VOL 18 No. 3
No Price Relief in Sight . . .
Feed Costs Seen Staying High
The soybean market was edging up
towards $8 a bushel this week. Fields in
many Midwestern soybean producing
states were inundated by flood waters
from the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.
In other parts of the Midwest, rams forced
farmers to keep their planters in the
barns
There’s a definite shortage of soybean
meal right now, as any farmer who buys
protein feed knows That shortage stems
from soaring demand for soybeans at
home and abroad, and terrible weather
conditions last year in the biggest soybean
states If last year's weather patterns are
repeated, feed prices will go up
This year buyers thought feed prices
went through the roof Could be they just
broke into the attic Nobody wants to
predict how high feed prices will go if the
country has another bad growing season.
What happens if there's a normal year?
Will protein supplement prices plummet
downward as much as they skyrocketed
Milk Board Holds
Hearing on Area 4
The Pennsylvania Milk
Marketing Board (PMMB) was
expected Friday afternoon to end
its hearing into milk prices for
PMMB marketing area 4. Area 4
covers the 10 south central
counties of Lancaster, Lebanon,
Dauphin, Junita, Perry, Cum
berland, York, Adams, Franklin
and Fulton. A decision on
whether or not farmers and
dealers will be gitting more for
the milk they sell is expected to
come 4 to 6 weeks after the close
of the hearing
The hearing came on the heels
of a Commonwealth Court order
overthrowing a price increase
granted to dairy farmers
throughout the state, effective
March 12 The PMMB held
hearings in early February to
hear farmers’ views on the
mounting costs of milk
production Subsequent to those
hearings, the board voted to
grant a 92-cents per hun
dredweight price increase to
farmers, but they did not grant a
similar increase in the minimum
retail price.
WM. Dunlap
Dies at 92
It was learned just before
presstime that Walter M.
Dunlap died late Thursday
evening at the age of 92. The
veteran livestock marketer
was a familiar figure for many
years at the Lancaster
Livestock Auction, and was
long associated with Walter
M. Dunlap & Sons, Inc., cattle
dealers
Dairies throughout the state
criticized the board’s action and
took their complaints to court
The dairies said they agreed with
the board that the farmers
needed more money Milk
dealers, however, felt they
couldn’t afford to pay farmers
more unless they got more money
from consumers
The court, in overruling the
board’s action, did not say
whether or not they agreed with
the milk dealers They said that
the entire hearing had been
illegal, and any resultant action
was, therefore, invalid. The
state’s milk marketing law says
that milk hearings must be open
to consumers and milk dealers as
well as farmers
There were no consumers
represented at Monday’s
hearing, so board chairman
Harry Kapleau started
Farm Calendar
Saturday, May 5
7 - 10 p.m. - York 4-H Council
sponsoring dance, York
County 4-H Center.
Monday, May 7
8 p.m. - Lancaster County
Poultry Association Board of
Directors meeting, Farm and
Home Center
Tuesday, May 8
7:30 p.m. -- Farm and Home
Foundation meeting, Farm
and Home Center.
NEPPCO Board of Directors
meeting, Sheraton Hotel,
Philadelphia, May 8 and 9.
Friday, May 11
7 p.m - Pennsylvania Egg
Marketing Association
meeting, Holiday Inn,
Ephrata.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 5, 1973
upward this year 7 What are the chances
for a normal year?
To answer these questions, LAN
CASTER FARMING called on a number of
soybean and feed experts. Questions were
confined to the soybean situation,
because beans have by far the biggest
impact on local feed prices Everyone we
talked to agreed that there’s not much
hope for lower prices in the next four to
five months. A shortage exists, and it will
continue to exist until the next crop is
harvested Some price relief may appear
after the harvest, but anyone who’s
continuing on a sharp price drop may be
in for a big disappointment
Donald Parkes, executive director of
PennAg Industries, Ephrata, told us, “If
the floods in the Midwest don’t go down in
the next week or so, it is possible that
some land that would have been planted
to cotton will be planted instead to
soybeans. But there's such a high demand
for beans, that even if we plant a whole lot
more than last year, I don’t think the price
Leader awards were presented Tuesday
night to seven people by the Good Use 4-H
Club, sponsored by Lancaster’s South
Christian Mennonite Church. Receiving
awards were, back row, left to right; David
Good Use 4-H Club Presents Awards
Awards for outstanding ac
complishment and leadership
were presented to members,
leaders and friends of the Good
Use 4-H Club at a meeting
Tuesday night in Lancaster’s
South Christian Street Mennonite
Church
Ted Gray received the club’s
1973 achievement award for his
work as a teen leader at Camp
Mlli’c t.i\ i}'* award also
will go down too much.”
Ed Smith, a Philadelphia gram trader,
employed by the Bunge Corporation, told
us that the federal government has taken
some steps to increase the supply of
protein feeds in the U S. "Idle acreage in
the feed grains set-aside program have
been reduced this year,” Smith said, “and
Public Law 480 sales of feed grains to
foreign countries have been stopped
Barter trading has been halted, too, but I
don’t know of any other trading restric
tions All these are steps in the right
direction They may help to keep prices
from going up, but the government hasn’t
done anything so far that would really pull
prices down.”
Albert Landis, a gram buyer with
Lancaster’s Pennfield Corp., said corn and
other feed gram prices are up, too. He
noted, though, that corn isn't in as short a
supply as soybeans.
A spokesman for Reynolds Securities m
Lancaster said that the prospects are for
< Continued On Page 32)
recognized his other work with
the club
Leaders awards were
presented to David Weaver,
Dawn Weaver, LeAnne Lantz,
Mervin Lantz, Sheron Gibson,
Mary Jane Brubaker and Agnes
Gibson
Recognized with Friends of 4-H
awards were Lloyd and Virginia
Weaver Lester and Helen
• 'Wi'Aier ,'md Walter and Martha
Weaver, Dawn Weaver, LeAnne Lantz,
Mervin Lantz. Front row: Tille Gibson,
advisor, Sheron Gibson, Mary Jane
Brubaker, Agnes Gibson.
Shirk
The Good Use 4-H’ers are all
inner-city youth who’ve joined
the club mainly through the
Expanded Nutrition Education
program launched in 1971 by the
Lancaster County Extension
office
The ENEP program is
designed for both young people
and adults The Good Use 4-H
(Continued On Page 51)
$2.00 Per Year