MCMP meeting (Continued from Page 1) some clouds on me horizon that we should watch.” Heading Weasel’s list of negative streaks in the daily picture is the decline of Class I sales. He notes that’s probably due to increasing prices. “While this has not yet been serious, it could become more noticeable, particularly if there is a general recession in this country. At this time a general recession does not seem imminent,” he said. “The darkest cloud is increased imports. There is an apparent desire of the (Carter) Administration to open the door to foreign produced dairy products. If the proposed one billion pounds of milk equivalent is imported, our market could change dramatically and rapidly,” Wessel warned. “Another cloud is sub stitute products,” the dairy cooperative president continued. “High prices always invite substitution. Today it is estimated that imitation cheese makes up six per cent of total cheese use and that up to 90 per cent of all frozen pizza is made from imitation cheese,” Wesselsaid. “And of course, the other factror is how we, as far mers, respond to these market factors in our production,” Wessel con tinued. “During the past year, and the past few months in particular, many new members have joined MCMP,” said Wessel. “We have the tools now and will do everything in the future to keep our organization up to date to provide the best possible milk market in the 5-state area we serve,” the dairy farmer-executive pledged. “I encourage you to become active in your cooperative, attend all meetings, and avail yourself to the services offered. Tell your neighbors about MCMP,” Wessel challenged. In his prepared remarks, business manager Strock said: “Your cooperative has been doing its regular day in and day out chores marketing your milk to the best advantage.” Among the Lancaster FarmhiS; Saturday, March 31,1979—1 S aspects of MCMP activities Strock cited were: “con ducting an effective, vigorous, quality control program to assure you of a continuing market; providing hauling service in an efficient manner and at times under very difficult circumstances; providing the equipment, supplies, installation and repair services which are so helpful to you; and working con structively with other cooperatives and other farm groupss and organizations in matters affecting your in come - including legislation, advertising and promotion and nutritional education, tazxation, and a host of others.” Touching on Holly Milk, Strock said: “... the plant will perform the job it was designed to do. On it’s latest test run, it processed 1.4 million pounds of whole milk into butter and non-fat dry milk in an uninterrupted 15 hour run. That’s 93 per cent of rated capacity.” Earlier in the program, Wessel commented in his speech that Holly has procesed 20,982,620 pounds of milk into 1,214,280 pounds of skim powder, 295,980 pounds of whole milk powder, 760,692 pounds of butter and 47,450 pounds of buttermilk. “The acceptance of our products by the trade has been very good, which in dicates the high quality of product the new plant is able to produce,” Wessel added. “The performance of the waste treatment plant has been the most uncertain part of the operation of the plant. Apparently, the operation of a waste treatment plant is not an exact science, but an art to be acquired by the operator as he becomes familiar with the individual plant and its idiosyncracies. The system will not operate properly until the milk plant is operating at full capacity and the milk plant cannot operate at full capacity until it is known that the waste treatment plant can handle the load,” Wessel explained. “Because of this and also to provide a back-up system in the event of a break-down or temporary overlaod which could prevent the effluent from going into the stream, the Holly Board decided to install an alter nate system which could 1979 Spring Inflation Fighter allow the effluent to go to me South Middleton Township Municipal Waste Treatment System. The extra cost of this system will be about $320,000. Crepaco, from which we purchased the turnkey plant, agreed to pay $170,000 of the cost, because they too, were uncertain how the on-site plant would perform. While this represented an additional cost, the Board felt it was justified on the basis it provided a back-up. Even a short shut-down in the flush season could have cost us much more,” Wessel said. Business manager Strock added: “The operation of the waste treatment plant has been a matter of concern from day one. As a new facility, Holly must meet waste standards far more stringent than must be met by existing plants. The level of knowledge is far betuid the new plant standards and the experts have literally fallen into their own sewer. Your president has apprised you for the action that has been taken to overcome this major problem - a problem that could be fully known only when the plant could be put into operation. “The delay in getting thf plant into full operation has resulted in some unplanned costs - principally labor - but there have been offsets to that cost,” Strock said. Those offsets have been the realization of using Holly as a center for milk collection. While close to 21 million pounds of milk have been processed at Holly, a total of 77 million pounds have been sent through. The balance was reshipped to area cheese plants. “Those who may have questioned our judgment as to the need for Holly Milk will get their answer when, come May, every pound of plant capacity in Laurel,' Holly, and Lehigh cheese will be needed,” Strock predicted. In his predictions for 1979, Strock said “The year ahead looks promising.” The prediction is based on production trends, prices, government supports, stocks held by the Commodity Credit Corporation, and a strong demand for cheese, among other factors. (Turn to Page 9 8)
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