VOL. 26 No. 24 James Garber, left, explains the operation of the automatic egg crating equipment to . members of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and industry. The tour, coor Area businesmen tour County farms BY CURT HAULER BIRD-IN-HAND - The Lan caster Chamber of Commerce and Industry Thursday took a close look at several of of Lancaster County’s better farms. What the industry, political and banking leaders saw surprised a number of them, including a few who are well versed in farming. The five farms visited included the diversified family farm of Roy H. Charles, Millersville; Barley Brothers’ dairy operation near at R 2 Conestoga; James M. Garber’s layer house and steer operation at R 3 Mount Joy; Elmer Fisher’s dairy at Bird-in-Hand; and Harlan Keener’s confinement hog operation south of Lancaster. At each stop financial and business data were exchanged Penn’s Agri-Women hold spring meetmg BY DEBBIE KOONTZ HERSHEY - Penn’s Agri- Women, a growing force behind agriculture in Pennsylvania, held their annual sprmg meetmg Tuesday at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center. On the agenda were speakers from DuPont, Poorbaugh Gram and the York County Planning Commission, the president’s report by Gail McPherson, and a News end Intuits Asst. U.S. Secretary visits county, Al 7; 1981 Support pnces, A 23; Cleamew Hatchery, A 32; Dwarf apples; B 2; No-till planter available, C 24; Her world’s spinning, C 26; Berks SCD, C2B; Hog stress, C 33; Chester-Del. fanners, D 9; Soil saving recipe, Dll; Livestock guarding dogs, DlB. Chamber of Commerce ag day between the urban and rural businessmen. Admittedly, these were no or dinary fanning operations. Charles’s farm last month was named Outstanding Conservation Cooperator by the County Con servation District. Barleys’ 1400 acre Star Rock Farms produces 34,000 glasses of milk per day from roughly 400 milkers, John Barley told the group. The Garbers have about $3 million invested in the farm operation, including four poultry houses. As at the other stops, automation was obvious. At Garbers’, a $12,000 machine does the work of six people in cartoning the eggs. re-vampmg of Agri-Women’s resolutions in conjunction with American Agri-Women’s Resolutions Committee. Speaking out on “People vs. Pests,” Donald Rosen from the Agrichemicals Marketing Division at DuPont offered the Agn-Women “insight on who the critics of pesticides are and whay they’re saying.” Rosen presented two filmstrips on the pesticide controversy m California entitled “Tinkering or Homestead notes, C 2; Home on the range, C 6; Kids’ Komer, CIO; 4-H news, €l3; Easter candy ideas, Cl 4; Warwick FFA, CIS; Octorara FFA, Cl 6; Tulpehocken FFA, Cl 7: 6300 4-H subs, C 39; Little Dut chman FFA, DIO. dinated by Ag Committee Chairman Darvin Boyd, right, gave industry leaders a chance to inspect Lancaster County’s farm businesses. . Hon* tnd VooHi Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 11,1981 ■ Garbers are looking at a break even point between 32 and 55 cents per dozen. Current price, due to a (Turn to Page A3B) USDA denies petition for reconstituted milk hearing WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has denied a petition requesting USDA to hold a hearing on the pricing of reconstituted milk under all federal milk marketing orders, according to Secretary of Agriculture John R. Block. Tuning” and “People vs. Pests.” He then offered the members a challenge to use the films at schools, meetings and workshops m order to better educate the public on the necessity of pesticides. “The thing to remember is to ask yourself what you can do to promote the use of pesticides for crop protection,” he advised. “Show the film to organizations as a representative of Agn-Women, (Turn to Page A 25) Diky reports Shooting cattle, C3O; Berks dairy princess contestants, C 32; Bradford DHIA, D 2; Cumberland DMA, D 4; Blair DMA, D 7; Somerset DELA, D 8; Dairy protein testing, D 26. Egg price , costs to continue up BY DICK ANGLESTEDM CENTERVILLE A forecast of a steady increase in egg prices for the remainder of 1981, along with a corresponding climb in feed costs, was outlined to a group of Lan caster County poultrymen this week. These predictions were given at a day-long meeting of Hy-Cross and Hy-Line personnel at the Quality Inn by Sam Chestnutt, Southeast Regional Sales Manager for Hy-Line and owner of a poultry operation in St. Cloud, Mn. At tending the session were poultrymen representing about 14- 15 million layers. Some of the important price and production figures cited in the forecast: -Egg prices will climb from the low-70’s in April to the higb-80’s by December, with a cumulative average for the year of 78.4 cents. -Com prices will average about $3.63 a bushel this year and could increase to about $4.30 in 1982. -Cost of soybean-meal for this year will average $245 a ton and will be about $2BO for 1982. -There Jhay have to be an ad justment of 20 million hens m the The petition was from the Community Nutrition Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit organization which specializes in food and nutrition issues; and from a milk processor and three con sumers. Reconstituted milk may be made by adding water and butterfat to nonfat dry milk. Under federal milk marketing orders, it is priced as a Class 1 fluid milk product, the highest price category under the orders. The petitioners had requested that reconstituted milk processed by handlers be placed in a lower price classification under the orders. They claimed the current pricing removes the incentive for processor to make available to consumers what petitioners believe could be an equally nutritious but lower-cost alter native to other fluid milk. In a letter to the petitioners, Block cited the following reasons for his action: —Adopting the reconstituted milk proposal would seriously undermine classified milk pricing Rogultr columns Editorials, A 10; Farm calendar, Al 2; The Milk Check, A 24; Joyce Bupp, C 4; Have you heard, C 9; Ida’s notebook, Cl 2; Sheila’s shorts, Cl 9; Farm talk, Dl3; Ask theVMD, Dl4 $7.50 Per Year national flock to sustain a market that permits a profit. -Higher production costs and the lower number of hens will even tually send prices through the psychological barrier of a dollar a dozen. “The last half of this year, feed costs will go up significantly and' possibly dramatically,” Chestnutt said. Taking a longer look down the road, Chestnutt said it’s possible that the price of feed grains during the next 10 to 15 years could escalate in the same way that oil prices have soared in recent years. The Hy-Line sales executive said his figures are based on a survey of 12 organizations and individuals in the industry, who have been remarkably accurate in past forecasts. He gave a month-by-month price forecast as determined from the survey for the rest of the year. It showed: April, average of 71.7 cents with a range of 65-76; May, 69.4 with a range of 63.5-78; June, 71.1 with a range of 64-82; July 75.2 with a range of 67-84; August, 78.5 with a range of 71-85; Sept., 80.4 (Turn to Page A3O) under the orders and thus not carry out the mandate of Congress in authorising milk orders. —The" competitive problems that would result from non uniform pricing of fluid milk products would lead to pressures to lower Class I prices for fresh milk. This would result in a substantial decline in the income of dairy farmers and precipitate major changes in the dairy industry. —The expected benefits to consumers from the proposal wouldhe much less than the loss of income to dairy farmers. —Consumers already have a kwreoat alternative to fresh milk became they can buy nonfat dry milk at grocery stores and reconstitute it themselves. —The public would not be assured of having a commercially reconstituted milk product that is as nutritious as fresh milk. After receiving the petition, USDA invited comments from the dairy industry and the public. Over 8000 comments were received by the time the comment period ended in February 1900. In addition, the USDA prepared a comprehensive impact analysis of the proposed change in the pricing of reconstituted milk, which was published in the November 17, 1980, Federal Register. USDA received about 500 comments during a recently-ended comment period on the impact statement.
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