Can the world pay for food production?
I read with interest your
editorial endorsing the
proposal that the State
mandate payment of
producers every ten days.
Unfortunately, while the
idea seems a simple solution
to a complex problem, the
facts., .as is usually the
Letters To
The Editor
Md. tobacco auction
UPPER MARLBORO,
Md. Maryland’s 1980
tobacco auction season will
open April 9th and run for a
27-day selling period ending
May 22nd according to the
State Tobacco Authority.
To be sold is the 1979 crop
of world famed “Maryland
Type-32” tobacco which is
estimated to be some 26.4
million pounds.
It is so-called “short crop”
due to last year’s heavy
rains during the growing
season and the appearance
of “blue mold,” a destruc
tive tobacco disease which
More farmers are turning
to controlled manure manage
ment to save valuable
nutrients and to make manure
handling easier. And Patz has
the equipment to help you
move, store, spread and inject
manure on your farm.
The Model 100 manure pump
handles free-flowing manure and
case...do not weigh m favor
of the ten-day payment
concept.
For instance, your rather
innocent statement that any
handler in a sound financial
position should have no
problem borrowing money to
pay for milk sidesteps the
to open April 9
hit Maryland growers for the
first time.
The tobacco authority, an
arm of the Maryland
Department of Agriculture,
has set a daily sales quota
totaling one million pounds
for the eight auction floors
which are located at Upper
Marlboro in Prince Georges
County, Wayson’s Corner in
Anne Arundel County and
Waldorf, Laplata and
Hughesville in Charles
County.
Opening week will see
sales Wednesday through
Friday. The following weeks
real problem: if you man
date payment to producers
by co-ops and handlers every
ten days, then it is only fair
that you mandate payment
by the customers of co-ops
and handlers every ten days.
Why should a milk
distributor have to pay for
milk with borrowed money,
pay the interest on that
money, and, if he can, pass
the additional cost on to
consumers’
If you are going to involve
government m the dubious
business of guaranteeing
payment of bills and
specifying the time m which
they must be paid, then you
must carry your scholastic
program all the way down
will have sales on a Monday
through Thursday basis.
Sales are held in the mor
nings and afternoons
rotating between the various
sales floors.
Much of the crop (one
third as a rule) will find its
way into export as the fine
burning Maryland-32 leaf is
still favored by many
European customers con
tinuing a strong tradition of
agricultural exports which is
over 300 years old.
DID YOU EVED SEE iTREEftTOIHy.
Fwanm
slurry with fine-cut bedding. Both the
plunger and plunger sleeve can be serv
iced without concrete breakup.
The hopper loads by gutter cleaner
or scraper. And a flapper valve at the
end of the 12-mch PVC pipe in the
storage facility prevents manure
backup.
The Model 200 compressed air
manure mover features a manually
operated hatch cover and a one-way
valve at the bottom of the under
ground tank, so wear is minimal. An air
compressor provides air pressure to
agitate manure in the 1,700 U.S. gallon
collection tank and then air pressure
moves manure to your storage facility.
Want to know more? Your Patz
dealer will show you how to make daily
manure handling push-button easy with
Patz
Ag consultant doubts it
Patz Slurry Manure Pump (left photo) and Compressed
Air Manure Mover (above photo)
Patz.„ m
Performance Strong as Steel
the line so that EVERYONE
who sells anything is paid
within ten days. Oh happy
day! Right now we are all
delighted if we can get our
receivables down to an
average of 30 days. As the
pressure of inflation gets
worse, the length of
receivables gets longer.
It will indeed be a joyous
thing when the all-powerful,
all-knowing government..
which often does not pay its
bills short of several months
to half a year...decrees ten
day payment for all.
I don’t want to be too light
hearted about the proposal,
but it simply won’t work.
Furthermore, what will
happen in federal order
markets which now specify
once, sometimes twice
monthly payment of
producers? The conflict
between the State’s ten-day
regulation and the federal
orders would mean that
handlers whose bulk tank
units (routes) cross state
lines would have to eliminate
the Pennsylvania farmers or
else go to the extraordinary
expense and complication of
settmg up two bookkeeping
payment systems for each
inter-state route. The whole
phantasmagoria of
borrowing, paying interest,
setting up a separate
payment system, accounting
for milk on a ten-day basis
by estimated blend prices,
etc. would inevitably mean
that, given a choice, han
dlers will buy their milk
anywhere but Pennsylvania.
And what about the far
mers themselves?
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 2,1980—C37
Presently, many hundreds of
dairymen have
arrangements with co-ops
and handlers to pay some of
their larger bills (mor
tgages, machinery pur
chases, feed, etc.) on a
monthly milk check
deduction basis. These bills
are paid at the end of the
present milk check pay
period (around the 25th of
each month). With a ten-day
payment, based on
estimated prices (the actual
blend prices don’t come out
until the middle of the month
following the month milk
was shipped), there would be
inadequate money m the
final (third) check to pay the
bills. You could hardly ex
pect either the co-op or the
handler making such
payments for farmers to hire
extra bookkeepers to
estimate production, but
terfat test,,and prices and
balance these in ten-day
increments against the bill
payment money required by
producers at the end of the
month. The end result, would
be that the whole convenient
structure of such automatic
bill payments would be lost
to daiiymen. It would be
impractical if not impossible
to carry it out.
All of the major dairy co
ops and general farm
organizations in Penn
sylvania have agreed on a
proposal for a Producers
Security Fund. It is probably
the greatest show of unity
among the farm groups in 50
years. That being the case, it
would seem relatively un
complicated to move
forward in the Legislature
with that proposal. Ad
mittedly, the milk dealers do
not want to contnbute to a
producer security fund. I can
understand that, but the fact
remains that the purpose of
the fund is to assure that the
money dealers owe farmers
will be paid. It is the dealer
taking out insurance that his
debt to farmers will be paid,
NOT the farmer paymg an
insurance premium to be
sure that the dealer will have
money to pay his bill. When I
take a loan out at the bank,
they expect me to pay for
insurance to guarantee that
the bank will get its money. I
have never heard of a bank
paymg the premiums for a
homeowners mortgage
insurance, have you?
In the end, the real issue is
whether you and the other
citizens of Pennsylvania
really endorse the idea that
government has the
obligation to pass laws
protecting people against the
consequences of their own
business judgment. Once
you start, where do you
stop? Is the milk industry
that much more valuable
economically than the steel
industry to Pennsylvania?
Why not a security fund for
the steel mill operators and
the sheet metal plants and
the truckers of steel, etc?
Yours for less government
in business... and for more
practical, non-governmental
solutions to business
problems.
Bruce V. Snow, Director
Public Affairs
Dairylee Co-operative