moie point” It was felt S2OO was a Desseit Law, which lequnes non
es and vehicle licenses aie among kept unemotional as possible oi new taxes consideiabk impiovement o\ei dmij pioducts to meet the same
the aieas of state legislation in aie settled on emotion, a lot of the possible $B5O stiff sanitation standaids as daily
which, the Pennsylvania Faim mistakes aie made ” the legislative engmeei contm- pioducts
eis Association has been active The slate i egis i atuie a i iea dj cc>ned about* whme^thw! l would ‘Worth Your Dues' The law iequ ues the pioper
ill recent months, accoichng o h as thiee heatings on pesticides o e t these (new tax) dolHis We Heim, who was introduced b\ labeling o£ all pioducts “We
in the Addltlonal healings aie schedul- v;eie concerned they would take Wivel told PFA membeis want customeis to know if they
PhAa legislative enoiis in me anc j m perspective “When issues the sales tax deductions awav the ? 6o ° difteience is “woith have a dairy oi non-dany pio
state - ed April 2, 3 and 10 fi om the Jtems we (f aimeiS ) us ' e many times yom dues ” the hassle on next jeai’s budget.”
While the PFA hasn’t been Dessert Victoiv in pioduction ” In keeping the tax mciease foi the vehicle license issue,
able to get eveiything it wants T , T .. p PA „ , , , faimeis low as possible, Heim the PF4 “helped get some initial
in these areas, Heim said, it has ..k w v, 1 , v ‘\, 0 exem ptions, said, “We felt oui fiist battle inductions for faimers, but we
been very effective in pi esentmgI®? 1 ? 1 1,1 F? 1 F s ® ld ’ r « P 0 " ld ha - ve c ° st an should be to cut the budget in falled t 0 § et othei amendments,
and piotectmg the mteiests of its dUCt ’ Heim explamed aveia § e o£ ? 85£) P« f«m ma n v aieas ”He also said friends wh ;, ch shows we don,t wm theni
12,000 farmer membeis in the The budget was the big issue, Heim figines the new tax pack- of the PFA in the legisiatuie a££ ”
state. He spoke recently to PFA beginning in June “We were age which was passed will “cost held up action on the budget in He said, hovvevei, that trucks
members at the Farm and Home quite involved in this,” Heim the faimei about $2OO ” But the the best mtei ests of farmeis in class one thiough eight will
Centei. said “We feel if not for the ef- PFA didn’t oppose that package The faim lobbyist noted have then licenses due in Octo
foits of oui fuends we’d have “stnctly fiom an economic stand- ‘ We’ie just six weeks away fiom bel mstead of May, except for
this yeai
As an example, he said, the
PFA lecently “got an amend
ment ’ to the Clean Sti earns Law
Before the amendment, the
Sanitary Water Boaid was given
the power to restrain any pollu
tion or danger of pollution Un
der this piovision, the state
“could send someone in to cor
rect it (pollution) and bill the
owner ”
The PFA amendment lequires
that the state give the faimer a
warning before acting itself,
Heim, explained
He emphasized, “We’ie not
supporting pollution, “but he
said farmers should have an op
portunity to abate pollution be
foie the state acts
Pesticides ‘Emotional’
Pesticides is an “emotional”
issue which Heim thinks “you’ll
he hearing a lot moie about”
The PFA’s efforts aie pnmaiily
geaietl to insuimg that pesticide
legislation is fair and icasonable
Readily conceding that icgula
tion and lestuction of pesticdes
is needed, he said, “We geneially
favor bills lequiung licensing of
the dangeious dings ”
But the PFA ‘ believes we nev
ei could have fed the nation loi
16 cents out of the dollai without
pesticides We don’t think the
people who would ban pesticides
know what they would be doing
“If we’re to feed the ever in
creasing population, we need pes
ticides We could staive them
(the people) to death long be
fore pesticides could ever huit
them.”
The PFA is tiying to make
%
V
gS
Chester Heim (left), Pennsylvania
Farm Association legislative leader, chats
with Clyde Wivell, PFA president, follow
costs and .1 little piofit fiom the aveiage SI 33 to SI 40 .1 pound in
appioximately 400 pounds ol the Philadelphia aiea. while otli
waste matei nils, the letailei gets ei better cuts such as set loin
the caicass foi, say, $312 steak and 11b roast also aie o\ei
The letailei adds one-thud. 01 $1 00 a pound
$lO4, bunging the total to $416 “I would say at the piesent
01 about 95 cents a pound foi lime that letaileis piobably aie
the 438 pounds he puts on dis charging a little too much foi
play, aflei eliminating 162 beef,” Neigh conceded But he
pounds of waste, including bone, indicated howevci, that he
fat and shunkage doesn’t feel beef puces can be
expected to diop substantially
undei piesent maiket conditions
mg Heim’s recent talk at the Farm and
Home Center.
Lancaster Farming. Saturday. March 28.1970
Efficient Opeiation
Actually. accoiding to Neigh,
beet puces would be even highei
it not for increasingly efficient
opeiation bv both feed lot faun
ers and packing houses
One aiea in which Neigh sees
I^egster; ! -pdriniiig
SECOND SECTION
*■ s- -r •/
's' v
> sV
-■
$1.39
fiitme impiovemenl that can
help keep beef competitively
priced imolvts the piocesSing
pioceduie
As Neigh described the pres
ent set-up. the bulk carcass goes
fiom the packing house to the
retail store, where it is butchered
to meet the consumer’s needs
In the lutuie, Neigh believes
the butchering operation will
move fiom the ictailer to the
packet This will be made possi
ble by “frozen beef,” something
Neigh doesn’t think the consum
er is now ready to accept
To make fiozen beef acceptable
(Continued on Page 23)
Also, a six months license will
be available, making it possible
foi some faimeis who use their
vehicles only pait of the year to
pay for the license only for the
pait ol the yeai it’s needed.
W 4
Save The Land
Pieservation of farm land 13
“impoitant for om entae econ
omy We need to pieserve this
good land or a lot of people are
going to be out of jobs But
theie’s no plan yet on how to lo
it”
“When we consider that 40 pep
cent of the woik force is tied iu
with agri-business, we had better
take a close look at preserving it,
Foitunately, a lot of non-farm
people aie intei ested”
He continued, “One thing driv
ing farms out of operation is re
assessments I think we have to
take a total new look at where
you laise youi tax money
“We do suppoit the income tax
as the fanes! wav to raise money
that’s needed We like good
schools and good highways This
costs money ’
He said the state “cant alloid
to tax business out of existence”
and the propeih tax taxes “the
pei son who is tiymg to do some
thing ”
Speaking on federal faim pol
icy established by the agriculture
act of 1965 Heim said, “We are
for a change of duection Farm
ers think the market place is the
place wheie puces should be
set ”
He said he hopes a new pro.
gram “will lead to a lot more
farm prosperity ”
17