Farmer subsidizes consumer, says Shelhamer
By JOYCE BUPP
Staff correspondent
YORK - Stressing the
theme “Consumer
Education,” the York Area
Chamber of Commerce and
the Agriculture Extension
Service headlined their 15th
annual agribusiness seminar
with Pennsylvania
Secretary of Agriculture
Kent D. Shelhamer.
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get the prirz facts first
MARYLAND DEALERS
EASTON. MD
WALTER J.
HARMSEN
301-822-3085
LINEBORO. MD
WERTZ GARAGI
INC.
301-374 2672
hosted the meeting of 100
area farm and business
people.
“The American farmer is
subsidizing the American
food consumer,” insisted
Secretary Shelhamer. “But
ask any mao on the street
and he’ll tell you it’s tough.”
Noting that gadgets are a
sign of an affluent country,
and that the United States
has more of those than any
imple,
asy and
onveniently
ut-of-the Way!
k
HAGERSTOWN,
TRI-STATE
FARM AUTOMATION
301-790-3698
MD
TRI-COUNTY
FARM AUTOMATION
301-775-7365
other nation, Shelhamer
emphasized that the first
thing a financially troubled
consumer will cut back on
buying is actual food, not
soda, toilet tissue, or panty
hose.
Offering statistics stating
that the average farmer is
only receiving a 3.5 per cent
return on his investment
with no return on labor, or
making $2.86 per hour with
DISTRICT MANAGER
GEORGE HEAfH
2618 Arcona Road
Mechanicsburg, Pa.
697-5466 17055
ALEXANDRIA
MAX ISENBERG
669 4027
BALLY
LONGACRE
ELECTRIC
215-845-2261
LUCAS BARN
EQUIPMENT
' 814-383-2806
BELLEVILLE
MACLAY & SON
717-935-2101
CAMP HILL
LLOYD SULTZBAUGH
737-4554
HAMBURG.
SHARTLESVILLE
FARM SERVICE
215-488 1025
KIRKWOOD
LANDIS &
ESBENSHADE
786-4158
LEBANON
MARVIN HORST
272-0871
McALISTERVILLE
SANER FARM
SYSTEMS
463 2606
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LANDIS
LABOR SAVERS
692-4647
MILTON
LANDIS FARMSTEAD
AUTOMATION
437-2375
NEWVILLE
FREDB. McGILLRAY
776-7312
PIPERSVILI F
MOYER
FARM SERVICE
766-8675
WILLIAMSBURG
LONGENECKERS,
INC.
814-793 3731
IYVILLE. MD
PINDER
SERVICE CO
301 348 5263
STREET. MD
WALTER WEBSTER
. 301 452 8521
no return on his investment,
the Secretary questioned
how many of the bankers
present would loan money at
those rates.
“It would be a shock for
people to walk in and find the
grocery shelves bare,”
Shelhamer warned, as he
reminded his listeners that
even though food prices rose
six per cent last year, those
increases did not find their
way back into the farmer’s
pocketbook.
“Food production is in the
position today that energy
was in back during the 60’s,”
he added. “Remember those
special electric rates for
budding all-electnc homes’
While we’re in an energy
crunch now, we’ll cut back
and get along.”
Shelhamer warned that
solving the potential food
crisis, though, may be much
more difficult. By 2050, only
an estimated 40 per cent of
today’s productive land may
be available for food
growing. Also, yield rates in
some crops seem to have
been reached.
The current farm strike
prompted some comments
from the Secretary.
“Who would have though
that farmers, as independent
production-minded in
dividuals, would have to go
on strike?” questioned
Shelhamer.
Comparing striking far
mers to concurrently
striking coal miners, he
noted that the mine workers
are participating in the work
stoppage for reasons of
larger pay checks, greater
benefits, and better working
conditions.
“I do not advocate
strikers; but the farmer is no
less deserving than his coal
miner brother when he
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 4,1974
. *
'» *
*****
y'
Kent D. Shelhamer
strikes for additional
benefits,” he continued.
Everything done by the
state’s Department of
Agriculture to help the
farmer is ultimately
designed to benefit the
consumer, is the Secretary's
outlook on the department
which he oversees. Prac
tically everything that
people do is in some way
affected by rules and
regulations; and Shelhamer
feels that Pennsylvania has
Broilers down
HARRISBURG - Penn
sylvania broiler placements
were down slightly during
the week ending January 21
according to the Penn
sylvania Crop Reporting
Service. Placements of
broiler chicks were 1,799,000.
The placements were one
per cent below the
corresponding week in 1977
and three per cent below the
previous week. Average
placements during the past
some of the best farmer
consumer regulatory laws in
the country.
Livestock indemnity
payments, for instance, are
not necessarily made to put
the farmer back in business,
but to insure a steady food
supply for consumers. The
Summerdale state
laboratory conducts over
one million tests annually to
insure safe and healthful
food for the public. And,
Shelhamer believes that
Pennsylvania has the
strongest bakery law in the
world.
Speakers for the afternoon
session were E. Clinton
Stokes, director of the Food
and Agriculture Committee
for the National Chamber of
Commerce, and Rodney E.
Leonard, executive director
of the Community Nutrition
Institute in Washington.
Chairman of the com
mittee arranging the
program is H. Richard Zook,
Federal Land Bank
Association of York.
ten weeks were seven per
cent above placements a
year ago.
In the 21 poultry states,
placements of broiler chicks
were 68,139,000. The
placements were about the
same as the previous week,
but six per cent above the
same week in 1977.
Average placements in the
21 states during the past ten
weeks were seven per cent
above a year earlier.
99