118—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 20,1979
Foreign dairy
CAMP HILL The pendulum of the dairy economy
may soon be swmguig from good to bad, according to
Gordon Conklin, editor of American Agriculturalist
magazme. Conklin spoke here last week at the 108th an
nual meeting of the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s
Association.
The clouds which the bespectacled editor sees on the
dairy horizon are: 1. massive dairy imports from Western
Europe, 2. restraints on the rights of farmer cooperatives,
3. the possibility of mandatory wage-price controls, 4.
inflation, 5. lowered productivity per American worker,
and 6. the ongoing energy crunch.
“Massive dairy imports from Western Europe are being
negotiated right now,” Conklin told the assembly of some
200 dairy farmers and guests. Among the trade con
cessions being considered are a 33 per cent increase in
cheese imports. During 1977, Conklin pointed out, the U.S.
imported 1.7 billion pounds of cheese. Noting that the
imports would have an effect on domestic prices, Conklin
assured that the National Milk Producers Federation is
vigorously opposed to the increased imports idea.
The National Commission for the Review of Antitrust
Laws and Procedures provides the second reason for
Conklin’s negative report. The Commission alleges that
farmer cooperatives wield too much power in the market
place. ( See page 1 story, Lancaster Farming, Dec. 23,
1978 issue.)
As a result of its conclusions, the Commission is
recommending to President Carter and the Justice
Department that farmer cooperatives have their rights
curtailed. Specifically, the Commission’s recom
mendations call for: 1. restrictions on mergers of com
mon marketing agencies, 2. removal of authority from the
Agriculture Secretary on determining whether or not a
cooperative is unduly enhancing prices, and 3. the
presentation of competitive impact statements when a
cooperative plans a business move.
“Farmers want clout. The government gave it to the
coal miners. But farmers have never been able to get that
power either politically or economically,” Conklin ob
served.
Despite the presently good economic picture for dairy
farmers and cattlemen, Conklin suspects all that may
change if the government decides to impose mandatory
wage-price controls. He cites an economist at Cornell
University who speculates that the price of beef may
trigger such controls because of its close visibility to
consumers.
Conklin notes that food prices are uppermost in con
sumers’ economic thoughts and that politicians are aware
of this What they fail to realize, the editor observed, is
that “food is a good buy, based on the number of hours
they have to work for it.” He emphasized that the average
American now spends 21 per cent of his annual income on
transportation, which is more than what he spends on
food.
“Inflation grabs at the well-being of all of us,” Conklin
continued “Our welfare state has handed out a lot of
paper claims on production ... We’re not in good standing
compared to other industrialized nations of the world,
particularly West Germany and Japan ... If we ran our
family budgets like the federal government’s we’d all be
bankrupt.” According to Conklin, one of the reason’s for
America’s poor showing in international tade is that there
is less productivity per worker in America. Also,
regulations and environmental considerations have put a
damper on production.
“liiere is a growing feeling in this country,” Conklin
boomed, “to let the Japanese and the Germans produce
the iron, and the pollution that goes with it ” The trend in
thmkng has been that it is cheaper to import than to
manufacture here
“We had better wake up, or we’ll dry up,” Conklin
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are likely
By DIETER KRIEG
shipments
to
increase
warned. “I hope the wizards in Washington will not decide
to move the production of our foods overseas by ham
stringing production over here.”
Conklin argues that politicians oppose inflation with
words, but cause it with deeds, and he says further that
most Americans really wouldn’t want to wm the war
against inflation because it has been beneficial to them. It
helps home owners, borrowers, industrialists, and far
mers. “All of us can pay off our debts with cheap dollars,”
he said. “Inflation eats us all alive, and yet we all con
tribute to it. As Pogo said: ‘We have found the enemy, and
he is us,’ ” Conklin concluded.
The availability and cost of energy will have to be
reckoned with. According to Conklin, the people of the
world will not turn back. He points out that the present
energy crunch is the fourth such crisis in the history of
mankind and that in each case something new was
developed. He predicts that the energy crunch will be
overcome, even if it means bemg dragged across the
nuclear threshold kicking and screaming.
Conklin states that all economic factors considered, the
production of energy is the bottom line of the formula.
Energy production per capita, he says, is what deter
mines how much can be produced overall.
Summing up, Conklin said: “The ability of people to
produce food will depend largely on what happens outside
our own line fences.” He recommends that farmers get
more involved with the political processes of their
country.
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Gordon Conklin, editor of the American
Agriculturalist, addressed some 200 members and
guests of the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association
Tuesday night, telling them that imports, inflation,
and an attack on cooperatives are to be reckoned
within the future.
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