44—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Mar. 2, 1974 Milk The demise of the quart glass milk bottle is probably the milk industry’s most visible sign of change. Less obvious, but more sweeping, are changes in the industry’s structure, market performance, and in the regulations governing the distribution and sale of fluid milk. These shifts provided the focus of a recent study of 144 U. S. milk markets. The markets, as diverse as Grand Forks, N.D., and New York, N.Y., ranged in volume from 3 million to 466 million pounds of milk per month. Plants decline. Most dramatic change was the drop m milk processing plus your grain for Top Dairy Nutrition Whatever your dairy feeding program, you can use new Wayne 32% Dairy Krums to good advantage. Just balance this blend of high quality proteins, vitamins and minerals with the nutrients in your own farm grains. Select the protein level that is right for the roughage used. Each cow will produce milk at her full bred-in milking power. And, the texture of ground and mixed rations is improved. Ask us for details. To Help Your Dairy Herd STAY OUT IN FRONT CHARLESE SAUDER & SONS RD 1, East Earl HERSHEY BROS Remholds BRANDT’S MILL SADDLERY SHOP 830 Maple St Lebanon, Pa 17042 STEVENS FEED MILL, INC Stevens, Pa PARADISE SLPPLY Paradise POVV L’S FEED SERVICE R D 2, Peach Bottom GRUBB SUPPLY CO Elizabethtown A Market In Change foroement. Sanitary regulations, while necessary to public health, have m some cases been used to give local milk dealers an advantage in certain markets. For example, some have con tained restrictions which forbid the distribution of milk that's been pasteurized outside the city limits. In recent years, however, most States and local jurisdictions have reshaped these laws to allow free competition and to facilitate the flow of fluid milk products Open dating. Some 40 years ago. sanitary authorities commonly required open dating on fluid milk products. After waning m the years that followed, interest in open dating has recently been rekindled. Initial studies showed that open dating drove up costs, as retail outlets using the system began returning more and more unsold milk. Followup reports now in dicate this is no longer the case. plants—from around 8,500 in 1948 to Just over 2,000 in 1971. Declines were sharpest among small plants, while those selling at least 4 million pounds per month increased in number. Meantime, distribution areas have mushroomed. In the early postwar days, plants seldom distributed their products beyond a 30>40 mile limit. Today. a distribution radius of 100 miles is commonplace, and 200 miles isn’t unusual. Thus, while the number of milk plants within any specific area has dropped sharply, the number competing for sales in that region has fallen off much less. USE WAYNE ANIMAL HEALTH AIDS TO KEEP YOUR LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY HEALTHY H. M. STAUFFER & SONS. INC Witmer JE’MAR FARM SUPPLY INC. Lawn—Ph 964-3444 ROBBER'S MILL R D 1, Ronks HAROLD H. GOOD Terre Hill MOUNTVILLE FEED SERVICE R D 2, Columbia DUTCHMAN FEED MILLS. INC R.D 1, Stevens WHITE OAK MILL R D. 4, Manheim Open competition. Also, sales in most US. milk markets aren't dominated by a few major competitors The study found that small markets absorbing less than 50 million pounds of milk per month were the only ones in which more than half of all sales went to the top four competitors. In the H largest markets, the four chief rivals captured less than a fourth of total milk sales. The most significant change in market structure has come from supermarket groups that buy or build their own milk processing plants In 1064, 21 supermarket groups operated 36 milk plants, with most of the output sold to their own stores. By 1971, 26 super markets controlled 51 plants. During 1964-72, the volume processed by supermarket owned plants more than tripled to 388 million pounds per month. And their share of total milk sales by com mercial processors ad vanced from 3 percent to nearly 9 percent. Marketing roles. Regulations governing the marketing of fluid milk also underwent major change and revision during the postwar period. For in stance, the number of States that regulate resale milk prices—either wholesale or retail—now stands at 14, versus a peak of 21 in the mid-1930’s and only 11 in the mid-1950’5. The fifties brought a sharp rise in trade practice regulations in States without resale price fixing. State trade practice laws forbid, among other things, giving free credit, unreasonable credit extensions, and secret rebates or discounts. Effects of the regulations have been mixed, depending on type of law and extent of en- State Grange Will Conduct Sewing Contest More than 1,500 entries are expected in the 1974 sewing contest of the Pennsylvania State Grange, according to A. Wayne Readmger, state Grange master. The contest is open to Grange members and Grange-sponsored par ticipants who are 12 years of age or older The deadline for submitting entries is April 30, 1974. Mrs. Ross Metz, state director women’s activities of the Grange, said dresses and suits will be judged in three age categories; Those made by persons 18 years of age or older for the same age group; garments made by contestants in the 12-17 age group for persons of the same age, and garments made by persons 18 years old or over for children under 18 years. Judging at the subordinate Grange level will be held May 1 to May 13, followed by judging at the Pomona, or county Grange level from May 13 to May 20. Pomona winners will be judged at the state level later and winning garments will be sent to New York for the National Grange level. At stake will be a one-week trip for two to Bermuda for the national winner. Numerous prizes also will be presented winners in the subordinate, pomona and To gauge market per formance of the fluid milk industry, the ERS study used two measures —marketing margins and innovativeness. During 1954-72, average marketing margins for whole milk increased only 6 cents per half gallon The gam would have proven considerably larger had there not been a shift from home delivery to store outlets and to larger con tamers Marketing margins vary widely throughout the U.S., but tend to run somewhat higher in States that regulate resale prices. Innovation rate. To /!m “ —4^ WO' „ jy . NO MORE DAILY FEED CHORES! takes only minutes to pump in a 7/10 day burning ’em, cleaning up the spills—l ve supply of Mol-Mix Liquid' gone Mo ,. Mlx UqU(d , CUT MY FEED COSTS! . .. and locked in my winter feed prices with a Mol-Mix "freeze booking l uniform suspension, measure Innovativeness, the study compiled a list of all new products, containers, and services Introduced In the fluid milk Industry since the mid-thlrities. The average date when markets accepted these develop ments became a measure of their innovativeness. The Milwaukee, Wis., market ranked highest, with 1955 the average date by which all innovations had been introduced. Burlington, Vt., was slowest to respond NO MORE WRESTLING with feed bags, NO WEATHER WORRIES! Mol-Mix won’t YES, IT WAS MY LUCKY DAY WHEN I DISCOVERED JOHN Z. MARTIN to new developments, with an average date of 1964. Researchers determined that markets with resale price controls were generally not as receptive to innovations than those without. In fact, the study found that the most highly regulated —thus . ‘ ‘sheltered’ —markets, whether protected by sanitary regulations, trade practice laws, restrictive licensing, etc., tended to be the least innovative. emusifiers keep ingredients in New Holland RDI Phone 717-354-5848 *■— * . "v U* -=J
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