—Lancaster Farming. Saturday. August 8.1970
4
On Squeezing Out Farm Prosperity
A theme long popular with national ag
ricultural officials holds that greater pros-
is just around the corner for Ameri
can farmers.
J. Phil Campbell. U.S. Under Secretary
of Agriculture, summed it up in a speech in
Hampton. S.C. June 27 as follows:
“In the present decade U.S. population
is projected to increase from 205 million to
about 230 million. Consumer income after
taxes is expected to double, rising from 5630
billion last year to $1,260 billion by 1980.
“This combination of more people with
more income means increased demand for
farm products. And when we introduce in
to the equation a continued, though slower,
decline in the number of commercial farm
ers, the return per farm is projected to
rise sharply.”
It’s logical. It sounds good.
But the rosy picture may or may not
turn out to represent reality for the indivi
dual farmer.
Fewer Farmers
Actually. e\er since World War 11. the
American tarmer has been experiencing a
steadily worsening price-cost squeeze. Each
year, tens of thousands of those farmers
east able to meet the growing squeeze
nave been forced off the farm.
This squeeze is the squeeze between
steadily rising costs for equipment and sup
-phes on the one hand and relatively stable
prices for the products the farmer pro
duces on the other.
Equally se\ere has been the growing
cost of living, which means the farmer
must make more profit each y ear to main
tain the same standard of living.
Continuing Squeeze
What is to stop this squeeze from con
tinuing into the next decade?
Will the cost of equipment and supplies
quit going up? Probably not, they actually
may go up faster, and more costly inputs
may be necessary to remain competitive
Will the prices the farmer receives go
up fast enough to off-set these increasing
costs? Probably not, unless farmers simply
quit producing so much and force the con
sumer to bid up the prices of the av ailable
produce.
In the Age of Consumerism, when farm
ers make up six per cent of the population
and the political strength of the nation is
shifting increasingly to the metropolitan
centers and their suburbs, can we expect
the nation to support artifically inflated
food prices? Probably we can, but only to a
limited extent, like at the present.
Present programs and policies m some
respects help keep prices to the faimer
high, but their o\erall impact may be ac
tually to concentrate farm ownership into
fewer hands, thereby increasing the price
cost squeeze for the great majority of smail
farmers.
\ oluntary Control
The greatest hope for maintaining high
prices for rarm products may be througn
voluntary production control programs by
farmers through their farm organizations
This approach is being attempted by the
egg industry at the present time As control
of the egg industry becomes concentrated
in fewer hands, such an approach becomes
increasingly possible.
But the swtne industry also is in the
midst of a major expansion. The swine in
dustry and most other major farm income
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekly
P. 0 Box 266 - Lititz. Pa. 17543
Office 22 E Main St Lititz, Pa 17543
Phone Lancastei 394-3047 or Lititz 626 2191
Robert G Campbell Advertising Director
Zane Wilson Managing Editoi
Subscription puce S 2 per yeai in Lancaster
County S 3 elsewhere
Established November 4,1955
Publisher e\en Satuidaybc Lancaster
Farming Lititz Pa
Second Class Postage paid at Lititz Pa
17543
Member of Nev. maper Farm Editors Assn
Pa. Newspaper Publishers Association, and
National Newspaper Association
production areas arc highly diversified with
thousands or millions of small producers ac
counting for most of the market volume,
Such areas arc a long, long way from any
meaningful production control, other than
the long-standing fear of market busts that
occur when production gets out of control.
Milk Industry Approach
Another possibility for control appears
to be the milk industry approach to main
taining relatively high milk prices ap
parently a joint venture by farmers, milk
firms of various types and the government.
This approach involves both price and pro
duction controls.
But the milk industry lends itself to
such controls more readily than most other
farm enterprises because of the huge capi
tal investments involved and highly com
plex marketing structure both of which
discourage ready movement of farmers in
and out of the milk business.
