Urner-Bany Quotations IContttHMd From P«|« 11 as a tool in egg pricing. He said it didn't reflect the retail carton price, the wholesale price or the producer price, and that at present, the Urncr-Barry quotation most nearly matched the warehouse delivery price for cartoned eggs. The actual price to producers, Carter noted, is determined by competitive factors in the marketplace. Another eggman in his question implied that the Urncr-Barry price was artificially lowered several weeks before holidays, so that buyers could pay less for eggs which would be stored for holiday sale. “Why should we producers mmmm YOUR PROFIT SAFEGUARD Protect the quality and fresh flavor of your milk with modern cooling systems , engineered, installed and serviced by Agway. SUNSET BULK COOLER The stainless steel e\ aporator welch’d directly to the inner liner puts maximum refi igerant flow in direct contact with milk cooling surface for fast cooling action and efficient compressor use The Sunset is a chore saver too Simply attach the automatic tank washer to the built-in clean-in-place sprav ball and everything from pre-rinse to final sanitizing is handled with the flick of a switch These enclosed atmospheric models come in capacities fiom 300 to 3000 gallons. All are constructed ol nickel-bearing stainless steel for a lifetime of heavy use For complete information and estimates on Sunset and Feldmeier installations engineered to fit your milkhouse, • MIJIfUMY M call Agway and ask for the Farm Systems Engineer to stop by. have to foot the storage bill for the packers?" the man asked. "Why don't you hold the price up before holidays?" Carter again said that the price to producers depends on the competition for eggs. "And when inventories build up, as they do before a holiday, the price goes down. It's the law of supply and demand," he said. Frank Urncr, who’s presently chiefly responsible for the Urncr-Barry price quotations, Joined Carter before the audience. Urner plans to retire in the sum mer, and Carter, who is president of the 125-year-old publishing firm, will take |RE HOURS - Open Friday Evenings til 8p m Mon. thru Thurs 8 a.m. to 5 p m over the egg pricing responsibility. "I wont to soy that Urncr- Barry has no connection at oil with any producer, pakcr, buyer or seller of eggs. Except for our publications, we have never had any financial connection with any part of the egg industry, and we never will. We do not benefit from our egg price," Umer said. •‘We deplore the deterioration in the producer price as much as you do, but there’s nothing we can do about it. No matter what base price you use, com petition will always deter mine a market price.” Urner had previously FELDMEIER MULTI-TUBE PRE-COOLER Chills milk to 34°F before it hits the bulk tank. So you never chance the rancidity that can develop as warm milk is dumped into a cold tank. And you eliminate the need for continuous agitation, a contributing factor to rancidity and bacteria buildup You 11 save on electricity too Agway can engineer a Feldmeier installation to fit any milk ’house setup using well water or even pond water loi partial cooling And tor even more efficiency theie's a Feldmeier Ice Builder or Chiller to fit your system SUPPLY CENTER 1027 DILLERVILLE ROAD. LANCASTER, PA PHONE 717-397-4761 displayed u graph which showed how market prices have changed in the past 20 years with respect to the Urner-Barry quotes. In the early 50’s, the base price was fairly close to the price paid to egg producers. But since then, all prices - producer, wholesale and retail ■ have declined with respect to the Urner-Barry price. Urncr said they had discussed methods of arriving at a base quote which would always reflect some one segment of the egg market, but that they had never figured out how to do it. As soon as any price is set, Urner noted, producers, packers and chain store buyers begin to bargain up and down from that point. Carter pointed out that while egg producers may not - - ' - -v m '* 'T-r Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 8,1975 like the price they get at times, they arc still receiving a higher per centage of the retail price than do other producers of food commodities. Carter and Urner were followed by Ixm Moore, Penn State's extension economist, who talked about the outlook for the U.S. economy and feed grain prices in the months ahead. An in teresting point Moore made for anyone fearing a 1930’s style depression was that Americans who aren't working now control a full quarter of the country’s purchasing power. "Government programs like unemployment insurance and food stamps mean these people are going to have real purchasing power even though they’re not working. And with that much money out there, there’s just no way that we're going to fall into a nightmare depression.” depression.” Inflation and recession were still problems that would plague the economy, Moore said, adding that whatever the government did to cure the recession would just add more fuel to the fires of inflation. He said some forecasters are now predicting recession and an unsettled economy well into 1976. Moore struck a happier note, for livestock producers but not necessarily for grain farmers, shen he said that the 1975 supply of feed grains should be more than adequate, given favorable weather conditions. .Donald Daum, a Penn State ag engineer, talked to the group about OSHA regulations. He said that anyone who employs any labor at all, other than family members, would fall under the provisions of the Read Lancaster Farming For Farm Women News 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act. OSHA in spectors, Da uni said, hadn't visited too many farms, and they probably wouldn't be getting on very many farms. The number of inspectors is limited, and agriculture is not one of their top priorities. One regulation Daum urged the farmers to follow was to post a copy of an OSHA explanatory poster in a prominent place so that all their employees could read it "If an OSHA man comes on your farm, and if you hire any labor, you’ll be sub jected to an automatic $5O fine if that piece of paper isn’t displayed," Daum said. "So maybe by coming here tonight you’ve learned something that will save you $50." ‘ Another requirement for employers of more than seven employees is a record of all employee accidents and illnesses. If these records aren’t kept, Daura said, the employer would again be liable for an automatic $5O fine. Daum commented that an agricultural employer would likely never have to report anything to OSHA unless there was a major accident on his farm involving the death of a worker or the hospitalization of five or more workers. Another occassion might be if a particular farm were selected for one of OSHA’s periodic sample surveys. Daum also discussed the new pesticide law which will go into effect in Penn sylvania in October, 1976. He said the Keystone State’s law met minimum requirements set forth by the U.S. En vironmental Protection Agency, and that it would be administered by the Penn sylvania Department of Agriculture. 25
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers