—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 26,1978
18
Strength in agriculture seen in farm coops
By JOYCE BUPP
Staff Correspondent
BOZEMAN, Mont. -
“Cooperatives are a nice in
surance policy,” says Jay
Hull, young dairyman from
Westminster, Maryland.
Hull, and his wife niona,
were among 186 young farm
couples who examined the
farm cooperative system
during the 50th National In
stitute of Cooperative
Education (NICE) held July
31 through August 3 at Mon
tana State University. The
annual convention, which
draws attendance from hun
dreds of the nations
cooperatives, is sponsored
by the American Institute of
Cooperation. This year’s
theme was “Cooperatives-
People with a Purpose.”
Breeders of registered
Guernseys, the Hulls
represented Maryland
Cooperative Milk Producers
of Baltimore. In addition to
milking their herd of 50
cows, with an average of
11,400 pounds of milk and 545
of fat, the Hulls crop 150
acres in corn, barley and
alfalfa.
Although in the career far
ming business only four
'years. Jay and Qlona are en
thusiastic supporters of the
philosophy of strength in
agriculture through farm
cooperatives.
“Doing business with a
cooperative that has 50-year
success is a cushion against
the sudden loss of a milk
market,” Hull emphasizes.
He also feels that in
dividual farmers, especially
younger ones, have too-little
time to devote toward public
relations tasks. Market
bargaining and legislative
lobbying are two valuable
Young
Farmers
to meet
STEWARTSTOWN -
There will be a special young
farmer meeting on Tuesday,
August 28, at the Chemagro
Demonstration plots at
Stewartstown R 3, and
several field corn demon
stration plots near
Chemagro plots.
The tour will start just
north of Stewartstown on
Route 24 at the DeKalb plots.
The group will then stop at
The Pioneer plots and the
tour at the Chemagro plots
at Stewartstown. At the last
stop the group will observe
soybeans planted no-til,
drilled and insecticide
herbicide interaction plots.
They will also see corn in
secticide plots and alfalfa
herbicide, insecticide plots
and alfalfa herbicide, in
secticide, and no-til plots.
The tour will start at 7
p.m.
Garber Oil Co,
[texaco]
Fuel Chief'
{ HEATING GIL i
I OIL HEATING EQUIPMENT
AIR CONDITIONING
MOUNT JOY, PA
Ph 653-1821
jobs also performed by
cooperatives in a much more
effective way than could be
done by individuals.
As members of several
farm cooperatives, the Hulls
felt that the NICE meeting
reinforced their basic con
cepts on the member-owned
system of doing business.
One key outreach program
of the Institute is toward the
increased involvement of
women in all phases .of
cooperative operation.
“A woman's place is in the
meeting room; we need to in
volve more of them,” ad
vocates niona Hull, an
outspoken opponent of
separate “social-type”
meetings for wives. “Women
can double the efforts and
brain-power in cooperatives.
They need to promote more
and work less in the fields
and barns.”
Representing the
Maryland-Virginia Milk Pro
ducers Cooperative were
Douglas and Evelyn Perrow
of Lynchburg, Virginia.
“The biggest challenge to
cooperatives in the future is
their very existence and con
tinued growth,” warns Per
row. He notes that
cooperatives help to act as
regulators within the
economy, stabilizing prices
paid by independent buyers,
thus making them suspect
by non-cooperative
organizations.
Perrow believes that
broader commodity
marketing should be a trend
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of the future. For instance,
he would recommend that
milk cooperatives expand in
to the marketing of related
products such as yogurt,
cheese and ice cream.
“Involved individual
members are the strength of
a cooperative,” says the
Virginia dairy farmer who
milks 185 cows and crops 600
acres. Each member must
be willing to accept some
responsibility for public
relations and legislative ef
forts, as well as encourage
other farmers to participate
in the business of
cooperatives.
The Montana NICE was
the second convention at
tended by the Perrows, who
credit the confab with
boosting their 'enthusiasm
for the cooperative way of
doing business.
“It’s reassuring to know
we have other people
fighting for us and with us to
keep the cooperative enter
prise system,” smiles the
soft-spoken dairyman.
A third-generation
member of Southern States
represented that service
supply cooperative at the an
nual NICE meeting.
Donald and Denise
Vaughn, Delta, Penn
sylvania, farm in partner
ship with his father on a 90-
Holstein, 600 acre dairy and
hay-corn operation.
“Cooperatives are a way
of life in our family” insists
Donald. “My grandfather,
Luther Bahn, was a charter
OF DOING SOMETHING SUCH AS EXPANDING?
Changing present pipeline from
11/2”t02”.l 1 /2”to2”.
Adding more milker units.
Adding to present parlor system.
Considering parlor.
Automating your present system.
• PLANNING LAYOUTS • SALES • INSTALLATION • SERVICE
(STAUFFER
IROAD
501 E. Woods Drive Lititz, PA. 17543 Phone: 717-626-1151
Home Phone: Clyde Lutz 717-738-171 J
Home Phone: Curtis Cassady 717-626-1065
Our Service Trucks Are Radio Dispatched
member of Southern
States."
Informed members make
for better organizations,
says Vaughn, who favors'
educational mini-sessions
for increased member
understanding of the day-to
day inner workings of
cooperatives/
Another awareness
measure he recommends is
the setting up of regional
BOU-MATIC
MEANS
BETTER
MILKING
miftilYllW HERRINGBONE STALLS WITH
CONCRETE CURB & GRATES
"Professional Milking for Hie Milking Professional"
SHENK'S FARM SERVICE
The Vaughns were im
pressed both the background
on cooperatives that they
received at the conference
and the concern of the
national institute for the
welfare of individual
member-organizations.
RDI.EPHRATA. PA 17522
young couples advisory
boards, both for educations
and to increase grass-roots
input into administrative
decisions.
PHONE: 717-733-9404
PARLOR
STALLS
An educational organiza
tion for fanner cooperatives,
the American Institute of
Cooperative was founded in
1925 and is headquartered in
Washington, D.C. Members
include a broad representa
tion from marketing, supply
und service cooperatives,
banks and associations of the
Farm Credit system and the
nation’s rural electric
systems.
24 Hr. Service Offered
h