VOL. 18 No. 3
McHale on Milk Pricing . . .
Let’s Scrap Retail Controls
“Governor Shapp’s ad
ministration is opposed to con
trols on the retail price of milk,”
Pennsylvania Secretary of
Agriculture told LANCASTER
FARMING in an interview
Thursday afternoon, after his
speech to some 1300 members of
the Lehigh Valley Cooperative
Farmers during their annual
meeting at' Lancaster’s Host
Farm,
McHale said that he supports,
along with Governor Shapp, a bill
now in the Pennsylvania Senate
which would abolish retail
controls. Senate Bill 130 would
' I.anca«t«r Tanning- Photo'
Agnew Addresses
Lehigh Dairymen
Vice-president Spiro T. Agnew
addressed some 1300 dairy far
mers from the Lehigh Valley
Farmers Cooperative during
their 40th annual meeting held
Thursday at Lancaster’s Host
Farm. Other speakers included
Pennsylvania Secretary of
Agriculture James A. McHale,
New Jersey Secretary of
Agriculture Phillip Alampi,
Edward L. St. Clair, market
administrator for Federal Milir
Market Order No. 4, and Richard
Allison, president of Lehigh.
In his speech, Agnew accused
some of the news media of having
“engaged in the shabby practice
of portraying the entire problem ”
Farm Calendar
Saturday, April 28
8 p.m. - Lancaster Pomona
Grange meeting, Fulton
Grange Hall.
Tri-County Relief Auction,
Morgantown.
56th Little International
Livestock Exposition, Ice
Pavilion, Penn State
(Continued On Page 39)
reportedly protect the farmer’s
price, however, and would forbid
milk from being used by stores as
a loss leader.
“Stores would have to sell milk
with at least a' five percent
markup,” McHale said. “Dealer
bonds would also be
strengthened. This bill would be
good for the dairy industry,
because it would assure the
farmer of a profitable price, and
it would lower retail prices so
consumers would get a better
buy.”
Earlier this month, selected
dairymen thoughout the state
N. J. Ag Secretary Alampi . . ,
Controls Here to
“We’ve been setting retail
prices on milk in New Jersey
since the 1930’5, and we’re going
to continue to do so,” New Jersey
Secretary of Agriculture Phillip
Alampi told LANCASTER
FARMING, on Thursday after
he had addressed the 40th annual
meeting of the Lehigh Valley
Cooperative Farmers.
In an interview with this
newspaper, Alampi said price
controls are needed in New
Jersey to avoid destructive price
wars. “If we’d eliminate con
of rising food costs as a “battle
between farmers and con
sumers.”
“This is dead wrong and we
should say so,” Agnew said.
“What would help is a better
understanding by consumers of
the economics of farming - and of
processing and marketing as
Martin, Lutz Win
At SCS Roundup
A group of 13 young people
competed in the annual 4-H Soil
and Water Conservation Roun
dup held Tuesday evening at the
Farm and Home Center. There
were nine entrants in the con
servation display competition,
and four entered in the speaking
contest.
Thirteen-year-old Andy Lutz,
1973 Millport Road, Lancaster,
won the display contest with a
miniature side-by-side demon
stration of contour planting and
non-contour planting on sloped
fields.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 28,1973
received a letter about Senate
Bill 130. It came not - from
Secretary McHale, but from
Governor Shapp. The letter dwelt
mostly on the need for a price
increase to dairy farmers, and
took a swipe at the Nixon ad
ministration farm policy. And,
despite Harrisburg protests to
the contrary, some of the letter’s
language appeared to be an at
tempt to drive a wedge between
farmers and dealers.
Two copies of the \ letter were
sent to this newspaper. One copy
came from a milk dealer, one
from a farmer cooperative. In
trols, the big companies would
sell milk at a loss. They’d drive
out the smaller companies, then
they’d, boost the prices and the
consumer would have to pay
more in the end.”
There is a milk control board in
New Jersey which. determines
the retail price on the basis of
costs and federal order prices.
Alampi said the price setting
actions have no effect on far
mers, because all the state’s
dairymen come under either
Federal Order 4 or 2.
well,” he said,
Agnew struck a generally
conciliatory note in his speech,
urging farmers and farm
organizations to educate the
general public as to the facts of
economic life of farming.
He urged farmers to “try to
(Continued On Page 39)
The Conestoga Valley 7th
grader followed in the footsteps
of his brother, AI Lutz, Jr., who
took the first place award last
year. Andy is the son of Mr. and
Mrs. Al Lutz, Sr., and is treasurer
of the Southern 4-H Soil and
Water Conservation Club.
Sandy and Jeanette
Dunkelberger, Denver RDI,
placed second in the contest with
a display showing the effects of
forest fires. Other displays were
entered by: Richard Updike,
Ephrata, RDI; JDavid
(Continued On Page 33)
part, the letter said
In view of the tremendous
losses incurred by Pennsylvania
farmers during Agnes, and all the
events since last June that have
caused great increases in farm
operation, the Pennsylvania Milk
Marketing Board held hearings
in February and announced a 92
cent per hundredweight increase
to farmers under 'its pricing
jurisdiction. The evidence
presented by farmers at these
hearings overwhelmingly sup
ported the Board’s decision.
Chairman Harry Kapleau and
(Continued On Page 17)
Retail prices in New Jersey are
fixed at minimums of $l.OB per
gallon, 57 cants per half-gaflon
and 31 cents per quart. Except for
two or three jugging operations,
most milk in the . state is sold
above the minimum, the
average price a consumer pays
for a half-gallon of milk there is
60.5 cents, the lowest figure,
according to Alampi, of any state
in the six-state northeast area.
The average price in those states
is 65 cents. Pennsylvanians pay
an average of 63.4 cents for a
Andy Lutz displays the first-place plaque he won Tuesday
at the annual 4-H Soil and Water Conservation Roundup.
$2.00 Per Year
Lancaster rarmlnr Fboto
Stay”
half-gallon of their milk.
Unlike Pennsylvania law, the
New Jersey milk law applies to
all milk retailers, including
juggers. “The jugger might sell a
for, 57 cents,
but he*s pdf S&tdng the consumer
any money on her grocery bill,”
Alampi said. “My department
made a check of prices on other
food items in juggers’ stores.
Almost without exception, prices
on individual items were higher
than- the exact items in other
(Continued on Page 17)