Other Activities Reported from Inter-State Annual Meeting
Shuman Hits U. S. Consumer ‘Subsidy’
American consumers are be
ing subsidized in the form of
low food costs at the expense
of farmers and government pro
grams are making the farm
price-cost squeeze worse.
That was the message of
Charles B. Shuman, president
of the American Farm Bureau
Federation at the annual ban
quet Tuesday night of the Inter-
State Milk Producers’ Coopera
tive at the Marriott Motor
Hotel, Philadelphia.
He noted that the food cost
Is at the lowest percentage of
take-home pay in the histoiy
of the world.
Shuman told his audience,
“In terms of parity, the Oct. 15,
1970, figure was 70. This is the
lowest since the depth of the
Depression, December 1933,
when the parity- stood at 67.
It reflects the cost-price squeeze
in which farmers are caught.”
Parity is the relationship of
prices farmers pay for produc
tion items as campared with
prices received for their prod
ucts.
Shuman said, “Government
farms programs with their an
nual cost of $3.5 'billion have
been little help to family farm
operators as the principal ben
efits have gone largely to the
big operators.
“These subsidy payments
have been made in lieu of fair
market prices, and are part of a
We’ve removed
the fear of
nitrogen loss
from fall
fertilization!
»• j
Start an Ortho
“Green ’n Easy” program this fall.
nitrogen deficiency next spring,
We say that with “Green ’n Easy” there will not be
enough nitrogen loss to effect your crops next spring. And
' we’re so confident that we’ll make up the loss if any shows. Come see us soon
and learnlf your fields qualify for an Ortho “Green ’n Easy”
Fertilizer Program. You’ve got nothing to be afraid of now.
ORTHO
Charles B. Shuman.
Farm Bureau President
cheap food policy under which
government farm programs are
used to depress prices and
make farmers dependent on
payments for an increasing
share of their net income.
“I’m sure,” he continued,
“that many consumers think
farmers want-government farm
programs and believe their tax
dollars are spent in this area
are aiding agriculture.
“Nothing could be further
from the truth. Most farmers
TM’s ORTHO, CHEVRON DESIGN, UNIPEL - REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.
Been holding back on fall plowdown of
N-P-K because you were afraid of nitrogen loss?
You’ve just lost your last excuse!
If your corn shows
sidedressing is on us!
Smoketown, Po.
are not looking for sympathy or
government handouts, all
they want to do is stand on
their own feet and be permitted
to seek a fair price in the mar
ket place.”
In addition to costly and inef
fective government farm pro
grams, Shuman said, govern
ment-fed inflation is aggrava
ting the farm income problem
by increasing costs of farm pro
duction items such as machin
ery, trucks and fertilizers.
“The overall farm economic
picture is discouraging,” Shu
man told the more than 750 per
' sons attending the annual ban
quet of dairy farmers.
Other Business
Problems as general as the
U S. Import Policy and as
specific as extending the shelf
life of milk at the store level
were discussed at the 53rd an
nual meeting of Inter-State
Milk Producers’ Cooperative on
Tuesday and Wednesday.
The 117 official delegates and
an equal number of alternates
represented more than 3,000
dairy farmers from 79 locals
and voted on.resolutions at the
business meeting during the
Wednesday session. These dairy
farmer delegates recommended
that Inter-State take the initia
tive in studying milk hauling
problems and promotion of
their product for improved eon-
Ph. 397-3539
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 28,1970
sumer understanding of the
world’s “most nearly perfect
food” milk.
Wilbur Seipt, President of In
ter-State, opened the annual
meeting with the challenge to
the delegates, “I want you to be
awaie of the challenge that is be
fore you, not only as dairy fax m
ers and membeis of Intei-State
Milk Producers’ Cooperative, but
also as citizens of the United
States The challenge is one
that is economic, spmtual and
moral Be open-minded, keep
your thinking flexible, so that
when you look back at the end
Longeneckers
Celebrate 50th
Wedding Day
The three children of Mr. and
Mrs. Victor Longenecker, Eliz
abethtown, held a special 50th
wedding anniversary celebration
for their parents on Thanksgiv
ing Day at the fellowship hall,
First Church of God, Elizabeth
town.
About 200 persons attended,
mostly family, former neighbors
and friends.
They were given an ear. of red
corn, symbolic of the way they
met 52 years ago when the
former Mary Strickler found a
red ear of corn and threw it at
her husband-to-be.
Both of the Longeneckers
still work. Retired after 40
years as a farmer, he still works
part time at the Clearview
Bowling Alley and she has work
ed as a “hobby” for the past 25
years at Elizabethtown College
from 5 a.m to 10 am. She is
also a gardener.
They plan to leave soon for
Sarasota, Florida, to spend the
winter.
Included on me program was
the Holstein Quartet, a former
Lancaster County singing group
which was accompanied by Mr
and Mrs. Longenecker to the
National 4-H Club Congress in
1955. Membeis of the quartet
piesent were; Aaron Landis,
West Wyomissing, John D Ston
er, Leola, and Stanley Long
enecker, Lancaster. Raymond
Denlmger, Harnsonbuig, Vir
ginia was unable to be present.
USD A to Tighten
Tapeworm Rules
The U. S. Department of Agri
culture has issued a proposal to
tighten meat inspection regula
tions on beef carcasses that
show evidence of tapeworm in
fection.
USDA’s Consumer and Mar
keting Service officials said the
proposed, changes are based on
recent studies by the Depart
ment of Health, Education and
Welfare’s Public Health Ser
vice.
Anyone wishing to submit
written comments on the pro
posal may do so by sending two
copies to the Hearing Clerk,
Room 112-A, U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Washington,
D. C. 20250. Dec. 7 is the dead
line for comments on the pro
posal, which was published in
the Nov. 7 Federal Register.
Copies of the proposal are
available from the Consumer
Protection Programs Services
Staff, Consumer and Marketing
Service, U. S. Department of
Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
20250.
of the next 10 years you can
say that you made ourself, your
cooperative and our countiy a
little better.”
Dr James E Honan, general
manager, emphasized, “The new
agncultuie facing dairy farmers
today that has been descubed as
large-scale, specialized, indus
trialized faiming units to pro
duce an increasingly significant
share of the nation’s total food
production makes a demand
upon you ‘to build a bigger
mountain’ ”
Honan told the members,
‘ This description of tomoi row’s
aguculture may not sound like
farming as most of us still think
of it, yet the matteis with which
we have worked this past year
and the planning we must do for
future years will begin to use a
numbei of the terms I have
mentioned. We are on the
threshold of change, and I do
believe we are a part of ‘the
new aguculture’ ”
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