A major question mark which hangs
o\er the milk industry control program is
continuing decline in per capita milk con
sumption. While per capita beef and poultry
consumption ha\e mo\ed steadily upward,
per capita milk consumption has declined
steadily. At some point, it would appear, the
decline of consumption will have to be stop
ped
There are some indications that the
milk industry is in the early stages of
gearing up to challenge Coke and the other
be\erages which are making inroads into
the milk market. Until milk meets the chal
lenge to its markets, however, w r e don’t see
how the milk system, e\en though highly
successful for dairymen now, can become a
model for U.S. agriculture.
While the route of U S. agriculture since
World War II toward more production and
fewer farmers has not been completely
satisfactory, it offers more for the farmer
and the nation than a route tow ard decreas
ed production and loss of markets.
Overall, w e see the decade of the 70's as
a continuation of the decade of the 60’s in
presenting a continuing cost-price squeeze
for farmers.
The 70’s actually could be harder for
many farmers to cope with, because the
squeeze will continue in spite of larger
farming units imolving much greater in
puts of machinery and capital.
Internationally, many previously unde
veloped countries are beginning to develop
substantial agricultural economies.
The U S. has continually upgraded its
output per acre and per man hour through
improved seed, livestock, automation and
know-how 7 . While the U S undoubtedly will
continue to compete in many areas of the
international faim economy, the trends
.vould indicate tnat loreign competition is
one mure area that will escalate the price
cost squeeze.
Pinching the Av erage Guy
R. W. Johanns wrote as follows recent
ly in a national publication: "How good a
farmer are jou 7 What are your chances of
being around 10 years from now 7 If vou
think you're doing an average job, don’t feel
too smug. One definition of an average
farmer is. ‘Someone who'll be out of busi
ness 10 years from now.’
“One out of two farmers will be gone,
and that includes the one who’s just aver
age. But many a farmer doesn't have any
thing to worry about; he doesn’t worry be
cause he doesn’t know where he stands
good, bad, or indifferent! If he knew, he
might worry and do something instead of
waiting to have something done to him."
In the 70’s, the pressures of higher
costs of living will continue. Land prices
and taxes probably will continue to rise. In
creasingly higher paid non-farm jobs will
continue to compete for farm labor and
marginally successful farmers.
Altogether, this means that the pres
sures which weeded out millions of farm
ers since World War II will continue in the
70‘s
It’s by no means an impossible em iron
ment for the farmer who knows what he s
doing and does it But there will be continu
ally less margin for error. ’*
NOW IS
THE TIME...
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Agent
To I so Horizontal Silos
Tne corn crop looks like an
other big one with all present
storage facilities filled to capa
city. Livestock producers whi
aie getting the most fiom their
corn by making it into silage,
and aho may be shoit of per
manent silo stoiagc, shold con
nv.r.ent silo storage should con-
Many tons of good silage may be
made with these methods if the
mate ial is chopped fine, packed
tightly and the air sealed out
Many producers will transfer the
silage from the temporary stor
age into the up; ight silo for auto
matic feeding early. next spring
To Make Roof Repairs
If? quite easy to forget about
lepauing a leaking joof in diy
weathei because you don’t need
i; When it lams you should
ha\e made the lepair but it’s too
wd to do it Therefore, late
summer or eaily fall is a good
THE FLOOD
Lesson for August 9, 1970
Bodcaraund Scripture* Genesis 6 through 9,
Matthew 74 37-39 2 Peter 2 4-10 a.
Devetienel Reading 2 Peter 2 4 10,
The story of the great flood
that covered the earth because
of the sin of mankind is not
limited to the saga of Noah in
Genesis, but is found in the an
cient literatures and oral tradi
-» of * lies throughout the
world. There is
hardly a pait of
the world where
there are not leg
ends of a uni\er
sal flood.
