Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 9, 1975
58
Butz comments
“It is unrealistic for
anyone to say that the mild
recovery of wheat prices
prompted by the Russian
wheat sales will cause the
price of bread to go up in any
appreciable amount,”
Secretary of Agriculture
Earl L. Butz declared
recently to representatives
of southern State govern
ments in Williamsburg,
Virginia.
“Talk about wheat sales to
Russia and you soon have an
argument started,” com
mented Paul H. Keeney
Chairman of the Berks
County Agricultural
Stabilization and Con
servation Committee. To set
the story straight, he invites
the public to read
Agriculture Secretary Butz
comments.
“The average price of
wheat in Kansas City
plunged $1.70 per bushel
from last October to this
June, yet this did not reduce
the price of bread. Now that
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average wheat prices in July
have recovered about 35
cents of the $1 70 drop, it
dosen’t make sense to
scream that this is going to
increase bread prices
“The fact that wheat cost
about 35 percent less in June
than last October, and flour
prices cost 3 cents a pound
less, but this didn’t reduce
bread prices, proves one of
two things; (1) Either the
price of wheat that fanners
get has little to do with the
price that consumers pay for
bread, or (2) somebody was
making exhorbitant profits
during the last several
months.”
Secretary Butz explained
that wheat prices recovered
somewhat in early July in
anticipation of sales to the
Soviet Union and have
dropped 5 cents a bushel
since the sales were first
announced on July 16. The
latest figures show that
Kansas City wheat prices
will average about $3.58 per
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Forage Harvester.
Roy A. Brubaker Albert J. Noss
700WoodcrestAve RD2 Oley Pa
Lititz Pa 215 987 6257
626 7766
on wheat sales
bushel in July - up 35 cents
per bushel over the June
average. “That bushel of
wheat which cost 35 cents
more in July will make about
70 loaves of bread. Thus for
anyone to say that this mild
recovery in the price of
wheat will run up the price of
bread is being unrealistic
and unfair to the wheat
farmers of American,”
Secretary Butz said.
“American agriculture
has a tremendous productive
capacity. Farmers are going
to raise about one billion 400
million bushels more wheat
in this country this year than
U.S. consumers can use, so
we have to export it. Thus far
we have sold the Soviet
Union about 125 million
bushels out of this year’s
crop - or less than 10 percent
of what we have available to
export (about 30 million
bushels will be out next
year’s crop). This is much
less than we sold India last
year. So to blame the sale to
I. G. Ag Sales
Silverdale PA 18962
215 257 5136
Russia for an increase in
food prices is being in
tellectually naive or
dishonest.
“The same applies to the
sale to Russia in 1972. In
June 1972, the month before
the sale of wheat to Russia,
farmers were getting 2.6
cents for the wheat in a one
pound loaf of bread. In June
this year, farmers were
getting 3.6 cents for the
wheat in a loaf of bread - or
an increase of 1 cent. Yet
bread prices at the store
have gone up 10.9 cents per
load since June of 1972.
“Some people who don’t
know wheat from chaff are
drawing ridiculous con
clusions about the effect of
selling grain to Russia. The
same people did the same
thing in 1972. Food pnces
moved up in 1973 and 1974 for
various reasons, such as
worldwide crop reductions,
the failure of monsoon rains
in rice-producing countries
which caused them to buy
wheat, the drastic reduction
in the South American fish
catch which is used for
livestock protein feed,the
increase in world population,
the world wide boom in
demand for food, price
controls that disrupted
livestock production cycles,
galloping inflationary rises
in costs, the worst drought in
the midwest in a generation
last year followed by an
early frost, then the oil
embargo.
“It is just as ridiculous to
blame the ensuing food price
rises simply on the 1972
Russian grain sale as it is to
think now that selling grain
to Russia is going to hike
U.S. food costs
“If the reason for the
three-year rise in food prices
was as simple as the sale of
gram to Russia, all we’d
have to do is refuse to sell
grain to Russia now and food
pnces would drop 40 percent
to the levels of early 1972.
That won’t work. We sold
Russia very little grain last
year, but U.S. consumer food
prices increased 14.5 percent
- and more than three
fourths of that increase took
place after the food left the
farm. That’s where to look
for the explanation of higher
food costs,” Secretary Butz
concluded.
Silver
Spurs
The Silver Spurs 4-H Horse
and Pony Club held their
monthly meeting at the
home of Leslie and Michael
Winpenny.
Final plans were made for
the annual Open Horse Show
to be held August 17 at the
Lancaster Riding Club.
Members Randy Click,
Jim Click, Chern
Gochnauer, Robert Stein and
Patti Nauman gave a talk on
their two week stay in
Colorado.
The club chose Roberta
Stem as the senior candidate
and Daryl Friedrichs as
junior nominee for the 4-H
Queen contest.
The next meeting will be
held at the home of Roberta
Stein.