pwlodiool* ■
W 309 ? a^L L unlvo?sity „ >7
pcnna. T^^^ J i{|^
laneaster Farm inq
Vol. 19 No. 5
I FARM TRENDS I
A inarke*
MSfIT by Dick Wanner
Wehere at Lancaster Farming would like to wish you all a
happy holiday season, and thank you for your interest in and
support of our. efforts over the past year.
Thanks For Your Replies
n Last week we included a note on the front page asking
readers to inform us if they received their papers after
Saturday. We received a number of calls this past week, and
we’d like to thank everyone who responded. Hopefully, these
efforts will result in better deliveries to everyone.
Financial Outlook for -74
(The USDA’s annual Outlook Conference was held last
. week in Washington. Predictions were flying fast and furious,
and one of the most cogent was the prognostication offered
by C. Kyle Randall, chairman of the Outlook and Situation
Board, on farm financing for Ithe coming year. His comments
appear below.)
. The value of assets in the farming sector as of January 1,
1974, will total $441 billion, up 15 percent from a year
earlier. Farm real estate makes up 2-3 of these assets. Total
debt claims against these assets at $BO billion were up 9
-percent. With the value of assets increasing faster than debt,
dibt amounted to compared to 19
percent a year earlier. The ratio of net income from farm
sources to total debt outstanding is one measure of farmers’
ability to service their outstanding debt commitments.’ This
rajio is expected to be about 36 percent by the end of 1973,
up some 4 percentage points from the ratio reported for the
end of 1972.
. Farm real estate prices were rising rapidly in late 1972
and early 1973. They continued to rise sharply into
November 1973. Preliminary data suggest that the
November 1972 to November 1973 increase in per acre land
prices averaged 20 percent nationally. would be a
record for land price increases in any 1-year period. It would
mainly reflect farmer optimism over income and commodity
prices andreadily available but higher cost loan funds. Farm
operators continue to buy land for enlargement purposes
and invest in capital improvements. Land prices will con
tinue rising sharply but the rate of increase will be below the
fate'of abOWcTtitth"cmticipaflsd tor 1973.' —- - -- -
Bob Nielsen, proprietor of the Sweet Briar Tobacco Shop in
Intercourse, says there’s too much paper in most American
cigars. “Europeans, and even some Americans, can make an
all-tobacco cigar that sells for a dime. Why can’t the big
companies do the same?” f\e wonders.
Merry Christmas to All!
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 22, 1973
.Local Survey Shows . . .
Ag Ecnii^xi^ent
Shortage Looms
Local farm equipment dealers
are forecasting a shortage of
farm equipment next year. Their
views are backed up both by the
Farm and Industrial Equipment
Institute in Chicago, and by
Sperry New Holland, the local
manufacturer that sells farm
equipment around the world. In a
Lancaster Farming survey,
dealers contacted said, “Buy
early, or you might not get what
you want.”
“Corn planters are on
allocation to dealers, and most
dealers have sold all the com
planters they can get,” we were
told by Mert Messick, an In
ternational Harvester dealer
from Elizabethtown.
“Tractors are scarce, too,”
Messick said. ‘'Some farmers
have bought tractors from us
even though it’ll be. some time
before we can deliver. I’d say if
anybody wants to buy any piece
of farm equipment, he’d better
get his order in now.”
Four major factors are
creating the machinery crunch,
Messick feels. Farmers have had
In This Issue
Markets 2-4
Sale Register . 34
Farmers Almanac 6
Classified Ads 37
Editorials 10
Homestead Notes 22
' Home on the Range —— - 24 -
Lebanon Co. DHIA 14
“What This Country Needs
Is A Good 10 c Cigar . .
“Europeans produce a good,
all-tobacco cigar. I don’t see why
American cigar companies can’t
do the same,” Lancaster Far
ming was told in an interview
with Bob Nielsen, proprietor of
the Sweet Briar Smoke Shop in
Intercourse. “I buy some all
tobacco cigars from P. T.
Wattell in lied Lion, and I sell
them for a dime. Dime cigars
from the major companies,
though, are loaded with paper.
And a lot of them just aren’t good
smokes.”
Nielsen feels the American
cigar-buying public has been
duped by advertising put out by
the big cigar companies.
“American tobacco products are
made quick, fast and cheap. And
a good year, they’ve got more
money and they’re spending it.
And the manufacturers are
having trouble keeping up with
the demand. With the end of the
soil banks, more land is being put
Agway’s Hess Says ...
For Higher Prices
Grow Good Tobacco
“If farmers are willing to
produce tobacco for markets
other than the cigar filler
market, they’ll increase their
average prices,” Mark Hess,
manager of Agway’s Garden Spot
Unit, said this week during a
Lancaster Farming interview.
Hess also heads up Agway’s
tobacco marketing effort for
Type 41 tobacco, and was in
strumental in getting the U. S.
Department of Agriculture to set
up a grading system for the crop
in 1965.
“We can get a premium for our
best tobacco,” Hess continued,
“but it won’t corns from the cigar
filler buyers. Southern buyers
will pay a premium, but we’ve
got to give them the kind of
tobacco they want.” Hess was
quick to point out that the Agway
marketing effort channeled most
of its tobacco to traditional cigar
filler' market, trot- because all
Agway tobacco is graded, buyers
who want a particular quality are
they’re loaded with paper. One
man who worked for a cigarette
company told me he saw paper
made to look exactly like
tobacco, and it had 27 different
chemicals in it. Think thatgood
for your lungs?”
To illustrate his point about
quality differences m cigars,
Nielsen cut up one of his 25-cent
European cigars and compared it
with another one, a six-cent
“second” from an American
manufacturer. There were
indeed chunks of paper in the
American variety, and only
tobacco in the European one. “AU
this paper produces a harsh
smoke. But this,” holding up the
short, dark European cigar, “is a
mild smoke. Even though it looks
S 2 00 Per Year
back into production, and that
calls for more machines.
Perhaps the biggest reason
local farmers are buying more
and more machinery is that farm
(Continued On Page 23)
able to get it and they’re willing
to pay extra for that choice.
Under the Agway setup, far
mers sell their tobacco to Agway,
at which time they get an ad
vance cash payment. The ad
vance is determined on the basis
of the estimated selling price.
The bulk of the crop will
classify as X-grade, which is
straight stripped or pull-off
tobacco. is fine quality
(Continued On Page 5)
Farm Calendar
Tuesday, December 25
Merry Christmas
Thursday, December 27
1:00 p.m. - Lancaster County 4-H
and FFA Corh and Tobacco
Roundups, Farm and Home
Center.
Lancaster County Swine
Producers Board of Directors
meeting, Farm and Home
Center
strong Do you want to try it’”
This writer must confess that
while the Wanner family are good
customers for Lancaster County
milk, eggs, meat and produce,
our contribution to the tobacco
industry is nil. Nevertheless, in
the interest of objective repor
ting, I felt compelled to at least
attempt an evaluation of quality
differences between American
and European cigars Previous
cigar-smoking experiences,
usually occassioned by
someone’s baby, had left me with
a bad taste in the mouth and even
headaches. I was not predisposed
to enjoy any cigar, no matter
what tiie country of its origin. But
- smoking that European cigar
(Continued On Page 36)