In 1873 George
Smith of the But
ish Museum dis-
co\cred and pub
lished a ‘‘Chal-
Rev. AUhouse dean Account of
the Deluge,” which had been
translated from twelve tablets
that had been found in the li
brary of the Babylonian luler,
Ashurbanipal (668 626’ B C.)
This account of a great flood
has come to be known to us as
the “Gilgamesh Epic.”
“Tell no one”
The legend is the story of Gil
gamesh, who, mourning the death
of his friend, Enkidu, makes a
long, hazardous journey to his
ancestor, Utnapishtim, to learn
the secret of eternal life. He tells
Gilgamesh that long ago when
the gods decided to destroy the
earth, one of them, Ea, com
manded Utnapishtim to build a
ship in order to survive the great
flood to come. He was not to
warn his fellow citizens in any
way.
For six days and nights, Utna
pishtim, his family, and all the
other living beings he could find,
rode out the terrible storm. On
the seventh day it ceased and
eventually the boat came to rest
upon a mountaintop. Disembark
ing at last, Utnapishtim, to show
his gratitude, offered a sacrifice
which pleased the gods.
The story is remarkably like
that of Noah; yet there are im
portant differences that make the
Genesis saga greatly superior.
time to get the roof in go<
shape for fall and winter rains.
Many roof problems show up as
leakage at chimneys, roof val
leys, or vent pipes. In other
cases wind stoi ms may have
loosened shingles or sections of
i oofing. The suggestion is to get
the loof fixed before cold wea
ther arrives.
To Manage Sorghum Hybrids
The growth on Sudan grass and
the sudan-sorghum hybrids this
summer has been enormous be
cause of the wet weathei. If
these crops have gotten ahead of
the herd, they may be made into
silage or hay, better into silage
because of their coaiseness The
new growth aftei clipping should
be allowed to reach 18 inches
foi the sudan glass and 24 inches
for the sudan sorghum hybrids.
To graze or gieen-cnop them
earlier is usky due to the pos
sible piussic acid content
For one thing, there is a sense
of purpose in the Noah story:
the earth is to be destroyed, not
at the whim of the gods as in the
“G” epic, but because of the sin
fulness of men. This is a truth
which men must not ignore even
today. When people revolt against
God, when they set themselves
against his universal laws, there
is usually a painful price to pay,
a natural consequence that fol
lows.
A banquet of consequences
If a man defies the law of
gravity (unless he invokes somb
counter, law), he will pay som|
consequences. There is nothing
capricious or arbitrary about-the
direction in which he falls. And
so it is when men defy God’s
moral order. There is eventually
a price to pay. As Robert Louis
Stevenson once said, “Sooner or
later every man sits down to a
banquet of consequences.”
We also see a purposefulness
in the selection of Noah. In the
Babylonian epic, Utnapishtim
was chosen simply because he
was favored by Ea. In the story
of Noah, however, the patriarch
is chosen because God sees him
as a righteous man, that there is
m him something worth salvag
ing So life is not capacious.
Things do not “just happen ” Of
cn they aie the results of living
ither in harmony with or in re
icllion against God’s order.
Turn and be saved!
Secondly, we see In the God
if Noah a compassionate desire
o save, rather than destroy. Ea
oibid Utnapishtim to wain his
leighbois, but no such restric
lon was laid upon Noah. Even in
he face of the retribution that is
o come, there is a redemptive
lossibility. This was often true
vhen God sent his prophets to
ell Israel of the terrible times
ihead: if the people, even in the
last moment, were to turn and
lepent, God would have been
happy to receive them. God de
sired, not destruction, but the
rcpentence of his people. It was
their wickedness, not the venge
fulness of God, that caused their
destruction.
The real truth of the story of
Noah is not in that it agrees
with so many flood epics through*
out the world, hut that it tells
us so much about God, man, and
the world in which we live.
(Bosed or) euthrtes copyrighted by the
Division of Chn&tion Education, National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the
USA. Released by Community Press
Service.)