ASS— Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 19,1950 Packers (Continued from Page Al) Hie crowds of cattlemen listened intently to the comments of several packers and meat retailers. CSrl Venezia, a retail but cher near Norristown, Mike Silverberg of Moyer Packing, Vernon Trueth from Trueth Packing of Baltimore, Max Rosenberg from Linden Packing in New Jersey, and Ozzie Petri, from Giant Food Stores in Carlisle delivered short speeches pleading their side of the beef industry. High on all of the packers and retailers list was the need for Pennsylvania beef feeders to send cattle to market 12 months out of the year rattier than just 3 or 4 months. Hie packers promised the cattlemen they would have a top-dollar market for their cattle if they would just keep sending them steadily into the sales stables. They said a steady supply of beef to the packers would help to take the extreme highs and lows out of the current cattle market The packers emphatically stated they could pass on the dollars saved in not having to ship cattle in trom the Midwest (Hi to the Penn sylvania cattlemen. This raised eyebrows and some questions from the group. One farmer asked if this was true, why weren’t the Pa. prices better than the the Peoria prices now. The answer he was given was that Pa. cattle feeders are too undependable. According to the packers from Linden and Moyer, it It was standing room only for the crowd at the New Holland Sales Stable’s beef meeting. costs approximately $2.50 a matter of just wishing it to head to truck cattle from happen. Peoria, or about $lOOO a Cow.calf operations truckload. schedule their calving in- Silverberg told the group tervals to take advantage of that Moyer Packing has to insh grass, warm weather, go out of Pennsylvania for 50 and as many conditions to percent of its cattle needs, give their calves a chance to This will increase after the grow without stress as new Moyer plant ig com- possible. ' pleted that will handle a 101 l This type of cycle does not of 100 head an hour. lend itself well to 12 month The stand the packers out of the year feeding and were taking was economical, marketing. They want lean beef, they the packers even told the group, and they want tually be given cattle on a it every week. regular basis throughout the But is this really feasible year? If Pennsylvania for the beef industry? The farmers want a steady beef packers were asked if they check from nearby packers, had ever raised beef cattle, they may try to adjust their and only one said he had calving intervals. But it will some experience. take some time to make the With cows normally needed management dropping one calf a year, changes-it’s not something usually in the Spring, the that will be happening steady supply of feeder overnight, calves for the feedlot is not a In the past several years. WASHINGTON, D.C. - The current high interest rates and tight credit con ditions are having more of an impact on the agricultural sector this year than has been the case in recent periods of tight money. According to USDA economists, this is partly due to the greater in terdependence of agricultural, and non agricultural financial markets. As a result, the high interest rates and tight credit prevailing in nonagricultural financial markets are spilling over into agriculture in a bigger way than in earlier years. In addition, agricultural production has grown more dependent on credit in recent years, increasing the agricultural sector’s vulnerability to swings in credit conditions. Economists of the Economics, Statistics, and Cooperatives Service report that the sharp rise in interest rates has added significantly to the cost of carrying in ventories. This factor may farmers and cattlemen responded to the demand by consumers and packers for leaner, less wasty beef. They could probably handle 12- month beef demand. The question is, do they want to? They know the market’s there—now it’s up to them. Farmers feeling effects of tight money policy be partly responsible for the pronounced weakness in spot and futures markets of in dustrial raw materials and agricultural products in late March and early April. Higher interest rates have also been accompanied by a rapid appreciation of the dollar during the first quarter of 1980, which may in turn be contributing to the price weakness of some commodities most depen dent on export markets. The new controls' on consumer credit likely will limit the expansion of consumer credit in coming months. Real GNP con tinued to increase moderately during the last half of 1979 and the first quarter of 1980 because consumers went deeper into debt to maintain spending levels. The foodmarket, however, has not benefited from the increase in credit-financed consumer spending. Con stant-dollar sales of food stores and eating and drinking establishments have been weak for file past year or two. Retail food sales—in constant dollars—are not expected to increase until real disposable income begins to rise. Retail food prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, rose 0.5 percent from January to February— an annual rate of 6.2 percent. This was less than a third of the 21 percent annual rate of increase in nonfood prices. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the ; food price index was unchanged from January to .February—the second month in a row this has occurred. Grain harvest in the Southern Hemisphere is now in hill swing, and total production appears about equal to last year’s output. However, a record soybean crop in Brazil is contributing to downward pressure on world prices for soybeans and products. - As the 1979/80 production year draws to a dose, in ternational markets will become more senstitive to prospects for 1980/81 crops. Prospects currently arv good for 1980 grain crops the Northern Hemisphere,' and worldgrain production for 1980/81 could be larger than in 1979/80, especially if crops' recover in the Soviet Union. 25* kYEARi I^SSte^firming €
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