New
official grain
NEW YORK, N.Y. - The U.S.
Department of Agriculture is
asking for comments on New York
State’s application for designation
as an official gram inspection
agency, a Federal Gram In
spection Service official an
nounced recently.
David R. Galhart v acting FGIS
administrator, said the New York
State Department of Agriculture
and Markets has applied for
designation as an official agency to
inspect grain m the state of New
York, except for Albany, the
state’s only export port location.
FGIS is currently providing in
spection services at Albany, and
will continue to do so.
Comments must be postmarked
by June 10, and should be mailed
to: Issuance - and Coordination
Staff, 1127 Auditors Bldg., FGIS
USDA, Washington, D.C. 20250.
For more information, contact J.T.
Abshier, Director, / Compliance
Division, FGIS-USDA, at 202/447-
8262
The Milk
Check
TOM JURCHAK
County Agent
Rising Flood
Producer receipts by Order 2
handlers rose to 974 million pounds
in April, the highest in 14 years
giving another indication of the
magnitude of the spring flush to be
expected this year.
As early as the last week of
April, USDA’s Dairy Market News
was reporting milk moving from
eastern and southern regions to
mid-western plants and from-
California to northern coastal and
mountain states.
Increases in production are
pretty general all over the country.
With two more months of high
production yet to come a lot of
money will be spent hauling milk
anywhere it can be sold, at
whatever prices a handler or co-op
can get.
Meanwhile, back here in Order 2,
your four percent increase m
production over last month meant
an extra 1.36 million pounds of
milk a day coming to market.
Coupled with a daily drop 0f350,000
pounds of Class I sales, you ended
up with a Class I utilization of only
38.5 per cent the lowest for April
in 27 years.
Lucky 13
Thirteen was a lucky number for
Order 2 producers last month
because that was the uniform price
for April. You may not think that
$l3 is enough but with all things
considered it could have been
worse.
First there was the drop in Class
1 utilization from 41.4 in March to
38.5 in April. You had an increase
in your Class 1 price from $14.89 to
$14.91, but a drop in Class 11 from
$12.62 to $12.55. Add to that an
increase in your Louisville Plan
take out from 20 cents to 30 cents.
Put them all together and they
spell $13.00 a hundred for April
milk and that was only 20 cents less
than March.
As I said, it’s not a great price
and the 20 cent drop is-more than
~USDA seeks comments
York applies for
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 23,1981
inspection
A.E. Herron, an official in
spection agency operating out of
Pittsford, N.Y., has asked its
designation be canceled. FGIS
requested comments on whether
an agency was needed to replace
A.E. Herron and to provide official
inspection and weighing services
in the rest of the state except for
export port locations, and asked
for applications from interested
parties.
Several comments were
received indicating that an in
spection agency is needed, and the
state of New York was the only
applicant for designation to per
form inspection services.
Until an official agency is
designated, A.E. Herron will
provide inspection services in the
Pittsford area, and FGIS will
provide services in the rest of the
state.
Notice of the request for c6m
ments was published in the
Federal Register on May 6.
you usually get between March
and April, but by next spring you
may wish you had it back.
Price Drought
Such a flood of milk usually is
accompanied by a drought in
price. Even your old inflation
fighter friend the price support
program - hasn’t been much help
lately.
In spite of dairy product pur
chases by the Commodity Credit
Corporation that reached a milk
equivalent basis of 625 million
pounds the first week of May (the
largest weekly purchase so far this
year), the Minnesota-Wisconsm
price actually dropped three cents
in April to $12.64 for 3.5 milk. The
average price for manufacturing
grade milk increased only a penny
( to $12.56 still 24 cents below the
"support price of $12.80.
More importantly, that M-W
price of $12.64 in April is the same
as it was in January and no one
looks for much improvement into
the “forseeable” future.
Here in Order 2, your 4.5 per cent
increase in production over April,
1980 is typical of the national
pattern. But, it means an extra 44
million pounds of milk to sell in a
month. Compared to April, 1979,
it’s an 8.5 percent increase or 76
million more pounds to sell.
While you usually expect
seasonally lower prices in the
spring, there is no indication of any
let up after two years of increasing
milk production. Add to that the
prospect of no increase in the
support price before October, 1982
and the erosion of the present price
caused by inflation, you begin to
get the picture of a record
breaking milk price drought that
can extend over the next two
years.
It’s hard to believe but you may
be watching a drought caused by a
flood.